It's a web life - Digital/Search Marketing Consultancy

The Golden Age of SEO? the times they are a changin'

2012-02-10T01:53:00.001Z

As I was reading "The Golden Age of SEO" article on search engine land this morning, I remembered a post I wrote back in 2010 about the demise of onsite optimisation (Whatever happened to good old seo). Funny to see how things have gone even further with SEO in the last 2 years and I now find myself including link building, social media and conversion optimisation advice in SEO audits for my

How to set up a successful A/B test

2012-01-31T04:16:00.001Z

With many SMEs and brands focusing on SEO and social media optimisation these days, actual website usability and conversion optimisation are often forgotten. Driving traffic to a website via search engines is all well and good, but if your landing pages are not user friendly then all your SEO efforts will be in vain. After all, would you buy something from a high street shop that looks messy and

SEO - what's next?

2011-12-29T15:17:00.000Z

As it is almost the end of the year, I thought it would be worth sharing this great article on The Most Popular SEO Posts Of 2011 from Search Engine Land.2011 has been an extremely busy year for SEO's with the multiple panda algorithm updates, the freshness update, the rise of Google + and the ever growing importance of social networks and tools in link building.Now more than ever it is crucial

The evolution of search explained by Google

2011-11-29T12:04:00.001Z

For all the SEO fans out there (and those who'd like to know how things changed over time), a 6 minute video from Google including all the key search milestones since 1996. If you work in SEO and need to explain to people on a regular basis how the search landscape has changed over time, then this video is for you.

Time to Wave goodbye

2011-11-24T10:00:00.000Z

It's official, Google's first attempt at social media, Google Wave (Google Wave Blog), will be officially stopped on April 30,2012. While this tool never got any support from users, I'm sure it gave Google a lot of great insights into social media and allowed them to develop Google+. Now let's just hope that Google+ doesn't suffer the same fate, but judging by the news today that Britney

The real SEO spirit

2011-11-16T09:15:00.000Z

Another fantastic article in Search Engine Land yesterday - Why Do Search Engines, Keyword Research & SEO Really Matter?.If you don't know about SEO, search engines or keyword research, then this is the article for you.It is also a great testimonial for all of us working day in day out in SEO and trying to convince companies that there are huge benefits to work with search marketing experts.

The definitive black hat SEO infographic for Halloween

2011-10-28T08:54:00.001+01:00

A very entertaining infographic about black hat SEO from seo.com. This ties in very well with the announcement by Google earlier this week that SEO is not spam. Well in this case, it is! So if you want to know what not to do when optimising a site, read on;

Good to know we're not wasting time with SEO

2011-10-25T08:28:00.000+01:00

Interesting story from Google yesterday when Matt Cutts confirmed that Google doesn't see SEO as spam - (Google Says SEO Is Not Spam). I for one am happy to see that I haven't been wasting the last 8 years of my life working on something spammy! It also reassures me to know that I can safely start my freelance SEO/online marketing business with hope. But this statement by Google obviously

Search ranking factors...the evolution

2011-09-29T09:04:00.001+01:00

Great infographic in the search engine journal last week. This clearly shows how we went from metadata to keywords, content, link building and now social media in search engine algorithms. Over the years SEO has become an art more than a science and it requires technical as well as creative skills. Source: The Evolution of Making Page 1 [INFOGRAPHIC]"

SEO made easy

2011-09-13T09:30:00.000+01:00

A brilliant video from Search Engine Land about SEO. 3 minutes is all you need to grasp the basics of optimisation.

SEO - it's only the beginning

2011-09-11T12:59:00.002+01:00

source:http://thefreeseoguide.com/ Working in SEO day in day out, can you can be forgiven for sometimes thinking that good rankings can solve every business problems. The issues start when business owner themselves start thinking the same way and have unrealistic expectations of what search marketing can do for them. In any business strategy, seo should just be one element of a very wide

Yahoo Europe - so long, farewell....

2011-08-03T12:11:00.000+01:00

Yahoo announced it earlier this week (Yahoo UK & Others Switching To Bing Organic Results August 3rd), but after the US, the European organic results in Yahoo will from today be powered by Bing.While this may have only a limited impact for most companies as Google tends to control 80 to 90% of the European markets, it is still a significant change in the search marketing landscape.The question

Paid search - getting it right

2011-07-23T10:37:00.000+01:00

With paid bids reaching $54 in some industries this week (http://searchengineland.com/study-insurance-loan-related-keywords-are-googles-cash-cows-86113), it is becoming increasingly difficult for new or small businesses to commit to paid search. So when is the right time to consider paid search? how should you go about it? which keywords should you target? Here are some answers to help you make

Google+, waste of time or real contender?

2011-06-29T13:56:00.000+01:00

In the last few days, Google launched its latest attempt to conquer the social media world (Google gets social again with Google+ | Mobile Apps | ZDNet UK) with Google +Call me cynical, but to me this new effort is very likely to achieve as much as Buzz and Wave did.....not much!While I don't blame Google for the actual willingness to crack this market, I'd be happier if they focused fully on

Google Instant Pages, why?

2011-06-18T07:17:00.000+01:00

Ok, this is going to sound like a rant, but as I'm an opinionated french man, I'm going for it. So this week Google launched Instant Pages, a clever system that predicts which search result you're going to like and pre loads it for your in the background, thus reducing time to view the page. While I do appreciate the fact that Google is always trying to enhance the searchers experience, I'm

Design vs conversions - finding the right balance

2011-06-04T10:06:00.000+01:00

Recently I've been working more and more on conversion optimisation, and the impending launch of a new website has made it clear to me that the best design is not always best for conversions and lead generation. As I don't want to upset any web designers here, please let me explain what I mean in more detail. No conversions = no business For most businesses, conversions on a website mean

Google +1 and social search - what's in it for you?

2011-05-26T20:06:00.001+01:00

As Google is current rolling out its social search across 19 countries, I thought it'd be interesting to have a look at the effect of this and Google+1 on the SERPs and your SEO strategy (thank you @rochelledancel for the suggestion!). Social search, what is it? To put it simply, social search is the integration of social media results in the standard Google SERPs. For this to work, you need to

Google Instant Preview for Paid search

2011-05-19T08:50:00.000+01:00

Google instant preview has been available for a little while now, and up until now I've got to admit I didnt pay much attention to it.However, an article in searchengineland this morning (Google Instant Preview: A Game-Changer For Landing Pages) about instant preview for paid ads made me think.How is the fact that you can preview landing pages going to affect CTR and conversions? In my view it is

SEO - the impact of being at the top

2011-05-10T12:30:00.001+01:00

Some good insights from econsultancy on the importance on being on page one in the SERPs, and more specifically in the top 3 positions.Report reveals Google's organic CTR | Econsultancy While it's always been known that top rankings will grant you higher click through rates than lower positions, it is interesting to see that long tail keywords are more likely to achieve higher CTRs as well as

Improve your SEO via paid search

2011-04-28T09:17:00.001+01:00

Very good article on how looking at your paid search data can help you refine your organic seo - How PPC Can Improve Organic Search Conversions. Paid search + organic optimisation = better results While the article focuses mostly on conversions and how paid search results can help you drive your organic optimisation, it is important to remember another point: paid and organic search work hand in

Life after Panda....it's all about quality content

2011-04-26T09:36:00.001+01:00

How to deal with the effects of Panda and what techniques to use to make sure your site still gets indexed - another great article from search engine land: 5 New Tactics For SEO Post-Panda As indicated by the demise of link farms, the latest google update focuses heavily on quality content, so if your site is optimised for users, with no duplicate content, then you shouldn't have to worry.Along

Backlink Analysis Tools

2011-04-13T13:41:00.001+01:00

I'm currently getting back into SEO monitoring and link building and I came across this very useful article about the best tools to analyse your backlinks: The 5 Best Backlink Analysis Tools With link building in the spotlight again since the Google Panda update, it is crucial for all business to get their strategy right. It is also essential to use the right metrics to find out who links to you

Black, white, grey...what colour is your SEO hat?

2011-04-12T08:50:00.001+01:00

Search Engine Land and Sphinn have once again reopened the never ending discussion about white hat and black hat SEO:Hot At Sphinn: SEO/SEM Standards & Certification, Black Hat Vs. White Hat & More I do like the point about the fact that SEO is measured by the level of risk you take and how far you're willing to go to optimise. But as we all know, optimisation is not an exact science so the

Marketing love...How to make your agency relationship last

2011-04-08T13:36:00.002+01:00

Nice article about the don'ts when managing agencies in a digital role. Mistakes I’ve made managing agency relationships | Econsultancy Here are a few tips to help to help you make the right choice: 1 - Be honestI've managed quite a few of these relationships in the past, whether it was for seo, ppc, display advertising or other online services, and what I'd say is that it always pays to be

SEO - what not to do

2011-04-07T08:47:00.001+01:00

I've been following Jill Whalen and her High Rankings blog since I started working in Online Marketing / SEO 8 years ago now....Her no-nonsense approach to search engines is very refreshing and her straight to the point advice has always been of great help. While I have to admit I don't always agree with her views, she's got great expertise, and today's article about which SEO tactics not to use