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Paid Search & Analytics Tips & Takeaways | SMX London 2012


By On May 14, 2012 In conferences, google, google adwords, google analytics, ppc, website analytics With 3 Comments

Yesterday at SMX London was full of information and handy tips on Paid Search and Analytics. There were four sessions:

Here’s our write-up of them.

SEO & Social Media Tips & Takeaways | SMX London 2012


By On May 14, 2012 In conferences, facebook, google+, link building, online marketing, search, search engine marketing, seo, social media, Social SEO, twitter With 2 Comments

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

New Google Mobile app – an app with soul


By On May 9, 2012 In google, google+, Mobile, seo, Social SEO With 4 Comments

After a relatively long wait, Google announced today that they have launched an update to their Google Plus iPhone app. As I type this post, my phone seems to be taking its own time in downloading the update which gives me the impression that this particular update is a fairly significant one. In fact, Google seem to almost want the Google plus app to be part of your normal day to day experience by stressing that “we’re not interested in a mobile or social experience that’s just smaller. We’re embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density display), and transforming Google+ into something more intimate, and more expressive”.

The most significant line in their announcement to me, was their justification for the iPhone app upgrade, “today’s new iPhone app is an important step in this direction—toward a simpler, more beautiful Google”. I’m not sure about you, but I feel this is probably the biggest hint Google has publicly dropped of their efforts in moving toward a more  ’social’ and a more ‘mobile-centric’ strategy for their future.

Bing is For Doing – What do You Want to do Today?


By On May 2, 2012 In Bing, seo, Viral Marketing With 3 Comments

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just shut down the computer you’re on and go do something absolutely outrageous? Something you never thought you’d do, or be able to do? But, what if one of the world’s top search engines were to help you make those unfulfilled dreams a reality? If you haven’t seen their ads on Facebook already, this is exactly what the search giant, Bing, have set out to achieve.

Bing is for doing

50 Tips & Takeaways from BlueGlass LA


By On April 30, 2012 In conferences, seo With 13 Comments

Last week I got the chance to attend the latest BlueGlass conference in LA. I’ve got to admit, when heading out to the US I had high expectations for this event having heard a lot of buzz around previous conferences they’ve held and you might have seen my interview with Chris Winfield ahead of the event. But I’d have to say, they exceeded expectations way beyond what I ever expected!

This was quite easily the best search event I have ever attended (and there’s been quite a few now!), the sessions were packed full of great content – once you’ve been to a lot of conferences you find yourself skipping quite a few sessions, but this conference was the exception – and every session was full to the back of the room! But as is normally the way, the highlight was the networking – you really could just sell tickets for “an audience with Greg Boser” show! Getting the chance to meet everyone before the event at Mike’s SEO BBQ was a great way to kick-off the conference – and the intimate feel of the event by having a limited number of 125 attendees and all staying at the amazing Standard Hotel in Downtown LA with a free bar and rooftop party is always an appreciated nice touch!

Top Takeaways from the Search Firestarters Event on Attribution


By On April 30, 2012 In conferences, website analytics With Comments Off

Last Thursday was the first Search Firestarters event, hosted by Google and Only Dead Fish – and we were lucky enough to get an invitation. Here are our top takeaways!

Martin McNulty, from Forward3D

  • Don’t try to attribute your way out of a rubbish marketing campaign. If your marketing is rubbish no attribution model will fix that.
  • Modelling is not measuring – it’s about statistics and odds.
  • Concentrate on what you can control – it’s all very well finding out the volume of search depends on cloud cover, but you can’t control the weather so you can’t do anything about it.
  • Some companies will get most conversions from just one click – there’s not much point doing attribution modelling if it’s only for a couple of conversions.

Near Miss or Near Perfect? New Match Behaviour Coming to Google


By On April 25, 2012 In google adwords, ppc With 3 Comments

Google announced new matching behaviour just over a week ago, nicknamed ‘near exact and phrase’: exact keywords will match misspellings and ‘close variants’, and phrase keywords will cover searches containing misspellings or close variants of the phrase. It’s not live yet (and won’t be until mid-May) but the setting for the new behaviour is already available in all campaigns and is switched on by default.

So, should you opt in or out? Here are my thoughts:

What will the effects be?

Even if you turn the setting off, you can still be affected.

As campaigns are opted in by default, it seems likely that the majority of advertisers will be using this new match behaviour. So there may well be a sudden increase in competition on misspellings and close variants – clearly this will affect you if you already bid on them.

Google’s ‘Over Optimisation’ Algorithm Update – Coming Soon!


By On April 24, 2012 In google, link building, online marketing, Online PR, search, seo, Social SEO With 16 Comments

Many speculated for weeks over the launch of Google’s next algorithm update targeting websites that Matt Cutts described as “over optimised”. The new algorithm update is meant to launch in the next few days and according to the Official Google Search Blog, this particular update will affect sites that employ the following “black-hat” tactics:

  • Keyword stuffing
  • Link schemes (paid links, excessive reciprocal linking, links from (and to) spammy or unrelated sites etc.)
  • Article spinning

According to Matt Cutts, the change will go live for all languages at the same time. The update is meant to affect 3.1% of queries in English where “regular users” will notice. This number is relatively small when compared to the effect the original Panda update had on search queries (12% of search queries for regular users).

Glenn Jones on Microformats and SEO – BrightonSEO


By On April 23, 2012 In conferences, google, search, seo With 1 Comment

Continuing our coverage of April’s BrightonSEO, here’s a write-up of ‘Microformats and SEO’: a talk given by Glenn Jones, a founder and director of Madgex. His slides are available here.

Glenn Jones presenting on Microformats and SEO at BrightonSEO 2012

Search engines are interested in getting structured data from websites for better user experience in searching. Google uses them for rich snippets in the search results, to show things like ratings and author pictures.

Web Evolution and The Future Of SEO – Brighton SEO


By On April 17, 2012 In seo With 4 Comments

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.

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