Pleasanton Web Design

google webmaster tools

Google Webmaster Tools is a nice, FREE service that can give webmasters clues about what needs to be fixed on their websites. Like all free services I am aware of,  it is not perfect.

For Example: The “Duplicate Title Tags” section in Webmaster Tools for this website always shows duplicate title tags for the most recently published items. The duplication exists between the RSS feed and HTML versions of the same page, even though canonical tags are implemented.

Why? I’m guessing that the part of the algorithm that consolidates the items with like canonical tags comes after the detection of the duplicate title tags.

There is always a significant delay when using Google Webmaster Tools. Sometimes it takes weeks for updates to be reflected. So don’t panic! If you know it’s right on your end, most likely it will eventually be reflected in Webmaster Tools, and in Google’s index and results.

Pleasanton Free Concerts 2012 -Concert in the Park

Free Concerts on Friday evening are a summer tradition in Pleasanton. They are put on by the Pleasanton Downtown association and sponsored by various Pleasanton Businesses. The concerts are held at Lions Wayside Park, at First and Neal Street.

Here’s the line-up for Summer 2012:

June 1:  The Bacchus Brothers and Lisa Marie Johnston - Country Rock

June 8: Rooster’s Teeth - Rockin’ Blues

June 15:  Northern Static - Hits of the 80s and 90s

June 22:  The Crisis - Eclectic Rock

June 29:  Pladdohg – Celtic Folk Rock

July 6: The Aerodynes – Classic Rock Hits

July 13: The Houserockers – Rock & Soul

July 20: Blind Nurse – Modern & Classic Rock

July 27: Finding Stella – Modern Alternative Rock

August 3: Burton & Company – Jazzy Rhythm & Blues

August 10: Ruckatan Latin Tribe – Latin/Reggae World Music

August 17: Tommy & The Four Speeds – 60s R&B and Rock & Roll

August 24: Magic Moments – Hits of the 50s and 60s

August 31: Public Eye – High Energy Rock & Roll

Late last week Google transitioned the Google Places listings local businesses use to promote their services to Google+ Pages. The rankings don’t seem to have changed as far as I can tell at this point, although I’m still trying to sort out the changes brought about by the Google Penguin Update, both positive and negative (this blog included in the negative).

Google+ already looked like a must-have for local businesses, not because it would help them right now, but because of the potential it had IF it could draw in enough real people to use it at a level similar to Facebook. That wasn’t working out so well, so plan B – “SURPRISE, small business owner, you now have a Google+ page. Now get to work promoting Google+ usage by creating offers, putting up signs… kinda like you do with Facebook.”

Another trend I have seen in the past weeks is regular professional service websites using the Google+ authorship rich snippet to stand out in the SERPs. The authorship snippet puts a little picture of the author with a byline next to the page summary that is displayed in the search results. This has typically been used for blogs in the past. You need to have a Google+ profile to have your picture.

So good people of small business, get to work on promoting Google+ (and your business while you’re at it)!

So Google is discontinuing its Website Optimizer effective August 1, or two months from today, the day of the announcement. Hope you don’t have too many experiments running! Or market software specifically integrated with Google Website Optimizer.

We’re saying goodbye to Google Website Optimizer. Many marketers and publishers have improved the web by using insights from Website Optimizer to create better experiences for their users. To elevate website optimization and provide one fully integrated tool for testing, content optimization will now have a new home within Google Analytics. The last day you’ll be able to access Google Website Optimizer will be August 1st, 2012.

Experiments will now need to be run as “Content Experiments” in Google Analytics.
Troy Philis