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Thursday, September 29th, 2011
The rise of SEO in digital marketing over the past few years has been impressive. It has now become a hugely important factor for large and small businesses a like – helping to gain new custom through high search engine rankings.
Canadian newspaper, the Globe and Mail has produced a list of what they define as the things “standing between you and a page one rank.”
Here is a summarised version, featuring just three of those factors that can improve your SEO strategy:
Social media plays a big part – Just last December (2010) it was announced by both Bing and Google that social media presence would play a role in rankings – factoring in search algorithms. As a result having some kind of meaningful presence on social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook has been hugely important to achieving a good SERP (search engine result page) ranking.
It’s a tough market – The Internet is vast; there are billions of pages that you’ll find yourself competing against. Therefore it is vital to employ the use of any number of the SEO tools out there to help provide you with an in-depth and daily update on what your competition is up to.
All about quality content – Ensuring you have good quality content that is displayed, complete with keywords, both on your own website, external blogs and press releases will provide you with a boost. Doing this will prove to Google and other search engines that what you’re doing is relevant and consistent, thus increasing you rank.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – specialists in Search Engine Optimisation and Internet Marketing.
Tags: Content, digital marketing, search engine rankings, SEO
Posted in Search Engine Optimisation
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Monday, September 5th, 2011
It’s now six months since Google launched its Panda update on search results.
The update was intended to ‘reduce rankings for low-quality sales-sites which are low-value add for users; copy content from other websites; or websites that are just not very useful.’
However, Frank Watson, writing for Search Engine Watch, has revealed that the update initially impacted on a number of genuinely good sites – sites which are only just starting to regain their traffic now.
In order to stay in line with Google’s Panda update, Watson recommends ‘Google’s Webmaster Guidelines’ as a focal starting point for research, arguing ‘if you have not read Google’s Webmaster Guidelines there is a good chance you have not done all your homework.’
Subsequent updates, such as Panda 2.3, have seen the algorithm employed by Google become more forgiving to genuine content sites – as it possesses the ability to differentiate between both topic and language.
Watson has emphasized that Panda can be countered, providing that you know your industry.
He concludes that the original algorithm was similar to that of academic essay referencing – the sources cited most generally being the highest in quality – and ultimately: “Panda is an attempt to return to these early methods, but Google can now apply latent semantics and understands duplicated content better.”
With the introduction of Panda, Google’s algorithm changed and therefore so has the face of SEO. To be successful in the field, it is crucial that these changes are taken into account sooner rather than later.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a provider of SEO Services & Pay Per Click strategies.
Tags: Content, Google, Panda, search results
Posted in Search Engine Optimisation
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Thursday, August 18th, 2011
@johnpopham and @digitaldales talking so-me at Kirkby stephen by Lindsey Annison
Your Clickthrough blogger went for a chat about social media, the riots, whether we should shut down networks in a crisis, how to get everyone online, PCphobia, and more. Click on the link above to listen.
The aim of the recording was actually to test a microphone, with common hardware like an iPhone, and freely available software, Soundcloud to create a quick and easy podcast.
Audio and podcasts can add value to any website, company and brand and should form an integral part of your social media strategy. This simple experiment should show that making a few mins of audio (7mins) is a simple task, and although this was spontaneous and not planned, you can create compelling content without breaking the bank.
Your social media content should also include video, photos and text, and you should promote all content through sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and the social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Stumbleupon – see the Wibya.com bar at the bottom of this post for more ideas!
Whether social media tools should be closed down in times of crisis must surely be a matter for intense debate – how do you feel about it?
Would it affect you as a company if Blackberry, Twitter or Facebook suddenly ceased to be available?
Do you have back up strategies for all your social media should one or more of them stop functioning, or do you have all your so-me eggs in one basket? So, for instance, do you have a minimum of two contact addresses for each of your customers – phone, email, Twitter, Facebook, mobile? Are they held in the cloud or offline?
How do you communicate with people who are still scared of computers? Is your target audience au fait with computers or are you directing your marketing strategies through the wrong channels?
We are planning more audio so if you have answers to the above questions, or internet marketing queries to put to our team, please let us know.
Tags: audio, BBM, blackberry, Content, facebook, podcast, riots, so-me, social bookmarking, Social Media, software, soundcloud, twitter
Posted in Blog, Social Media
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Thursday, June 30th, 2011
Whilst Google+ is the big story of the day, Matt Cutts has just posted on his wall about a blog post that may have fallen under the radar about content creators being credited on search results.
For anyone who creates and authors content, this is a great new way to be recognised, found, and to promote your work in the search results, including with a photo.
There are a couple of very simple steps to being found by the algorithm which will be powering this addition to the SERPs. Full details can be found on the Google Webmaster help pages, but in essence, all you need do is:
Add the content pages where you post content to your Google public profile, and then paste a Google + button onto those pages. Like this:
Your own content will be automatically +1′d so it should create an archive of all your content over time for people to easily access from your public Google profile page. (This profile page is going to become as important as your LinkedIn profile, your Twitter bio etc, so be warned!)
Obviously, it is algorithm driven so your position in the search results and even whether you are listed will be down to good SEO and making sure you are putting out all the right social signals too.
So, it is always a good idea to tweet all of your fresh content, and make sure that it appears on other social networks as well as social bookmark sites such as Digg, Stumbleupon and Delicious too.
We’ll be playing around with this far more in the future to see how we can improve content rankings on behalf of authors and clients to establish a wider range of listings in the SERPS. Content that is well-written should have longevity on certain subjects, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out as a traffic generator.
Tags: author, bloggers, Content, Google, listings, profile, rel, search engine rankings, serps, social bookmarks, social networks
Posted in Blog, Content, Google, SEO
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Monday, June 27th, 2011
Just over a month ago, Google Chrome UK showed off how the +1 button will look in the Chrome browser in a TV ad.
The +1 button acts exactly as the Like button on Facebook, permitting users to share and recommend content that they have enjoyed.
Slowly but surely we are seeing more websites add the +1 to their site, but it doesn’t appear yet that any particularly notable and positive results are being seen if the US search engine fora and blogosphere are anything to go by.
By now many people are beginning to ‘settle’ into their social networks and have found the network(s) of choice for the way they work, socialise and share. So they are already faced with tweet, Like on Facebook, Digg and so on when they find content they wish to share and they know which place they wish to share it to and who with. An additional choice may simply be plus one too many, and it is apparent from visiting pages where the +1 button is deployed that far fewer people click that than the FB Like button, Tweet or even, depending on audience, the Share on Linkedin Button.
It may also be that people are unsure how it all works, and are somewhat bewildered with the complex choices that a 2011 browser now offers. From watching a variety of users recently, it would seem that the vast majority do not use much of the functionality built into browsers, beyond the basics.
There is also an issue that for anyone who has not already enabled +1 in their public profile, the rest of the +1 world is still invisible in the search results; although it is visible just as the counts for “Likes” and “Tweet This” buttons are on content.
This lack of profile within the search results is not going to make it a simple task to educate users into its usage as many will remain ignorant of it. Until it is on as many pieces of content as possible, as the Facebook Like button is, for all to see, it is unlikely to see mass uptake.
It would also seem that there is a minor issue with load time if the +1 code is placed at the top of an article or near the top of the page. Undoubtedly, Google are working on this, but we all know that users have become ever more impatient over the years with pages that do not load immediately.
So, one could ask if the +1 button has arrived late at the party with so much other competition around ….or is it just that it is still only available on google.com searches that is slowing down its adoption?
It is likely that, as ever, Google has far more tricks up its sleeve to do with social networking than just the +1 button, and perhaps in future, the +1 will become a more commonly used tool for searchers than it would seem to be today.
Our advice: add a +1 button to your content and let’s see what happens when it hits google.co.uk. Watch this space.
Tags: +1, button, Content, Google, personalised, plus one, recommend, search
Posted in Blog, Google, SEM Industry
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Friday, April 29th, 2011
On an average day, you may spend time on Twitter, aggregated news sites, dedicated news sites (eg BBC, CNN, NHK), Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Digg, delicious etc.
What generally happens at the end of the day is you have anywhere up to 100 tabs open that you mean to come back to. But, tomorrow is another day. And the whole round starts again…..open a tab, read a little, click a link, watch a video, tweet, new tab, follow a link, new tab, download a white paper, new tab. ETC.
So, how do you stand out in this endless round of websites and social media impact?
Somewhere, in the recent 1,000 sites I have visited, (ie in the last 3-4 days) is a site that caught my eye. Sadly, because of the insufficiencies of the search engines to revisit the sites I have been to in the last day or two, I cannot lay my hands on it. But it stood out.
Which, you have to admit is rare for a website. Why did it stand out?
Because it behaved exactly the same as an app that I use on the phone – FourSquare. Little pop up saying I’d earned the New Visitor (or similar) badge as I entered and scrolled through the article I had found on one of the major news aggregation sites. It also linked me to others who had found that interesting. Some of whom I know and respect.
Enough to stay? Nope. But the article was good and had links to other related material. So, I clicked within the site links and started reading more. (Good sign – we like sticky sites that help you find other content of interest).
A couple of pages later, I got a new badge and was encouraged to register to the site to keep my badges. And return. By then, I was actually quite interested in the site and knew I would return. So, Sign up- easy, email plus first name.
I kept reading, bookmarked a few items as relevant for my research, and inevitably, eventually, moved on.
No-one from that website has been in touch. My life and requirements for writing have moved on so I haven’t searched for them. I can’t remember where that site is for the life of me. I could go through each day’s bookmarks but I simply don’t have time.
That website has a willing visitor, if I could only remember where it is. I don’t have time to look, but a single email reminder saying:
1 week ago, you looked at the following articles…….. Since then we have added all this related news….
and I’d be there in a flash.
If you create sticky content, add funky functionality, and set up CRM systems that allow you to keep in touch with those who fall over your website….please, please, please use them!!!
Tags: bookmarks, Content, CRM, links, News, sticky, tabs, twitter
Posted in Blog, Online PR
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Thursday, April 28th, 2011
LinkedIn have decided to make the most of their 90+ million members and have created a LinkedIn News section which highlights the stories referenced by their members on the website.
These are split into categories such as Marketing & Advertising Industry, IT, Online Media, Telecommunications etc, allowing users to quickly find the top stories of the day being shared across the LinkedIn network.
This complements the Signal service which brings together all the news from those within your own network on LinkedIn, and both services offer a great opportunity for companies to disseminate news about their own businesses across a wide audience. Stories are picked up by the number of “Shares” and tweets so it is worth building your network of followers across both Twitter and LinkedIn to encourage promotion of your items.
Once again, this is a reminder that you need to be constantly creating content which can be shared amongst and beyond your followers.
Tags: Content, linked, network, News, twitter
Posted in Blog, Social Media
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Monday, March 14th, 2011
Whilst the noise about the Google Panda update (previously called the Farmer update) is beginning to die down, there will still be many websites who should consider the value and quality of all their content and how this may reduce their chances of good listing in the SERPs.
The obvious contenders may not be those you first assume. Aged and static content that has not been updated for some time may actually be bringing in long tail traffic, so don’t just bin old pages without checking your traffic stats and backlinks for those pages first. However, it may be that your business has changed direction since that content was added and it is no longer relevant, so take a look at some of your historic content to ensure it still fits the bill.
More likely culprits for content deemed to be of low quality by the search engines are those which may seem far too similar to other pages on other sites. For instance, if you sell products with a generic product description that other companies also sell, and you have one page per product (required for inclusion in Google Shopping/Base), these product pages may not appear unique to the spiders.
A quick fix would be to add the capability for reviews and testimonials. Until those reviews begin to appear on your site, add a “no index” tag, and then manually remove this from any pages where reviews have been added. You can request reviews from your customers for products that they have purchased, which will also give you a chance to get in touch with your customers and ask for feedback.
Other low quality pages may be a links page that includes broken links, links to irrelevant content, or links which are not providing any link juice to your site. Keep a weather eye on any links on your site to ensure that these are working, relevant and worthwhile.
Check your traffic stats (analytics) to see which pages are rarely visited or have high bounce rates. Check to see why this might be the case – is navigation difficult to reach that page? Is the content out of date or off-topic for your target audience? A quick revamp of your navigation or content may be all that is required to raise the quality score for that page.
And whilst we are talking about Quality Score – take a good look at your PPC, or ensure that your internet marketing agency understands how Quality Score works. One or two keywords in your Pay Per Click campaign that are not performing as they should can have a decidedly negative effect on your QS rating, which will affect your PPC positions.
Tags: Content, farmer, Google, links, Panda, PPC, quality, quality score, search engine, spiders, traffic stats, update
Posted in Blog, Google, Link Marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC), SEO, Tips & Tricks, Website Usability
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Thursday, March 18th, 2010
For some people, creating new content is a struggle. It really needn’t be. There is fresh content to inspire you all over the Web. However, you should always create unique content, rather than copying someone else’s work. Internet marketing, whether it is SEO, SEM, PPC, Web PR, all relies on informative, keyword rich content to work properly.
Use the resources below to find exciting content to get your creative juices flowing in no time.
Squidoo – so many people maintain their lenses (or mini websites) regularly, and there are thousands of people who follow specific lenses and encourage the authors to post more often. Look for the top ranked lenses on your keyword, or most recently updated.
Delicious – is one of the many social bookmarking sites and offers a wide variety of search mechanisms which will open up thousands of new sites for you to investigate for inspiration. Others include Digg and Stumbleupon – feel free to add more in your comment below.
Twitter – it’s really quite staggering how many Tweets are now sent each day, and the search feature is becoming ever more useful for finding latest news for particular niches. When it is working, that is!
Alltop – is a funky news site (but be warned: you can get lost in here easily, so use the eggtimer to prevent that!)
That should keep your pen busy scribbling on the paper for a while with all the news and views that are available.
Which sites help you to develop new content, write blog posts, or just get into heated debates with colleagues?! Let us know.
Tags: Content, internet marketing, News, PPC, search, SEM, SEO, sites, social bookmarks, web pr
Posted in Blog, Content, Keywords, Small Business Resources, Social Media, Tips & Tricks
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Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
Times are hard, budgets are tight, customers are finicky, so think out the box to grab their attention and email addresses.
What will make you stand out from your competitors? What are customers looking for that will give you the edge? We have previously talked about respecting your customers and understanding who they are and what they seek…Now is the time to get on top of that and reach out to your potential customers.
You could try giving away an MP3 loaded with your brochure, white papers, product manuals, articles, product reviews and comparisons, links to helpful resources, even some cheery recession busting music if you feel the need! It should be valuable, unique content related to the search which led them to you.
By not forcing people to subscribe for content that may tip their decision to spend with you, but actually giving it away for free when times are hard, PLUS giving them something useful – an MP3 player – which they can use as they wish, you could be making all the difference in their minds when it comes to purchase decision time.
If your budget is really tight, and your product prices are low, reduce the cost of this marketing activity by making it digital. Offer the chance to download your white papers etc in return for their email address. And then follow up on all those who have downloaded it. Not weeks later, but hours or even minutes later. Personalise your response. Give them a customer care number to ring if they have questions, offer a once a day or once a week online chat when they can ask questions, use Twitter to offer further advice or incentives to buy from you.
Converse with your customers. Talk to them, listen to them, help them out, offer what they need, and develop relationships. It may seem to be time-consuming but it is this type of one to one business that will help sell products and services.
Tags: Content, Downloads, marketing, search marketing
Posted in Content, CRM, Online PR, Small Business Resources, Tips & Tricks
