Posts from ‘SEO’
Expanding My Web
It’s been a bit of a crazy week so I apologies for the lack of updates but anyway I wanted to share with you guys some of the things that I have been reading and tell you how Twitter has helped me expand my knowledge.
When talking about Twitter many people bang on about it being a great networking tool and until recently I took that concept for granted. Only now when I look back on it I can see how many great new blogs I have discovered and met new and interesting people. The ability to discuss concepts and ideas enthrawls me and being able to see the range of styles out there has helped me to develop and question my techniques. I think this is a fundamental in life and Twitter helps integrate both our on and offline lives. I also just like some of the random crap that people post. Twitter spam!!
Anyway these are a couple of the sites I have been reading recently.
Continue Reading
A user’s journey is typically one of the most important factors to consider when trying to optimise a website. As SEO’s we want to know how people will arrive at our site and at what phase in the buying cycle they will do so. This means that getting our keyword research right is critical to the success of a campaign. We don’t want to waste time on terms that don’t convert or terms that bring irrelevant traffic. In essence when looking at a users journey we need to consider the different types of queries that people use.
source: mario.francesevic
Top Level Or Navigational Search
This is where users search for a brand, company or domain name. This is an extremely common search type especially if you are a large corporation or well known brand. Users at this level are either looking for more information or know exactly what they want. For example a phone number.
Continue Reading
Ok so maybe a slight over exaggeration but anyway i came across this really cool piece of code that lets users send a blog posts or pieces of content directly to Twitter. This is great because it means other people can easily send your content to their users which in turn should increase your social outreach and readership base.
Although i love this new tool (well piece of code really) it could do with some revisions if they decide to develop it further. Having it purely as a code fragment at the moment means it is difficult for bloggers who are not technically minded to use. I think turning it into an actual plugin would help significantly. Also the code does not associate the link with an image, so you simply get a text link. I think a button like the one’s offered by Digg or Sphinn would significantly help. Just my thoughts anyway.
The Code & Solution
This one is nice and easy to install. All you have to do is post the following code into single.php in Wordpress within the loop.
Share on Twitter
* You may have to click view source code as the code function on this theme is not working correctly.
Thanks to Smashing Magazine and Wp Recipes for pointing this one out. It seems to have caused quite a stir in the community already.
So it’s a new year and with new years come great challenges but should we expect from the coming year in SEO.
source: jasonshellen
- 1. Changing Search Patterns
By this i mean the way in which people search and the terms and modifiers people are using. With the current economic downturn which is expected to run well into 2009 people are going to be on the look out for more and more bargains. This means people will be searching usings modifiers such as discount and cheap. - 2. Link Building Becomes Harder
This has been the case for some time now with search engines downgrading directory links and links located in various locations on a page. Search engines will also become much more sophisticated and be able to spot paid links more easily. The emphasis is likely to still be on authority and natural links. - 3. More Dependence On Universal Search
I think this will play a particularly heavy roll with bricks and moatar firms and the Google Business centre will become essentially to small and medium businesses. Firms will have to look at regional targeting much more.Google base has also had some really nice updates recently and has started to include some new services in there. So for example you can list SEO services in there now and property rentals. This i would imagine should display a lot more in the natural search results.
- 4. Search Engine Rankings
This has been happening for some time now but more emphasis is likely to be put on conversions and content. It was recently suggested that Google is using bounce rates in determining search engine rankings. This means that site owners need to focus their efforts on usability and conversions. It makes sense for search engines to do this. People after all are looking to perform some sort of function when they do decide to click on to a site.
These are just a few thoughts i had and i am sure there will be many other factors that will play there part. As i always i look forward to the challenge and working through them with you guys.
Mind Blowing!! There are many things that we can all moan about with regards to Facebook but one feature they do very well is photo tagging. Well this new tool takes tagging to a new level. I’m not saying its perfect but the concept is great. SayTweet basically allows you to upload photos and then tag people or objects within an image and assign a Twitter user to them. Then that persons latest tweet appears in a speech bubble next to them. Probably best explained in with a picture so you can see my example below.
Over to you guys! Try it out!
Addicts seem to be making the news a lot recently with children not being able to stop playing World of War Craft and teenagers and adults being addicted to Facebook. This increase in addiction has made me wonder how many ranking whores are out there. People who get addicted to ranking number one for certain terms. There must be SEO’s who carryout there work a bit like a strategy game like Red Alert for example. Rankings are of course important but they are not everything. Imagine ranking number one for Man United shirts but having a site that doesn’t convert well or makes it almost impossible for users to make a purchase. Its just something that interested me so if you have come across any great stories then please do let me know.
