Understanding Google Penalties

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Posted on 10th September 2009 by iansheldon in Search Engine Optimisation

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Search Engine Optimisation techniques vary, from white hat techniques such as Link Building, Content Copy Writing and Blogging to black hat techniques bordering on SPAMMING.   Googles main aim is to provide a trust worthy search service, presenting search users with a list of useful web sites based on their search criteria.

Some, although not all, of the known black hat techniques can quickly get you to the top of the Google rankings for your chosen keyword.  In the short term you can yield some excellent results, enquiries and conversions, but you will find that eventually your site will drop like a stone or in the worst case scenario dissapear completely.

Why does this happen?  You have been penalised by Google for using black hat techniques to promote your site.

This is one of the most frustrating things to happen for any SEO, or web site owner.

Depending on how serious your violations are (against the Google Webmaster Guidelines) depends on how serious your penalty is.  In some cases you may only be blacklisted for a few weeks and you can correct your penalty by dropping your black hat techniques and working towards Googles Webmaster Guidelines.  In the most serious cases web sites have been known to dissapear completely from the rankings forever.

There are two major levels of penalty that have been reported, the -30 and the -950.

The-30 penalty basically does what it says on the tin.  It drops your web site ranking by 30 places.  Minus 30 penalty is one that filters for handling spam in Google algorithm.  The only solution to get around this penalty is to have unique content on your site, to get links from well trusted sites and to link to high quality sites.

The -950 penalty is a different beast altogether.  It only affects precise URLs for particular keywords.  However, the -950 is also the harshest penalty and web sites can be dropped to the bottom of the results for the given keywords. How can this be avoided?  The only thing you can do is to stick to the Google Webmaster Guidelines and stick to White Hat SEO tactics.

If you have been penalised by Google then don’t take it out on the Search Engine.  You have been penalised for a reason and it’s nearly always down to the techniques that have been used in an attempt to promote your web site.

What does SEO mean to YOU?

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Posted on 12th August 2009 by iansheldon in Search Engine Optimisation

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Having now worked on a number of SEO projects over the last 12-14 months it’s becoming more and more apparant that Search Engine Optimisation means different things to different people.

To some it means being able to rank highly in the results for quality key phrases, for others it means being able to push increased volumes of visitors to their web site.

Then we have those that get heavily involved in the metrication in terms of visitors vs enquries and enquiries vs sales.  Those that want to understand what people are actually doing on their web site – what pages they visit and what call to actions are triggered.

SEO being what is doesn’t have an actual defintiation and there is a fine line between SEO and Internet Marketing (if there is a line at all). 

So why today’s blog post?  If you are looking to employ the services of an SEO professional then think carefully about what you are looking to achieve from the project.  Some SEO’s may offer more than others and its important that you team up with the right one in order to achieve the desired results.

Bye for now!

Writing content for the Web

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Posted on 10th August 2009 by iansheldon in Search Engine Optimisation

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One of the most important things to focus on when developing a new Web site is your content.   You should treat each page individually, with the view that each page has the opportunity to either capture or deplete your audience.   You should not only consider the actual copy content but also the volume of copy on any given page.  If a site visitor sees reams of text, they may well be put off and close the browser (or even worst go to another web site!).

When writing good copy for a web page make good use of the page title.    Make the headings attractive and descriptive of the subject of the page.  Your opening paragraph should then give an overview of the page.  Tell your audience :

  • What you are going to be discussing
  • Why you are discussing it
  • How it can be acheived

If you need to make use of lists within your copy then keep them tidy and precise.  Make sure you use the list tags to create a structured ordered / unordered list.

Create content relevant to your audience

Know your audience and talk to them, not at them.  No matter what your objective play to people’s emotions.  Try and stay away from technical terms so as not to alienate your non-technical audience.   Dont assume that people have read other parts of your web site before reading your copy.   With deep links and SEO site visitors often arrive at pages two or three levels deep into a web site.  Consider that your visitor may have never read anything concerning the topic in question when writing the content.

Proof read everything you write (twice!)

Make sure that you proof read all the content on your page.  It’s very easy to write web copy ‘on the cuff’ whilst typing but this can lead to unobvious grammatical or spelling errors.  If you can, ask a second pair of eyes to review the copy for you.

Finish with a call to action

Beleive it or not many readers won’t actually reach the end of your content, but for those who do conclude with a summary and action point.

To summarise

These are just a few basic pointers to help you write good content for your web site.  As you may well know, quality content is an important part of any Search Engine Optimisation campaign and help can to boost your rankings.

Bounce rate – an important metric in SEO

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Posted on 27th June 2009 by iansheldon in Search Engine Optimisation

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One of the most common questions concerning measurement of web site activity is what is Bounce Rate and what does it mean?

Put in very simplistic terms, the bounce rate percentage is the number of people that have visted one page on your web site, and then leave.  This may be for any number of reasons, but the bounce rate metric is especially important if you are trying to engage your site visitors and want them to visit other pages featuring product / service information and promotions.

Why do people bounce from my web site?

There are a number of reasons why people might contribute to a high bounce rate.  The first of which can be poor keyword choice in your SEO campaign.  If you are optimising your site for the wrong keywords then your site visitors might be landing on your site and not finding what they expect. 

Another reason might be poor web site navigation.  Maybe they find your site easily on the Google search results, but once they hit the landing page (the page on the Google link) they cant find an easy way to view other pages on your site.

Do you offer external links away from your site on your landing pages?  If so, these can be a contributing factor to increasing your bounce rate.  Consider your external links carefully.

If a site visitor leaves your web page open for 30 minutes, and takes part in no further SEO activity then this can be recorded as a bounce.  Even opening a new tab in their web browser can classify as a bounce.  Visitors may do this if they need find an explanation of a term or phrase on your web site using another method such as Google or Wikipedia.  This is a great reason for making sure you right top content for your site.

To quote Google.com itself

“It is really hard to get a bounce rate under 20%, anything over 35% is cause for concern, 50% (above) is worrying.”

Sometimes, it can be difficult to get to the bottom of why your bounce rate is so high, but in time, with some careful attention you can help to turn it around.  Recently, we noticed that a client was optimising their Google PPC campaign for a huge array of keywords, and since refining them and doing a bit of keyword research they have reduced their bounce rate by over 45%.

How can I improve my bounce rate?

  • Check out the content of your web page.  Is it self explanitory?
  • Are you optimising your site for the right keywords?   Is the content on your web page relevant to those keywords?
  • Can people easily navigate around your web site?  Do you need to consider a new menu structure?
  • Do you have external links on your web page inviting people to leave your site?  Remove them!

Bounce rate is an important metric in any SEO project.  eSoftware Solutions are a UK SEO Company, based in Staffordshire.  For more information visit our web site or call Ian on 0845 838 8588.

Quality SEO is an investment – not an expense.

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Posted on 19th June 2009 by iansheldon in Search Engine Optimisation

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How often have we heard it – the sharp intake of breath as you advise the client how much they will need to invest in their SEO campaign.  The problem is, very few people actually realise the cost benefits involved in SEO, and just see the project as an expense.  Any marketing expert, either online or offline will always tell you that marketing campaigns are investments in your brand and this has never been a more true statement where SEO is involved.

What other marketing campaign would get you targetted traffic direct to your web site?  It’s difficult to say exactly how much a No.1 spot in Google is worth to your business and this would vary from industry to industry but it is true that a drop from No.1 to No.3 can see a dramatic decrease in revenue.

So the facts state that good SEO will eventually pay for itself – however, good SEO can be quite difficult to find in an industry plauged by companies making promises that are impossible to deliver.

SEO is much more than just rankings, its a whole new way to increase visibility of your brand to the world.

To find out more about how to increase your site visitors and improve your rankings contact UK SEO Company, eSoftware Solutions, where Ian will be happy to discuss your requirements.

The fundamentals of link building

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Posted on 18th June 2009 by iansheldon in Search Engine Optimisation

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As more businesses turn to the internet, it becomes more competitive, and  Search Engine Optimisation is one of the main methods used for increasing traffic and potential income.  Search Engines are very sophisticated and it may come as a suprise that nobody really understands exactly how they rank web sites in the results but one thing we do know is that inbound links to your site definately help.

The reason for this is that links that come into your web site are classed as ‘votes’ for your site, and Google likes popular sites that have many votes.  However, just to confuse matters not all links count as votes.

For example, links that do not have the ‘nofollow’ attribute are the ones that are valuable when it comes to link building for search engine optimization. Nofollow is an attribute that is applied to some links which tells search engines not to bother following the link. Ideally, the Nofollow links want to be avoided.

Secondly, you will remember me blogging about Page Rank not so long ago.  Links going to your site from a page with a high page rank and few links will carry a greater vote that one from a lower page rank source, or a page covered in links.  Try to concentrate on getting your links from pages with a good page rank, and few outboud links

The last think you want to consider with your links is the anchor text used.  The anchor text is the text that the web site visitor clicks.  The anchor text, where possible should always be one of your keywords.  Google see’s the anchor text as a source of relevant information and ideally wants to see relevant content to match it.

Here are 5 simple steps to getting your linking campaign stated.

1. Write Guest Posts/Articles
Probably the easiest way to build one way links to your web site is to write and distribute articles to article directories.  If you write engaging, good content then people will also replicate your articles, giving you even more links back to your site!

2. Swap links with web sites similar to your own
This can sometimes be difficult.  Afterall, consider the value of links and people who realise this might not be so willing to just let you have one.   Generally this is a two way link scheme or otherwise known as a recipricol link.

3 Directory Submissions
Just like article submissions, there are hundreds of web site directories out there that allow you to submit your web site.  Many free directories are just link farms and Google may penalise your site if it finds links from them.  Paid directories and generally better and hold more value.    Take a look at some of the sites listed in the directories before you make the decision to submit your own.

4. Blog Posts and Comments
Many blogs contain the “Nofollow” link, however many dont which means you can get some good juicy links from content rich sources. 

5. Social Bookmarking
Social Bookmarking sites are an excellent way to not only create backlinks, but also attract the interest of real people.  You can also find that links on social bookmarking sites are also indexed fairly fast. An good example of Social Bookmarking sites is Zig Tag

So there you have hit.  5 quick tips on link building.  Of course, we have missed off the one major source of link building from this list and thats creating great content that people will want to naturally link to.  At the end of the day, thats what SEO is all about.

If you would like more information on Link Building contact UK SEO Company eSoftware Solutions.  Visit their web site at http://www.esoftware-solutions.com or email Ian on ian@esoftware-solutions.com

Twitter is severely misunderstood!

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Posted on 15th June 2009 by iansheldon in Search Engine Optimisation

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I get alot of questions at the moment about Twitter and how it can help people to promote their business.  I’m finding that the main problem is that many see it as just ‘another’ social media site and as such seems to have a damanged reputation (without having been tried & tested)  based on peoples views of Facebook and My Space.

First of all – let me tell you that Twitter should be an essential part to every one’s online marketing campaign.  If you haven’t yet got a Twitter account – sign up right now!

So what is Twitter?

Basically, Twitter is a micro-blogging site which allows people to easily write very short (140 characters) posts, visible to people who are ‘following’ them.   You can view our Twitter feed here.

Why do people use Twitter? 

Twitter is a tool that allows you to build a network of ‘followers’ (contacts) to share information.  This information can be absolutely anything you want.  You can tell people what you are doing (although I wouldnt recommend telling people ‘I am typing on Twitter’!), you can promote your online services, alert people of interesting blog posts and news articles and much more!  Generally people ‘follow’ you on Twitter because you have something in common, so you are ‘tweeting’ to a targeted audience.  The more your Twitter network grows, the wider the audience for your ‘tweets’

A simple and easy place to start is to create a simple feed on Twitter and publish all or at least some of the most interesting new pages on it.  Note that the URLs will be shorterned to stay in the 140 character limit!

Twitter should become a place of interaction between you and your clients (and potential clients).  It was recently reported that Dell made $3m dollars by providing discount codes for their followers to purchase computers and laptops online.  With this is mind can you really afford not to spend a few minutes a day ‘tweeting’?

For more information on how Twitter can help with your online marketing, or how we can manage your Twitter account and Tweet on your behalf, contact eSoftware Solutions, a UK SEO Company, on 0845 838 8588.

Microsites – Black hat SEO or sound marketing tactic?

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Posted on 15th June 2009 by iansheldon in Search Engine Optimisation

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Some link-building schemes and services may involve a range of activities that skim around the edge of Google’s rules on creating ‘linking schemes’. 

Included in this is the generation of creating a network of mini or micro-sites each built around a keyword, to provide relevant back links to your main web site.  By creating these micro sites (and I include Blogs in this category) the SEO’s have full control over the content relevance and back links to the main web sites. This micro-site strategy for search engine optimisation can work well – although it takes time to work and generally has to be done through third-parties. It is also recommended that you host the micro sites on different servers to your main site  as Google will be able to spot the association.

Ranking highly for extremely competitive keywords can sometimes be a tricky task, and not only do mini sites help to build content rich and relevant sources for back links, they can also help to promote specific products or services that you offer – which in itself is a great marketing tactic to help get your brand mentioned.  Whilst your main site will most definately have a URL containing the company name, you can get more creative with the domains of your micro sites by including the product names and keywords.

The important thing to remember when creating these micro sites is to stick to SEO guidelines at all times.  If you want your micro sites to get a good Page Rank (to pass back to your main site) then you need to consider how you will acheive this by referencing them in blog posts and social media posts such as Twitter.

If you are looking to optimise your web site to improve your search engine rankings then contact eSoftware Solutions, a UK SEO Company, on 0845 838 8588.

The role of articles in SEO

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Posted on 12th June 2009 by iansheldon in Search Engine Optimisation

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As you are probably aware by now, building back links to your web site from relevant sources is an extremely important part of any Search Engine Optimisation campaign.

Articles are a great way to help increase actual visitors and also a great way to increase your back links.  There are literally hundreds of article directories on the internet – some are an open market or different topics where as others are more specific to niche areas.  It is important that you submit your articles to the right directories to get the most impact.

As with all web related content, your articles should provide valuable information to the readers.  It is important that you create the content for human beings whilst maintaining a good balance of keywords and phrases that you are using to optimise your web site.

Most article directories expect your content to be between 300 and 500 words, although some are a little more particular and ask for 2000+.

Different article directories have different rules that you need to adhere to.  Some allow back links in the body of the article, where as others only allow back links in the resource box which is where you tell the reader about yourself and your company.   If you violate the rules of a directory once too often you can find yourself banned from the site.

One of the main advantages of article submissions in directories are that articles are a great source of providing one way link to your website and generate interest in visitors through the content of your written source and also attract more unique visitors.  Writing and submitting articles can save you time by getting back links to your website as compared to directory submission and link exchange.

If you are looking someone to manage the submissions of your articles to internet directories then why not get in touch?  We are a UK SEO Company specialising in Organic SEO.  Drop Ian a note at ian@esoftware-solutions.com or visit our web site http://www.esoftware-solutions.com

A guide to basic SEO techniques

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Posted on 6th June 2009 by iansheldon in Search Engine Optimisation

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Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the name given to collection of processess carried out in an attempt to make  a web site rank higher in the search engines for a given set of keywords.  For example, if you have a cycle shop in Stoke On Trent you would probably want to rank highly for the phrase ‘Stoke On Trent Bike Shop’.

You might also want to rank for terms like ‘Raleigh Bikes’ or ‘Mountain Bikes’.

So how do I get to No.1 on Google?

Briefly, Google uses complexed techniques to read, index (analysing and categorising) and rank(putting in order of relevance to the typed in keyword) web pages.

Consider that there are billions of web pages on the internet, and Google has to crawl and index all of them, serving up the most relevant so search users.  SEO is about making that task as easy as possible for Google.  So by understanding how Google decides who is No 1, you can do those things.. right?

You guessed it – it’s not as simple as that.  Unfortunately Google uses many, many factors in deciding what page is on top for which keyword.  And some of those factors involve things apparently outside of your immediate control – like the age of your web site and the number of trusted, established web sites that link to yours.  Indeed, it changes the weighting of these factors from time to time – sometimes dropping them altogether or thinking up new ones.

On the whole, however, these factors are well known – but the weighting of them is not.  

If you are intensley impatient and an ‘I want it now!’ type of person Google will happily sell you a place on the right side of the results page for any keyword you want.  These links are known as sponsored listings or PPC.  Be warned that this method of getting your site listed can get very expensive!

You may also be familiar with the term ‘Black Hat SEO’.  Typically Black Hat SEO’s use dirty techniques to trick Google into listing your web site.  The rankings may appear quicker than ‘White hat’ methods but Google will eventually catch up with you and your site will run the risk of being banned from the listings.

Here are some Basic SEO techniques

Keyword research.  Every SEO campaign has to start with knowing what keywords you will be optimising your web site for.  What terms – and in what order – do you want to rank for?  How often are they used by searchers and how much competition is there for each of them?  You can use this keyword tool from Google to get approximate volumes for keywords.

Link building.  Google highly weights the number of links to your web site from other sites that it trusts.  The more closely related and the more ‘trusted’ (Wikipedia and the BBC are very trusted) the better.  You can see how many links Google thinks you have if you use something called Google Webmasters Tools.    See our recent ‘link building’ blog post for more details.

Keyword rich content.  Google is simple in one way – people type in keywords to Google and Google attempts to give them a relevant list of search results.  So it makes sense to use your keywords in the content you use on your web pages. 

Structure of your web site.  Help Google find all the pages on your web site.  Avoid the use of Flash or Javascript navigation, make URLs human readble and include keywords (try to avoid URLs that use IDs or numbers.  Create and submit XML sitemaps to Google to make it aware of all the pages on your site.

Keep content fresh and up to date.  Google likes to find new, unique content.  

With any SEO process there are some items that will need fixing once and won’t need any further attention, where as other areas will require steady, consistant efforts throughout the life of the web site. 

These basic techniques will help you to get started with the optimisation of your web pages. 

If you are based in the UK, why not contact eSoftware Solutions, a UK SEO Company, to discuss your requirements.

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