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.
How to use Google Analytics to track telephone leads
Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to track telephone call leads in Google Analytics? Guess what? There is and I'm going to share with you over a series of four posts how you can set this up for yourselves.
Social Media Engagement - Good habits are hard to start!
Typically, the hardest thing about a "habit" is to try and stop it... it takes 21 days at the least, apparently. Habits are viewed as negative; the word is usually being associated with vices and things that are bad for you.
Well, have you ever thought about how to start a habit? One that is good for you and your business?
Having worked with a number of organisations to help them integrate the social web into their existing customer communications strategy I've learnt that the hardest thing isn't the ideas, the approach or the social medium to use; the hardest and biggest challenge is "change". There is a definite requirement for businesses to adopt and adapt; they need to own and be responsible for managing the social media engagement and not to treat it as separate channel. Some great ideas have crashed and burned because of this, so here are a few ideas to help organisations thinking about; or those who are struggling with their whole social media engagement approach.
Is the BBC finally using hyperlinks?
Having experimented with various ways of linking out, it looks like the BBC may finally be using good old hyperlinks to send readers to external websites.
This was spotted by techchuff, via Twitter, which remarks that the 'Google juice is being sprayed like champagne at an F1 podium', and indeed, the links appear to be passing on PageRank, which hasn't always been the case with the BBC.
How to impress the different search engines
There are many tactics used to drive a website up in the search rankings and they all have benefits with the various search engines.
But each of these engines uses a different algorithm to determine which pages should rank highly, so how can you impress each of them?
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
