All posts by Gillian Cook

  • Mobile is big.
  • In some countries, mobile is the way to access the Internet.
  • Retail is one of the fastest growing sectors. To put this into perspective, between January 2010 and April 2012 in the UK mobile conversions rose from 1.6% to 20.7%.
  • Local results are important for mobile users who are accessing the Internet on the go.
  • People are spending a lot of money on these devices and they are looking for a great user experience that will allow them to mirror the on-line activities that they carry out on desktop.
  • Steve Jobbs said that mobile is not about search its about apps, of course this was a self serving comment but people are not using browsers as much, they’re using apps.
  • 62% of mobile traffic is from Apple IOS and it’s clear that while Android and other devices are important, Apple devices including the iPhone and iPad are the market leaders. Their market share of course is down to Apps.
  • There are 600,000 Apple apps which have generated 25 billion downloads. The variety of apps is extensive from entertainment to news to business to lifestyle and more.
  • Discovering apps is becoming more important for users. You cant pay to rank high in the App store but you can advertise, use social media and provide a free version of a premium app to encourage users to download your app. Interestingly users are driven more by recent downloads over total downloads.
  • Where does search come in to it with Apps?
  • In February 2012, Apple bought a company called Chomp for $50million. Chomp is a search engine for apps, which already has a PPC program (albeit for apps rather than keywords). It’s been given the task of rebuilding the app store so whether it will continue to offer Android apps as well as IOS apps remains to be seen.
  • There’s no doubt that apps are an important aspect of mobile marketing. Getting users to download them is one thing however retaining those users is another. Not only can it be difficult to get users to actually use your app, mobile apps can also be rather troublesome to maintain.
  • Should you decide to build a mobile experience for your users (and you should!) what is the best way to go about it?
  • You could use a 3rd party mobile site service, which will ‘transform’ your site to a mobile version. Mobile site service companies like Useablenet however will host your mobile site on their site which leads to a range of SEO nightmares including diluted links, high bounce rate and duplicate content issues. All in all it’s not a great option.
  • You could build a mobile siteversion in house, which offers a bit more control and could be more cost effective. Yet if it’s not done properly and uses a subdomain or subfolder then you face the same SEO nightmare problems as above.
  • The best option by far is to use the same URL structure as your main site and use the Responsive Web technique which will display the same webpage, the same URL, the same content yet all it does is repurpose the page for the resolution of the screen. It offers better usability for the user and help maintains link value.
  • Google have a separate mobile crawler, which works in the same way as the main Google index and searches for content and pages that are only served to mobile. Just as the crawler works in the same way, site optimization works in the same way for mobile as it does for desktop. Marketers need to be aware and ready to action their activities for these users who are wanting to access the same information and content but they are choosing to access it in a new way through new technologies.

Schema & Authorship: 1 Year Layer

  • Hresume in microformats http://t.co/SnqqVgph or schema job posting http://t.co/2yaFTRTf for positions, interesting!
  • Visit http://t.co/dxbvN0kT to find out when the next Google webmaster tools hangout is
  • Think of rich snippets as rich summaries, it must visible on the landing page.
  • Rich snippets are supposed to be short descriptions of the content on to the page, not a spam tactic
  • Google plus pages for publishers with rel=publishers to the publishers google plus page – ideal for Brands!
  • Authorship – use accurately for authors NOT publishers
  • Recommended tools: AWR and quixapp
  • Recommended tool: seo tools for excel – quickly pull data without being a developer
  • 21% CTR without rich snippet versus 26% CTR with rich snippet in one test
  • SERP Turkey is a b testing tool with SERPs
  • Copy the schema and chuck it into the rich snippet tool by google
  • Schema and micro formats enrich our SERPs (or pollute?)

The second day of SMX started with a panelist discussion on social shares, and top tips on how marketers are truly going to be influential.

Here are the top takeaways from the first morning session with more to follow later on today!

Social Shares | New Link Building from @LisaDMyers

  • Rel=Author one of the key factors of Link signals in years to come, mixing in the need of SEO & Social Media
  • If your not there already understand and begin to use Google +, as research has shown a direct correlation for companies having better SERPs because of using G+
  • The end game has not changed in terms of link building, in essence creativity is essential to build great links
  • Examples of short term Social SEO link building: post and publish blogs, articles, breaking news, infographics, competitions and interviews
  • Example of long term Social SEO link building: create a social community, developing a blog, writing white papers and making yourself seem a social authority
  • Understand your target market in making sure they will share your items, relevancy is key
  • Makes the most of what is happening now in the market

Making Waves Not Ripples: Effective Syndicatoin to Drive Social Sharing from @mrjamescarson

Last Friday I had the joy of attending Brighton SEO and listening to Philip Sheldrake’s presentation on future visions for SEO. He presented some very interesting stuff on how the World Wide Web as we know it will evolve and how we will make sense of the ever increasing volume of data contained within the web. Our role in SEO is set to change, however SEOs that are adaptable, flexible and willing to work with different types of information and different departments within the organisation will survive.

More People, More Things, More Data

The world’s population is rapidly growing and is set to reach 8 billion people in the next decade. We produce and consume large quantities of resources. The amount of data we produce is extensive; from content and documents on the internet, to output signals from electronic devices to environmental sensory trackers that measure things like temperature, electricity consumption, traffic and flow of water. We can quite easily collect this data however applying intelligence to turn it into useful information by identifying patterns is becoming more and more difficult.

Last week my colleague Shaad Hamid and I were invited to the Business School at Oxford Brookes University to talk about the rise of Social Media and what it means for businesses.

Here are the slides from our presentation:



Top Take Aways

  • Social Media is no longer restricted by region, demographic or age. We are witnessing a global, cultural phenomenon. Social media has universal appeal and is emerging as a primary communication channel.
  • Mobile phones are fuelling the rise in Social Media use. They allow users to be constantly connected and offer real-time interaction so users no longer have to wait till they get home to update their statuses. The two mediums are complimentary as they represent the two most popular ways to stay in touch with friends.
  • The rise of social media has changed the landscape for marketing and advertising as consumers now have a voice. Where before there was a monologue between brands and consumers with brands dictating the agenda, there is now a dialogue.
  • Why should brands use social media? To build brand awareness, create great customer service, conduct market or competitor research, advertise or reach more consumers. However the most valuable activity on social media is building a community and creating brand advocacy.
  • Only 14% of consumers trust brand advertisements while 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations.
  • Building positive brand advocacy with users of social media is something that competitors cannot easily replicate.
  • The biggest challenge for companies trying to implement a social media strategy is figuring out the logistics – setting guidelines and controlling the ‘information supply chain’.
  • Social Media is a function of marketing and the marketing strategy must be in line with the overall business strategy.
  • Like any marketing function it must be measurable otherwise it’s not worth doing. Every social media strategy must have KPIs for each channel. Set goals and measure performance against them.

 

New Facebook Page Developments

The ‘new’ timeline layout that Facebook users have recently had to get used to is now being rolled out to Facebook Pages too. Along with new real-time Facebook insights, brands really have an opportunity to develop their Facebook marketing strategy and create added value for users. The new timeline for brands will automatically update to all pages on 30th March 2012. Some innovative brands have already adopted this new layout and are beginning to utilise it to their advantage. I’m going to present some ideas on how you as a brand can take advantage of the new features on your Facebook page.

Let’s look at the new features:

Cover Photo

Brands now have more than a thumbnail image to express their identity. The large cover photo is the first thing that people will see on your page, so it is essential that it represents the brand values. It can’t contain information that references purchases, prices, liking the page, contact information or contain a call to action. Use a strong image that clearly depicts what the brand is about. Harley Davidson have done a great job with their cover photo:  it clearly represents their brand, their iconic bikes and the open road. Another good example is Starbucks Coffee.

St. Valentine’s Day has become one of the biggest events in the retail calendar. Second only to Christmas, it is a huge money maker for brands, with 32% of gifts being bought online. In America, it is expected that a whopping $3.5billion will be spent on jewellery alone. Men are the biggest spenders, buying all sorts of gifts for their loved ones, from flowers, to chocolates, to dinners out and weekends away – and they are more likely than women to buy elaborate gifts. With such huge revenue opportunities, ask yourself… how well did your brand perform and what can be done to improve performance for next year?

1.       Planning

People start searching for Valentine’s Day gifts around mid-January, with momentum picking up pace at the beginning of February. The biggest sales days are the 5th and 6th of February, with the week running up to the 14th February characterised by frenzied and frantic last-minute gift buying. This means brands have to get their thinking cap on and start planning well in advance. Think about what worked well the previous year and act on it. The earlier you start, the wider the audience you will reach.

February calendar with 14th highlighted with heart

The recent integration of social and search at Google marks a huge change in how information on the internet will be presented to us. When a logged in user now performs a search, they will be given two types of search results: the anonymous search results that we are all used to and personal search results, which are generated from information shared within that user’s network of Google+ circles. This new platform presents a major marketing opportunity for brands and it requires a developed strategy just like other social media platforms. It would be daft for brands to consider Google+ as just another fad, and, in the same breadth that brands define strategies for Facebook and Twitter, the same now needs to be done for Google+.

While it is apparent that Google+ is not yet fully developed, it would appear a good time for brands to set up their Google+ page, start uploading regular content and playing about with the different features on Google+. What should you as a brand be doing now?

1. Grow Your Circles

In recent months, Google has made a distinct effort to publicly communicate the small changes they have been making to their algorithms.  In a bid to appear more transparent, Google has published monthly updates on its blog with regard to these changes. With special attention on these updates, and taking into consideration yesterday’s big social search announcement, this post ponders the signals being sent to us around Google Image Search.

The first mention of these subtle changes came in November, when Google cited one change as:

  • “Retiring a signal in Image search: As the web evolves, we often revisit signals that we launched in the past that no longer appear to have a significant impact. In this case, we decided to retire a signal in Image Search related to images that had references from multiple documents on the web.” It would appear that by Google is trying to reduce issues of duplicate content by making sure the same image doesn’t appear twice.

It was during this month that Google also rolled out the +1 button to Image search. Its social media offering opens up to integrate photos, allowing +1 users to highlight favourite images. This marks the start of a personalised web experience and reinforces the growing sentiment that social and search are becoming increasingly intertwined.

Good project management is the backbone of any successful SEO campaign. With the right planning and execution, good management can keep the project profitable, lower stress and maintain client satisfaction. This blog post will identify three key tips to help you become a better project manager and highlight three tools which can help you along the way.

1. Communication
Communication is central to any good working relationship. It’s important at the project kick off stage to establish this relationship so that you can move forward together. Developing a friendship with your client allows you to manage their expectations.  Working in the industry, it’s often easy to forget how alien the topic of SEO can be to some people. Therefore as a project manager it is your job to educate your client on SEO and to explain the nature of SEO as a marketing tool. By improving your client’s understanding of SEO and developing a communicative relationship, you will be able to create realistic goals and will be better equipped to deal with any unexpected problems.