by Karl Hudson | Dec 24, 2013 | Search Engine Optimisation
Google launched this update claiming that its search was going to be more designed to provide users with a more direct answer to their questions. Google actually started using this update in the end of August, but they only announced the change on September 26th.
WHAT DO WE DO NOW?
As you may have probably guessed by now, Google’s algorithms continue to be a complete mix of factors that weight the relevancy of a page or site to the search query typed in. This definitely has not changed and continues to progress in the same pattern.
Keywords are still a vital part of SEO. Google is trying to encourage SEOers to move away from just basing their strategies around keywords. They are now looking for people to actively engage users and to start answering questions.
Provided you’ve been keeping up to date with the latest SEO strategies, you should have no cause for worry. Many SEOers believe that their entire strategy needs to be revamped, but there is nothing to worry about.
Based on what we know about Google and how it’s improving their search results, we know there is a list of things that will continue to matter;
·Structured Data Mark up: If you scratch their back they’ll scratch yours. Making the search engine spider’s job easier will help them navigate through your site and do a much better job. Structured data can also help you improve your click through rates when your data is displayed in rich snippets.
·Google+: Google loves its own stuff. Its social network is essential in helping identify your online brand. Connecting it with concepts and serving your content in its search engine results pages.
·Keyword Optimisation & Content Creation: Keywords are not dead. You do not stop focusing on them; instead you have to learn how to refine them. Meaning focusing on quality content is becoming a vital part of the whole program and not over optimising keywords.
·Mobile SEO: Mobile SEO is becoming huge because everyone nowadays uses their mobile phones to access and search for things online, although there is still debate on whether or not people buy things online.
·Backlinks: Are still very important and a vital part to SEO and online marketing. You have to remember that even though Google is cutting back on their PR updates, they are still looking at backlinks, a valuable aspect of their ranking algorithm.
HUMMINGBIRD UPDATE IMPROVING UPON THE FUTURE OF SEO:
Hummingbird is a fantastic step forward in connecting relevant search result pages to the questions people are asking.
It could also be a great way for users to focus on gaining visibility, especially if they change their whole marketing approach to target the user first, answer the questions they are asking, then follow up with some fantastically written content.
Today, instead of focusing on questions like “How do I rank for this keyword?”, you would ask, “What are the best questions that I have about this keyword?”.
Google can help you identify these questions by simply typing in the search keyword and it will produce results of related search questions.
So now you know how to do this. You have to take a step forward and look to actually put this plan into action.
More of what we can do? https://old.getmediawise.com/
by Karl Hudson | Dec 24, 2013 | Search Engine Optimisation
For those of you that have not heard of Exact Match Domains, these are domains that contain the keyword in which you want to rank for. For example, if you were a dentist based in Newcastle upon Tyne, an exact match domain would be:http://www.dentistnewcastleupontyne.co.ukNow, the benefits of having a domain like this have decreased recently as Google has been focusing on reducing the amount of trust and link juice these types of sites can pass.
How can you ensure an EMD retains its power?
It’s simple. Google has been targeting poor quality content and poor quality anchor text structures on sites.
So one of the best strategies moving forward with any domain you have is to ensure that every piece of content you write is unique.
Then, any linking strategies you make have to target brand and generic anchor text.
Then, adopting the “less is more” principle you can look to build very high quality links into these sites.
As soon as you get the high quality links setup, it will help you increase the quality of your website.
CMSwire recently produced an article on Content Quality vs. Quantity. With this they tried to distinguish a clear winner. The article was published in September so it’s a little dated now.
“There is one question weighing on almost every marketer’s mind, or at least should be: what is better, quality of content or the quantity produced? The debate is ongoing and seems to be picking up momentum, but is there a clear and definitive answer to this question?
No. The answer is that simple.”
This piece is from http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/content-quality-vs-quantity-is-there-a-clear-winner-022575.php
Google has launched their recent update which is targeting quality content. Humming bird is the name of this update.
It is focusing on content that answer’s questions.
Answering questions is a great way to show off good quality content. The focus on semantic research is even more powerful thanks to this update.
What do I mean by semantically related content?
Semantically related content is content that is similar to other related keywords.
Google is becoming highly focused on this type of content, content that relates to other things.
You can see it from this example.
Now with this example, you can see a lot of searches relating to “keyword research”. This gives us a rough idea of different keywords that should be used in the articles.
These keywords can help us devise a good content plan and structure based on these related terms.
It also means that you will be answering a lot of the questions that Google is asking. This could hopefully assist you in creating great quality content.
Following on from the idea of using EMD’s and linking them to your site, this would give you the highest level of control on the links coming into your money sites.
It also means you can use grey hat techniques to help you achieve online success without having to worry about Google.
Learn more about our winning strategies! https://old.getmediawise.com/
by Karl Hudson | Dec 1, 2013 | Marketing
Most small business owners do not have the big bucks to market their business like the large companies do. This does not mean though that they should forget all about marketing as this is vital for the well-being and the success of their businesses. Since traditional marketing tool cost and arm and a leg, the best thing for small businesses to do is to make use of internet marketing tools.
Know Your Market
Keep in mind that your internet marketing endeavor will never be successful if you do not know who your target market is. There is no need to pay for a fancy marketing study to look for your your target market; if you know your product then you know who you cater to. Once you have a clear profile for your target market, what you need to do is to determine how best to reach them online. You can make us of blogs or even social networking sites.
Set a Realistic Budget
One good thing about internet marketing is that it can be successful even if you do not have much money. Just bear in mind though that while sticking to the free forms of online marketing will have great effects, it may also be to your benefit to get some paid ads. However, since you are taking out ads online, you will still pay less than what you wold normally pay for regular ads.
Get to Work on Branding
The world of online business is pretty harsh and you need to make a name for yourself. This is what branding is for and brand awareness can do wonders for your business. For your website not to be confused with that of another company’s, splurge a little on getting your own domain name as this is one investment that is sure to pay off.
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by Karl Hudson | Nov 20, 2013 | Search Engine Optimisation
Wikipedia’s definition: “Back links, also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links, are incoming links to a website or web page”. Source:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backlink
WHAT DO I MEAN BY “LINK PROFILE”?
I get asked this question every day. Put simply, a link profile is when someone or something goes through your entire website and creates a report based on your current link profile and portfolio of back links.
A link profile usually quantifies and evaluates the different types of links pointing to your site as there are many different content management systems and platforms that can pass you links.
SEO Providers tend to specialise in link profiles as it allows them to see what is happening with the website behind the scenes and because of that, it gives them the edge when it comes to creating online marketing campaigns.
SO WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF A GOOD LINK PROFILE?
- A good link profile should include the following elements:
One way links vs. Reciprocal links: These are the two main types of back links that a website can have. One way means website A points to B and that’s it. Reciprocal mean’s that both point to each other. See figure one.
Studies show that reciprocal links still work but usually don’t work as well as one way links. Barry Schwartz from the SERoundTable:
“The overall understanding from the thread is that reciprocal links still work and work well. The issue comes up when you do it “excessively” where your links are coming from unrelated web sites and you are linking back to unrelated pages.” Source: http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/022388.html
How relevant is the website to yours? The easy way of understanding this would be to imagine a shop that sells toothbrushes. They wouldn’t want to purchase TV’s and sell them as their niche is toothbrushes. So if you have a website that is selling toothbrushes, you would want other sites that mention dental work pointing to you to keep it niche specific. This also helps search engines figure out what your website is about.
I can’t preach this enough. Quality matters and it goes back to the old saying, “quality over quantity”. You only want websites that are trusted sources of information in the search engines eyes linking to your site. Many people believe it’s better to have a huge bunch of links pointing to your site, but these links could come from a variety of different places and have minimal value, whereas a website that is trusted by the search engine could have a much higher value if it links to your site.
This then leads into the next section:
Avoid sites that just seem to spam links. You don’t want to be associated with sites that have huge amounts of outbound links. Think “less is more” principle.
Bad link neighbourhoods can really put your whole link profile in danger. I have had many web masters approach me and ask how to identify bad link neighbourhoods. The simple way of doing it is by asking yourself this question:
“If I owned this website, why would it link to this website?”
If the answer is “It wouldn’t” and you happen to find that it has a bunch of outgoing links to a wide range of different sites, there is a chance that Google will see this site as poor quality.
PUTTING IT TOGETHER IN A REPORT:
There are various tools out there that can help you collect this information. Tool’s like Ahrefs.com & MajesticSEO are two of the top tools for finding out information on a websites back link profile.
Because of this you can quickly generate reports and identify flaws within your back link profile. If you need help in doing this, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Learn more about our SEO services. https://old.getmediawise.com/
by Karl Hudson | Nov 18, 2013 | Search Engine Optimisation
If you are looking into buying Search Engine Optimization services for your companies web site then you might be wondering how you make sure that you get good value for money, or don’t end up paying lots for it. There are a lot of companies out there who claim they offer affordable SEO services, but in fact don’t. There are only a few ways that you can be sure that you are getting the best value for money and this article will describe them.
Talk to other businesses and friends that you know have used SEO services before. Find out what companies they used and whether they considered them to do a good job for them. If you end up with a list or even just one company that you are told does good work then you are halfway there. You then need to find out how much they will charge for the work that you need to have done. You will need to compare that price to other companies to see if it is competitive and if it is you will know that you are getting a good service at a good price.
If you don’t know anyone who has had experience of using these companies, you will have to start from scratch with doing research yourself. Look into several companies and see what services they offer for what price. You will then get a good idea of what the average price is. Obviously there will be lots of companies that you could research and this could take you a long time so you will need to find other ways of narrowing your search. You might want a local company that you can go and talk to in person, or you might want a company who has a good reputation and has worked on SEO for large companies. Once you have looked into the services they offer and at which prices you will be much better informed and able to make a better choice for an affordable SEO service.
There is software that you can buy that will allow you to do some of the work yourself instead of buying in the services from a company. This means that you will have to do more of the work yourself and take time away from making money for your business. Sometimes this is a false economy as the money you will have to pay someone else to do this could be less than you will have earned, if you were working in your business rather than trying to submit your website to search engines. If you have some experience in this area then it can be worthwhile doing it yourself, but for most people this isn’t an affordable solution.
So you can see that there are ways of getting an affordable SEO service, but it will take some hard work. Unless you can find someone who can recommend a service to you, you will have to look at lots of companies and see what they offer for which prices. Always make sure that they are able to give you testimonials from companies they have worked for before so that you know that the work they do is something you will be happy with.
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