We have seen several WordPress sites that have been hacked recently, and it’s been ugly for SEO. One particular client with a WordPress installation had 80 pages inserted into their site, and the worst part is we didn’t know because we couldn’t see the pages in the admin!

Now, I don’t know how in the world they hacked the site, nor how the heck they created pages that don’t show up in the admin, but I’m going to go over how to check your own site for this, and how to remove those pages and steps you can take to hopefully keep them gone.

Has My WordPress Site Been Hacked?

I’m frustrated as I do a multitude of searches this morning and search after search after search shows this new 3-pack for local listings across various cities in search results. I’m frustrated as a search marketer, but I’m even more frustrated for my clients and those small businesses that have worked so hard to gain trust and authority and earned their spot on page one of Google.

 
+Finally. “Finally”. [Finally]!

It appears that after years of providing a clunky and unintuitive keyword segmentation experience, that the Google AdWords Keyword Tab is, yes, finally getting a much needed usability facelift.

We spotted a different layout this week in a new client account that streamlines access to the different keyword reports that most PPC managers use on a daily basis:

New Google AdWords Keywords Tab Segmentation

Time for the 2nd annual “Takeaways from MozCon” SWAG edition. This year the competition for the best / most unique SWAG was fierce. We made it through to the last day with everything they could throw at us. Let’s not waste any time, let’s dig right in and review the 38+ items from MozCon (38 plus because I counted multiple items, like stickers, as one).

38+ (literal) Takeaways from MozCon 2015

Before the 2015 #MnSummit, our favorite local conference, wouldn’t it be fun to turn back time and see what the speakers had to say when they joined Twitter? I sure do. So let’s do it:

First Tweets from 57 PPC Authorities #HeroConf 2015 Edition

 
In honor of #ppcchat and one of my favorite conferences, I thought we’d take a look at how some of my favorite people got started on Twitter. I don’t think I really need to say more, so just take a stroll down Twitter memory lane…

57 First Tweets

For those of you visiting Portland for the first time, you may have heard a few things about our city but were maybe afraid to ask if they were true. First off, the answer is yes, we do like to keep it weird (and beered) here.

Yes, it rains…a lot and us locals don’t use umbrellas (we own hoodies).  Yes, IFC’s Portlandia is sometime a little too accurate of a representation on how we live.  Yes, we are obsessed with beer, biking, coffee and the Trailblazers. And, yes, it’s really green here and you will find that the air we breath is some of the best in the country.  Beyond being where dreams of the 90’s are still alive, Portland has also become a destination city for restaurants, food carts, local beers, distilleries and wines.  No wonder we were one of the most moved to destinations in the United States.

So in an effort to ensure that your visit to the Rose City (or Rip City to us Portland Trailblazer fans) is done right, this native Portlander has put together a guide on where you need to eat and drink in Portland while at the Hero Conf.

I’ve got some great spots located close to the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower, along with some other destinations worth the cab fare, where you can enjoy a meal, find a great happy hour special, grab a cocktail or quench your thirst with one of Portland’s fine craft beers.

April 21, 2015….that was the deadline. Google has flat out said “mobilize your site now or we’ll kick you off the Internets!”

OK, so maybe they didn’t say it like that verbatim, but more or less. My favorite co-worker with a name that starts with C, Chris Lister, covered Google’s announcement and what it means to you in depth with his post “Google’s New Mobile Friendly Algorithm Update“. So I won’t bore you with those details.

What I will bore you with is what we (and by we I mean I) did to our own site to make it pass the Mobile-Friendly Test. If you’ve got what it takes, you can follow along and attempt to do it on your own site.

Forewarning! This isn’t Going to be Easy!

Assuming you’ve already run your site through that test and have seen that it failed, what can you do? Well if you don’t know anything about HTML or CSS…nothing…you’re screwed. Close down your business, it’s washed up.

Having a mobile friendly website might be one of those items that’s been on your to-do list, but was never a real priority and kept getting pushed back for more “important” tasks. You might regularly brush aside mobile recommendations from your web designer or digital marketing agency, or feel that mobile isn’t an important facet for your online business.

Well, if Google is to be believed, this procrastination could end up hurting you on April 21^st, when mobile friendliness is officially introduced as a new organic ranking signal.

The Announcement

On Thursday, February 26^th, 2015 Google posted a blog article entitled “Finding more mobile-friendly search results”. You can read the complete announcement post here.

The key section we want to cover is, “Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”

Our annual guide on where to eat and drink while attending Searchfest.

It’s February which means SEMpdx’s Searchfest is right around the corner, and with it is our updated for 2015 Guide to Eating and Drinking in Portland.  Once again I’ve updated this guide with some great spots located close to the Sentinel (formerly Governor) Hotel where you can enjoy a meal, find a great happy hour special, grab a cocktail or quench your thirst with one of Portland’s fine craft beers.

Beer Me

Keep Portland Beered! by Yellow Dog / CC BY 2.0

Let’s start off with my true love. Beer.

Almost every Portland restaurant and bar is going to offer at least a couple fantastic local beers for you to try. This is Beervana, and our great city has more breweries per capita than any other city in the world.

Given the option, brews from local breweries like Laurelwood, Gigantic, Breakside, Ninkasi, Fort George, Boneyard and Hopworks are always a sure bet.