SearchEngineOptimisation.com, only one way up

Vertical search content is highly sought after by the search engines. The many facets of content over and above the standard webpage type are growing. Vertical channels such as video can be easier to rank for than traditional content when using a particular keyword. If you are still approaching search engine marketing using traditional content alone you may be struggling to get the results you need.

There are many different forms of content you can submit. Here are some to get you going:

1. Gadgets
If you have a quirky gadget that adds value to your audience then get it on there. If you set it up right and promote it well your fans will install it and possibly refer others your way.

2. RSS & FeedBurner
No matter what the content type you can offer your audience a feed. If your site uses one of the mainstream blogging platforms then it’s likely that you have an automatic feed set up. You can then run your working feed through FeedBurner and utilise the information there. The benefits can help you build better relationships with readers.

3. Blog Search
If you don’t use one of the standard blogging platforms then it can be a great benefit to use the Blog Search Pinging Service with Google. This informs Google when you update content and automatically adds it to the list of content to be indexed.

At www.searchengineoptimization.co.uk we offer a wide range of SEO services and can help you maximise your search engine marketing campaigns.

No matter how much your search engine optimisation company might wish it, there are some things about your online presence that can’t be directly used for SEO.  Emails, for example, simply don’t count. Google isn’t going to read your inter-office memos. There are, however, some pieces of content that you can make work directly for your SEO strategy.

The business newsletter has traditionally had limited use. Aside from posting a copy on your website, the average company treats newsletters as disposable content in a way. There are ways to put your newsletter to better use.

*Posting it around the net. There are places where your newsletter content will be welcome. Simply Google your main keywords with the addition of ‘association,’ ‘club’ or ‘group.’ Posting your newsletter on the sites that come up helps with link building with UK and international links, and can add to your online reputation management efforts.

Something to be aware of if pursuing this is the duplicate content issue. It can be a good idea to leave re-posted newsletters off your home site to avoid problems.

*Using it to gather content. Newsletters don’t have to be a one-way communication. Create competitions and comment sections to attract content from your target market. These can then be posted on your site or used in marketing.

It is important to know exactly what you can do to make your non-SEO content work for website optimisation purposes. Talk to our team at SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk about the content you can repurpose during professional SEO services.

As your search engine optimisation marketing develops and you actively track your rankings you may start to wonder how you can find out which keywords your website ranks for. This may seem like a simple enough area of analysis but in fact identifying the total number of keywords your site ranks for is very complicated and for some an answer will always remain elusive.

There are two great myths that have caused SEO-ers to question their keywords. These are ‘the ranking table’ and ‘Google has the data’.

The Ranking Table

You wouldn’t be alone if you can imagine Google with a massive ranking table. However due to the scope of data required, the speed at which it updates and the distribution of data across huge server farms a master table does not exist.

Google Has All the Data

Ok, you may say, Google might not have a master table but it certainly has all the required data, doesn’t it? Although Google does hold back on some data there are some areas that even they don’t know. There have been startling statistics revealed in the past suggesting that around 25 per cent of Google searches are new. Back in 2007 Udi Manber at Google shocked search marketers everywhere when speaking about this and although Google clarified that this data came from a specific time frame the amount of new enquiries is still significant. As search queries grow longer and searchers use more detailed and natural language the amount of new search terms will grow.

So, finding the total keywords you rank for may be impossible but you can still glean insights from your analytics so don’t get too obsessive about this.

At www.searchengineoptimisation.co.uk we offer a wide range of professional SEO services.

Search engine optimisation is about gradually improving the performance of a site. It is important to recall that performance is best measured in terms of sales rather than rankings. However, it is not enough to merely build up the number of goods or services sold from a site. This is because the sphere of search is somewhere in which the reputation of a company can be easily threatened.

At Searchengineoptimisation.co.uk we can assist in the protection of a site’s reputation. The knowledge we have gathered during the course of diverse campaigns can be used for internet reputation management. It is the case that preparation pays dividends in this complicated area.

Online firms are exposed to a diversity of dangers. Review sites can be places where a business is criticised without regard for fairness. The social media networking sites can swiftly distribute unpleasant stories about a company around large audiences. Furthermore, the search engine results pages can be colonised by negative blog posts with regard to a firm’s activities.

Preparation can limit the influence of any bad news in the world of search. If the right steps are taken, parts of the target audience which would otherwise be affected by unfair comments about the company will be less inclined to take the criticism seriously. A proper complaints procedure can be used to address the genuine concerns customers may occasionally experience.

In the event of a poor review, a measured response is required. Factual errors in the review may be pointed out, but a calm and courteous reply is essential.

Bad news from Bellwether. Their latest quarterly report, produced in conjunction with the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and BDO, shows that marketing executives around the UK slashed their marketing budget in the run up to 2011.

Twenty-two per cent of companies revised their marketing budgets down during the last three months of 2010. However, despite this, budgets for advertising online and internet marketing saw ‘modest’ growth. While modest though it was still at its smallest rate in 18 months.

We feel it’s encouraging to see that budgets for online marketing are increasing, whilst figures for television advertising, radio and other mainstream media were heavily revised. It shows the importance of having a healthy budget for your online campaign, whether you want to indulge in PPC, search engine optimisation, affiliate marketing, link building services or other specialist techniques.

There are a wealth of options you can employ for your internet marketing campaign, that can attract new, targeted traffic whilst improving your ROI. Like most things in business, you have to properly invest before you reap any kind of serious reward, but the benefits can be incredible if you strategise correctly and utilise the right methods.

As online revenues for some retailers show around the Christmas 2010 period, more and more people are taking to shopping online, which makes online sales a key part of business revenue for those sites that have invested in their online advertising accordingly. Focusing on the strengths of your website whilst improving on the weaker areas is planning ahead, and will help to generate traffic through key on-page and off-page methods.

A properly-targeted campaign is a wonderful investment for your business, and working in tandem with an SEO agency can help to thrust the online arm of your business to a wider online audience who are searching for your terms. When it comes to marketing your business, a solid budget across a variety of areas is the best way to promote yourself online.

If you are a business owner or responsible for the online marketing for a company then you will understand how important every aspect of your website is. Most companies now choose to use external search engine optimisation services to assist with their SEO, as the task is becoming so complex and advanced that it is an industry within its own right. Once you decide to hire professional services, you will no doubt begin to conduct some form of web based research and by doing this you will soon discover that there is a lot of choice when it comes to which company to use. Of course, in any industry there are the top players and more trusted companies, along with those which are perhaps not thought of so highly, yet the key to remember is that what is appropriate for one company is not necessarily the best choice for the next.

When choosing your search engine optimisation services it is important to know what you want them to achieve for you and what it is exactly that they can do for you. The overall objective will usually be to increase the value of your site, drive more traffic and contribute to creating a strong brand and online presence; however there will usually be individual elements for each company which will differ from the next. Depending on where you are in your online life or what areas of your website you need to improve, will dramatically affect the services which you require from your SEO professionals.

Whilst most companies will offer an all round service, there are a lot who will specialise in specific elements of web development. It may not always be the case that they have specifically chosen to deal predominantly in that area, but more that they happen to have worked on a lot of similar websites or strategies. This is not an uncommon occurrence and can actually be a benefit to both the company offering SEO advice and the customer. By selecting a company which has successfully created SEO strategies for websites of a similar nature, gives you the confidence that not only do they know what they are doing within your industry, they also know what your competitors are up to.

Common areas of focus for most websites are to get assistance on keywords and key phrases, to create or build a link strategy or to help optimise or revamp website content. In a lot of cases all these factors will need looking at; however the majority of the time there is usually one element that sticks out a little more. Do not be afraid to approach companies and ask them what they have achieved in the past, after all, this is your online presence at stake.

It is always worth remembering that as talented and skilled as these professionals are, they cannot work wonders. Any company which guarantees you a number one page ranking is probably lying. A good company can probably achieve this for you, however they will never make promises they potentially cannot achieve.

Whether you’re engaging professional SEO services or looking to do it all yourself, you’ll need to prioritise some tasks above others. Bringing any site up to cutting edge standards takes a lot of work- which is why many people choose to use SEO consultants who know the field to do most of the work for them- and you’ll need to have a plan right from the beginning. It’s always a good idea to put something down in writing, even if it’s just for your own reference. It’ll help keep your efforts focussed. If you do hire specialist SEO consultants, always ask them for a detailed breakdown of what they intend to do before they start work.

If your website has been up and running for a while and you want to bring it higher in the search rankings, the first thing to do is have a long hard look at your site. Is it user-friendly? Have a few of your own friends try it out and get their honest opinions. Are the graphics and layout pleasing to the eye? Take care that Flash objects and other bells and whistles aren’t intrusive or annoying. Websites can be too fancy as well as too plain.

If you’re happy with the look and feel of the site, run it through a few SEO tools and have a look at the results. There are plenty of free SEO tools out there available for anyone to use. If nothing else, collecting a few metrics like PageRank and Alexa Rank will give you a baseline from which to measure the gains made by your SEO efforts. Run a few Google searches and see where you come up too, and note this all down for future reference.

The SEO tools should give you some idea of where your site is lacking. Are you missing out on valuable directory inclusions like a DMOZ or Yahoo! listing? Is there any traffic related to your website on Twitter or Facebook? What are the keywords that the tools identify, and are they the same as the ones you thought each page should be targeting?

For almost all websites that buy professional SEO services, the key missing puzzle piece is content. Whether your site has been around for years or days, it’s important to develop a keyword structure across the whole site. Decide which keywords or keyword phrases each individual page (except things like terms and conditions and delivery information, which won’t help you get traffic) should target and make sure there is appropriate and unique content in place on every one.

Content in king in SEO. While generating content is one of the most time consuming parts of any SEO campaign, it is absolutely necessary. These days search engines demand good content as a prerequisite for ranking well for almost any strong keywords. It must be readable by real site users and as useful as possible. Remember that it’s no good bringing people to your website if they don’t like what they find!

Search engine optimisation is a cornerstone of modern marketing, however, it is not a discipline that is completely understood by business – and this has lead to misconceptions about what businesses should expect from professional SEO services.

Admittedly, if a business is outsourcing their SEO requirements, then the argument could be made that they don’t need to know about the ins and outs of optimisation, however, by being completely ignorant of search engine optimization businesses aren’t doing themselves any favours  as somewhere along the line they may find that in misunderstanding their professional search engine optimisation services intentions they undermine their SEO campaign in the long term.

It would be wrong to suggest that SEO is a two way street, and professional SEO services will obviously have the know how and experience to implement your SEO campaign on your behalf, however there there is a level of trust needed in completely outsourcing your SEO – not least because you hand over control of an important part of your marketing operations.

A lack of control isn’t the only danger however, and there is a real danger that clients develop a misunderstanding about how professional SEO services are operating, which leads them into thinking that either the SEO services are not doing their job, or that they are just plain deceptive.

With this n mind, at the very least, it is advisable that a business which is considering using professional SEO services is aware, in broad terms, of what the search engine optimization process involves and that way they will avoid some common misconceptions that can lead to the premature failure of a search engine marketing campaign:

Instant Results

Successful search engine optimisation requires patience – there’s no avoiding the matter – and therefore, even by streamlining your meta tags etc with a view to having your page indexed more expediently, there will always be a length of time from between the start of your campaign to a high page ranking. – It is this discrepancy that can lead to clients becoming frustrated with an SEO service.

Keywords

Even a passing interest in seo will have taught the client the importance of keywords, however the complexities with which keywords are most effectively utilized can often be missed, which means that clients can suggest keywords to be targeted that are perhaps too obvious. In reality, the best keywords for your campaign may not be the most obvious, and professional SEO services should know this and be able to advise accordingly.

The Best Looking Page May Not Be the Most SEO Effective

It is natural for a client to want their home page to be as aesthetically pleasing as possible, complete with all the bells and whistles such as flash etc; however, whilst a little flash content can go a long way, in an SEO context a flash heavy page will not make for effective SEO. Admittedly, however, search engines are starting to factor in flash pages more effectively, but as things stand less really is more when it comes to flash and seo.

There is a persisting misconception in the SEO world that a search engine, such as Google, will rank a page squarely on its relevance and importance; while this is true to an extent, it is certainly not the whole story, and in fact there are a lot of other factors that are taken into consideration, when it comes to Google’s ranking or re-ranking of a page.

Of course, SEO services will have most control over their pages relevance score, and therefore creating relevant content will always be the bread and butter of search engine optimisation services, however make no bones about – relevance is not the be all and end all of your page ranking.

In fact, the reasons why a search engine will rerank a page are incredibly – even surprisingly – diverse, and range from the practical, such as ensuring there are no duplicates on the results set, to the more subtle “usability” reasons – such as tailoring a results set for a particular user. Unfortunately for seo services, optimising against duplicates appearing on a results will be a challenge, if not impossible, however other factors such as geographical location etc can be more easily factored in.

So, what are some of the main reasons why a search engine might rerank a page?

Personalization

Understandably, Google is forever trying to enhance the search experience for individual users, and one of the most effective ways to do this is to introduce the element of personalization. This means that the results set will vary between users, and will change according to factors such as personal taste, transaction history and geographical location.

Whilst the personalization of the search experience presents SEO companies with a clear challenge, its not all bad news; and for smaller companies, optimising according to geographical location is a great way to climb up a results set. This can be done fairly effectively by including an address on some of your landing pages, along with using long tail keywords targeting certain areas.

Usability

On a similar note, whilst some pages may have great relevance in regards to a particular subject, if their usability is not up to scratch then this could incur a penalty or see the site’s removal from the results set altogether; for example, when it comes to mobile search results, mobile sites that are converted desktop pages or incompatible with mobile browsers will not perform well on the results page – despite their relevance.

With this in mind, usability enhancers such as Flash (not exactly celebrated by search engine optimisation services) can in fact have a positive effect on a sites page rank. – Remember the internet is continually shifting towards a more visual, social and usable kind of landscape, where functionality will be preferred to relevance, and it is crucial that seo services are aware of this.

Its important to reiterate that the back-bone of professional SEO services still needs to be relevance, however in an industry where even the slightest advantage can be highly significant – an awareness of the other reasons why a page might be reranked will always be helpful.