When it comes to pay per click advertising, there is one company that provides an industry leading interface and series of great complimentary tools – Google! Continue reading
Tag Archives: google
Google Webmaster Tools – How They Can Help You
Google webmaster tools is a rather sophisticated piece of kit and it won’t cost you a thing. We are adding this for two clients today and the set up process is very simple. First of all though, I’ll just go through a couple of the main benefits to this great tool. Continue reading
What is keyword research?
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If you know anything about the SEO industry, you’ll know that a keyword is the term we enter into the search engine when we’re looking for something. Although it’s called a keyword, the term can include multiple words.
Any credible SEO campaign has to begin with some keyword research. The most exhausting thing about dealing with some clients is when they want to rank first for an obscure term, and I’m trying to tell them that there are approximately 0 searches for said term. In order to prove this to clients, I use something called the Google Adwords Keyword Tool.
The tool is free, and it gives you a good idea of monthly and annual searches for certain terms, as well as the competition for them. Although it only shows the Google Adwords (paid search) competition, it’s usually very similar with regards to organic search.
The keyword tool is really simple to use. All you have to do is enter the search term (or terms, as multiple searches can be performed at once) and wait for the results. You’re able to choose which country the searches are performed that you’re looking for.
There are three columns of results – competition, local monthly searches and global monthly searches. Competition is a green power bar. The fuller the bar, the more competition there is for the search term in Google Adwords. Local monthly searches indicates how many searches there are for the term in the country you’ve selected, and global monthly searches is how many searches there have been worldwide.
You’re now able to download these results (either all or selected) into an Excel spreadsheet.
You can now use these results to analyse which search terms would be more effective for your SEO campaign.
Google + – a brief description (and invite…if you want one)
I know it’s a few weeks late, but I was invited into Google+ today. It’s by no means the finished article, but I can see it having a real impact on search rankings for the future.
I’m guessing there’s plenty to be added to the network in terms of groups, businesses and fan pages (Facebookesque..), but here are a few things that I like the look of.
Social Circles
Allows you to put people in certain groups. Great idea for anyone who’s ever made a Facebook status about their boss or a work colleague, only to find out that you’re friends with them. The new circles feature allows you to create groups of people and only allow them to see what you’ve written.
Hangouts
Like Facebook chat, but better! Hangouts allows you to speak to up to 9 people at a time. There’s something similar on MSN messenger, but for some reason, Facebook have never incorporated it. It also allows you to use video chat, as if you’re all in the same room. I just hope it doesn’t lead to people thinking they never have to leave the house!
Sparks
Allows you to search for news on your chosen subject. Looks like it’s just searching Google news, but it’s not a bad little feature. I’m guessing this will be further developed in the future, but I like the thought of it.
I’ve no doubt that in the next few weeks there’s going to be lots of new developments, and it’s something I’m rather excited about. Watch this space!
If you’d like to have a look at Google+, but so far haven’t been invited, please add us on Twitter and Tweet us your email address, and we’ll get an invite sent straight to you.
5 Guarantees an SEO professional shouldn’t make
As businesses are spending more and more time on the internet, there are a lot of SEO companies offering you their services. Here’s a little list of 5 things any reputable SEO shouldn’t be guaranteeing you.
Guaranteed top spot on Google – The Google algorithm (the system it uses to rank websites for certain keywords) is extremely complicated. Add the fact that it’s constantly changing, and it’s very difficult to know the exact ranking factors. Also, there might be another company starting SEO at exactly the same time with a bigger budget or more authoritative domain name. If someone claims that they can achieve top spot for a certain keyword, make sure you’re very careful about agreeing to anything.
On site is more important than off site/visa versa – In any SEO campaign, it’s important to make sure your on site and off site factors are both optimised. I like to compare it to training programme. If you go to the gym and workout every night but then go home and eat junk food, it wont be as effective as if you eat a healthy diet. SEO is the same. Both on site and off site can be effective, but their effectiveness is maximised if both are being worked on.
How long will it take to see results? – This is a difficult one, as, obviously, any business owner wants to know they’re getting something for their money. If you have a new site, it can take anything up to 6 months to see any visible results with the search engines. This is why it’s important to use effective link building methods as, although search rankings aren’t necessarily improving, the site’s traffic will be.
The best type of link – Once again, Google doesn’t tell us whether a directorial link is better than a forum signature, or the difference between a link at the top of the page and a link in the middle. However, if we try to cover all possible link building options, we’re bound to see some improvement.
What will change tomorrow? – Absolutely vital to any SEO campaign – make sure you constantly check and read industry news. Google recently changed their algorithm dramatically (panda update), and anyone not reading their stuff could have been left far behind by the change.