The Guardian makes its comments search engine friendly
The Guardian has introduced some welcome updates to its comments system, with comments now handled server-side instead of client side.
This means that the newspaper is not using javascript to display comments anymore, which brings with it a number of benefits, as pointed out by Malcolm Coles:
The ‘Vince’ update unravelled: does Google recognise brand equity? (pt 3)
Could this be the smoking gun, the SEO equivalent to 'CCTV' evidence of Google's manual intervention? I'll let you decide. My place is only to present the evidence.
Without wanting to sound sensationalist, I found this evidence quite shocking because as we all know, Google would never hand manipulate a SERP... would it?
The ‘Vince’ update unravelled – does Google recognise brand equity? (pt 2)
Yesterday we took a retrospective look at the 'Vince' update, exampling the 'Poker' and 'Life Insurance' SERPs, and how Google has cleverly managed to identify and apply corrective adjustments to a small number of rankings for big brands.
Today we're looking at the 'Holidays' and 'Betting' SERPs and the possible methods behind these adjustments, as well as introducing data from the Stickyeyes data set, enabling us to dig deeper into the back-link profiles of these movers and shakers.
The ‘Vince’ update unravelled: does Google recognise brand equity? (pt 1)
Four months after Google’s so called Vince update, and there’s still talk amongst SEOs of brand building being the new link building. The following three-part blog series aims only to present evidence for you to draw your own conclusions on what really happened, what Google is now looking for and how to effectively deploy your natural search campaign post Vince.
Four tips for analysing SEO Google Analytics style
Having spent time improving your SEO, building natural links and optimising on site elements then I bet you cannot wait to see the results. If you're anything like most people (including yours truly), you'd look at traffic to your site as an indication of how well you've done. Although the end result is higher numbers of visitors to your site due to better ranking, it might be while before your ranking will improve.
On the other hand by using Google Analytics it's easier to see short term improvement in your SEO by extracting hidden data gems so it's really a question of knowing where to look. Here are four tips...
Buying or selling SEO links? Look at the trouble you’re causing
How many times have you sat through an SEO
presentation and heard 'it’s all about links, and one link from the BBC
is worth more than 1,000 low level directories.'
Google relies on media links to calculate PageRank, a gauge of website authority. These links bring order to search results, which is why everyone uses Google, which is why they make so much money. Brands therefore need media links to achieve SEO success in Google, which is fair enough.
But what do media owners get for providing the authority map behind Google’s meteoric rise? Plummeting advertising revenues as Google hoovers up the lot. This seems a bit of a kick in the teeth, but what can they do about it?
Where should you spend your online budget?
The amount spent advertising online has finally exceeded that amount spent on TV promotions. So, if you're planning to dedicate more marketing money to the web platform, where should you spend that cash?
People are spending more online, both shoppers and advertisers. That means your customers are on the web but it also means your competitors have upped their game.
So you probably plan to increase the amount you spend, but where should you spend that cash? Should you boost your email marketing or ramp up your paid ads?
Cervical cancer jab: Please help inject some sensible advice into Google's results
Google risks undermining the cervical cancer vaccine program with the negative, scaremongering slant of its search results. Any parents searching for information on the vaccine in the light of the tragic death of Natalie Morton are presented with a page of negative and alarming stories.
There's something we can all do about this - that's link to the relevant NHS page and try to get that in the top 10 results for relevant Google searches. Here's how YOU can help.
Why 'quality not quantity' matters online
Too often online marketing is characterised by quantity rather than quality. There's a pervasive idea that quality is too hard but sheer volume will have the same effect.
Let me give you a shining example of what I mean. I was recently browsing a forum when I found, without a doubt, the dumbest attempt at marketing I've seen in a while.
How to optimise your website from the ground up
Although much of the search engine optimisation (SEO) work carried out by agencies like mine is ongoing, there are important elements that need to be incorporated in the early days.
It's quite common for clients to approach us once they have just paid for a brand new website design. This is understandable, even if it's frustrating for SEO professionals. As far as the company is concerned, they now have their shiny new site so it's time to start marketing it with an SEO campaign.
Holiday shopping forecast 2009: a lot like 2008, with more coupons
The NLA explains why it is going after the news aggregators
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
