SEO Sydney Blog | Search Engine Optimisation News & Jobs in Australia

Latest Search Jobs in Sydney - October 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Ronan Mahon) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:56:00 +0000

Search is still in high demand. As the market picks up Sydney is again becoming candidate poor with search candidates securing new employment. Big brand search agencies are again calling for quality search engine marketing and optimisation staff. Here are three new SEO and SEM jobs that need to be filled this side of the New Year.

1. SEO/SEM Account Manager: OTE $120K

This is a strategic marketing role, where you will help you clients build a search strategy to sell their products and services. You will not be hands on with the operations side of search but will work closely with the search experts to help your clients achieve their results. This is a big brand search company and you will be working with top tier clients. Ideally you will have agency experience working in the digital space with big brand clients.

2. SEO Specialist: $70-80k

In this role you will be looking after Tier 1 clients. You will help them build their search strategy and grow their business. In this role you will look after all aspects of onsite optimisation and work with a team of specialists to build links and write content for your clients. This is a new position bases in North Sydney. There is a great team to work with and you will get the chance to strategise with major clients.

3. SEM Specialist: 60K

This is an excellent opportunity to join a great search team. You will be looking after big clients and you will be hands on with the campaigns. This is a really social location based in the heart of the Sydney CBD. If you love SEM then this is the role for you.

If you are interested in any of these jobs, contact Ronan on 02 93465232 – ronan.mahon@xpand.com.au

Basic Landing Page Optimisation with Omniture SiteCatalyst

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:24:00 +0000

Measuring the effectiveness of landing pages is crucial to improve the success of your online marketing campaigns. As part of the landing page optimisation process, you want to try as many landing page creatives as possible, identify the ones, which generate the most conversions and then use them and optimise them further.
One of the main requirement of landing page optimisation, is to be able to measure, which landing page performs the best.

Omniture provides an out-of-the-box tool for multi-variate landing page optimisation called Test and Target, however if you have a limited budget and relatively simple requirements in terms of testing, it might be easier and more cost-effective to configure SiteCatalyst for basic landing page optimisation rather than investing in Test and Target.

Configure SiteCatalyst for Landing Page Testing

One of the main advantage of SiteCatalyst, is the extensive number of custom variables that can be set for specific tracking needs. In this case we will use a custom conversion variable (eVar) to "tag" each landing page individually and then compare them across metrics.

Let's say you have three different offers (A,B,C) which have a specific landing page (LP-A, LP-B and LP-C). Obviously, you want to measure, which one converts the best. For this purpose we will use eVarX, which will be populated with the landing page name.

1: The first step is to define and configure an eVarX using the SiteCatalyst Admin Console (Make sure this eVar is not already used for something else). The type should be set as "text string". Allocation and expiration are up to you.

2:To work, the eVar needs to be called and populated each time someone is looking at your landing page. In other words, every time one of your landing page is loaded, the specific eVar should be called in the Omniture tracking code (bottom of the page)and populated with the name of your landing page.

If you use static pages, it is quite easy and you just need to add the following code within the Omniture Javascript Tag:

For example:
Landing Page A: s.eVarX="LP-A"
Landing Page B: s.eVarX="LP-B"
Landing Page C: s.eVarX="LP-C"

If you use dynamic pages or a CMS, you might need to consult your developer to set up a code, which will call this eVar with the right value everytime the page is loaded.

3: You'r done! You just need to wait for some traffic to arrive and then see the results in your SiteCatalyst report ( Custom Conversion > Custom Conversion X > Evar Name). In this Report, you can then add relevant metrics and then compare the effectiveness of your landing pages.

This basic landing page testing method is very easy and effective if you have a limited number of static landing pages and need to test them on ad-hoc basis, however for a large amount of landing pages or for on-going testing, this method can be quite work intensive and not as effective as advanced landing page optimisation tools.

Search Engine Room Conference 2009 Sydney, November 18th

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:04:00 +0000

This year's edition of Search Engine Room, one of Australia's leading search conference, will take place in Sydney on November 18th. The theme for 2009 is "Traffic: Get it, Keep it, Use it".

I had a quick look at the program and found some pretty interesting sessions. The opening keynote with Justin Baird from Google will discuss the recent changes in search including personalisation, localisation and portability. Hopefully the session will focus on Rich Snippets. The morning presentation on SEO and website migration should also be quite valuable.

For more practical information, the conference will feature 3 cases studies, which will present the online strategy and efforts of leading Australian websites including Get Price and Woolworth.

The event costs $549 for one day ( Sorry just missed the Early Bird, which finished on October 16th)

View Through Conversion Metric in Google Adwords

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:56:00 +0000

On September 30th, Google announced the introduction of a new converison metric in Google Adwords. The new metric is called View Through Conversion and aims at offering more visibility on the performance of banner ads in the Google Content Network.

Why this metric

Ads in the Google content network usually do not perform as well as ads in the search network (some exceptions might exist) or more exactly, they do not perform in the same way.

Ads in the search network targets users searching for products or information. In this scenario, the user is the instigator; he "asks" for some sort of information and expect "answers". If your ad is relevant to the user query, he is more than likely to click on it and if your product or information matches what he is looking for, he is more than likely to purchase or convert.

Ads in the content network or more generally display ads are a bit different. In this case the user is "browsing" and not actively looking for specific information. The banner ads or text ads are here to entice him to click. As the user intent is not the same , the click-through and direct conversions are usually lower than in the search network.
However, banner ads offer more opportunities for brand exposure (branding) than search. You will be able to display your brand in a better way (image/flash) and in locations where you are more than likely to reach your target audience.

Even if it does not translate into a direct conversion, branding (banner being displayed) can result in a user searching for your brand in Google or even go to your website later on and buy your product. These indirect conversions will not be recorded under display ads or content network in your analytics report even if branding has probably contributed.
The View Through Conversion metric actually fills this gap and allows you to measure the number of conversions, which resulted from a banner being displayed.

How to use the View Through conversion metric

The main purpose of the metric is to measure the "indirect' impact of banner ads. If someone has viewed one of your banners and not clicked, but has converted in a 30 day period (whatever medium is used for the conversion), your banner will be attributed a view through converison. You can then measure the impact of each banner and optimise them accordingly.
While not perfect (the results still need to be interpreted with caution), this metric offers a good way to measure your ROI and justify your banner display spending.

Adobe acquired Omniture

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:41:00 +0000

On September 15th, Adobe Systems acquired Omniture Inc for approximately $1.8 billion dollars. Under the new agreement, Omniture will become a business unit of Adobe with the following mission:

Revolutionise the way the word engages with ideas and information. By combining Adobe's content creation tools and ubiquitous clients with Omniture's Web Analytics measurement and optimisation technologies, Adobe will be well positioned to deliver solutions that can transform the future of engaging experiences and e-commerce across all digital content, platforms and devices

While not completely anticipated, this move was not totally unexpected as Omniture has shown many signs:

Over the last two years, Omniture has demonstrated a very agressive external growth strategy, with the acquisition of 5 web analytics companies (Visual Sciences, TouchClarity, Instadia, Offermatic, Mercado). All these acquisitions re-inforced Omniture's market shares in the web analytics market and contributed to expand the Omniture Suite of products.
Omniture has also invested on business development all over the world in order to build a strong portfolio of Fortune 500 companies.

Strategically, this partnership makes quite a lot of sense for Adobe and hopefully will help creating more bridges between the Flash technology and e-commerce as well as improve the way Flash can be measured and tracked.

Performance Marketing Specialist - Position Available

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:40:00 +0000

Overview

Reporting to the Marketing Director the role of Performance Marketing Specialist focuses developing and optimising critical performance based marketing channels for appliancesonline.com.au.

This role requires an analytical approach to online marketing. Appliances Online invests heavily in acquisition based online marketing tactics that require constant development and optimisation. It is the responsibility of the Performance Marketing Specialist to assist in implementing strategies and manage these at a tactical day-to-day level.

It is expected that this person is acutely aware of all products and promotions that Appliances Online are offering and is pro-active in ensuring that our presence in the acquisition based marketing channels is optimal.

Objective – KPI’s

The overall objective of this role is to help maximise the ROI from our acquisition-marketing budget.

KPI’s will be specific to each channel dependent on the applicable strategy at the time and will vary as a result. This can be discussed and agreed upon as part of the review process.

Specific Areas of Responsibility

* Paid Search Marketing
* Affiliate Marketing
* Shopping Site Partners
* Campaign and Promotional Website Content Development
* Website Analytics
* Liaising with various 3rd Party Marketing partners as part of specific campaign and promotional activity

Training and Ongoing Personal Development

* 3rd party training will be provided where required
* Attendance at regular & relevant local events is supported
* Training in specific technology will also be considered

Please submit your resume at alban at seosydneyblog.com

Get a new career...

roitman.shai@gmail.com (Shai Roitman) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:54:00 +0000

The market is picking up again and I currently have four excellent search roles.

Role One:

Who here has used Google's Conversion Optimisation? Well then get in touch, my client has just won a ton of work and looking to bring someone on to carry it out and then build a team below them as they continue to grow this offering. Massive opportunity!!!

Role Two, Three & Four:

Enjoy being hands on? Work with large clients to implement SEO strategies for them on an onhoing basis!!! More info only a phone call away.

All paying very well; if you are keen to chat about the above or about the market in general; I can be found:

Email: shai@xpand.com.au

Phone: 03 8637 7316

Global Search Market Statistics - 113 Billion Searches per Month

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:41:00 +0000

comScore has recently released the results of a study measuring the global volume of search per month. In July 2009, 113.685 Billion searches were conducted worldwide. Compared to July 2008 (80.554 billion) the volume of searches has increased by 41%.

Global Search Engines Market Shares

As expected Google has recorded the largest volume of searches (48.666 Billion), which represents 67.5% of the global search market and a 58% increase compared to July 2008. Yahoo comes second with 8.689 billion searches (7.8% market share), followed by Baidu, the Chinese search engine with 7.413 billion searches (7% market shares).
Microsoft comes fourth with 2.349 billion searches (2%) and Facebook tenth with 0.743 billion searches (0.65% market share).

The biggest increase came from Yandex, the Russian search engine (94% increase in volume) followed by Google (58%) and Microsoft (41%). Yahoo has only recorded a 2% increase compared to July 2008, whereas AOL has seen a 11% drop.

Search Market Shares per Continent

Worldwide, Europe generates the highest volume of searches 36.446 billion (32.1%) followed by Asia Pacific 35.001 billion (30.8%) and North America 25.095 billion searches (22.1%).

More detailed information is available on comScore

Using Google Website Optimizer?

roitman.shai@gmail.com (Shai Roitman) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:06:00 +0000

Hey Guys, quick one, I was just wondering if there’s any decent SEO or Analytical people out there at the moment looking for FT work?

A client of mine is looking for two more people:

- Snr SEO - Working with some of the largest SEO Accounts in the country - hands on.

- SEO Consultant; working with conversion optimiser; experience with Google Website Optimizer mandatory

Get in touch with me via email shai@xpand.com.au or call me on 03 8637 7316 to discuss.

Both roles based in Melbourne, if you are looking in Sydney get in touch with Ronan from our Sydney office on 02 9346 5232

Google Adwords Ad Format Test : New Opportunities for Online Retailers

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:49:00 +0000

Over the last couple of months, Google has been testing different Adwords ads format for shopping related queries. The beta test is only visible to a small number of U.S users, but some the screen shots I have seen on Search Engine Land look very interesting and promising for online retailers:

These new formats could definitely has an impact on Google Adwords ROI by driving more targeted traffic.
The new formats would also offer plenty of opportunities for e-commerce sites to display their products at the SERPs level and potentially reduce unprofitable clicks.

Facebook Australia: User Statistics & Demographics

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:01:00 +0000

A recent MarketingSherpa survey has shown that 48% of marketers are planning on increasing their social media budgets in the next year.
2010 is the year for social media networks. The buzz comes from everywhere, marketers, advertisers and agencies want to have their share of the social media networks and make money out of it.
Before doing so, it is mandatory to understand social networks hence a quick post about Facebook's statistics.

Australian Facebook Statistics

In December 2007, we dedicated a post on the social media trends in Australia, which showed the rise of Facebook as a major contenter.

Looking at the latest figures, Facebook grew by 32% over 08/09 and is the most engaged social network in Australia. According to CheckFacebook.com, over 6.4 Million Australian use Facebook, which represent a huge 38.48% of the Australian online population and 2.46% of the global audience (261,807,120 users)

In the world the Australian Facebook population ranks #8.

Top 10 Facebook User Population

1. United States 79,983,760
2. United Kingdom 19,592,800
3. Turkey 12,451,320
4. Canada 12,111,720
5. France 11,657,180
6. Italy 10,652,960
7. Indonesia 8,175,600
8. Australia 6,439,980
9. Spain 6,284,120
10. Colombia 5,970,040
Source:checkfacebook.com - Aug 09

Australian Facebook Demographics

In terms of demographics, the Australian Facebook population is made of 55.6% of female and 44% of Male.
In terms age, Facebook remains a generation Y social network. The biggest segment is the 25-34 years old with 29.3% followed by the 18-24 with 28.8%.
The 35 years + segment currently accounts for 30.4% of the Australian Facebook population and is according to Nielsen Online, the fastest growing segment.

Source:checkfacebook.com - Aug 09

Launching the SEO Sydney Blog Social Network

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:31:00 +0000

Due to an increasing demand for more virtual social interactions and the strong desire to build a stronger SEO community in Sydney and more widely in Australia, we have created the SEO Sydney Blog social network on Ning.

The SEO Sydney Blog social network uses the Ning platform, which offers some interesting features including member profiles, member-to-member communication, forums, events and more.

The idea is to improve interactions between our readers and our content as well as between members. Using the SEO Sydney Blog social network, you will be able to share useful information on SEO, the latest events and even start discussions on SEO related topics.
You will also be able to connect and communicate with other Australian SEO Professionals, which should be good for networking.

At the moment, there is not much content on the SEO Sydney Blog social network, but we hope you will join and share your opinions. If you want to join it is 100% free.

SIGN UP NOW

Where to Find Freelance SEO Work

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:31:00 +0000

As a freelancer, the most exciting, and sometimes stressful part of your time is to secure your next job. While networking and word-of-mouth referral is still the best bet for long-term contracts, it is also quite handy to be able to expand your network and apply for additional jobs when your are not as busy.

Over the years I have joined a couple of freelance networks, which have helped meeting both ends. However do not be too excited as the competition is often quite intense. On most jobs, you are competing with people in Asia or India, who only charges a few dollars per hours, so it can be hard to get a job.
Also some of these "freelancer's platform" often require to pass a test and/or install a particular software on your computer.

1: ODesk
ODesk is an online team marketplace. It basically links freelancer with people or business looking at outsourcing some of their online/development activities. The service is really popular. Odesk offer quite a lot of jobs. The average rate is US$10.36 per hour and the average job size is around US$5,000. Odesk also charge a percentage of the total job and require to pass a test and use their specific client application. Learn more

2. ELance
ELance is pretty much the same as Odesk, maybe slightly bigger looking at the figures from their site. Elance has delivered over US$200 Million of work. Elance requires to create a profile and pass a test. In the same way as Odesk, Elance charge a percentage fee between 4 and 6%. Learn more

3. IFreelance
IFreelance is much smaller than Odesk and ELance, but still offers great opportunities. While the website is less accessible and harder to navigate, spending a bit of time might end up with great opportunities. Learn more

4. Lime Exchange
Lime Exchange is a business of Lime Labs, who previously created the peer-to-peer solution LimeWire. LimeExchange charge a membership fee if you want to bid on projects. Free for 3 bids or $14.99/month for unlimited bids. Learn more

5. PeoplePerHour
PeoplePerHour is another online marketplace. Over the years I have noticed that quite a lot of SEO work is posted on this site rather than pure dev work. Learn more

6.OzLance
I have never tried ozLance, but it is basically the Australian version of the online marketplace. The site offers local projects which could be easier to secure. Learn more

Search Jobs Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (Ronan Mahon) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:32:00 +0000

Search, Search and more Search

Well people, it seems that you are in high demand. I have a few roles I need to fill asap. These roles are all based in Sydney and are looking to hire immediately.

SEO – SENIOR SEARCH ANALYST – This is a hands on SEO role, 5 years plus search is required and a healthy pay packet to boot.
SEM – CAMPAIGN MANAGER – This is a hands on SEM role, involving multiple campaigns, small and large budgets. There is some client facing work involved but mostly managing campaigns.
SEO – SEM – SALES MANAGER – This is a hands on sales role, selling search solutions for one of the big search brands. A top role with great opportunities to earn big bucks.
SEO TRAFFIC SPECIALIST – This is a client side role for one of the biggest brands in Australia. You will need to have 3 year plus experience and be hands on with search. A proven track record in driving traffic to sites.

If you are interested in these opportunities please contact Ronan Mahon on 02 9346 5232 or email me on ronan.mahon@xpand.com.au

Live SEO Roles in Melbourne

roitman.shai@gmail.com (Shai Roitman) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:05:00 +0000

I hope all is well. It was good to see the results of the SEO Survey! What jumped out at me was that average salaries and experience have increased… however there seems to still be some individuals being paid less than their skills are worth.

I currently have two live roles working for two completely different clients.

One role is live with a well established search business and start date will be in the next four weeks while the other role is with a start-up which has an all star director line up from some of the major publishers.

The first role will see you working with a large and one of the most switched-on teams of organic and paid search specialists being hands-on in end to end SEO projects; whether this role is contract or perm is still undecided but previously contractors have had the opportunity to go permanent at the end of their tenure as this company continues to win new business and tries to manage this demand.

The second role is client side; I’m looking for someone who can manage a team both locally and remotely, set up templates, liaise with clients and just be the person that anything SEO can be resolved with. Start date is likely to be end of August / start of September

With both roles I’m looking for passionate search consultants. If these roles do not suit you but you are interested in being represented in the market now or in the future, feel free to get in touch as at Xpand we prefer to be proactive with client and candidate needs.

You can find me in the following locations:

Email: shai@xpand.com.au

Phone: 03 8637 7316

Twitter: http://twitter.com/shairoitman

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/shairoitman

After Bush, French President Sarkozy got Google Bombed

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:16:00 +0000

Recently French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been Google Bombed. If you type "Trou du cul du web" (translated: Arsehole of the Web) on Google.fr, the official website of Nicolas Sarkozy comes up:

The act of Google Bombing aims at raising the ranking of one page by creating a large amount of links with a specific anchor text (often for political reason). The practice is not new. Back in 2005, George Bush got bombed and ranked first for the phrase "Miserable Failure".

According to the French media, Sarkozy's Google Bombing is the result of a webmaster coalition, which created a relatively important number of links with the anchor text "trou du cul du web" pointing to the offical Sarokozy's website (www.sarkozy.fr).
This time, Google has been quick to release comments explaining that the incident does not reflect the company opinion and is the result of an algorithm abuse.

In January 2007 Google defused the embarrasing Bush bomb thanks to a change in their algorithms , which aimed at returning commentary, discussions and articles about Googlebombs rather than the "victim" website.
Looking at Sarkozy's case, it seems like they still have a bit of work to do.

2009 SEO and SEM Salary Survey - Australia & New Zealand - The Results

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:40:00 +0000

Since April 2009 we have been running the second Australian and New Zealand SEO SEM Salary survey. We have finally collected enough responses, analysed the data and created a presentation to display the results.

The document displayed below outlines the key findings of the survey and is available for download here. You will notice that the analysis is quite basic, but we are planning on releasing a more advanced report (including correlations) in a couple of weeks.

Also I would like to thank everyone who took part in the survey. Your support is greatly appreciated and I hope you will enjoy the results

Facebook Customised URL - A wise SEO move

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:46:00 +0000

After allowing search engines to index over 30 Million profiles in September 2007,Facebook has made an other interesting move in terms of SEO.

Since June 13th, Facebook offers you to customise your Facebook profile URL with your username rather than the less than user/search engine friendly profile ID (see below)

This new feature will definitely improve the rankings of user profiles and will therefore make it easier for online users searching for people to find what they are looking for.
For Facebook, it is a strategic move to attract more traffic from search engines and to compete more effectively against Google Profiles, Twitter, Linkedin and other social media.

Google PageRank Update - June 2009

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:50:00 +0000

Most of you probably already know, but Google has performed its latest PageRank update on June 25th. This update seems a little early based on previous predictions.

The last two updates actually occured with an exact 3 month interval. The June update is a few days early (but who cares...)

SEO Sydney Blog has remained stable with a PR of 3.

Employment Trends in SEO – Where is the industry heading in Oz.....

roitman.shai@gmail.com (Shai Roitman) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:32:00 +0000

I have finally succumbed – got all my courage together and ready to put my opinions out there for you all to judge....

Over the past three years I have noticed a number of changes within the search industry – SEO is really starting to get noticed – Last year it was all about PPC, but now I have noticed some subtle but interesting shifts...

Firstly in Asia we are predominantly recruiting SEO candidates who have experience managing large PPC campaigns and this trend has been happening for some time now.

I believe that the reason for this is due to PPC being the quickest way to generate traffic and is therefore the initial strategy undertaken when launching any campaign however it seems that over time as a SEO strategy is implemented and run, PPC then becomes less valuable and SEO becomes the more beneficial strategy used to drive traffic to a site.

Also on a side note the other reason maybe that the search market in Asia is a lot more mature, competitive and established and this sees some PPC campaigns specifically with large organisations set up some time ago running their course and needing only slight tweaks, reporting, analysis and set up for minor campaigns being the only other requirements. I am already seeing this with a number of large publishers whom Xpand work with here in Australia.

Finally, web sites are valuing SEO as a long term strategy as rankings remain long after a campaign ends and because studies have shown that SEO is viewed as more credible than PPC.

However don’t get me wrong, I love PPC and value what it allows businesses to achieve in a short space of time and for various marketing campaigns they are running.

But what does this mean for you?

I highly suggest that you continue working if you are not already with PPC and get qualified but at the same time continue to focus on getting involved with as many large SEO projects as possible where you are dealing with a number of internal stakeholders as this is what clients of mine are specifically looking for.... I’ll elaborate next time...

If you would like to connect or have any questions feel free to find me at the following locations:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shairoitman

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/shairoitman

Email: shai@xpand.com.au

Australian & New Zealand SEO/SEM Industry Survey - Need more Respondents

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:42:00 +0000

Back in April 09, we launched the second Australian and New Zealand SEO/SEM Industry survey. The purpose is to gather information on how the industry evolves and provide guidelines for job seekers and recruiters on salaries.

To date, we have collected the answers of 40 respondents, which is good. For more relevancy, we would like to get a little more respondents! So if you have not taken the survey or know people that might be interested, please feel free to forward the link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=iLI9wkrRVaJT0NpI_2bSO8EQ_3d_3d

As soon as we have enough answers, we will release the results for free.

Search Jobs - Sydney and Melbourne - SEO and SEM

noreply@blogger.com (Ronan Mahon) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:30:00 +0000

Search Jobs Ahoy.

Hi all, hope you are looking for a new challenge because we have some Sydney and Melbourne based roles to get your teeth stuck into.

For more details please give Shai or I a call. All contact details are below.

Search Roles Sydney:
Contact: Ronan Mahon
Agency: Xpand – www.xpand.com.au
Email: ronan.mahon@xpand.com.au
Phone: 02 9346 5232

1. Senior Search Candidate:

Ideally you will have been a developer with a great technical knowledge and then moved into search
SEO and SEM knowledge and hands on experience
3-5 years in search, either client side or agency side
Knowledge of front end and back end development
Previous experience in managing a suite of sites
Examples of successful rankings
Turning rankings into leads and sales
Excellent pay
Excess of $100k

2. Mid weight Search Candidate:

This role is purely SEO
Working client side
Experience working with online retail is beneficial
On page Optimisation
Off Page Optimisation
Social Media Optimisation
Link Building
Blogging
Content Optimisation
This role is perfect for someone who is working agency side and would like to move client side

3. SEM, PPC Specialist – Agency:

Looking for Juniors, Mids and Seniors
Experience Agency side is highly desirable
Track record of achieving results and ranks
If you are a search engine marketing specialist I don’t need to explain it, just hit me up and lets see about a new role.

Search Roles Melbourne

Contact: Shai Roitman
Agency: Xpand – www.xpand.com.au
Email: shai.roitman@xpand.com.au
Phone: 03 8637 7316

4. SEO Analyst – 6 Month Contract

6 Month Contract
SEO Analyst
A big project
3 Years hands-on experience to join
Flexible working week and competitive salary

Online Retailer Exhibition & Conference - Sydney 2009

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:36:00 +0000

The inaugural Online Retailer Exhibition and Conference will take place in Sydney on the 18th and 19th of August 2009.
The conference organised by Marc Harvey from National Media, is the only event in Australasia exclusively focused on internet retailing and e-commerce. According to their website, over 550 online and multi-channel retailers have already registered. The figures set some high expectations for a new event!

One of the great thing about the online retailer conference is that you can get a Free Pass for the exposition, which allows access to exhibitors stands and keynote presentations.
The program of the conference also looks pretty exciting with topics covering a large range of activities from web analytics, to user experience and shipping.

If you are interested, early bird price will finish on 31st July 2009. You can get the full pass from $995 (rather than $1195) and half-day access pass from $395 (rather than $595)

ABA Web Audit Service - Towards Standard Online Audience Measurement Metrics

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:09:00 +0000

After an industry wide collaboration between ABA (Audit Bureaux of Australia), the MFA (Media Federation of Australia), the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) of Australia, the AANA (Australian Association of National Advertisers)and Nielsen Online, the Audit Bureaux of Australia has official released yesterday their new Web Audit Service.

What is the Web Audit Service

The web audit service is a hugh milestone in the Australian media landscape as well as in the web analytics industry. Partnering with Nielsen Online, the ABA aims at setting up a new online audience measurement standard (as they did with print), which will provide reliable, comparable and independently verified web audience metrics.

Basically the idea to set up a standard web measurement system (Nielsen Online) as the reference for accurate and reliable data for web traffic. If you have a website or work with websites, you have probably noticed the strong discrepancies between web analytics systems. Each system collect data in different ways and often use different metrics, which leads to a real confusion for advertisers.

By selecting one web measurement partner, the ABA expect to standardize the web data collection and metrics, which allows reliable and accurate comparisons.

What does the Web Audit Service offer

The web audit service will provide (to its members) audited web reports on 5 key metrics:

- Unique Browsers (unique visitors)
- Page Impressions
- Sessions
- Frequency
- Duration

The ABA will also audit the placement of web measurement tags on publishers websites as well as monitor how the data is collected by Nielsen Online.

Each member will be able to access the comparative data from Nielsen Online (Market Intelligence)

The Benefits & implications

The web audit service will have strong implications on how the online advertising industry works.

The new service will allow small publishers to be able to compete on the same ground as large publishers. Agencies and Media buyers will be able to access reliable data on the long tail of websites. Advertisers will have more visibility on their online advertising spending. As a results it is expected to open the online advertising industry to a larger audience.

Small publishers should be the biggest winners as they will be able to market themselves in a more effective way to agencies and large advertisers.

The Challenges

Nielsen Online and the ABA have made sure that the service is affordable (from $95 /month for publishers with 0 to 150,000 impressions), however the success of the service and concept will strongly depend on the adoption by small publishers.

While modest, the monthly fee could deter smaller publishers, who can access web measurement data through Google Analytics. I believe the fee could be one of the major drawback to the general adoption of the standard.

A partly free/partly paid service could have been a better option.

SEO Flash Games

alban@seosydneyblog.com (Alban G.) — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:36:00 +0000

In a day of hard work optimising websites, it is good to take a moment, relax and recharge your batteries. Spending 5 mins playing a good online game can do the trick (or make you even more stressed out).

I did a search the other day and found 3 SEO Games worth playing:

Game 1
The name is not really original, but the game is quite fun. It is a Mario Bros-like game, where you need to collect things and destroy enemies ( PDAs and Router) by jumping on them.
Click here to play this game

Game 2
This one is the most creative and fun. Your mission is to win the spam war by fighting different characters including Mr Redirect, Cloaking Monster, Link Farmer and Hidden Text Kid. The referee for the matches is Matt Cutts!
Click Here to play this game

Game 3
This game is not too related to SEO, but is quite addictive. It is basically the flash version of the Wire Buzzer game.
Click here to play this game

Enjoy!