January 2008
Monthly Archive
Using Local Search in SEO
Posted by Dylan Brent on 31 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: SEO Strategy
An increasing amount of users on the internet are focusing their searches locally when looking for a product or service. Gone are the days of just typing “product” in the search bar; it’s now “product + area”. Searchers have become more specific with their searches, so a site is not fully “optimised” until it’s optimised for local search. Here are a few ideas to keep in mind:
Mobile search market is on the rise, with blackberry and the advent of systems like Verizon’s new technology. People are searching for the nearest sushi bar in their area with a handheld device. Then for some fun afterwards they search for a club that’s open to go dancing and have a few cocktails.
Track your brand
Posted by Caitlin Smythe on 31 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Online PR
Online reputation management (ORM) is tracking other people’s responses to your brand, whether they be negative or positive. Whereas Web PR is making a racket, ORM is listening to the noise.
Some companies employ affiliate programs that punt their brands in opposition to their competitors, for example, through reviews on comparison shopping sites. Affiliates have no basis for preference other than that you’re paying their salary, and your competitors are not.
SERP ‘walls’ impact on search behaviour
Posted by Katia Pereria on 30 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Articles, SEO Strategy
A little while back, Gord Hotchkiss, president and CEO of Enquiro (Canada’s leading search engine marketing firm) spoke in-depth about user behaviour on the results page and compared it to a shopping mall.
He mentioned that in recent eye tracking studies, there are numerous factors that can create barriers or “walls” in these ’shopping malls’, and that can keep traffic from ever finding your listing.
Firstly, Gord discusses the traffic flow and how it runs through these search “malls”. People enter in on the upper left of the page and scan down four or five results. This area (of results) is where these people will hang out, explore and compare. They then either click on a result, continue scanning elsewhere on the page, or relaunch their search.
What do you have planned Yahoo!?
Posted by Phil Smulian on 30 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Common SEO Topics, Search Engine News
There is a general air of question around what Yahoo has up their marketing sleeve. Looking at some recent blogging around the subject. There are some varied ideas on what Yahoo has planned to generate profits from all their vested interests.
Aaron Wall mentions the recent lay-offs – 30 people fired with a rumoured 2000 to follow, in his post about branding ideas. What is this about? There has to be something to the plans laid out for the brand by co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang. Are they trying to raise the half a billion to purchase social media giant Facebook, by shedding employees? Search Engine Journal say that Yang has suppressed any plans for what they call the “Yahoo Branded universe”, and the long-time highly popular search engine brand will focus their efforts on the revenue generating ‘in-search’ advertising platform.
Google to add blogs to universal searches
Posted by Celeste Yates on 30 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Search Engine News, Social Media
Last year in May, Google launched their universal search program after developing it for 5 years. Recently, blogs joined the list of images, video and other types of multimedia that are now added to organic searches. This will have a large influence on SEO, as organic searches will now include all types of media, not just websites.
What is Universal Search?
Mariss Mayer, who is involved in the search production and user experience at Google, wrote in the Official Google Blog that “…with universal search we’re attempting to break down the walls that traditionally separated our various search properties and integrate vast amounts of information available into one simple set of search results.”
Can PageRank be fixed? That is the question
Posted by Katia Pereria on 25 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: SEO Strategy
Back in the day when PageRank was first introduced, it was based on a Random Walk Model. According to Wikipedia, this RW is a mathematical formalisation of a trajectory that consists of taking successive steps in random directions.
That web surfer’s path and the pages he or she visited most frequently (pages with most inbound links) would be judged as most important, as Google tried to create an algorithm that displayed results that users wanted to see. The problem lies in the model, because web users do not follow a random walk. They do not click on irrelevant links, invisible links or links that are not in the main content area. Web surfers are not robots.
Respect from your peers brings you Authority Site status
Posted by Kim Gordon on 25 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Search Engine News
“Authority site” status is generally earned over time, and through much effort. Usually the top 10 results on the search engines are loaded with authority sites, as search engines smile favourably upon these sites and reward them with top rankings. It needn’t matter if a site has Google’s trust, if it is respected and trusted by the peers within your niche, then it will become socially labelled as an authority site.
Internal structure tips
Posted by Dylan Brent on 25 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Site Structure
They are many factors to consider when optimising a site, but arguably one of the most important is the onsite layout and internal linking structure. To follow are a few points on this subject that work for me.
- Make all your links count. Remove secondary keywords that aren’t relevant. Make sure all your links are fully written out. Don’t be lazy by just giving /pagename.html; you should give http://www.yoursite.com/pagename.html. By doing it the proper way, when the page ages and rises in the SERPs, you can bring up the ranking of other pages in the site. Another advantage of doing it is when someone scrapes your content (touch wood) you will be getting a link back.
Storm in a tea cup: an online reputation crisis
Posted by Caitlin Smythe on 25 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Online PR
If you hold a prominent position in your web community, be it high up on the Google rankings or a very successful blog, it’s likely that at some point you’ll slip up. The nature of the web necessitates that scandal and mistakes can throw unprecedented attention – in the form of heavy traffic – to your (currently compromised) brand.
Andy Beal from Marketing Pilgrim cites Search Engine Land’s article that was published concerning Wired’s wiki - pointing out a loophole from which people can easily link to Wired. Danny Sullivan, who approved the post, responded to the ensuing media storm with sincerity and humility, explaining in a very transparent way exactly how the flak hit the fan.
To outsource or not to outsource?
Posted by Melissa Fillau on 25 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: PPC
If you are not checking your paid advertising campaigns regularly, you should probably consider outsourcing your PPC. Of course, this is a rule of thumb and does not apply to everybody, as you may have a very small budget with limited campaign coverage.
If you are, on the other hand, spending a fair amount on PPC and not checking your campaign constantly for new competitors, competitor keyword bids etc., it might be worth your while outsourcing you campaign. In this way, you entrust your ROI to a company that deals with paid advertising every day, and knows all the latest tricks and tools in the industry.
