Is SEO really bad for the internet?
Aaron Wall recently reported on a Google employee who left comments on Hacker News to the effect that SEO is bad for the internet.
The Google employee, Googley Jon Rockway, said that "SEO isn't good for users or the internet at large".
It's a surprising statement for a Google employee to make, and I've been asking some SEO experts about their views on the issue, and whether this reflects the search giant's real views.
Does your web team know how to use Webmaster Tools?
Is your web team using Webmaster Tools to improve site performance? If not, they should.
This post is for owners of e-commerce websites who don’t get involved in day-to-day operational trading/site optimisation and web managers/admin staff who aren’t using Webmaster Tools daily.
Ok so this isn’t new thinking, it’s not going to blow your mind with its creativity or innovation. But it’s important; the basics are essential.
I still meet Client teams (and occasionally agency staff) whom have either never heard of Google Webmaster Tools (yes I am going to focus on the mighty Google as it still dominates global market share, stats here.), or don’t really know how or why they should use it.
They really should use it as part of the overall site management toolkit.
Read on to learn why and see how easy it is to use the data to help inform your planning process.
Don't slack off your SEO resolutions
January's nearly over and many people have already ditched the diets and abandoned the gym. But if your New Year's resolution was to boost your company's online potential, then you simply cannot afford to let it slide.
Here are some motivating facts and figures, along with a few top tips on website optimisation...
Top five KPIs for SEO campaigns
Throughout an SEO project there are many different ways to measure performance, but which is the most important?
Is it your keyword rankings? Is it your traffic? What about conversions? Or does revenue come in to it? Maybe it's all about the links?
This post shortlists the top five key performance indicators (KPIs) that you might already be looking at or should really consider using, with explanations of their pros and cons.
After reading this post you should have a good insight in to what you need to look at in order to achieve your goals for a website.
Three new ways to visualise your SEO performance
SEO practitioners don’t typically share their operational methods. Our sector is reliant on gaining competitive advantage through hoarding methods and techniques for just long enough to benefit from them, and then sharing them to gain some love and respect as a bonus.
This also extends to methods for displaying SEO data and visualising performance. For instance, search agencies never willingly allow their reports to be seen by their competitors.
Therefore, I want to break rank somewhat and present three interesting ways to display SEO data and information, methods that I’ve not seen others use out there and that are increasingly becoming standards within my own companies.
The price of SEO: infographic
The most common hourly cost of SEO consultancy is $76-$200, according to a new survey by SEOmoz.
However, cost-per-project is the most common pricing model and is offered by 70% of the agencies and consultancies surveyed.
2012 search predictions: the experts' view
I've been asking a number of search experts to look back to last year, as well as giving their predictions and hopes for 2012.
The growing influence of social signals on search features heavily in the predictions, as do concerns about cookie compliance laws and SSL search...
Social signals and search: what is the impact?
It's no secret that search engines are increasingly looking at social signals such as tweets or Facebook Likes as part of their fast evolving algorithms.
The arrival of Google+ and subsequent launch of brand page functionality has focused the spotlight on social signals as a factor in influencing search engine visibility.
As part of the research for our latest Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing, we looked at the impact this trend is having on digital marketers. Here, we have also talked to some leading search experts about their thoughts on this subject.
Econsultancy's top 25 blog posts of 2011
Since we've (almost) reached the end of the year, I've compiled a list of Econsultancy's top blog posts of 2011, ranked (roughly) by number of page views.
Has Google just patented behavioural quality signals?
Google scored a new patent this week. Does it indicate a change in direction behind the search giant’s logic or even pose yet another problem to Google’s competitors?
