Interestingly the only traditional news site included is the Daily Mail at position 19 – the other rankings were made up of entertainment and search websites.
If you’d like help with your search rankings click here for more information or give us a call on 01202 788333.
(Source data was obtained from Hitwise.com)
Email marketing, Online Advertising, Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation
Here are some really useful Google search shortcuts for you, all you need to do type the following into Google!
site:www.example.com/ – Indexed pages in your site
allinurl:www.example.com/ – Pages that refer to your site’s URL
link:www.example.com/ – Pages that link to your site
cache:www.example.com/ – The current cache of your site
info:www.example.com/ – Information Google has about your site
related:www.example.com/ – Pages that are similar to your site
Marketing General, Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation
Doing well in search engine rankings is always a bit of a mystery to an outsider, but here are some simple things that you can take care of yourself which will help your website do better.
Use social media to promote pages on your site or your website, both Bing and Google have stated in interviews that their search results are positively affected by social media such as Tweets, Facebook and +1s.
If you’d like a free SEO and social media audit, and for more information on how you can improve your online marketing give us a call on 01202 788333
B2B Online Marketing, Google Analytics, Marketing General, Online Advertising, Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation
The wonderful techie bods at Google have launched another tool to help improve the web – The Google Page Speed Online tool. The tool helps web masters and marketers to identify factors that could help improve their page load speeds – which in turn could help boost their SEO efforts.
Back in April 2010 Matt Cutts announced that Google were introducing page load speed as a factor in the SEO algorithm, as part of their ongoing mission to improve the web for users. It isn’t a major ranking factor, but it should still be an important consideration – more importantly it should be a consideration for you users – the faster your site performs the happier they’ll be.
Google are now supporting the page speed ranking factor with the Page Speed Online tool, to help website owners to identify and make the changes required.
So how can you use the tool?
You’ll can find the Page Speed Online Tool here:
http://pagespeed.googlelabs.com/
Just enter your web page url and then Analyse either desktop recommendations or mobile browser recommendations:
The tool doesn’t score how fast your site it, it just makes suggestions on where it can be improved. If you want to score you site this website is good and makes use of the Google Page test code base:
It is interesting and useful that Google have include mobile optimisation suggestions in the tool – and is important for webmasters to take into consideration with the massive growth and ongoing predicted growth in the smartphone market.
So will it help your SEO? It should help a little. Will it help your user’s experience – definitely – so you should use it to really get your site up to speed.
LexisClick is a Web Design and SEO company in Bournemouth, UK. Find out more about our SEO Services.
About a week ago Google launched its latest foray into world of social media with its +1 button. In Google’s own words:
+1 – the digital shorthand for “this is pretty cool.”
It has caused a bit of debate in SEO circles mainly over whether it will or won’t succeed. Only time will tell and if Google’s other attempts in this area are anything to go by, it might not.
So what does it actually do and how does it work? Well it’s pretty simple really and along the lines of a Facebook like button.
You’ll get a +1 button next to the search result:
If you like result and think that it might be valuable to others you click the +1 button.
Hey presto, you’ve just +1’d it and now if people in your social circle are searching for something similar they’ll see you’ve +1’d the result:
So if enough people you know actually use it, it could be a handy tool and has the potential to provide more meaningful search results based on recommendations from people you know.
Will it work? Well that will really be down to whether Google get enough momentum behind it. And if they do, making sure it isn’t easy to spam by companies eager to get to the top of the rankings.
A number of commentators have questioned the user journey and how likely users are to +1 when in the search results. Are you likely to +1 a result before you have visited the site and would you return to the search results to +1 when you have?
Google have said that they’ll be adding the ability to +1 a website or web page when you get there in much the same way as you can like a site on Facebook from the site itself. This should make it easier and more familiar for users.
Some commentators have said it doesn’t provide the value of a Facebook like, which immediately posts to your wall and announces your recommendation to your network.
We’d agree it is more passive, but from our perspective that is more in line with how Google works anyway. If you +1, your recommendation will be picked up when someone in your network is actually looking for that product, service or information, making it more timely and relevant as a recommendation. So from that perspective it works.
The biggest question is whether people really buy into Google as a social network. How many people are you connected to via Google? If you are using Google Mail, perhaps quite a few…
At the end of the day even if Google haven’t got +1 right just yet, social influence in search is here to stay. Yes it is likely that they’ll go through a few iterations, probably buy Twitter and integrate it with that, but watch this space as social is the future of search.
Do you want to give +1 a try for yourself? If you are in the UK – here’s how you can find it:
LexisClick are a Web Design and SEO company in Bournemouth, UK. Find out more about our SEO Services.
If you’re remotely interested in online marketing and search engine optimisation, you’d have probably noticed all the buzz around Google Instant over the last couple of days. It has certainly got everyone talking in the world of SEO. It all started with an interesting dynamic Google doodle logo on Tuesday 7th September. As usual the doom mongers are spelling the end of search engine optimisation. Here at LexisClick we are sure Google Instant will change SEO, however we’re confident it won’t kill it. Here are our reasons why: Read more…
There aren’t many businesses nowadays who would argue that having good rankings on Google and the other leading search engines isn’t of value. However, there are only ten first page positions available in the natural listings for each search phrase and obtaining one of these top spots can take a lot of time and effort. Despite the obvious benefit of high rankings for relevant key phrases, quite a few businesses we come across still question whether going for the top search engine rankings is worth it.
If there are doubts in your mind whether going for first page search engine rankings really is essential for your business, here are 5 reasons why you should be making sure search engine optimisation (SEO) is high up your marketing agenda.
The deal struck between Microsoft and Yahoo! Last week, which sees Yahoo!’s search facility being powered by Microsoft’s technology for the next ten years, could have big implications for the future of search.
Yahoo!’s website will use Microsoft’s Bing search engine as Microsoft endeavours to take a larger share of the search market from the über-search giant Google. In return, Yahoo! will manage Microsoft’s search advertising business. Yahoo! will receive 88 per cent for ad sales accompanying search results on its site.
Rather than stepping out of the search market, as some rivals have suggested, Yahoo!’s Yoelle Maarek told the Daily Telegraph that the deal was actually “liberating” Yahoo!, enabling its team to focus their energy on front-end search innovations instead of making back-end tweaks.
This is an exciting time for Yahoo!, who also recently announced a partnership with Twitter that enables users to access personal real-time Twitter feeds from their Yahoo! homepage. These deals are both parts of Yahoo!’s goals of becoming more social and increasing its advertising strength.
But what does this mean for the future of search? Could the Google Giant really be under threat?
In three words: We doubt it.
Google has been getting some bad press recently, and is currently subject to European Union antitrust investigations. The online community wasn’t exactly “buzzing” about Google’s entry to the social media market, and in Italy Google executives were jailed after a video of a boy being bullied was posted on the site.
The thing about Google, though, is that it is constantly innovating while competitors chase to keep up. It has recently announced that it will be buying Picknik, an online photo editing service, while the latest beta of browser Chrome includes automatic translation options and enhanced privacy. And among the flurry of bad news last week, Google also launched a new advertising service, DoubleClick for Publishers, which combines AdManager with the DoubleClick DART platform – giving batter ad placement algorithms and enhancements to tracking and reporting of ads.
I think the Yahoo!-Microsoft partnership is an interesting move and ensures that energy and innovation continue to be injected into the world of search at some pace – which can only be a positive thing for everyone.
Read the full Daily Telegraph interview with Yahoo!’s Yoelle Maarek.
Google has become the latest tech giant to come under scrutiny for allegedly breaching the European Union’s antitrust rules. It follows in the footsteps of Microsoft, penalised for its dominance of the browser market with Internet Explorer.
Today’s Daily Telegraph reports that Google is being investigated over claims that its search functions were discriminating against certain businesses in its search rankings.
Google has an approximate 90 per cent share of the UK’s search market and complaints have been received from three companies: price comparison service Foundem; EJustice.fr, a French legal search engine; and Ciao, a European shopping search engine that’s actually owned by Microsoft.
Foundem initially complained about Google in August 2009. The general feeling is that, because these three sites could offer services that compete with Google’s own, they are being demoted by Google’s algorithms.
Google themselves don’t seem particularly fazed by the threat of investigation. They offer a response on their blog, admitting that their search is “not perfect”. However, they remain confident that their business is operating fairly:
“While we will be providing feedback and additional information on these complaints, we are confident that our business operates in the interesets of users and partners, as well as in line with European competition law,” Julia Holtz, Senior Competition Counsel for Google writes on their blog.
Of course, many tech-savy readers will remember that just over a year a go the boot was on the other foot when Google joined the EU antitrust case against Microsoft’s IE browser, accusing the market of being uncompetitive. Internet Explorer was bundled with Microsoft Operating Systems, which Mozilla, Opera and Google (after launching Chrome) did not approve of.
The European Competition Commission ruled Microsoft had to offer their users more choice, and it has been announced today that from Monday (March 1 2010) users will be offered a selection of browsers instead of having IE forced upon them.
We wait with anticipation for the results of the Google inquiry, and the implications any ruling might have for search in the not so distant future.
Read the Telegraph story here.
And the Google Blog response to allegations here.
And the Browser Choice Launch Date story here.
If you’re new to the world of online marketing, terms such as SEO and Google Analytics can seem like little more than gobbledygook. Even if your business has had a presence on the web for some time, many people, particularly smaller businesses, don’t fully understand the terms or the services offered by the likes of Google, and thus their websites aren’t working as well as they should for their business.
In a recent article for the Sydney Herald, Valerie Khoo explored how relatively few people knew about the power of Google to help boost sales and raise the bottom line. Many were scared off by the terminology, or reluctant to admit they didn’t fully understand it. But it’s vital that business owners don’t shy away from the useful tools available to help their online marketing strategy.
At LexisClick, we specialise in SEO and know just how important it is to your business. That’s why we work with you to fully understand your business’s needs and objectives. We also have experts in website analytics, including the increasingly ubiquitous Google Analytics tool, and can help you to get the best from its features.
Stephen Bavister, Director of LexisClick, said: “We’re aware that, like anyone working in the industry, it’s easy to get caught up in the jargon – which can be confusing for people unfamiliar with the terminology. That’s why we’re happy to explain things in layman’s terms and don’t expect that you have to understand all the jargon to get the most out of online marketing. We’re conscious that it’s easy to blind people with science; we take care not to do that.”
If you’d like more information about our services, please contact us.
Read the Sydney Herald article in full here:
www.smh.com.au/news/technology/search-for-sales-success/2009/04/14/1239474853817.html
B2B Online Marketing, Google Analytics, Marketing General, Search Engine Optimisation
