Getting your onsite SEO right

The recent Google algorithm updates (Panda, Penguin) are clearly showing that despite all the SEO efforts businesses display, any website is at the mercy of a change of rules by the search engines, and particularly Google.
This does not mean that you should give up on SEO, but it simply emphasises the fact that clean/ethical/white hat SEO is now even more important than ever. Do not over optimise, do not buy links, think quality more than quantity.
With this in mind, now is the perfect time to get your onsite optimisation right (or review it)

The onsite/offsite optimisation debate

 

In the past 5 years, link building has taken more importance in the search algorithms, so much so that some figures suggest that it now accounts for 60 to 70% of a website's rankings. The incorporation of social signals and development of new social networks has accelerated this trend further in the past 2-3 years.
While no one can argue with these numbers, I have observed a worrying trend with a lot of my clients recently: they seem to completely neglect onsite optimisation at the benefit of link building.

Ideally for a natural organic growth, both activities need to be undertaken at the same time, and without good onsite SEO, it is very likely that your website will not rank well in search engines, especially if you're a new/growing business without a lot of brand recognition/awareness.

So my advice has always been the following: get your onsite SEO right or it will cost you. And from a resource standpoint, it is much easier and often quicker to get your site optimised than it is to acquire good quality backlinks.

The battle for local searches

With Google replacing Google places with Google + Local pages (Search Engine Land - Google Places Is Over, Company Makes Google+ The Center Of Gravity For Local Search), I thought I could take a bit of time talking about local searches and their importance in today's SEO world. 

What is a local search?

A local search is a search done for a specific set of keywords with a location in the search query (dentist SW19 for example). Historically, this search would have returned websites using these keywords within their content, but Google Places changed all that. By registering (and verifying) their company with Google, local businesses could achieve high rankings in SERPs. Since Google displays local results above "other" natural results (see example below).

Why use SEO & PPC for your business

The SEO vs PPC debate has been going on for many years, but in today's increasingly competitive online environment it has no reason to exist anymore.

A lot of businesses still seem to be confused as to what the benefits are to using different marketing channels, especially when it comes to search marketing. So in order for you to invest your marketing dollars (or pounds, euros...) in the correct areas, here's a quick overview of why you should consider using SEO and PPC (paid search ads) for best results.

Dealing with URL canonicalization issues

While not the most talked about SEO problem , URL canonicalization is certainly a very important one. Judging by the number of businesses not aware of it I thought a quick post could help clarify what it is and how to fix it.

What is a canonical page?

While I could try to explain what canonicalization is myself, I'll just quote Matt Cutts as he is the expert on all things SEO at Google:

 "A canonical page is the preferred version of a set of pages with highly similar content" 

In SEO terms, this means that a page or set of pages with similar content should only display under 1 URL.

5 tips to improve homepage usability and click throughs

www.79er.com

One of my clients sent me a wireframe of their new homepage the other day and asked my opinion about it from an seo and usability point of view. While reviewing the page I realised that a lot of small businesses are sometimes not aware of basic usability principles and may be missing out on opportunities on their homepage.

Below are 5 simple usability tips that will help your homepage perform better and enhance user experience.

Link building basics - Getting started with directory submissions

With link building taking more and more prominence in your website's search engines rankings (around 60 to 70% depending on sources), getting your link building strategy right is crucial for successful SEO.

While there is huge emphasis being put on social links at the moment, the basics of link building still apply and "old" techniques such as directory submissions still bring benefits, not only in terms of rankings but also in terms of traffic and brand awareness.

Where to start?

A simple search in google for free online directories will bring a lot of results (49.7 millions to be precise!). So as a business, which directories should you get registered on? Well as with everything in link building, quality is not always better than quantity so check the pagerank of the directories you're considering. And choose the most popular directories to start with as they will get more visitors and increase your chances of getting traffic through.

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

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 clients. As every good SEO expert or agency should do, I adapted and keep learning everyday, which is probably why I enjoy my job so much.But I'm glad to see onsite still matters.

If you're new to the wonderful world of search marketing, here are (some) of the things you'll need to consider to get good rankings for your site:

• Onsite optimisation - making your site and its content as search engine (and user) friendly as possible
• Traditional link building - we're talking directory submissions, blog posts, article sites here
• Social media - building and maintaining social media profiles for your business (G+, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Linkedin, Pinterest....). Engage and respond with your audience on an ongoing basis
• Conversion optimisation - driving masses of traffic to your site is great, but where's the ROI if you don't get conversions? Testing is key
• Tracking and monitoring - you need to know what's working (or not working) to refine your search strategy

What's been your seo experience over the past few years?

SEO made easy

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

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 environment including other marketing channels, data analysis, customer management, acquisition and retention strategies.

Business objectives
At the end of the day, the ultimate objective for any commercial business is to generate revenue. So when working on your seo (either in-house or via an agency), always keep in mind what your core business is, as without sales and revenue, there is no business. Of course good rankings are great, but if they don't convert searchers into traffic and customers, then they're financially worth nothing. So always try and integrate seo within your overall business plan so that you can set realistic objectives and measurement methods for this channel.

SEO strategy
Once you've set your SEO objectives, look at your keywords, your rankings, the impact on your traffic and how you can optimise your website based on searchers behaviour. Of course ideally you'd want high rankings, but some of your competitors may generate more revenue than you with lower rankings thanks to a better optimised site. You need to find the right balance for your website, and if your landing pages are well optimised, then the rankings won't matter as much.

The big picture
In today's online world, seo is obviously one of the key elements of any online marketing strategy and it needs to be planned and implemented very carefully, but it is not the be all and end all solution for your business. If you run a company, you need to always keep the big picture in mind. SEO is a tool that can bring great rewards if done correctly, but remember that good rankings won't always bring traffic and conversions, so don't be fooled by agencies promising you high rankings and top positions in search engine results pages.

Search marketing needs to be used in conjunction with a full range of marketing tools like paid search, website/conversion rate optimisation, web analytics and so on to bring the best results for your business and ultimately revenue.

How does SEO work for your business? do you have good rankings and limited revenue? feel free to share your views and get in touch if you'd like to know how to develop a marketing strategy that works for your business

Paid search - getting it right

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 the right decision:

What are your objectives?
As for everything else in a business, you need to have clear objectives when considering paid search. These can be conversion objectives, specific revenue targets, number of subscribers.
Working towards those will help you focus your activities and judge return on investment, a crucial element of paid search.

Organic search vs paid search
Ideally you will a apply a mix of both organic and paid search as these two disciplines work hand in hand and support each other. A search started organically may end up converting on a paid keyword and vice versa.
The best advice here if you're just starting your business is to get all the basics of onsite and offsite seo right, and while doing so start your paid campaign to generate some traffic. After a few months, your organic traffic will pick up allowing you to modify the paid/organic balance based on results.

Budgets & keywords
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, some paid keywords are now reaching $54 per click, but don't let this frighten you. If you don't have big budgets, there are ways to run some campaigns at an affordable rate. To limit budgets, bid on your brand terms. These will be your cheapest keywords, but as your brand gets known, they should end up giving you decent traffic and hopefully conversions.
Generic keywords are always more expensive, so try and identify long tail keywords that your users will search for. These may not generate a lot of searches or traffic but should give good ROI.

Use your analytics
Using your web analytics data should give you a very good insight into your users behaviour. Analyse keyword reports and conversions to refine your paid campaigns and give them more focus. Google Analytics is constantly evolving and will provide you with more than enough information to control your campaigns and budgets.

So in short, the ideal time to start using paid search is as early as possible after your business is created. While not compulsory, it should be integrated into your online marketing strategy as it is still a very cost effective channel despite recent increases in costs.

I hope this answers some questions or worries you may have as a business, but as usual feel free to share your views and opinions.

Related posts:

• Improve your seo via paid search
• Getting started in PPC

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

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 be logged in to your google account and synchronise it with your other social accounts (twitter, facebook, you get the idea....). Your search results will now include pages/sites that have been liked or selected by your social contacts as well as the standard google results. The social element will be added just below the affected results.

Google +1

Google +1 works on the same principle and is the google answer to the Facebook "Like". If you like a site, you can just "+1" it , and friends in your network will see it displayed more prominently in their results pages.

What's the SEO impact?

Well at this point in time it is still difficult to assess as social search is still in its infancy. And like every new google tool, it could disappear very quickly (remember wave and buzz??).
One thing that is clear is the fact that if you don't have a google account synchronised with your other social media accounts, nothing will change. And if you do take the time to do this, then you'll also take the time to like or +1 sites that are relevant to you, so hopefully relevant to google too.


What should you do?

So at this point, I don't think there's any need for SEO experts to panic about social search, as if you get the basics right, people will naturally like your site, therefore reinforcing your rankings. Business as usual is the word, continue your SEO efforts with users in mind but don't forget to add those trendy social bookmark buttons on your site to cover all basis!

Are you worried about the impact of social search? have you experienced changes in your rankings? share your views

SEO - the impact of being at the top

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 cheap CPC terms.

Long tail matters

If you're a small business in a competitive market, then you should really focus on long tail keywords. Although they may not drive as much traffic to your site as generic/head keywords, they'll help you achieve better conversions and therefore increased revenue.

Paid + organic = results

I know I mention this on a regular basis, but a good mix of paid search and organic optimisation will give you the best results as these 2 channels support each other.

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

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 with good onsite optimisation, the name of the game is now even more so on link building and how good content can help you achieve top rankings.

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

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 debate will never stop.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm all about ethical SEO.

What's your view?

SEO - what not to do

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 is again very useful: 16 SEO Tactics That Will NOT Bring Targeted Google Visitors.

Why you shouldn't always trust search marketing agencies

During my time working in SEO I've come across a lot of search agencies, and while most of them seem to offer "honest" services, here are a few tips to follow when choosing one. After all, you wouldn't want to waste your hard earned cash on services with no return on investment, especially if you're a new or small business.

Promise of a number 1 position in google

Even though it'd be great if someone could guarantee you a number 1 position in search engines, do not believe anybody who would make such a claim. High rankings are achieved through hard work, a lot of tweaking and patience. Due to the nature of search engine algorithms, it is impossible for an agency to guarantee a defined position. So to put it simply, steer clear of unrealistic promises.

The old Google Places trick

Google Places is a tool that allows you to register your business with Google so that it displays in search results for location specific searches (see example for dentists here). So for example if somebody does a search for dentist + postcode, businesses registered with Google Places will display above the natural listings in the SERP, right at the top of the screen.
While this is a really useful feature for searchers, it is also used by some agencies to sell seo services to companies with limited understanding of search engines. The agency will promise buyers a top position within days in google without mentioning the fact that this result will only appear for an extremely specific geolocated search.
It is worth noting that like most Google products, Places is absolutely free and registering your business can be done in a matter of minutes (Google Places)

Top results via paid search

This is another trick used by unscrupulous agencies wanting to make a quick buck. The principle is very simple: Promise a business that they can get a top ranking in Google within a week for a certain amount of money. What the agency will do in that case is bid some money on a very specific keyword in the Google adwords programme and make the customer believe that they've achieved a top ranking with no effort whatsoever. This trick relies on the customer lack of knowledge of search engines, but you'd be surprised by the number of businesses falling for it. Once convinced that they can achieve better positions for more keywords, unsuspecting businesses will keep giving the agency money, but their organic SEO will never improve.

How to choose a good agency?

• Do your research and ask for references
• If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Use your common sense
• Ask the right questions and don't be afraid to ask for detailed information
• Have a set of clear and realistic objectives for your business

 I posted a quick checklist of criteria for choosing a search marketing agency back in 2009, and what was valid then is still valid now.

If you've come across suspicious agencies in the past, feel free to share your experience here.

SEO tips to ensure a safe website relaunch

Another great article today in Search engine land about the necessary SEO steps to follow prior to and during a website relaunch (8 Necessary SEO Steps During A Website Redesign)

This ties in very well with a post I wrote last year(how to achieve a successful website relaunch) about all the work involved in updating your site.

Work with SEO in mind

What many businesses forget is that SEO needs to be at the heart of your website development, as it will influence architecture, content and navigation. Working with search engines and searchers in mind should be at the forefront of web projects, and marketing input is necessary to ensure the success of a website.

Have you recently gone through a site relaunch? what would be your main advice for businesses willing to relaunch?

The horror SEO story of the weekend...what not to do!

As you probably know by now, I'm a little bit obsessed with link building at the moment, and the story of JC Penney in the New York Times is a great example of link building gone wrong (New York Times Exposes J.C. Penney Link Scheme That Causes Plummeting Rankings in Google).

Basically, JC Penney hired a 3rd party Search marketing agency to look after their SEO, and the agency bought 2,000 links across a range of websites with no relevance to the products whatsoever.

While this worked for a while and ensured they got top rankings for a lot of their products, Google has now dropped them from its rankings until they clean up their act.

While the story may not end so badly for them because they are such a big corporation and probably have bargaining power with Google, any normal business would never recover from this kind of practice.

So as I always say, when looking at link building for your website, think relevance, white hat and beware of agencies promising too much.

Have you experienced issues with paid links in the past? share your stories here

Whatever happened to good old SEO?

I've been in the search marketing / SEO industry for quite a few years now (7 to be exact!) and as such I've seen things move from fairly straightforward onsite optimisation to complex link building and social media strategies.

When reflecting on this the other day, I started to feel nostalgic about the days when SEO was all about keyword research and making sure that your site was as optimised as possible avoiding black hat techniques. Call me old school, but to me, this was real SEO where you were rewarded for your hard work by good rankings.

The rise of link building

Now that link building has taken prominence in search engine algorithms (60 to 70% of rankings are based on this) the SEO game has completely changed, and agencies with a network of blog/forums/websites can guarantee you improved links and rankings in a very short space of time. While there's no denying that this strategy works, I've got to say that as an experienced SEO I find this slightly disappointing and very close to a grey hat technique.

I've got nothing against link building if it's done cleverly with good anchor text, relevant keywords and page rank analysis, but I think that by not assessing relevance of links Google is skewing its own results therefore providing searchers with inaccurate results.

So basically, a business with clever agencies (and big budgets) can reach top rankings for specific keywords and get more traffic than a potentially better company with less understanding of search marketing. And to me, that goes against the basic principles of SEO which are providing searchers with relevant results.

What about relevance?

Despite a lot of talk about relevance, LSI (latent semantic indexing) and contextual searches in the past few years, the major search engines still have to implement a lot of these theories into their algorithms. To Google and co, a link to your site with targeted anchor text from a website with a high page rank still matters, even if the site is not relevant to your activity. And until the engines start looking at the relevance of the link, keyword and website content in relation to your website, then there will be ways to fool them by creating thousands of irrelevant links.

Onsite SEO still matters

Despite all of this, onsite optimisation with good keyword research, internal links, metadata optimisation, alt tags, title tags and all the rest still matters. These elements should remain a priority for all SEOs out there, so keep flying the flag!

A the industry evolves, so must I, but I'll never forget my SEO roots as they are what I enjoy the most in my job.

What's your experience with SEO? are you frustrated with link building? How do you feel about the industry changes?

Bing...and the Yahoo is gone

Well not totally gone actually, just 25% gone to be precise. Yahoo announced this week that 25% of its natural results are now coming from Bing, the first step of a planned transition (read more here).
Call me cynical, but is this going to make a difference on the way most SEOs work? somehow I don't think so as Google's dominance of the market means it will still remain the benchmark when optimising your site. And personally I've never been too impressed with Bing's results...but still, it is a big change in the industry so let's keep an eye on things over the next few weeks/months.

How do you feel about this transition? is this going to affect your work?