Kelvin Newman

Seven SEO tools to improve your online PR efficiency

Recently I’ve had the pleasure of training a number of PR agencies on how they can work Search Engine Optimisation into their service offerings.

It’s no secret that lots of SEO agencies and teams are trying to do the reverse at the same time.

While this merging of disciplines is no big surprise, something that I hadn’t anticipated is just how useful SEO tools can be for people carrying out online PR.

by Kelvin Newman 09 April 2013 10:40am 5 comments

Early thoughts on what Facebook’s Graph Search means for SEO

Now there’s one thing you can be certain of whenever there’s a new launch from Facebook there’s going to be a huge amount of speculation about what it means for digital marketers; but now they’ve made a stab at launching a search engine - there will be even more than usual.

First, let's get the biggest caveat out the way, I’ve not used the search functionality yet, I’m on the beta waiting list, along with thousands of others, but I have poured over all the write ups including this excellent write up of the story behind by Steven Levy, which I think even tops his great piece about the launch of Google Plus.

Despite that lack of practical experience of the new functionality, for the last couple of years I’ve thrown myself into understanding the Edgerank Algorithm, aka the rules that decide what appears in your newsfeed and come from a search marketing background.

by Kelvin Newman 16 January 2013 09:02am 6 comments

19 tools to improve your content marketing strategy

As we wave goodbye to 2012 and say hello to 2013, there’s a good chance, you, like many other people, have been working to put together a content marketing strategy for the new year.

No doubt you’ll have the objectives in place, created a well thought out strategy and work plan as long as your arm.

It’s that last element I want to help you with in this blog post, by sharing a clutch of tools and services which will save you time, improve your results and give you the freedom to work on the creative aspects of your campaign.

by Kelvin Newman 07 January 2013 12:10pm 21 comments

12 brands increasing conversions by understanding human psychology

First up a great big caveat emptor: in conversion rate optimisation there’s no such things as rules, there’s only findings. What may prove emphatically effective in one test, might be a waste of time in another similar situation.

Having said all that, there are a number of hardwired human traits and behavioral patterns understood by psychologists, behavioral economists and other social scientists that we can use to increase our conversions.

I have identified 12 brands that understand some of these common behaviors and have reflected it within their web designs. Examples like this can give you some ideas of potential things to try and test on your users.

by Kelvin Newman 06 August 2012 10:32am 25 comments

Facebook Edgerank: what marketers need to know

It's been nine months since I wrote the original Ultimate Guide to the Facebook Edgerank Algorithm. I was amazed to see the reaction to the piece.

It clearly seemed to strike a chord as it went on to be the most popular guest post on Econsultancy in 2012.

But a lot has changed since then in the world of Facebook. As I'm currently putting together a presentation for the upcoming Econsultancy Digital Shorts event in Manchester on Edgerank and other social algorithms, now seemed the perfect time to revisit the piece to update and expand it.

by Kelvin Newman 03 May 2012 11:29am 29 comments

Search plus: five changes you need to make to your SEO campaigns

Well, it's a few days since Google announced Search Plus Your World and I’ve had a chance to start to think a little about how this dramatic shift in the personalisation of results might change the day-to-day tactics of the search campaigns I work on.

Please note: I’ll be referring this as Search+ henceforth, rather than the namepuke “Search Plus Your World”.

Here are six small tweaks to make to your SEO campaigns, thanks to Search+...

by Kelvin Newman 16 January 2012 10:46am 7 comments

Five tricks our minds play on us and what marketers need to know

There’s a phenomena on the cusp between behavioral economics and psychology known as cognitive biases which are essentially scientifically documented tricks that our minds play on us.

As all of us in the world of digital marketing are in the business of persuasion, understanding these often irrational tendencies can help us do a better job.

Some are glaringly oblivious when you’re alerted to them, other are far more subtle in the way they influence decision making.

I recently delivered a talk at A4U Expo London exploring a few of these ‘mind tricks’ but I want to explain them further and in more depth.

by Kelvin Newman 19 October 2011 11:10am 6 comments

The ultimate guide to the Facebook Edgerank algorithm

EdgeRank is one of the most important algorithms in marketing. Despite this, very few people have heard of it and fewer still can claim that they fully understand it.

EdgeRank is the name of the algorithm which Facebook uses to determine what appears in their users’ news feeds. The news feed is Facebook’s ‘Killer App’. There is a plethora of information available to Facebook users, and the newsfeed is the order in which it appears.

It determines which of your connections is the most important to you and thus appears most frequently, and which kinds of content should appear higher than others. For anyone seeking to market a product or service on Facebook it’s essential you understand how this algorithm works.

Understanding the rules of the algorithm and changing your tactics to reflect the system can make the difference between a business changing campaign and an embarrassing failure. Yet despite this huge importance very little has been written about the algorithm.

by Kelvin Newman 16 August 2011 12:38pm 60 comments

Why Google + is already giving better social ranking signals than Twitter

There’s no secret in the SEO world that many of us suspect that the reason why Google has been pushing Google+ so aggressively.

It isn’t just to build its own successful social network, but also to gain access to data on what content and websites are being shared socially as this could be a great addition to their search algorithm.

You have to have been living below a rock the last year to have missed out on studies which have suggested volume of shares on Facebook and Twitter having a correlation with high rankings.

There might not be causation there yet, but that certainly seems the direction we’re heading in, with social signals becoming a ranking factor.

Here are five reasons why Google+ is already finding this data more useful than the Twitter Firehose...

by Kelvin Newman 26 July 2011 10:49am 16 comments

Eight tools and techniques to boost your link building efforts

There’s no question the difference between a successful search marketing campaign and one that fails is very rarely due to a lack of creativity or a naive strategy. Far more frequently it’s down to inefficiencies or wasted resources.

So what can you do to reduce those problems? Try and constantly improve things. Those changes are very rarely revolutions in your process, but just small refinements.

What follows are eight of those small refinements and improvements that I’ve made recently which I think have made me a better link builder.

by Kelvin Newman 18 July 2011 12:55pm 10 comments