SEO Blog

If you’re using content for your website or other online marketing material you have probably asked yourself, ‘how many keywords should I be using within each piece of content?’ Keywords form part of the optimisation process for your website and they are the key terms, words and phrases that you use within written text. You implement these so that when someone types in one of these terms in a search engine, your website has a greater chance of featuring in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

(more…)

You’ll often hear great ideas that could help your SOE. However, when it comes to implementing them, something goes awry and it either has no effect at all, or actually causes more damage than good.

Creating a blog is a great example of this .The theory behind a business blog is sound. You create engaging posts regularly, attract a new audience, grow the site and encourage inbound links. This is fantastic optimisation. However, it can also have a destructive effect on your site.

For instance, what happens if your posts don’t make the grade? Perhaps they are full of typos, factual errors or just don’t grab the attention of visitors? Whilst it will still grow your site and provide minor SEO value, it will do little to help your business to portray a professional image.
(more…)

Most website owners have a clear idea about what keywords they are looking to target. Usually it is painfully obvious in fact – I sell laptop cases, therefore I want to optimise for ‘laptop cases’. However, there are occasions where this simplistic short-sightedness can lead to some pretty poor results.

Let’s stick with our ‘laptop cases’ example. Now imagine I have a brand new domain and very few inbound links; essentially I’m invisible to the search engines. If I target ‘laptop cases’ as a primary keyword, the likelihood of my site hitting the first page of Google is hugely unlikely. Why?
(more…)

Succeeding online always seems so simple. You read a few blogs, they inspire you to build a site, you start optimising a little and hey presto you are…exactly where you started still.

If you have started a site as something of a hobby, rather than a business, then it is easy to get distracted and simply dump it when it appears to be failing. You’ve got only a handful of inbound links (mostly from social profiles and directories), no PageRank and no rankings within Google. What was all that nonsense about making millions by ranking getting to the top of the search engines then?

Don’t abandon your dreams of online super-stardom. However, you might want to temper them a little.
(more…)

Following the crowd is all well and good when you’re happy picking up the scraps. But SEO isn’t just about trying to outgun the biggest sites immediately, it’s about carving out a niche and developing your own distinct audience.

Every business is different. Even those that offer the same product have their own unique selling point. As an example let’s take a large coffee store like Starbucks. It thrives on providing customers with a variety of coffee styles quickly and for a reasonable price. It’s fast food for coffee lovers.

However that isn’t for everybody. Some would still rather sit down and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in a cosy cafe. This little cafe might not have the same amount of people visit, but it has a unique appeal that will always attract specific custom.
(more…)

We all do SEO to improve online visibility and reap the rewards of increased targeted traffic as a consequence. But it is an ever-evolving field. You constantly have to test, apply and reapply changes to help eke out those extra few. But understanding what works and how your site has developed over time can be critical – not only to future work, but to confidence too.

Obvious metrics, like rankings and traffic levels, are a good place to start.  These will help you to work out whether any dips are seasonal or if changes that have been made to the site have had a positive or even negative effect. All of this can prove vital in ensuring you stay on course to achieve your ultimate goal – search engine dominance.
(more…)

It doesn’t matter if your site is brand new and has only a handful of external links or it has over a decade of domain age and is optimised throughout, the likelihood is that someone will above you for some keywords. As frustrating as that may be, it’s no reason to be disheartened.

Search engine rankings are calculated using an advanced algorithm that basically indexes sites based on their respective relevance for each search term and the strength of that page. So essentially you need some decent content to target the required terms and a fair few inbound links to provide the bulk of the necessary strength.
(more…)

Sometimes the focus of a page will shift. Not always, and certainly not by a great deal, but changes do occur you need to be able to review your keywords to ensure they are still representative.

It sounds a simple thing, but you’d be surprised how many sites cling on to their outdated key terms and phrases in the hopes of attracting traffic. The trouble is, as we all know, if a keyword isn’t representative of a website, the traffic it receives won’t be as targeted. So getting visitors through the door is always good, but if they aren’t converting you could be wasting a page.

So whenever you have a change of direction for a page, re-evaluate the keywords that you use to maintain decent levels of relevance. Although of course you don’t have to wait. If you feel that some keywords aren’t performing as well as they could be don’t be afraid to make changes.
(more…)

So you’ve been slowly working your way up to the top of Google for a keyword. But you’ve become stuck on page two or aren’t getting the traffic you want. What do you do?

Well, it comes down to research. You have to find out what your competition is and find out what the traffic levels are likely to be like if you do get to the top. High competition and low search volume are a disaster waiting to happen for any site.

Sometimes keywords just aren’t quite right. Maybe there are a good few terms that adequately describe what your page offers, which do you choose? Instinctively you could go for the most commonly used, but that might also be the one that is targeted most by your competitors. It could take you weeks or even months to make a dent on the first page rankings, all of which is largely time wasted.
(more…)

When it comes to SEO, one of the most important things that you’ll need to do is to define your keywords. Whilst you might already have some in mind, if you are starting from scratch there is every chance that the competition rate might put them out of reach.

Imagine you’re a new online store offering designer clothing. You will probably have already established that there is a fair amount of competition out there. When you come to decide on your keywords, a generic phrase like ‘designer clothing’ is going to be difficult to achieve.

A quick search on Google reveals that there are around 38 million other sites currently ranking for the phrase. Among these will be some strong pages that will have many years of optimisation behind them. Inevitably this will be a very difficult phrase to gain a ranking for, especially at this stage. So when you’re starting out on your SEO journey, you might want to consider some long tail keywords.
(more…)