Number 1 search marketing

Google update in November 2009

Number1 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:52:57 PST

It seems that Google have rolled out a change in their ranking factors in early November.

As ever, we are testing various techniques to see which factors are in the balance but our approach to SEO means that our customer sites are not suffering as many others are.

Google are constantly refining the ranking factors to ensure the search results, which is the bread and butter of their business, are as relevant as possible. It is rare that major updates happen but many industry experts are commenting on the changes in search results because of this update.

Yahoo! powered by Bing - what does that actually mean?

Number1 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:02:44 PST

In July 09 it was announced that Microsoft's search engine, Bing.com, will be powering Yahoo searches. This means that there will be one pay per click interface (Microsoft AdCenter) and the organic/natural results will be entirely based on the Bing ranking factors.

In terms of market share it's said that Bing and Yahoo will have over 30% of the search market. From the stats we see, and we see a lot, we'd say that Google's market share in the UK is more like 85%.

Webmaster tools - what's that all about then?

Number1 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:52:29 PST

As part of every SEO package we submit websites to Google Webmaster tools. In their words "Google Webmaster Tools provides you with detailed reports about your pages' visibility on Google" - in reality it's a gateway between Google and the webmaster (you, us or the web design/development company).

It allows Google to report on any issues with the site and perhaps most importantly, communicate any major issues.

Why is SEO complicated?

Number1 — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:54:28 PST

Dan says...

The short answer is : it's not.

There are a few agencies out there pitching SEO like it's a dark art or a science - to be frank, that approach annoys us intensely.

There is a technical element to SEO just like there's a technical element to printing a magazine or making a TV advert but customers aren't usually involved in every aspect of it so we just don't get why some agencies bring it to the table so much.

Search marketing vs Social Media Marketing

Number1 — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:15:37 PST

Dan says...

There's an awful lot of talk about Social Media Marketing at the moment and I have to be honest, I just don't think it's anywhere near as important or cost effective as search marketing for many businesses - especially B2B.

The ABC of SEO - Step 1 - Do Your Research!

Number1 — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 07:20:50 PDT

I had an interesting meeting this morning with a great company - they're extremely clued up on their product and understand the value of SEO.

They're doing the right thing by talking to a few agencies and having PPC training - they beat themselves up terribly as they feel they don't know enough but in my view, they're way ahead of most similar sized companies in that they're open minded and eager to understand SEO to a level where they can make business decisions about the search strategy.

SEO for the public sector

Number1 — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 10:13:23 PDT

When talking to a fairly large public sector organisation (with my Adaptive hat on), I mentioned SEO to the customer and for the first time (in the public sector), they had the vision to understand the importance of attracting visitors to their website to fulfil their brief.

Many public sector organisations spend significant sums on marketing but rarely do you see a public sector website that has considered SEO.

RDF and SEO

Number1 — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:30:28 PDT

*Note: unfortunately, due to the nature of RDF and microformats, this post is slightly technical - for those who aren't of that persuasion it might be best to speed read the bulk of the content and skip to the conclusion :)*

RDF (Resource Description Framework) is a set of rules that enables a web page (actually, the various pieces of content on that page such as a person, an image, etc) to be described in a format that makes that content more accessible to search engines and other applications.

Google Display Advertising

Number1 — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 23:35:53 PDT

There seems to be quite a bit of fuss about Google Display Advertising (nice ad here. It's basically the same idea of targeted ads, based on content or searches but rather than text, the adverts are display ads (images). A key difference is that these ads aren't carried on the search side of things (IE google.co.uk) - the ads are shown on publishing sites such as YouTube

Big change to Google algorithm coming soon

admin — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 07:39:09 PST

Google have announced via their blog that there is a significant change to the search algorithm. It's currently live in the US but expect it over here in the UK in the coming weeks.