Google cracks down on AdWords
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| Categories: Announcements [A] The time has finally come where Google is now going to stop people using the “Display URL” as an extra line of text. As of April, google is going to force people who use AdWords to make the domain name in the Display URL match the one given in the Destination URL. This is going to help Google in their task of giving better results to the consumer.
The following has been taken from Google Help,
Display URL
Display URL must be accurate.
Your Display URL must accurately reflect the URL of the website that you are advertising. It should match the domain of your landing page so that users know to which site they will be taken to when they click your ad.
If your actual Destination URL link is too long to use as your Display URL, use a shortened version (such as your home page) that meets the character limit for this field.
Example:
Destination URL: http://www.TravelingDog.net/toys.html
Display URL: www.TravelingDog.net
The Display URL field cannot be used as another line of ad text.
Your Display URL must include the domain extension, for example: .co.uk, .net or .org.
Spend some time with Meta
| Categories: Announcements [A] I have recently been able to update all of the meta data on one of the website I manage. I find it amazing that people are STILL not grasping that they need to make these something meaningful! To call index.html “Home” in the titletag is just rubbish…STOP IT NOW!
Generally, what i have managed to do is start every page and product with the same, i.e. Big Elbow Hosting : ” and then the product name or page name to follow after. As noted by many people for some time, getting atleast some of it to match your H1 tag on the page can bring you great results.
The Meta Descrition…
No this isn’t a place for you to chuck a load of keywords and hope to get away with it. Stick something here that will benefit your website and remember that this is generally what the Search Engines are going place on their short descriptons. You MUST remember that writing something like “chickens half price” really won’t benefit an SEO website.
Keywords…
There are loads of sources out there that will help you choose your keywords. Just think, if you are using that source for keywords, who else has used it? I find it best to pretend that you are buying the product that you are selling and then think what you would search for.
I.E, if you want web hosting that is UK based so you will be charged in sterling, then you would be searching for something like “web hosting in the UK, cheap, reliable". From this, you can see exactly what people are going to be searching for! This kind of brings me on to my next thing, Long search strings. The search string I placed just above, “web hosting in the UK, cheap, reliable", could be deemed as a long search string. People use these to make their results a little narrower. So use this to your advantage. Use the keywords that they would list and make them part of your “Keywords” section in your meta data.
This may not seem like rocket science, but you would be suprised how many people actually neglect these simple methods. It’s not just people with personal websites that do not follow these guidelines, but professional, large companies that seem to skip over this section. Do not be one of them!
Speak next week.
Mark
Google goes Mobile
| Categories: Announcements [A] Google’s latest move is into the world of mobile ads. Mobile Ads are yet to proove themselves for me as they seem to only have any real effect on certain types of business.
Everyone has been hounded on their mobile phone for buying various services, usually via SMS message. Well, with the latest kick with the iPhone and also WAP or GPRS, it would seem the only logical place to leave new ads would be right in your face! There has been a survey to see where this type of advertising was successful.
Around about 95% said that it was totally inaffective for their business. The remaining 4% said that it did and 1% said they had no change.
Interesting, the 5% was mainly mobile phones businesses and communications sales. These saw the highest results from the new mobile ads.
If I had my own choice, I would be waiting to see what happens with the mobile ads over the next 6 months. You never know, I could be prooved completely wrong, but I sense that it is not the way forward to gain traffic or listings to your website!
SEOmoz visits the SEO Analytics Session
| Categories: Announcements [A] It would seem that there have been a lot of advances over the past few months in terms of SEO. There are different methods of helping your website become well documented across the Search engines. SEOMoz, explains how when they sat in on the Analytics session, there were a few interesting facts.
“Use keywords in link text (keyword-relevant links)
Cross-link related products
Links should accurately reflect the information on the destination page
Duplicate content prevents effective spidering, as search engines can leave before spidering all important pages. Look out for secure/non secure pages creating dupe content, www vs. non-www versions, home page issues (site.com vs site.com/index or site.com/home), and tracking ids serving up the same content.
Make sure each page has a unique title tag
Not every page needs a description (head terms require a valuable description; long tail = not so much)
Next, Aaron Kahlow from BusinessOnLine talked about website usability. To summarize:
How does your website’s usability affect your site/brand/sales?
Common myths of usability include “I know my customer better than anyone,” “Surveys = usability studies, so they should suffice, “and “Success is greater than satisfaction”
He urged us to think about how customers view your site:
They’re on a single track mission
They find what they want, THEN peruse or browse
They have no patience; users are like when you have to pee on a long car ride–they display a gripping sense of urgency
They scan, not read
Lastly, Ian Lurie from Portent Interactive talked about analytics:
Analytics does not simply equal “reports”
Not having analytics = driving with your eyes closed
Search analytics = 5 step checkup: phrases, page views, time on site, bounce rate, and conversion
The time on site combined with the number of page views is the most useful data
Conversions are slightly overrated. CEO can obsess about conversion numbers, even though conversions can happen months after someone visits a site.
Onsite search = a missed opportunity. Try to track what your users are searching for and see if you can better offer it to them.”
All of the above has been taken from SEOmoz.
All in all, it has been a particularly quiet week in the world of SEO. Not too sure if this is reflective of the world economics but it would appear that it may have something to do with it.
I would hope that things are going to move a little further forward next week…
iGoogle
| Categories: Announcements [A] The release of iGoogle should have made it easy for everyone to keep up to date with all the latest SEO news. This site is not the be all and end all of the industry and its great to be able to have all the latest news to your desktop. SEOmoz is definately one of the most advanced blogs which does outline most of the things that you need to know.
If you don’t already have iGoogle setup, then get it. You can choose all the feeds that you want to be displayed and then all the latest news will be at your fingertips!
Here are a few feeds that you can add:
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
and of course, http://www.c-project.co.uk/
Have fun!
Mark
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Cproject aims to help anyone and everyone from beginners to experts with all SEO marketing features. This will be updated weekly for tutorials and lessons. We will also keep you up to date with all the latest tips and tricks.
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Announcements [A]
- Google cracks down on AdWords
The time has finally come where Google is now going to stop people using the “Display URL” as an extra line of text. As of April, google is going to force people who use AdWords to make the domain name in the Display URL match the one given in the Destination URL. This is going to help Google in their task of giving better results to the consumer.
The following has been taken from Google Help,
Display URL
Display URL must be accurate.
Your Display URL must accurately reflect the URL of the website that you are advertising. It should match the domain of your landing page so that users know to which site they will be taken to when they click your ad.
If your actual Destination URL link is too long to use as your Display URL, use a shortened version (such as your home page) that meets the character limit for this field.
Example:
Destination URL: http://www.TravelingDog.net/toys.html
Display URL: www.TravelingDog.netThe Display URL field cannot be used as another line of ad text.
Your Display URL must include the domain extension, for example: .co.uk, .net or .org.
- Google goes Mobile
Google’s latest move is into the world of mobile ads. Mobile Ads are yet to proove themselves for me as they seem to only have any real effect on certain types of business.
Everyone has been hounded on their mobile phone for buying various services, usually via SMS message. Well, with the latest kick with the iPhone and also WAP or GPRS, it would seem the only logical place to leave new ads would be right in your face! There has been a survey to see where this type of advertising was successful.
Around about 95% said that it was totally inaffective for their business. The remaining 4% said that it did and 1% said they had no change.
Interesting, the 5% was mainly mobile phones businesses and communications sales. These saw the highest results from the new mobile ads.
If I had my own choice, I would be waiting to see what happens with the mobile ads over the next 6 months. You never know, I could be prooved completely wrong, but I sense that it is not the way forward to gain traffic or listings to your website!
- iGoogle
The release of iGoogle should have made it easy for everyone to keep up to date with all the latest SEO news. This site is not the be all and end all of the industry and its great to be able to have all the latest news to your desktop. SEOmoz is definately one of the most advanced blogs which does outline most of the things that you need to know.
If you don’t already have iGoogle setup, then get it. You can choose all the feeds that you want to be displayed and then all the latest news will be at your fingertips!
Here are a few feeds that you can add:
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
and of course, http://www.c-project.co.uk/
Have fun!
Mark
- SEOmoz visits the SEO Analytics Session
It would seem that there have been a lot of advances over the past few months in terms of SEO. There are different methods of helping your website become well documented across the Search engines. SEOMoz, explains how when they sat in on the Analytics session, there were a few interesting facts.
“Use keywords in link text (keyword-relevant links)
Cross-link related products
Links should accurately reflect the information on the destination page
Duplicate content prevents effective spidering, as search engines can leave before spidering all important pages. Look out for secure/non secure pages creating dupe content, www vs. non-www versions, home page issues (site.com vs site.com/index or site.com/home), and tracking ids serving up the same content.Make sure each page has a unique title tag
Not every page needs a description (head terms require a valuable description; long tail = not so much)
Next, Aaron Kahlow from BusinessOnLine talked about website usability. To summarize:How does your website’s usability affect your site/brand/sales?
Common myths of usability include “I know my customer better than anyone,” “Surveys = usability studies, so they should suffice, “and “Success is greater than satisfaction”
He urged us to think about how customers view your site:They’re on a single track mission
They find what they want, THEN peruse or browseThey have no patience; users are like when you have to pee on a long car ride–they display a gripping sense of urgency
They scan, not read
Lastly, Ian Lurie from Portent Interactive talked about analytics:Analytics does not simply equal “reports”
Not having analytics = driving with your eyes closed
Search analytics = 5 step checkup: phrases, page views, time on site, bounce rate, and conversion
The time on site combined with the number of page views is the most useful data
Conversions are slightly overrated. CEO can obsess about conversion numbers, even though conversions can happen months after someone visits a site.
Onsite search = a missed opportunity. Try to track what your users are searching for and see if you can better offer it to them.”All of the above has been taken from SEOmoz.
All in all, it has been a particularly quiet week in the world of SEO. Not too sure if this is reflective of the world economics but it would appear that it may have something to do with it.
I would hope that things are going to move a little further forward next week…
- Spend some time with Meta
I have recently been able to update all of the meta data on one of the website I manage. I find it amazing that people are STILL not grasping that they need to make these something meaningful! To call index.html “Home” in the titletag is just rubbish…STOP IT NOW!
Generally, what i have managed to do is start every page and product with the same, i.e. Big Elbow Hosting : ” and then the product name or page name to follow after. As noted by many people for some time, getting atleast some of it to match your H1 tag on the page can bring you great results.
The Meta Descrition…
No this isn’t a place for you to chuck a load of keywords and hope to get away with it. Stick something here that will benefit your website and remember that this is generally what the Search Engines are going place on their short descriptons. You MUST remember that writing something like “chickens half price” really won’t benefit an SEO website.
Keywords…
There are loads of sources out there that will help you choose your keywords. Just think, if you are using that source for keywords, who else has used it? I find it best to pretend that you are buying the product that you are selling and then think what you would search for.
I.E, if you want web hosting that is UK based so you will be charged in sterling, then you would be searching for something like “web hosting in the UK, cheap, reliable". From this, you can see exactly what people are going to be searching for! This kind of brings me on to my next thing, Long search strings. The search string I placed just above, “web hosting in the UK, cheap, reliable", could be deemed as a long search string. People use these to make their results a little narrower. So use this to your advantage. Use the keywords that they would list and make them part of your “Keywords” section in your meta data.
This may not seem like rocket science, but you would be suprised how many people actually neglect these simple methods. It’s not just people with personal websites that do not follow these guidelines, but professional, large companies that seem to skip over this section. Do not be one of them!
Speak next week.
Mark
- The Beginning...
The web moves on extremely quickly, with Google’s algorhythms and crazy methods being making this part of the web one of the most interesting, but at the same time, one of the most challenging.
I owe my current knowledge to one Man, Rodney Riley. He worked closely with me for around 6 months and taught me more than you can ever find out by reading other people blogs. Having said that, it’s not a reason to not read mine! You can collect information, tips and tricks from almost anywhere. The one thing that you do have to remember that what works with one search engine, will not work with them all.
I plan to give a series of lessons on where to start with your website. We are going to www.bigelbowhosting.com as an example website. This site is part of Cproject and it needs traffic, both natural and Pay per click (Known as PPC from here on in!) So, read on and see what you can find. I plan to update this every saturday afternoon (UK time) so you should be able to annoy your partners by spending all day sunday implementing any tips and tricks that you read about.
Oh! and whilst I’m here, just a quick mention of Rodney again, you can see his blog at www.rodneyriley.co.uk. It is a relatively new blog and not much there yet, but you can be sure that it will host a wealth of information soon!
Speak soon.
Mark
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