Search Engine Optimisation News

Yahoo! offers search engine optimisation tips

2010-03-12 00:00:00

Sites that cannot be found by search engines "may as well be the Invisible Man", according to one expert who has offered some advice on getting noticed by the likes of Yahoo!, Bing and Google.

Laura Lippay, director of technical marketing at Yahoo!, said that in order to boost search engine marketing, a webpage needs to have its content indexed.

Businesses should therefore check the Robots.txt file of their site to ensure it is not blocking search engines from crawling its directories.

Some types of content, such as Flash, JavaScript and image text, can also be hard for search engines to detect - although this situation is improving.

To minimise difficulties with Flash, Ms Lippay said that it is better to use it "in smaller pieces", rather than building a whole site with it.

Another crucial element of getting a site noticed is linking, both internally and externally.

Linking to different pages within a site - not just the homepage - will improve the "findability" of content and provide search engines with a mix of "deeper level pages".

Links to and from third party sites will help with the classification of a webpage, especially if it is new, Ms Lippay added.

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Email marketing 'being integrated with online marketing services'

2010-03-11 00:00:00

Businesses are increasingly using online marketing channels such as social media to boost their email campaigns, according to new research.

Harvey Raybould of Compila recently social media, such as blogs, are already an important element of search engine optimisation and the results of the survey by Econsultancy and Adestra suggest it is also helping to drive email marketing.

Of the 900 marketing professionals polled, 37 per cent currently use email messages to encourage customers to share content on social networks such as Facebook or Twitter, while another 31 per cent plan to do this in the future.

Some 21 per cent of respondents said they employ email as a way of promoting consumers' product ratings and reviews. More than a quarter (26 per cent) intend to introduce this feature.

Econsultancy research director Linus Gregoriadis said: "Companies must take care to focus on the relevance of their email in a world where it is becoming increasingly important for brands to demonstrate value, rather than bombarding people with unwanted messages."

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Engaging with social media users 'crucial to search engine optimisation'

2010-03-10 00:00:00

Creating content for social media sites that engages users and keeps them on a site for longer is becoming an increasingly important element of successful web marketing, it has been claimed.

Writing on Search Engine Land, Jordan Kasteler said that interactive Flash or web applications create "sticky" pages that are useful for both social media and search engine optimisation.

"As search engines like Google start to detect and monitor user-engagement, the more important it becomes to create sticky pages," he commented.

He added that while these types of infographics can be resource and cost-heavy, their return on investment (ROI) in terms of traffic, links, brand awareness and ad revenue can make them "well worth" the time and effort.

Mr Kasteler's comments follow research from the Marketing Executives Networking Group which showed that ROI is the top priority for marketers this year.

In addition, 70 per cent of respondents said they are planning new social media initiatives for 2010.

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Is too much search engine optimisation a bad thing?

2010-03-09 00:00:00

Companies looking to use organic search as a way of boosting their online profile have been warned of the dangers of "over-optimisation".

Writing on Search Engine Watch, Eric Enge said sites like Google, Bing and Yahoo! consider a variety of factors when ranking pages, including spam detection.

In some cases, sites that have been over-optimised - by for example having key phrases repeated in identical page titles and subheadings - can actually fall down their listings because they appear to be using "keyword-stuffing practices" associated with the old days of online marketing services.

Websites could also look over-optimised to a search engine if they have large blocks of keyword-filled text below the fold or content that is crammed with key phrases, which looks bad to the user.

To avoid falling into this trap, marketers should focus written content at the user and instead concentrate on maximising conversions.

"There's little reward - and possibly even a negative penalty - for doing too much to try and support ranking for a particular key phrase," Mr Enge wrote.

In his My Small Business column for the Sydney Morning Herald, David Wilson said using blogs that naturally incorporate keywords can be a "great rankings booster".

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Google auto-translation 'could boost search engine optimisation'

2010-03-05 00:00:00

Google's announcement that its Chrome browser will offer automatic translation of websites in a number of languages could prove significant for companies looking to boost their traffic through organic search, according to one expert.

Sam Tilson, marketing director of Memorybits.co.uk, which specialises in selling memory sticks and cards for cameras, phones and other devices, said that those involved in search engine marketing could harness auto-translation to gain exposure in growing markets such as China.

According to Google, when the language of a website is different to a user's default setting, Chrome will ask them if they want Google Translate to convert it.

The search engine said such tools will help to make online information "universally accessible in an easy, frictionless way".

However, Mr Tilson said that while auto-translation could potentially mean bigger audiences, ecommerce sites will have to consider whether they want their pages to be available to visitors who ultimately may be unable to make a purchase.

According to Internet World Statistics, English speakers are the largest group on the web with 478 million users. This is followed by Chinese speakers on 384 million and Spanish speakers on 137 million.

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What does search engine marketing mean?

2010-03-04 00:00:00

The term search engine marketing has been around for almost a decade, but its meaning has slowly changed, according to one expert.

Search Engine Land editor-in-chief Dan Sullivan said that back in 2001, search engine marketing covered both pay per click (PPC) ads and search engine optimisation (SEO). Increasingly, however, it seems to only apply to paid placements.

PPC ads took off in 1998, mainly thanks to GoTo, which would later be acquired by Yahoo!, he noted.

The first paid listing on Google appeared in 1999 and its PPC marketing service AdWords, which allows users to set a daily budget or cost per click limit for their ads, launched a year later.

In March 2005, Yahoo! rebranded GoTo as Yahoo! Search Marketing. Mr Sullivan said this was one of key factors that helped to shift the meaning of search engine marketing to purely paid ads.

Another factor was its definition on Wikipedia, which makes no mention of SEO services.

Mr Sullivan questioned if this meaning should stick, or whether it is time to revert to the umbrella term of 2001.

He wrote: "Does it make sense to agree that [search engine marketing] should now mean work solely on paid listings and also be a name for people and companies that do such work?"

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Social media 'key to search engine marketing'

2010-02-23 00:00:00

With Twitter co-founder Evan Williams announcing that the social network set a new record for daily traffic last month, marketers have been reminded not to overlook the value of such microblogging sites in raising their profile.

Indeed, the addition of Twitter to Google's real-time search saw its overall unique visitor numbers rise by nine per cent from December to 21.79 million in January, according to comScore.

This rising traffic suggests the social network is more than just a fad - and that it can play a valuable role in helping marketers to spark interest in the mainstream.

Sam Tilson, director of marketing strategies at online supermarket Zoombits.co.uk, recently said that sites such as Twitter and Facebook should be increasingly important for search engine optimisation (SEO).

"If you are doing SEO for a contemporary reference, it is vital to ensure your message is placed on Facebook and Twitter to ensure [it is] included in the Google real-time search," he said.

According to comScore, four out of five US internet users visited a social network at least once a month in 2009.

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Search engine optimisation 'maximises digital assets'

2010-02-17 00:00:00

Optimising images and videos for search engines can help firms get the most out of their website.

Whether companies are dealing with double-digit growth or battling against the effects of the global downturn, it is essential to wring every last bit of value from digital assets such as images and video, an expert has said.

Herndon Hasty of Search Engine Watch said these areas of a site can often be overlooked when it comes to search engine marketing, but they can play a vital role in boosting a firm's online profile.

Businesses should therefore ensure search engines have access to the directory that holds product images and that pictures are tagged with what they are - and what users are likely to be searching for - rather than numbers.

To maximise the value of images, they should also be used in social media platforms, such as Flickr or Photobucket.

Videos, such as ads and how to guides, should be posted where search engines can reach then, surrounded by relevant, keyword-rich content, Mr Hasty added.

Clips can achieve optimum exposure by being included on YouTube, which he said is "now the world's second largest search engine".

YouTube was bought by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion (£1 billion).

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Small businesses 'must master search engine optimisation'

2010-02-16 00:00:00

Getting ranked on the first page of search engine results is an essential element of building a strong online profile for small businesses, but the methods companies like Google use to place websites remain closely guarded, so what do entrepreneurs do?

In his My Small Business column for the Sydney Morning Herald, David Wilson said although the "exact secrets" of how pages are ranked are shrouded in mystery - and constantly changing - there are nevertheless some search engine optimisation (SEO) "fundamentals" that can boost a company's results.

For example, copywriting for SEO should be "remorselessly relevant" to what users will be searching for. Pay per click marketing services like AdWords can help with researching these keywords.

Website designer Rob Cooper added that content needs to be hosted on a polished portal that includes keywords in each page's title tag, internal links and "calls to action" that will prompt visitors to take the next step in the purchasing process.

Finally, submitting keyword-rich blogs to industry sites can be a "great ranking booster".

Harvey Raybould of Compila recently said blogs remain the most effective social media platform for boosting SEO.

Adapting search engine optimisation to universal search

2010-02-08 00:00:00

Ever since Google introduced universal search in 2007, results pages have listed images, video, online shopping sites and blog posts alongside websites - and by adapting their search engine optimisation, marketers can use this to their advantage, an expert has said.

Writing on Search Engine Watch, Rob Jones said some fine tuning of existing search engine optimisation services can help to promote goods and services across a range of rich media.

For example, product images can be optimised for universal search results by attaching descriptive text that incorporates targeted keywords to each picture on a company website.

Keywords should also be included in the image's file name and the picture should be surrounded by highly relevant content.

Video content has become one of the best areas for site optimisation, as it tends to engage visitors and keep them on the website for longer.

Instructional clips and how-to guides lasting between two to three minutes can be a good way of drawing in traffic from universal search, Mr Jones said, although firms must remember to tag their videos with keywords.

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