In my experience, many companies fail in their link-building, even when they know it's important, because an integrated approach is not used. Many other companies fail because they don't know the importance of backlinks to SEO, so they just concentrate on on-page optimisation. This post talks about companies who know its importance.
I was reminded of this when browsing the June issue of the excellent Search Marketing Standard (everyone serious about SEO should be a subscriber). In an article Link by Link: Reconstructing the Past 15 Years, link-building specialist Eric Ward reviewed some of his learnings from the last 15 years and I thought it would be useful to pass on a summary of his key learnings and recommendations - they're relevant to everyone: site owners, marketers, PRs and of course SEOs.
I always listen to what Eric Ward has to say about using link-building for SEO since he has been a…
Microsoft's Bing search engine launched on the 1st June. This post summarises my recommendations on the features for marketers to consider.
We have to start with popularity - how many will use the new search engine. Microsoft has been somewhat successful in retaining market share in the US primarily through it's cashback affiliate scheme and the launch is likely to increase this. It has an 8% share of searches. In the UK Live Search had a lower share of around 1% according to Hitwise
comScore Core Search Report*
April 2009 vs. March 2009
Total U.S. "€“ Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore qSearch
Core Search Entity
Share of Searches (%)
Mar-09
Apr-09
Point Change Apr-09 vs. Mar-09
Total Core Search
100.0
…
Google Analytics Search Ranking Filters for New URLsBrian Clifton is well known as the former Head of Web Analytics for Google EMEA and more recently as the author of what many consider the best book on Google Analytics: Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics:
[amazon-product]0470253126[/amazon-product]
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But Brian also has a strong background in search engine marketer and has consulted widely on SEO. As a fellow SEO, I was very keen to find out Brian's tips for using Google Analytics to get better results from the search engines, particularly using SEO.
You can read his latest tips on Google Analytics on his Advanced Web metrics blog .
Process and KPIs for using Google Analytics to improve SEO
Q1. When you work as a consultant, please could you outline your process for using Google Analytics to improve…
This post is a summary of my presentation to the Advanced Search Term Research & Targeting session at Search Engine Strategies London, 2009. I hope to share and learn on tools and tips for keyword analysis - so please add your ideas to comments.
The reality for most SEOs today who are working for agencies or clients is that they are trying to get better rankings in the natural listings for a site that has already been SEO ed, so a basic keyphrase audit and analysis will already have been completed.
Which tools and process should you follow to audit the current effectiveness of your keywords and get better results?
I'd like to thank Vince Coyle, Head of Search at Universal McCann for reviewing the types of tools and providing the summary of the UM keyword research process at the end of this post.
Let's start with the main types of keyword research tools…
We all know the Long Tail is important to keyword research for search engine marketing. This recent keyword analysis by Hitwise from US data showed that top 1,000 search terms account for just 11% of traffic:
Top 100 terms: 5.7% of the all search traffic
Top 500 terms: 8.9% of the all search traffic
Top 1,000 terms: 10.6% of the all search traffic
Top 10,000 terms: 18.5% of the all search traffic
We all see similar patterns in our own / client's web analytics, with the majority of individual referrals from tail keyphrases.
But how can we understand the long-tail phrases we need to target and refine our existing approach?
Pattern recognition through stems and qualifiers
I have always believed that successful keyword research and copywriting for SEO is down the analysts "pattern recognition" based on finding the main stem terms and qualifers using this type of structured analysis and format:
<pre-qualifier(s)> + [stem(s)] + <post-qualifier(s)>
+- <cheap> +-…
I have finally made time to read the Google Starter Guide to SEO PDF which was published in November. This is a summary of the recommendations.
I had a quick check back in November to see whether it added to conventional wisdom on best practice, i.e. what any competent SEO would advise.
On a second, detailed reading, it doesn't add anything to standard best practice, but its value is in educating non-SEO specialists through it's summary of the main issues and nice use of examples. It also helps validate your advice, so make relevant sure content owners and designers take a look.
If you haven't had a chance to read ityet, I can save you time - these are the main issues addressed.
Summary of Google-recommended SEO practices
Some of the important points from the Google Starter Guide which we find are often neglected by designers or content owners are:
1.…
In this interview we look at the major SEO trends and innovation including personalised search, social media, vertical search and paid linking.
With thousands of posts weekly on the main search engine marketing portals like SearchEngineLand and compilations of "€˜must-read"€™ search blogs numbering in the hundreds, it can be tricky to spot the changes which will make a real difference to your search engine marketing efforts.
In this interview, I talk to an expert who has to sift through the seo blogs and identify the developments which will make a real difference to his clients. Andrew Girdwood is Head of Search at bigmouthmedia who as part of the Global Media Group have hundreds of search marketing clients from SME's to major global brands.
Andrew has been in Search for over nine years…
