This page lists various posts that are specifically about SEO for Google, which really means, advice from Google, or advice from me about Google. I have learnt a few things over the years, and made several mistakes, so have documented here. Newest posts first. Is the Google Webspam Team Too Draconian? Jan 4, 2012 “Even though the intent of the campaign was to get people to watch videos–not link to Google–and even though we only found a single sponsored post that actually linked to Google’s Chrome page and passed PageRank, that’s still a violation of our quality guidelines,” - Matt Cutts on Google+ This led to a 60 day penalty. It still shocks me that Google will penalise a website even though it knows that there was no intention to game the system. People make mistakes. Someone could spend years raising awareness about a product or service and then 1 poorly constructed bit of code could lose them 60 days of business (at least). The argument for this seems to be that the client (in this case Google’s own Chrome) can ask for a reinclusion request once they have cleared up the problem. However, reinclusion requests are only possible when you [...]

The First Signs of Recovery Came Early After being struck down by Panda on April 11th 2011 I got to work and made a whole bunch of on-site changes. I made a small recovery quickly, however, soon learned that there was still a lot of work to do. Apr 19, 2011 Glad to report that this morning it seems that the work I have been doing over the last week is paying off. One of the sites that I manage saw a drop in traffic after the UK Google Panda update last Monday (11th April, 2011). Since then I have been working relentlessly, pretty much around the clock, to try to learn what went wrong and then to resolve the problems. Google Panda is essentially a website quality update. It is the first step towards search engines returning quality sites that are not based on webmaster votes (i.e. links).” I have been working about 12 hours a day, probably more some days, and have a change log with over 500 entries. I spent a lot of time reading through the various Google webmaster forums and speaking to people that were trying to recover. The general concensus was always that “nobody [...]

If there is one paradox online it is the concept of natural link building. For a site to be discovered it needs to have PageRank so that it appears in the search engine (OK, Google search engine). But Google ideally wants only natural link building. So if you have no PageRank, you have no traffic and therefore no chance of natural link building taking place. Classic Catch 22 situation. So, as every SEO worth his / her salt knows, you have to build your own links. Not natural as such, but consider it a part of your marketing campaign to raise awareness. Over the years I have dipped into link building. My thoughts on various methods have changed over time. Here I simply have compile a list of articles I have written on the topic over the last few years. They provide a good starting point if nothing else! Topics covered are general SEO research, making use of directories, the pros and cons outsourcing SEO work, what good directories look like, what bad deals smell like and some other link building stuff. What follows was once a series of mini blog updates, now we have one complete resource. The dates [...]

Sometimes we concentrate too much on social media, SEO, PPC and Internet marketing that we forget how effective traditional media can be. Here are 25 ways you can use traditional media to reach out to a massive audience. 1. Billboards A billboard in the centre of a busy city will get a lot of eyeballs. 2. Sponsor a Sports Team Sponsoring a sporting event such as a sailing race can attract a new wealthy clientèle. 3. Sell or Give Away Branded Mugs 4. Turn Your Brand Into Art at a National Gallery 5. Commission Some Professional Graffiti 6. Or Commission Some Street Painting 7. Get Photographed with Celebrities Such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie! 8. Or Ask Lady Gaga to hold a Photo for you 9. Get the Support of Football Fanatics 10. Sponsor a Bus Shelter 11. Hire a Sexy Model to Pose Against your Brand (actually, this probably comes before bus shelters) 12. Sponsor an International Fashion Show 13. Brand Your Sports Car 14. Advertise on Container Ships 15. Get Bikers to Support You 16. Sponsor a Medieval Joust 17. Organise a Mass Rally in Your Support People Power! 18. Get Your Logo on the new iPad Just [...]

Here is a selection of blog posts on the two main social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter, and how they can be used to help promote your business. The Importance of a Good Twitter Name Dec 3, 2010  Funny news on Test Match Special just now. Aggers interviewed a woman from Massachusetts who has the Twitter name @theashes. She knew nothing about cricket, but her boyfriend picked the name for her. Since the 2010 Ashes Series started (cricket competition between England and Australia, held every 2 years, this year its in Australia) she started receiving thousands of followers. She was awoken on the first night when follow announcements and messages started appearing on her mobile phone - literally hundreds every hour. As a result she has started taking an interest in cricket. What’s more, her followers have decided to club together to get her on a plan to Australia to catch the one of the matches – and she has accepted the invitation. But the story here for us is that this is once again proof that a good domain name can go a long way still. Although you will struggle to keep a brand or trademark name, something generic that has meaning could win you a [...]

If you search Google for “what defines an english person?” at the moment the result is rather cheeky. The screenshot of my search results show the first result, a result that I cannot possibly repeat here without causing offence. OK, as there should not be any children reading this blog, I will tell you. A search for “what defines an english person?” brings up the Wikipedia page for Cunt as the first result. Well, isn’t that nice! The only words highlighted on the search results page are “defined”, “English” from “Compact Oxford English Dictionary” and “person” from “an unpleasant or stupid person”. So, either Google is making a big mistake, someone at Google is being very cheeky, or some people have been “Google bombing” this search phrase. Which is it? I guess I will soon find out if writing naughty words in blog posts gets your dumped by Google. It is an assumption that this is the case. Although Wikipedia seem to be immune to this, if it is true. The same result is also seen at no.1 for “Define an English person“. Apparently there have been some complaints in the Google webmaster forums about this, although I have not [...]

Using Social Media to Optimise Your Search Engine Presence For several years people have viewed SEO and Social Networking as two disparate entities, both good for promoting your website and brand, but not things that can work together effectively. Now though, that’s really not the case, and a good, search friendly social media presence can seriously bolster your search engine rankings. Major search engine players, including Google, Bing and Yahoo, incorporate social media data into their results, so timing has never been better for updating and invigorating your website’s social media status. Social Media – The Golden Rule In order to have your social media directly affect your search engine standings in a positive way you first need to make a strong profile and to do that you need to know the Golden Rule…Keep it social! The whole point of social media from a business perspective is to interact and engage with your customers; to make sure that previous customers return and that new customers take that first plunge with you. The biggest mistake you can do when entering the world of Facebook, Twitter and Google+ is to forget to interact with your customers and just spam, spam, spam them [...]

Today Google have shared the latest algorithm changes to the Google search engine. They open the blog post with the announcement that this will be the first of a new monthly series of articles on search updates. Some really positive changes there, looks like some of the anti-Panda pundits who have been complaining about scrapers will finally have to put a sock in it!

LinkedIn is now the major player in professional social networking. But other free or trimmed down alternatives are emerging. Here we look at three that are worth considering. Zerply Zerply.com Zerply bills itself as being “a professional network built around people who love what they do.” Okay, that’s a bit vague, as you wouldn’t really want to network with people who love dressing in adult diapers, and I’m sure they love what they do. More pragmatically, Zerply is a networking site that aims to be a little less corporate in nature, and as such it is likely to appeal to creative types. Zerply aims to simply both users’ profiles and the communication between members, and at the same time to allow more informal networks to emerge (it is very easy to contact people who you don’t already know but who share interests and complementary skills). Users can save contacts, endorse others’ tags, find users who are similar to themselves and search specifically for users based on location, profile tags, skills, professional experience, education and more. Costs: Free Jigsaw Jigsaw.com Many people use LinkedIn as a way to source new business contacts, whether for sales, marketing or networking. Data.com Contacts by [...]

SEO is an expansive, complicated field that requires a constant building of new techniques. However, we cannot sacrifice the basic points. One of the most important parts of an SEO effort is the page that is being promoted. All too often we see webmasters concerned with directory submissions, articles, and social networking while their actual website is dragging down their efforts. Deep Linking and Coherency Never let it slip your mind that every content page that appears on your domain is contributing to your PageRank unless otherwise stipulated to search engine crawlers. Pages posted a year ago are still being indexed and looked at for activity. The way to keep those pages alive and active is to provide deep links from your newer content. Go through your newest posts or content to find words to link back to some of these older articles to bring visitor eyes to them. Language of Anchor Text Depending on the discipline you are focused in, you may know there to be multiple ways to approach anchor text. A content oriented website wants to have anchor text that is descriptive of what it is pointing at. Providing information about “outdoor furniture” should be denoted with [...]

The latest Google algorithm update gives rise to online commotion especially to the SEO community. Top-ranking SEO sites and popular blogs aired their opinions and the readers also joined the discussion. It is interesting to note down the pointers from the experts and some sensible comments from site visitors.

Search Engine Optimization has come along way from its uncertain beginnings, and has emerged as one of the best investments you can make regarding ROI. One consistent issue that people have with SEO, is the fact that is a metaphorical “moving target.” Search engines, and Google in particular are always updating their algorithms, changing search as we know it. However, with that being said most technology related businesses have the same speed when it comes to change and advancements. The one thing that will always be constant in the SERP’s in that quality content will always be held in high esteem. This is true for the organic search results, and more recently for Google Places. Local business owners have a great opportunity to capitalize on Google places. Search users are typically gravitating to the local results much more than the organic results. This is most likely due to the usefulness that the local attribute provides. For example, if you Google “pizza” you obviously want to see some shops in your area, or else that could be one heck of a delivery fee. As a local business owner, the competition for ranking here is in your favor. Though competition may still [...]

In true cheap blogging fashion many people have shared Google’s new guidelines for web content quality. Ironically, it is this type of sharing without adding value or providing a reason for sharing that Google despises. Why share something other than a link to the source if you have nothing to say about it other than “these are Google’s new web content guidelines”? These are Google’s New Web Content Guidelines So, rather than just paste the guidelines I will now share my understanding of these guidelines, based on messing about with the content on my websites over the last 6 months. I was going to write up a document on this Panda recovery stuff but I have now done away with plans to publish an eBook. The long awaited How to recover from Google Panda will never be published as I now feel that it is a waste of time and effort on my part to do so. Sorry to those that really wanted a copy, but really, you do not need it. So, now to the Google quality guidelines, which are just a bunch of questions you need to ask yourself about your website. Remember, have more pages with a higher [...]

SEMRush provide a wide range of data on any given website which is designed to help you to monetize and promote your site better. Whether you wish to analyse your competitors or improve you own search engine and marketing campaigns SEMRush provides the tools and information to help.

For years, social media has been seen as a marketing fad. Naysayers have declared that social media is for individuals, not businesses. Nowadays, however, it will be very difficult to claim that social media is a fad that is here today and forgotten tomorrow. For one, the world’s most famous and best brands have kept strong social media presence. But the most telling thing that social media is here to stay is that it is used both by your customers and by business owners. We see how social media sites boast of more and more users every month, and most business leaders would agree that social media is a great marketing tool. According to a 2011 HBR poll of 2,000 senior executives, only 11% said that business use of social media is a fad. But why should you get into social media? Here are seven reasons: 1. Gain exposure for your business Facebook has around 750 million users, while Twitter has around 200 million users. That is just for the two biggest social networks. Google+ is catching up, and quickly at that. Your customers and prospects are on social media, so why isn’t your business? 2. Personal recommendations are more [...]