SEO Blog

One of the biggest questions that people are asking is whether or not social signals actually affect your rankings? Digital marketing and SEO in particular is malleable, meaning that anyone working within SEO can never rest on their laurels, or practice what they learned five or ten years ago. To be on top, you need to keep up-to-speed with the latest changes, if not it’s your website that will suffer. So, with the increasing focus on social media and the attention that businesses are giving to Google Plus, will any of this start to have an effect on your website’s rankings?
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Technology has been at the forefront of change in relation to how we communicate – and the Internet has created a number of methods for us to stay in touch with the world. From MSN Messenger to Skype and not forgetting the big social networks; they all have their place in modern communications, alongside more traditional platforms such as email, phone, and even text messaging. In a world where businesses are in constant communication with clients and customers around the globe, it’s important to harness all forms of communication so that nobody misses any relevant news.

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The issue of user generated reviews has reared its head once again. After receiving complaints from several hoteliers, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have recently told Trip Advisor to remove the word ‘Trusted’ when describing the reviews contained on their site. Whilst this serves as a warning to all site’s offering user generated material, restaurants and hoteliers shouldn’t shy away from gaining a review. Nor should people veer away from telling others about their experiences online.
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It takes time and planning to get a decent SEO campaign in place. You can’t just start trying to put the techniques in place in the hope that things will work out, because chances are they won’t. In order to be successful you need to plan in advance and keep on top of your optimisation, implementing the correct techniques on are regular basis.

The best results will be seen over time and through consistent work on your campaigns. If you start working from day one you are more likely to see a greater effect on the outcome of your projects. So here are some of the essentials you need to start using in order to allow your SEO campaigns to develop.

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Over the course of the last few years, the big brands have been getting a sizeable helping hand from the search engines. This has seen organic rankings erode for some smaller online companies, particularly when it comes to generic, short-tail searches. So does that mean that it is harder to compete for SMEs today?

As with most things, the answer is a little complicated. Nobody can argue that ranking for certain terms has become almost impossible, with authoritative domains dominating the top spots. However, that shouldn’t mean a smaller business can’t still achieve excellent results on search engines and other marketing platforms.

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If you’re still not trying to tap into local search, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Global searches are all well and good, particularly if you have worldwide aspirations, but achieving visibility within your key target areas is becoming increasingly important.

With the personalisation of search results and localisation of certain queries, securing every niche is essential. One of the key niches that any business will have is their physical locality. Geography and competition dictates that there can only be so many companies within a certain radius of one another. Therefore you should be able to secure decent visibility for searches in that region and attract traffic that is more likely to convert too.
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We’ve all heard of e-commerce, a term related to buying and selling products and services via the Internet, but what about mobile commerce? Well, in effect, this is the same process as above, although it’s conducted via a mobile device or a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).

Today we find ourselves using our mobile phones to connect to the Internet and carry out a number of activities; the Blackberry and the iPhone are some of the more common types on the market. Whether it’s to purchase tickets, look for news, access emails, shop, search, bank, or access media files, the mobile has become a growing platform which shows a significant change in user habits and how we use the Internet on a daily basis.

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You don’t just want to make content for the sake of making content. Equally, if you are going to invest the time to make something that is going to benefit the wider world, it’s important that visitors are able to share it with friends. So what is the formula for shareable content?

First of all, make sure your content is up to scratch. Nobody in their right mind is going to share a gratuitously promotional video, or a keyword-stuffed blog post. It’s just not natural. However, if you offer up something unique and interesting, getting it out to the wider world should be easy.
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With any business, protecting your company, brand, and reputation is important on all accounts. Making sure people know who you are and what you offer is one aspect, but also it’s invaluable if you are regarded as a reputable company and people recommend your services. Obviously as a business you revolve around generating profit, although some may argue that your reputation is far more important, as this provides a flowing stream of customers which ultimately makes you money. Regardless of how you view the situation, it’s vital to always maintain professionalism within your specific area of work. So what steps would you take if you were on the receiving end of negative comments or your company came under attack for certain actions or behaviour?

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This is a subject that won’t go away. Every so often there is a change within the algorithm or the way in which results are presented on Google that gets SEOs all a-flutter. Currently, it’s Google+ Search that is getting tongues wagging and professionals worrying.

So, as we discussed last week, the value of organic rankings is likely to fall significantly. That isn’t to say that they will disappear or be rendered entirely useless, but if search results are going to be personalised based on activity and recommendations, organic rankings aren’t going to feature as much.
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