How Google Search Works

April 25, 2012 By JJ Currie Leave a Comment

Did you know that it only takes half a second for Google to return a search based on keywords you type in which is pretty amazing considering there is a whole lot more going on in the background. Here is a video from Matt Cutts which helps explain how Google’s search engine actually works. In this video Matt touches on why we used to see the ‘Google Dance’ and how they have improved the way they crawl the web, plus he also explains how they rank pages based on reputation and pagerank.

Here is a list of topics which are covered in this video:

How Google’s ranking and website evaluation process works
Starting with the crawling and analysis of a site
Google’s crawling timelines and frequencies
The indexing and filtering processes within the databases

Filed Under: Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Google, Search

How To Get More Out Of A Google Search – Infographic

April 25, 2012 By JJ Currie Leave a Comment

Have you ever opened up Google and performed a search looking for something specific yet the results did not deliver what you were looking for? It appears that most people just don’t understand how to find the information they seek using Google.

One thing that really amazes me is the amount of people who use Google on a daily basis yet they often can’t find the exact information they are looking for. This is due to the fact that they do not know how to perform a well executed search to help them drill down to find exactly what they are looking for. I know that being in the search industry has certainly giving me an unfair advantage when performing searches on Google and not many people are aware of the advanced operators you can use when searching to quickly and accurately drill down to the information you really want.

Below is an infographic courtesy of Hack College ‘Get More Out Of Google’ which is specifically for students who are performing research online but if you take the principles and apply them the next time you are searching for some information I know you will be able to improve your user experience when searching Google. These advanced operators help you to drill down through the noise and get to the information you are looking for which is what we all want at the end of the day. So have a look at the infographic below and start improving your search skills today.

Please let us know what you think by posting a comment below we look forward to hearing from you…

Filed Under: Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Google, Search, search engines

6 SEO Changes Required To Avoid The Over-Optimisation Penalty

April 20, 2012 By JJ Currie Leave a Comment

Lately there has been a huge amount of speculation circulating the web regarding Google’s over-optimisation penalty which is due to roll out in the near future. Now as the search engines and Google in particular evolve we need to remember that in all of our search engine optimisation campaigns that the user experience is vital. Gone are the days that you can add a whole list of keywords into your page titles and content, now you need to focus on creating content that your target market want’s to consume.

Not only will keyword stuffing and outdated search engine optimisation tactics hurt your websites rankings but they will also drive the users away from your website which is definitely not what you want to do. The whole reason we optimise our websites to rank well in the search engines is to drive traffic into our business not away, so with this in mind here is a great video courtesy of Rand Fishkin from seomoz.org which clearly explains six things we can fix right now. Watch the video posted below:

Here are the six SEO changes that need to be made immediately:

Your page titles need to be authentic and written not purely to get ranked for a certain phrase.
Manipulative internal links where you are using the same exact match keyword and linking to the same page over and over again.
Link filled footers don’t simply place site wide links in your footer.
Text content blocks built primarily for the search engines.
Bad link networks – this is the hardest problem to sort out but try and remove all bad backlinks from sites simply created to boost rankings.
Large amount of pages targeting keywords which are only slight variations of each other.

So if you are doing any kind of search engine optimisation and you have done any of the six things mentioned above fix it now! So it’s a win all round you will keep your search engine rankings and boost your conversion rates through improving the user experience on your website. It makes sense so get started today or if you need any help regarding search engine optimisation let me know I am here to help you.

Please post your comments and thoughts below I would love to hear from you? Then spread some social love share this for some good karma…

Filed Under: Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Google, over-optimisation, over-optimisation penalty, search engine optimisation, seo

Why Your Business Needs Internet and Mobile Marketing

March 9, 2011 By JJ Currie Leave a Comment

If has been found in a recent study by BCG that businesses who have adopted and implemented online marketing strategies have been growing at four times the rate than similar businesses who have yet to embrace the power of internet marketing!!! Now there is a definite digital divide opening up between companies who are getting it and active online and those who are not. The UK is the top economy in the world for e-commerce and if your business does not embrace the future and start marketing online you could very well get left behind in 2011.

Another factor that you need to consider is creating a mobile marketing strategy that is aligned with your online marketing strategy which will then allow you to reach your target market anytime and anyplace. It has been said that 2011 is going to be the year of the mobile but there has already been huge growth in consumers performing commercially relevant actions on mobile phones lets have a look at some of the stats mentioned:

eBay performed 1 transaction per second in 2010 via it’s mobile app
eBay also sell 3-4 Ferrari’s per month on mobile phones
1 billion people already access the mobile internet
Google is generating mobile revenues at a billion-dollar run rate

So with this in mind the sooner you get your business online and actively start promoting your products and services the better. If you do not jump on the bandwagon now your competitors will and your business will forever after be playing catch up plus you will have missed out on a HUGE number of new prospects and customers.

To read more make sure you go and watch the video here to hear what Matt Britton Google’s managing director of UK and Ireland has got say about the growth of both internet and mobile marketing in 2011.

Filed Under: Mobile, Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Google, internet marketing, internet marketing liverpool, LinkedIn, mobile marketing

Google SEO

March 7, 2011 By John 1 Comment

Google SEO – There Are No No Short-Cuts

Businesses in Liverpool (and around the UK for that matter) often ask us about Google SEO (optimising your website to rank on the front page of Google). Many seem to think there is some magic formula or special code that clever it gurus can apply to their websites which would get them listed at the top of search engines like Google. Many believe promises from unethical operators that they can get their website listed on page one of Google within weeks or days.

Google SEO

Google SEO Is Doing Some Common Sense Things Correctly

The fact of the matter is that there is no magic formula or secret codes that get inserted into your web site to get in ranking. First and foremost your web site needs to be optimised for what is best for your visitors. They are your consumers and your content should reflect that.

If your web site is built according to the correct HTML specifications, has easy to follow navigation, and is unique and has content that your potential clients will be seeking, you are well on the way to having the type of website that Google loves. This is far more important for ranking factors than doing tweaks, “black hat SEO” and other similar tricks to snare the search engine spiders.

When creating a page give some thought to the TITLE and DESCRIPTION of the content.

Again, this comes back to creating useful content for the user. Your title must be unique as well as accurate. For the description, try to sum up the page content concisely, using phrases that appear in the page content.

Make sure that your page title and description is clearly indicated within the proper HTML tags in the <head> tag of the HTML document. Ensure that you name each page distinctly and accurately, whilst at the same time using important keyword phrases that clearly identify the page content. These tags makes guide the the spiders and this is what will appear in the search engine results. Most often, the description will also be shown below the title. The description tells both google and your potential clients in summary, what your page is all about.

Site Structure

Another important point to consider is the STRUCTURE of your web site. Keep those urls simple. Ensure the filenames are as descriptive as possible, using no more than three to four words. The easier it is for a human being to navigate to all the important pages, the easier it will be for googlebot to crawl and index your pages.

Do not use “deep” directory structures such as: ../this/that/and/theother/page.html – rather keep to singular directory groupings, i.e. ../dir/page.html. Use text for navigation purposes in most cases. If the website design has an image based, flash based or JavaScript based menu structure, create an additional text based navigation structure where possible.

Web Site Content

The content of each page should provide unique and appropriate content to the page title and headings. Do not employ “keyword stuffing” techniques. By this I mean using a sought after keyword multiple times, in multiple paragraphs. By all means, make use of the keyword phrase you are targeting, but use it in a “natural” manner.

If you have named the file correctly, used a keyword rich phrase in the title and description, simply using the phrase in the first and last paragraphs will make that page relevant for the phrase in googlebot’s eyes.

The Importance Of Using Sensible Anchor Text

What the h%!&^ is anchor text? Anchor text is a link that is clickable, which makes it easy for your visitors to find your other pages (obviously Google loves text links as well!). A text link to another page on your site is also a vote for that site using the text used in the anchor text. i.e. If you have a link on your page which is clickable, and it reads BLUE WIDGETS, your user (and Google) will rightly assume that the page is about blue widgets.

The steps outlined may seem like really simple navigation, but it is of paramount importance to Google! That is how it gathers it’s data about BLUE WIDGETS.

Make use of a regular HTML, text based sitemap. For maximum “spiderability” it is also a good idea to generate an XML sitemap, specifically for googlebot’s ease of use. This makes it far more simple for Google to discover and index all of your pages.

Resources

Information regarding XML sitemap creation

End of part one.

Filed Under: Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: Google, google seo, google seo liverpool, html, internet marketing liverpool, LinkedIn, local business marketing, marketing liverpool, optimise, Search Engine Marketing, seo, seo liverpool

QR Codes – Learn How QR Codes Can Generate New Business

March 1, 2011 By John 1 Comment

What Exactly Is A QR Code

QR Codes Learn How QR Codes Can Generate New Business

Scan The Code to Call Us

A QR Code – “Quick Response”- is a mobile phone readable bar code that’s been used in Japan for quite some time already, recently broke into Europe a while back, and is now getting traction in USA and United Kingdom.

QR Codes are simply a cell phone readable bar code that can store phone numbers, URL’s, email addresses and pretty much any other alphanumeric data. Storing up to 4296 characters they are internationally standardised under ISO 18004.

The code is made up of black modules that are arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be any text, coupon codes, URL, SMS messages, telephone numbers to be called, maps and much, much more!

With the QR Code below you can subscribe to the NetPunch Youtube channel

Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

The QR Code below will send you directly to our Facebook page
so you can “like” the page – very powerful for driving social marketing!

: Scan the QR Code To Like Our Facebook page

For your phone to be able to read QR Codes you will need to have QR Code barcode reading software installed on it.

The following sites offer the option of downloading via PC or Mac and then transferring to your phone, or visiting with your with your smartphone via browser for direct download and installation. Some also have the option of setting the application up on your phone as a device bookmark.

Optiscan – By far The best QR Code scanner for iPhones – it understands all the new trickier encoding types and has definitely kept up with development in QR code technology.

I-Nigma – Probably the most popular decoder/reader application and works on most of the popular smartphones. (Supported Devices)

Quickmark – For most phones, but most noticeably has an Android version and a Windows Mobile version

Barcode Scanner – Another good Android QR code reader. Available in the Android Market in the Applications/Shopping category.

Kaywa Reader

Nokia – Most Nokia’s now come standard with the Nokia’s own scanning software, but this one is good for N78, 6210 Navigator, N80, N96 and 6220 Classic

Google Zxing – For the Android and iPhone plus quite a few others, but not Windows Mobile

SnapMaze – QR code reader for Nokia, Sony Ericcson and Motorola phones (Supported Devices)

NeoReader – A good range of phones and mobile devices (including iPhone and Blackberry) and also available as AppStore download. (Supported Devices)

Jaxo Systems – Runs on most Java-enabled phones (Supported Devices)

OkoTag – The new one from Jaxo. Java, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Android. (Supported Devices)

Blackberry Messenger – Comes standard with most Blackberry’s these days

Upcode – Support for a wide range of Symbian, UIQ, windows mobile, Iphone, Blackberry and Java phones. (Supported Devices)

QR Code Software & Applications

Bar Capture – Capture and decode QR Codes from your computer screen

Online Decoder – Decode QR Codes online via direct image file URL or image download

WordPress QR Code Plug-In

InDesign CS3 QR Code Plug-In

Firefox Mobile Barcode Add-On

Facebook QR Codes application

QR-Code Tag – Google Chrome QR Code Plug-In

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_codes

Filed Under: Mobile Tagged With: Google, iPhone, mobile marketing, qr codes, Search Engine Marketing

SEO News -Google’s Update Boosts The Long Tail

May 27, 2010 By JJ Currie 1 Comment

In 2009 Google made between 350 – 550 changes to it’s search algorithms and as we move forward this year greater emphasis is now being place on the long tail. The long tail being the three or four word search queries that most searches are now starting to use as they refine their searching. Content has always been king on the net but with these recent update big sites with hundreds of pages without any real link love, will lose out to good solid content loaded with natural long tail keywords.

So the key element to take from this is build up your site using good quality content which will have long tail keywords naturally loaded with long tail search phrases. Also another factor to remember is good content will attract link love from people linking to it, bookmarking it and even driving traffic to it through social media sites. When doing SEO you can’t get too fixated with what the algorithms are doing and shift your focus to creating quality content that will get re-distributed.

Here is what Matt Cutts from Google had to say

“the pages that are now ranking well for these long tail queries are from “higher quality” sites (or perhaps are “higher quality” pages).”

Google Confirms “Mayday” Update Impacts Long Tail Traffic:

Filed Under: Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: algorithm, Google, search engine optimisation, search engines news, seo

Using Google Analytics Event Tracking

May 25, 2010 By JJ Currie Leave a Comment

If you have a website that is receiving traffic on a daily basis then you need to start testing to see if your calls of action on your website are in fact working. If the main aim of your website is to generate leads for your business then event tracking is exactly what you need to be testing.

You can set it up to track how many sign up’s you are receiving and determine if your calls to action are in fact producing real results. Then once the tracking is all set up you can work on gradually improving your sing up rate and overall performance of your website.

Plus with event tracking you could also start monitoring clicks on external links which you have on your website which can help you improve your bounce rate.

SEOmoz | Google Analytics Event Tracking to Monitor Calls to Action:

Filed Under: Search Engine Marketing Tagged With: analytics, event tracking, Google, seo, testing