All posts in online marketing

I think it would be fair to say that Google’s major algorithm updates in the last couple of years have seen us all asking ourselves some tough questions about the quality of what we’re putting on the web. This soul-searching has seen many reform their link building habits, while others have seen Google’s clamp-downs on web spam as an endorsement of the high-quality link building they’d been doing all along. But the focus hasn’t just been on links: the Panda update in its various iterations has shown that high-quality on-site content is paramount. This has seen the necessary rise of the content audit, and as someone who has long been a stickler for top notch content, I thought I’d share with you the process I go through and the things I include when I audit a site. I’d be really interested to hear how yours differ from mine, so feel free to leave a comment and let me know about the processes you use and the things you look at!

The giant content audit spreadsheet – and why I don’t use it

A question that often comes up when a client wants a content audit is what form it should take. Many consider a content audit to be a giant spreadsheet with every single URL listed, along with marks out of 10 for various quality metrics. Because of the sheer scale, this method often relies to an extent on automation, but that only gets you so far; a true assessment of content quality requires a human eye, and for bigger sites it’s not practical to look through every single page. While the process of content auditing in this way certainly has its merits, the way I like to do it has more of a qualitative focus that I believe gives the client considerably more value.

Look at a representative sample

Most websites follow templates that ensure a uniform design throughout the site – or at least they should! This means that content can be split into content types – for example, homepage, service page, product description page, blog post, and so on. Each content type is there to fulfill its own purpose, and requires its own assessment as to how well it achieves its aims. So why waste time looking at every single URL on the site when the comments you’re going to be making about one page in a particular category are likely to apply to the others in that content group?

I believe that the key to a good and actionable content audit is to look at a representative sample of a site’s content, providing concrete observations and recommendations and exploring in depth the actual experience of people using the site. They are, after all, by far the most important consideration.

The big content audit checklist

I’ll start with a disclaimer: every site is different. I’m not a believer in sticking rigidly to templates, and I typically use the headings below just as a starting point. I will often add or remove sections according to what’s appropriate for the site I’m looking at.

So, here’s what I would look at…

There comes a time in the life of an in-house marketer when they need agency support in order to implement and manage offline and online campaigns. However, building a solid working relationship between the two parties can, at times, be quite challenging, especially for those with little experience. I spoke to two senior in-house marketers: Dr. Gill Whiteman, head of online content and strategy at GTI Media and content manager of targetjobs.co.uk and Shalini Seneviratne, Global Brand Manager – Lifebuoy at Unilever, about sharing their experiences and advice on working with agencies and what to look for from an in-house marketing perspective. The following is the list of questions I posed to them along with their responses:

As this is my first post on the SEOptimise blog, I wanted to write on a subject that reflects a situation that I find myself in an awful lot. No doubt this is a situation that anyone reading this post will have found themselves in at one time or another.

Whenever we receive an enquiry, whether it’s a phone call or an enquiry form from our website, this person has taken the first steps in contacting us, meaning that they are interested in SEO services. Yes, I am a genius for figuring this part out! The people who enquire will tend to fit into one of two categories; people who know what they want and people who don’t.

Online reviews can be a divisive idea among marketers. Some welcome the user-generated keyword-rich content and increased transparency. Others argue that they have to be censored or you risk negative comments and even legal challenges.

So who’s right? This article takes a look at why you’d benefit from publishing reviews, what the risks are and how to mitigate them.

The rise and rise of UGC

UGC, or user-generated content is a fairly recent phenomenon of web marketing, and serves several of the major demands of SEO (at least in terms of how Google defines ‘optimised’ website content).

For a start, reviews are helpful to other visitors to your website – as long as they are honest. They offer an independent assessment of the quality of a product or service. No material written directly for marketing purposes can inspire that much trust.

Updating a page by posting a new review onto it shows Google (and other search engines) that the page and the website as a whole are still ‘alive’. Regularly updating a website is still one of the best ways to get it to the top of the search rankings.

On top of all of these things, like any text content added to your website, reviews contain plain, search-visible text; it may not be professionally keyworded or optimised, but it can still help you to rank higher for product names, and associated technical terms and phrases.

What are the risks?

One of the reasons why UGC is so popular is that it seems very low-risk – once you’ve added the capability to write reviews to your website, each user who posts their opinion is effectively providing you with search-visible content for free.

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

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).

Like it or not, the deadline for complying with the EU cookie directive is drawing very close. No matter how nonsensical this law seems, the sad reality is that it’s the law – and website owners have no choice but to comply. With the deadline for compliance now less than two months away, the aim of this post is to give you all the facts you need to know, including practical suggestions for ensuring that your site is in line with the new regulations. I’ve put my personal opinion at the end; clue:  like everyone else, I think this law is ludicrous!

What is the EU cookie directive?
For those not already aware, the supposed aim of this legislation is to increase online security and data privacy, giving users more control over what data can be held about them. It addresses concerns with how personal information is held and used. Some users – albeit a small minority – are concerned with what they see as the development of a ‘Big Brother’ society in which their every move is being recorded.

The legislation forces websites to be transparent about how they are using cookies, detailing exactly what information each cookie holds and how long it will be held, and requires them actively to request permission from their users before cookies can be used.

Previously, the law dictated that websites had to explain how they were using cookies and how users can ‘opt out’. Most sites did so in their Privacy Policies, but this isn’t enough under the new law:  users now have to ‘opt in’, having been made fully aware of the implications of doing so.

The real value of internet marketing is in the ease of setting up analytics by communication channel, measuring performance of campaigns and thereby directing/redirecting valuable marketing budget toward campaigns that yield higher return. Therefore, setting clear marketing KPIs is crucial before implementing any online marketing activity.

It must be reiterated that executing marketing campaigns in any channel is a tactic, perhaps one of several tactics that a marketing manager or director might include. Other online and offline channel tactics might include SEO, Google Adwords, Microsoft adCenter, email marketing, newspaper and magazine ads, radio and television ads, brochure distribution and leaflet drops etc.. It is important to recognise that Facebook ads is a channel in which we undertake tactics to sell things. Hence, think of your KPIs as what you want to accomplish and the relevant tactics as how you undertake your marketing activities to achieve these KPIs.

About Drapers Ecommerce 2012

Yesterday saw the annual Drapers Ecommerce Conference at America Square, London, a truly star studded event where some of the hottest brands in fashion this year (including My-Wardrobe, Reiss and Boohoo) came together to talk and discuss the changing dynamics of the World Wide Web, with 5 exciting agendas on the table:

  • Internationalisation of Ecommerce
  • Analysing the Ever-Changing Customer
  • Fall in “like” with Tweeting
  • From Browsing to Buying
  • Cross Channel Marketing

Top 32 Tweets

The event caused quite the stir on Twitter and gave some useful insight into the conference. Here are the 32 Tweets I found most useful from the event in:

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

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