Content Delivery Network

Published on 27 Aug 2014 at 9:10 pm. .
Filed under Informative.

Do you have clients all over the world? Then you need a Content Delivery Network to speed up your site.

Before I begin let me be up front and state that we at Brand Builder Websites do not do business with any Content Delivery Network. This post is purely informative.

What is a Content Delivery Network?

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a network of servers located around the world. These servers only host static files like images and PDFs. When a user accesses a website with files hosted on a CDN they will get the files from the closest server. Files being located closer to the user will make the site load faster. Since sites are mostly made up of static files you will see the most benefit to the site load by decreasing the load time for these files. (more…)

Google Maps Ads Are Here

Published on 24 Aug 2014 at 6:56 pm. Comments Off on Google Maps Ads Are Here.
Filed under Google,Marketing,Mobile,Search Engine Optimization.

Google Maps ads are here. So what does this mean for users and how can it help your small business?

Google Maps Ads: For Users

Google is not stupid. They knew that users wanted to see more listings. Users used to seeing more listings with the old Google Maps interface. With the new Google Maps interface they cut down on the number of listings to reduce clutter.

Something had to give if they wanted to display ads in Google Maps and still keep users. To do this they added a scroll bar to the desktop search. It’s less visually appealing than it was, but you’re now getting more results. This is a big win for users. (more…)

Above The Fold Speed Optimization

Published on 12 Aug 2014 at 10:00 pm. Comments Off on Above The Fold Speed Optimization.
Filed under Google,Informative,Mobile,Search Engine Optimization,Web Design.

“Users know to scroll. I don’t need to fit things above the fold”. Yes, but you need them to load fast.

I love what Google has done to simplify things for business like the new Google My Business solution.What I’m not happy with is the recent change to drop Google Authorship images from appearing in Google search. They claim that it will not affect click-through rate. This contradicts previous claims and the experience for those that supported Authorship.

What you can’t doubt is that search results appear more consistent and load faster without the images. Google has always worked to make things fast. Now they’re kicking things into high gear to suggest you do too. Especially with content that appears above the fold. (more…)

Do Search Engines Seek Social Signals?

Published on 25 Jun 2014 at 9:06 pm. Comments Off on Do Search Engines Seek Social Signals?.
Filed under Google,Search Engine Optimization,Social Media.

Both Google and Bing have claimed that social signals do not affect their algorithms. Is this true?

Thanks to the recent SMX London conference we learned that the number of Facebook Likes, Google +1’s, Tweets, and Pinterest Pins still do not cause your page to rank higher than anyone else. That being said, we did learn that these social signals do play an indirect role in SEO. (more…)