SEO | Internet Marketing Blog

Three tips for an international SEO strategy

One of the key challenges for businesses planning international expansion is tailoring their content and SEO strategy to local markets.

The intricacies of local language and colloquialisms means it’s not as simple as just running your keywords through Google Translator and hoping for the best.

At Econsultancy’s Funnel B2B marketing conference Search Laboratory’s Ian Harris outlined the three steps involved with adapting websites for international markets.

Here’s a run through of his main points...

by David Moth 13 November 2012 14:22pm 4 comments

Why good SEOs should look like they don't exist

We've seen a lot of changes in the SEO world over the last six months, with content marketing in particular becoming a hotter topic almost by the day.

But if you really think about what a good SEO campaign should look like, it's pretty obvious that link manipulation and over-optimisation is never what Google was looking for when reviewing quality in sites.

In fact, in the words of Google themselves; creating quality content is the single biggest thing you can do!

by Kevin Gibbons 05 November 2012 11:11am 28 comments

SEO: search experience optimisation

Experience road sign For me, the term search engine optimisation (SEO) has always been fatally flawed. It suggests that we optimise solely for search engines. However, search engines don’t buy products, people do.

I’ve always been of the opinion that by focusing, first and foremost, on optimising the customer experience, success in search will generally follow in the medium to longer term.

Yes, there are boxes to be ticked when it comes to SEO, such as the use of certain tags or creating an XML feed but even these can be optimised in a way that focuses on the customer primarily, not the search engine.

SEO is also a term that fails to describe (or give credit to) the full range of disciplines involved in creating and executing a contemporary natural search strategy, for example content planning, social media, PR and analytical skills. Neither does it communicate the benefits, over and above search engine rankings, that these disciplines deliver.

SEO also of course has a bit of a reputation issue.

All of this has led me to believe that ‘SEO’ needs a long overdue rebrand.

by Ben Potter 01 November 2012 09:57am 10 comments

Could content marketing replace the SEO department?

A couple of weeks ago I was on a panel to discuss the role of content marketing to coincide with the release of Econsultancy’s Content Marketing Survey Report.

I was principally there to represent the publisher’s side of this new approach, but one comment I made seemed to cause a stir. It was: If you’re struggling to find a separate budget for content marketing, you could rename your SEO department to ‘Content Marketing’, rather than set up a new cost line.

It might then be easier to gain investment for the new discipline, because you’re not setting up a whole new department. I’m sure if you read this article, we’ll come to some agreement.

by James Carson 22 October 2012 09:20am 38 comments

The convergence of SEO, design and content

SEO is changing and we have now entered the age of content marketing.

The divide between online marketing and classic marketing and advertising is closing fast with creativity and design now essential elements of an SEO campaign.

by Shelli Walsh 16 October 2012 11:00am 8 comments

Four SEO payment models you need to seriously question

Snake oil image courtesy of Jeremy Weate Let’s face it; for the uneducated or inexperienced buyer of SEO services, the market is a minefield.

Conflicting messages, confusing language and a saturated market, where anybody from web designers to PR agencies ‘provide’ SEO, combine to make the journey of researching and recruiting SEO expertise a pretty treacherous one.

One thing that certainly doesn’t help the buyer of SEO services is the massive disparity in what you can pay for a service that, on the face of it, looks the same, along with the myriad of weird and wonderful remuneration models on offer from freelancers, consultants and agencies.

With that in mind, I’m going to take a look at a number of SEO payment models that, for me, don’t come under nearly enough scrutiny and why, in my view, they just don’t work in the context of today’s search landscape.

by Ben Potter 03 October 2012 09:46am 30 comments

Why PRs need to get to grips with Google's Zero Moment of Truth

Last year Google published a new marketing model that added an extra step into the traditional view of the customer purchase journey.

Labelled The Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT), the model essentially states that the internet has created an additional customer touch point between the original advert and the actual purchase.

ZMOT is when consumers go online to research products, look for reviews or try to find coupons.

At a PRCA event on Tuesday Unibet’s head of search Nick Garner said that ZMOT is an area that PRs should own as it’s about influencing decisions and getting positive brand information onto trusted websites.

by David Moth 27 September 2012 11:19am 7 comments

Seven ways PRs should be helping their clients' SEO strategies

The convergence of PR and SEO has been a hotly debated topic on the Econsultancy blog in recent months.

It began with a guest blog urging PRs to get a grip on SEO, followed by a post warning that SEOs will slaughter careless PR agencies.

Both articles stirred a great reaction in the comments section, with the general consensus being that SEO and PR need to work together to help achieve common goals.

Text 100’s digital and social lead Lance Concannon also addressed the topic at a PRCA event discussing the future of search and SEO.

Concannon stated that PRs should find out who owns SEO within their client’s business and build a relationship with them so they can better coordinate their efforts.

by David Moth 26 September 2012 10:04am 8 comments

Eight great free SEO and Google Analytics tools

All SEOs have certain tools and tricks that they use to monitor their client's performance and that of their competitors.

At BrightonSEO several of the speakers revealed some of the free tools they have found most valuable, as well as some custom reports created for Google Analytics.

This list is compilation of tools suggested by Auto Trader head of search and online partnerships Berian Reed; Forward3D head of SEO Danielle Fudge; and Koozai digital marketing executive Anna Lewis.

You can find more useful GA dashboards and report relating for social media and email marketing on Lewis's blog...

by David Moth 18 September 2012 11:50am 24 comments

Soar above the SEO bar with page-centric strategy

As search marketers, we know that there are proven methods of improving our page rank such as creating unique and relevant content with the right keywords, promoting this content, and building links from the domains that matter.

These are methods that have been used for the past ten years and while, these methods have been quite effective, SEO is more complex today.

The rise of social media as an effective SEO tool, the growing competitiveness of SEO, and tough guidelines by search engines, call for a re-evaluation of how we have been doing SEO.

by Nag Patta 12 September 2012 17:01pm 12 comments