SEO Blog

As you will no doubt have noticed, local results in Google look a little different these days [as covered in: Why Google Places Update Puts Emphasis on Local Search]. The search engine giant decided it was high time that local results had a bit of a shakeup and as a result Google Places were integrated into the SERPs. This was great for anyone who already had a decent position within Business Maps (as these were effectively transported over) and were a bit rubbish in organic rankings; of course not everybody can benefit.

So what do you do if you find your organic ranking has been relegated by half a dozen Places listings? Well you could get all hot and bothered, moaning that Google are ruining the Internet, or you could start to make some changes that will make a real difference.
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It’s easy to get distracted when you’re doing SEO. Sometimes you’ll even think that you’re doing something constructive only to realise that hours of efforts have actually been misguided and fruitless.

Procrastination comes as a result of happening upon something that appears to be more interesting than the task you set out to do. When you’re working online, this can be a constant fight.

There are social media sites, many of which you will have signed your business up for, which are a constant source of distraction. With hundreds of updates rolling by each hour, the temptation to follow links or add your two cents to a conversation are often unbearable.

But keep in mind your own goals and targets. For some procrastination is looking at analytics and seeing what effect your SEO changes have been. This is at least evidence of achievement and encouragement for future efforts.
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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.
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The SEO industry doesn’t stand still. As is evidenced by the recent Google Instant update [see: Why Google Instant Won't Destroy SEO], anything can come along and shift the focus of the work done and the way in which you have to approach optimisation. For this reason your efforts to educate yourself on SEO should never stop.

Google could announce tomorrow that inbound links from sites of PR 2 or below won’t count towards your site’s overall strength anymore. As unimaginable as that is (both in the sense of the content of the announcement and the fact that Google would make it in the first place), the need to keep up with the latest thinking on the subject and amend your understanding is vital.
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As I’ve mentioned in the past, Google generally have a soft spot for the big brands in their listings. Whether it is for product searches or terms related to the businesses themselves, more often than not a corporate big hitter will be at the top.

Now we can’t discredit SEO work entirely on these sites. If they’re a multi-national corporation then there’s a fair chance that they’ve got the marketing budget to employ a pretty decent team of search engine optimisation services. But what happens if they start buying up paid links, are involved in huge link farms, what then?
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The phrase ‘content is king’ often gets bandied around in SEO circles. Not without good reason either. It is pivotal in ensuring that search engines understand what you’re all about, it is a unique identifier and is a link enabler.

However, not all that far away from content is its close neighbour context.

Whilst content provides the bulk, context delivers the value. It is what will get search engines to take your site seriously and help deliver the rankings you deserve for the terms you are going after.
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You’re probably tired about reading how evil paid links are by now. There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that they continue to work; however, criticisms against them rarely come with any explicit examples of the negative impact they can have.

Well, how about this one? Econsultancy yesterday highlighted the case of gourmetgiftbaskets.com, who offer exactly what their name suggests [see: The $4m Google penalty]. They were making huge profits and sitting comfortably in the top couple of places on Google for all of their primary terms. Unfortunately though one day all the rankings disappeared. No word of warning, no apparent reason why, the site just wasn’t visible any more.

The culprit? Paid links of course.
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In the old days you’d expect that the obvious answer to this was to continually submit your site to the search engines and you’d be away. Sadly not only was this not very time effective, it just wasn’t very effective full-stop.

Once Google got around to processing your request you were probably about ready to send another one. Now you can save yourself the bother.

Whilst you might still choose to submit your site at the outset, that is probably enough. There are far more effective way for you to get the attention of search engines today, the most effective being strong links and your Webmaster Tools Account. Let’s see how both work.
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It’s often said that the rich get richer whilst the poor, well you know the rest. The same though can be true online. Not necessarily in terms of finances, but the SEO work required to succeed.

When you’re down at the bottom you need to work hard to try and get to the top. However, if you have developed a strong brand identity, are sat at the top of search engines for your primary keywords, others might do the work for you.

You see, when you’re at the top you have instant visibility. People know who you are and are more likely to discuss your brand on their blogs and social media profiles, thus helping to promote your brand further. In amongst all of these mentions you may even find the occasional link too.
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Whenever you include an image to your website it adds a certain aesthetic quality to the page. It helps users navigate through and quickly evaluate what you are offering. Unfortunately not everybody can see them, including the search engines.

To a search engine spider, an image is simply a bit of coding to be looked at and largely ignored. That is, unless you have an ALT text attribute attached.

One of the simplest bits of coding you can hope, but still largely underused, the ALT text within any image or non-HTML element will add vital context. It provides you with an opportunity to describe the element and include additional keywords on a page.
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