So LinkedIn’s had a redesign. In addition to a new minimalist look and feel that utilises more viewing space, they have balanced this positive step forward with a definite ‘two steps back’ approach by deciding to add profile URLs that include a country-specific subdomain.

Here’s what I mean. My old profile URL, which still works, is: http://www.linkedin.com/in/joannabutler

However, this is now appearing on profiles as the following:

Not only this, but other country codes are also working as @danbarker noticed: [Read more...]

I’m finally back home in London after a fantastic day yesterday in Nottingham at the Chartered Institute of Marketing East Midlands annual one-day conference, the Power of Marketing. I really enjoyed giving a couple of workshops on SEO, including some cutting edge tips, practical social media and web analytics advice and some PPC guidance. A lot of you requested my slides after the event, so I’ve posted them below. I hope you find them useful – if you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

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Earlier in March this year I was privileged enough to speak at the first ever Think Visibility conference in Leeds. It promised to cover all things digital, with big names talking on SEO, affiliate marketing, mobile, accessibility, social media and more – and it certainly delivered!

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A month or so ago Google rolled out a new update to their search engine algorithm in the UK called Vince, or better known as ‘the Google Brand Update’.

The jist of it is that SEOs feel that big brands are now being favoured more in organic search listings and that smaller brands are having a hard time. But blaming Google for handpicking brands to be boosted in the SERPs (search engine results pages) is false and taking the easy way out.

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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 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 that I find useful when considering a link building strategy for a SEO campaign:

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I’ve met several people in the SEO industry recently who have very strong SEO opinions. By that I mean they have made 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).

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Level: Beginner / Intermediate

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.

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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 more information and tips which essentially makes this Website Referrals Part 2!

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Level: Beginner / Intermediate

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.

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A few people I know have asked me recently where I recommend they start when it comes to learning and understanding more about search engine optimisation (SEO). It is for that reason I created the following tips to help beginners learn about SEO.

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