Search Engine Chocolate

All too often we can get bogged down with day-to-day tasks, and when we’re given an SEO project it’s then very easy to follow a set checklist for SEO. Research, proposal, on page, off page, link building, copywriting etc. etc. But as there are so many SEOs and dedicated SEO agencies out there, it helps to think a little ‘outside of the box’ to achieve not just good results, but great results that set you apart from the crowd. Here’s a list of some pointers that I’m going to share with you when considering the SEO strategy for your next campaign.

It all started with a tweet. I wanted to see if my theory that the number of bots exploring links posted on Twitter was on the increase, was correct. If it was true, it would mean there may be a correlation with an increase in Twitter ’spam’ and automatic tweets filled with affiliate links; two highly irritating types of tweet that in my opinion pollute Twitter.

I’ve met several people in the SEO industry recently who have very strong SEO opinions. By that I mean they have mind their minds up about which techniques are the ‘best’, which are black/white hat and probably also hate Google (that appears to be the latest trend at the moment).

Before I hand over my personal information and fully engage with a social media website, I need to trust it. I don’t know if I’m the only one to feel this way - perhaps I’m in the minority? Lately two of the biggest social media sites, Facebook and Twitter, have been rolling out updates and experiments, which is great because we all love new features and improvements. But with glitches and issues appearing, this leaves me to ask: do you need trust in order to engage fully with a social media website?

As promised here are my slides from my talk at Think Visibility on Advanced Analytics including advanced segmentation in Google Analytics. Thanks to all those who came to watch - I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful.

This afternoon I’m off to Leeds to speak at Think Visibility tomorrow. I’m incredibly excited (and nervous!) to have this opportunity and on top of that be speaking alongside some really great people - it’s no surprise the conference sold out months ago! Huge thanks to Dominic for approaching me to ask me to do a talk.

Obtaining links to a website is one method of search engine optimisation. However, quality is far greater than quantity when it comes to inbound links. Let me explain. Here are 4 key pointers.

I’m going to be honest. I wasn’t happy with my previous post “Website Referrals: Who’s Linking to You?”. I wanted to delve much deeper into researching inbound links, but I also wanted a short and snappy post that visitors could read and find useful on the fly. After thinking a while I decided to settle with adding this extra post with extra information which essentially makes this Website Referrals Part 2!

So you might already know you’re getting X number of visitors from Google organic searches, X number from pay-per-click and X from Yahoo and MSN Live, but how often do you check referrals from other sites? If you don’t use affiliate marketing (meaning you’re devoted to knowing where visitors are coming from) chances are you may not remember to check your website referrers frequently enough.

I, probably like many of you reading this, spend a lot of time reading news websites and blogs, using social media to connect to people and brushing up on my skills online. But nothing substitutes actually meeting other professionals in the flesh and sharing your experiences. Networking is also a great way to air new business or career ideas - so many great minds in one room; it’s the perfect forum.