UK Search - SEO and PPC Management

Google Punishes Its Own Spamming

2012-01-04T11:47:00.000Z

Google Chrome - Now Invisible

Google appears to be punishing its own attempt to spam Google rankings with a sponsored article campaign for Google Chrome. The campaign initially boosted the rankings of Google Chrome before falling and then disappearing from the results.

The rankings boosting campaign by digital agency Essence, has created uproar within the SEO community. Essence has apparently paid for as many as 400 sponsored articles and blog posts all with anchor text designed to boost the standing of Google Chrome versus Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Google has denied that there has been any intention to manipulate their rankings and has blamed the agency for over reaching their brief. Essence has written there own version of events on their Google+ page. As at this morning Google Chrome has disappeared from the Google SERPs for the search term "Browser". So it appears that Google is punishing itself for breaching its own webmaster guidelines.

To read more on the story, click on the post title or follow-up the story at Search Engine Land.

Brands Wasting Time On Social Networks

2011-11-10T08:54:00.000Z

According to research into social media by TNS two-thirds of Britons do not want brands polluting social networks. The research appears to be that people do not believe brands fail to listen to what they want. The research comes a month after advertising mogul Martin Sorrell predicted that advertising would never work on Facebook and the same week as Google launched Google+ brand pages.

TNS’s survey is based on a sample of 72,000 people in 60 countries. It found that half of all social efforts are wasted. In the UK, 61 per cent of respondents said they “do not want to engage with brands via social media”. Responses in other parts of the world, such as China, appear more favourable. One issue may well be that consumers are more cynical in more advanced economies.

Google+ Brand Pages are Launched

2011-11-08T13:14:00.001Z

Google has finally launched the Google+ service for companies. The service is called Google+ Brand Pages. I have set up Simply Clicks' own brand page.
See: The Simply Clicks Google+ Brand page.

There is much coverage of the issue. It would appear that most people are slightly underwhelmed. However, it is early days. And the nature of Google launches is to go very quickly, then build the platform and its features over time.

For me the most interesting aspect will be how Google will integrate Google Brand Pages with Google Place Pages. The two most dynamic areas of the search market are now mobile and local search. In my opinion Google Place pages have a key role with both. Place pages have been down grade in recent updates and I believe there is a risk that Google+ Brand Pages may well be intended to supersede Google Places.

What's Really Behind Google's Secure Search Move?

2011-10-20T17:14:00.000+01:00

Google have announced that Google account holders that are signed into their accounts will be directed to a secure version of their search service. In such a mode the recipient of search traffic will not be able to establish the keyword search term used to find their website. Google claims that this move is to protect the privacy of searchers as the search results they are shown are personalised.

At the simplest level this move means many of us in the digital marketing, search engine optimisation and web analytics communities will be flying blind when it comes to analysing this traffic. Google says it is making the move in order to protect the privacy of the searcher. Many in the SEO industry suspect its about Google making more money. The reason is that in the absence of incomplete information about organic traffic digital marketers will give priority to Google's Google Adwords pay per click service. This priority means a shift of effort and marketing budgets. When it comes to paid search, Google owns over 90% of the UK market.

In recent years a whole new science within web analytics has grown up. Its called attribution. Attribution refers to the way digital marketers apportion, or attribute, the contribution value of each component of the marketing mix towards a sale or conversion. Terms such as "first click" and "last click" attribution indicate whether the behaviour of the buyer or enquirer has relied upon the first or last click when making their conversion decision. Indeed Google UK has only recently commissioned a research report on the subject via E-Consultancy. The secure search move means more grey areas in attribution analysis whenever a website visitor has utilised organic search.

Its another nail in the coffin for Google's "don't be evil" mantra.

Google Adwords Selling David Burdon

2011-10-19T10:40:00.000+01:00

It may come across as slightly vain but I spotted on our analytics that someone had come onto the Simply Clicks' website having searched for "david burdon". We get about 1 search a week for people searching for me by name. The reason for writing this post is that on the original search page I noticed a Google Adwords ad from Facebook. See below:

David Burdon - Google Adwords Ad

I am actually on Facebook. But I never imagined that Facebook would find it worthwhile to advertise the fact! On the Google Adwords side I will check out the cost per click. I just wonder what value David Burdon has, say, against a more exotic name such as David Cameron?

Is SEO Training Becoming Devalued?

2011-10-14T19:53:00.000+01:00

I speak with some authority on SEO training. Simply Clicks has been running search engine marketing training courses in SEO, PPC, analytics and integrated search since 2004. Indeed, Simply Clicks may have been the first UK business to run such dedicated training. We have delivered courses in the UK, Ireland and in mainland Europe. However, I have noticed an increasing deterioration in the pricing levels that various competitor businesses are now offering.

Tonight I saw one training business offering SEO courses for £99 per person. Typically, our lowest rates for SEO training work out at about £500 per course delegate. Incidentally, all of our courses are over two days and a tailored to the needs of the client company and their market category.

As a free marketeer I have no priority rights in the SEO training market but I question whether such a low value should be placed on what is still a vital and valuable skill.

As the ad was placed on the Simply Clicks Google place page by DoubleClick, I thought I would give it a click and investigate. In my defence I can say we do not make money from these ads. I landed on a very general page about the training agency's social media, SEO and paid search courses. Not a specific page about SEO training. Nowhere did I see anything specific about what I might learn about SEO and secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I could not see how I could book a course. Lastly, the £99 lead-in price for the course was nowhere to be seen. Safe to say, given the lack of thought applied to the alignment of their SEO training ad, landing page and approach to conversion I am now resting a little easier.

Growing PPC Complexity Raises Procurement Issues

2011-10-12T10:44:00.000+01:00

Pay per click advertising is getting more complex by the week. Every few days we have news of a new Google Adwords initiative that changes the way at least one feature of the Account, Campaign, Ad Group, Quality Score or Analytics section of the service. The key question is firstly how to keep up with the changes and secondly how to ensure that you fully exploit the opportunities that each change brings about.

As PPC agents we have to keep abreast of all of the changes. Whether its how to exploit mobile search or how to make sure your clients ads generate sufficient visibility and lead ultimately to a meaninful conversion. The good news for us is that we are pay per click specialists. The key problem for client companies is to make sure their PPC agency is delivering maximum impact for their investments. One way of doing this would be to hire a procurement consulting firm that could advise on the best option for handling client PPC investments.

If your budgets are small, say less than £200 per month, you may find the cost of hiring an agent prohibitive. But once budgets reach, say £500 per month, the cost of the agent fee may well justify both the expertise and time saving that outsourcing brings. Once your budget reaches £10,000 per month you may consider having an inhouse specialist. But beware a good inhouse PPC specialist likely to be on the lookout for promotion or a job with a PPC specialist agency.

I shall back to this matter at a later date.

Move Three Sixty Adds New Location - London NW6

2011-09-22T11:15:00.000+01:00

Client Move Three Sixty have a new gym in London NW6. Click on the link above for their location page.

Google Adwords Tablet targeting options now available

2011-07-13T16:46:00.000+01:00

Google has announced that tablet targeting options are now available with Google Adwords. See link:

New: Tablet targeting options now available - Inside AdWords

Until recently only smartphones had this flexibility. I have yet to check whether a similar data split is available within Google Analytics.

My own experience of investigating the various mobile device platforms is that iPads - the leading tablet computer - tend to perform much more like desktop and laptop computers than they do like smartphones.

Google Plus Project

2011-06-29T08:59:00.000+01:00

Google has launched the Google Plus project. In what seems to be its latest attempt to imitate Facebook.
Currently the project is by invitation only. The core theme appears to be sharing. It has very contemporary graphics. I just wonder what the motives of the launch are. Does Google genuinely think it can penetrate the social media space in a major way? If so, is a brand extension really the way to go? Or is it an attempt to spoil the development of Facebook?

Matt Takes a Pop at Hackers

2011-06-23T15:35:00.000+01:00

Matt Cartoon Taken from Telegraph 23-6-11

Matt, a cartoonist in The Telegraph, today takes a pop at hackers. Whatever Matt says about hackers could be said about SEOers. Hackers are in the UK news due to some high profile extradition attempts. The latest involves a 19 year-old from Essex who is being investigated for a cyber attack on Facebook.

WordPress Plugins Cause Security Leak

2011-06-23T14:32:00.000+01:00

WordPress, the leading blogging platform, has issued a major security alert after it was revealed that malware has been found in three WordPress plugins. The three plugins are AddThis, WPtouch and W3Total Cache. The plugins each carry cleverly disguised backdoors that allow unauthorised users access to personal information carried inside the WordPress control panel.

Plugins are thrid party productivity tools that improve the presentation or function of a WordPress website. Only two weeks ago I wrote a blog post on a hidden link found within a WordPress plugin.

WordPress.org has announced that users will need to reset their passwords. Get full details of WordPress advise.

WordPress is used by 14% of the world's top 1,000,000 websites.

Google Launches Instant Pages And More

2011-06-15T10:37:00.000+01:00

Google has launched "Instant pages" and a range of new features to mobile and voice based search at a media event in San Francisco. The new features include voice search for desktop computers. Voice search was previously restircted to mobile devices. The desktop version will be restricted to users of the Chrome browser. Of course you will need a microphone as well.

You can get all the details of the latest Google developments by clicking on the post title.

Beware Blackhat Links with WordPress Plugins

2011-06-10T09:13:00.000+01:00

I spent yesterday evening wrestling with some hidden links that had been inserted into the WordPress based blog on the Simply Clicks' website. A test using a tool on SEO Chat had found an outbound link from almost every page. This link wasn't visible to the naked eye but could be seen in the html code. The link pointed to a website based in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

The link was hidden by using "transparent" and a position of "left:-99999px". This meant it was both invisible and hidden to the left of the visible screen. Without doubt a blackhat link. Worse, every time I wrote a new post the hidden link would be propogated throught the website through being shown in category and the archive pages.

Anyhow, to cut a long story short, I established that the link was hidden within the "wp_footer" php code of WordPress. This is located within the general template file. This is a file of 38 pages of code! I could remove the link by removing the "wp_footer" code but this would also disable my Statcounter and Google Analytics tracking. A this point I could have taken a shortcut and looked in the obvious places. But I checked out the files I had uploaded in May and saw no reference to the hidden link. The link was therefore inserted sometime after that period. I then went back through the Google index of the site looking for cache dates to see if the hidden links existed within the code.

Through the cache records I narrowed down the infection to sometime between 27th May and 1st June. Then started going through my server files looking for files with upload dates within that time period. Bingo! I found the code inside a plugin for Google Analytics. What surprised me was the fact that the plugin is prominently displayed on the WordPress site with recommendations. There are new downloads being made every day and no doubt the hidden link is being spread throughout the WordPress community. I shall attempt to bring the hidden link to the attention of the WordPress site.

SEO Ranking Factors 2011 Launched by SEOMoz

2011-06-08T11:26:00.000+01:00

SEOMoz has launched the their 2011 edition of SEO ranking factors. The ranking factors are compiled from a survey of 132 SEO experts - of which I am not one. In addition, this year's results include a comparison with SEOMoz's own research based on 10,000 search results taken from Google.com.

SEOMoz has been compiling the survey since 2005. This year's survey shows a comparison with 2009. At the simplest level the survey looks at on page and off page factors to establish which are the most important in contributing towards top organic rankings. This year's survey looks specifically at the role of social media as well as performance metrics in the Google SERPs.

I will digest the data and come up with my own interpretations.

Google Launches the +1 Button

2011-06-02T10:39:00.000+01:00

I Have Plus 1'nd Travel Thinking

Google has launched the Google +1 button. The new service is about sharing information regarding your favourite websites. As you can see the service requires you to log in to your Google account. There is also a check box for you to decide whether you wish Google to use the +1 information to personalise your search. The system uses Javascript and seems to struggle when combined with the Awesome screenshot add-on used with Firefox. There will be more news later.

Google's Schmidt Admits He Screwed Up over Social Media

2011-06-01T15:20:00.000+01:00

Google's former CEO, Eric Schmidt, has admitted he screwed up over the rise of Facebook and similar social media companies. Schmidt is featured on Telegraph.co.uk having been interviewed at The All Things Digital Conference in California. Although Google's market value has risen six-fold since flotation Schmidt, Schmidt now believes that the company is better prepared for the challenge of Facebook in the battle for advertising revenues.

Read the full article in The Telegraph by clicking on the post title.

Simply Clicks Introduces Mobile Enabled Pages

2011-05-28T20:28:00.002+01:00

Simply Clicks' blog is now mobile enabled. The site automatically detects whether a website visitor is using a smartphone with a mobile browser such as Android or Safari for iPhone. There is also a manual switcher featured at the bottom of each page enabling a mobile user to switch to the desktop style website. The pages use the WordPress Mobile Pack plugin.

The mobile site has been tested on smartphones using Android and iPhone browsers.

Travel Thinking Rises from the Ashes

2011-05-23T11:41:00.001+01:00

A week of frustration of dealing with Google and Blogger has led me to set up a WordPress version of Travel Thinking.
Meanwhile I am still fighting Blogger and have filed another reinclusion request. This is because Google Help's reference to my problems are completely fatuous. As the image below shows, Google claim that "Another Discussion Adreeses This Question". This is wrong as it is simply Google Help's way of closing the issue.

Another Discussion Addresses This Question - Google Help's Fatuous Information

I remain committed to regaining access to Travel Thinking. And will wait another two business days before re-entering the fray.

Google Panda Update - Google Lists 23 Criteria

2011-05-20T14:11:00.000+01:00

I notice from the Google Webmaster Central Blog, that they list 23 different criteria as to whether a website may fall foul of its Panda, erstwhile known as Farmer, update.

The list of disqualifying criteria includes some unexpected ones. I have picked out 6:

Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site? (My italics
Does the article describe both sides of a story?
Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic
Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?

To read Google's full post on the subject click on the post title above.

In many respects I applaud Google's attempt to clean up what it becoming a dirty industry. Article marketing as a component of SEO and crass attempts by some publishers to generate Adsense revenue, have seen a plethora of poorly researched and poorly written content showing up in the upper reaches of the search results. In my opinion this is more than just an attempt to penalise content farms. It extends to SEO output in general. I would not be surprised if Google now took a look more closely at some of the blog based SEO that is becoming highly prevalent.

Travel Boss in Google Panda Whinge

2011-05-20T14:08:00.000+01:00

Justin Francis a founder of Responsible Travel has had a whinge on travel industry website Travelmole. The target of his ire is the Google Panda (erstwhile Farmer) update. Francis claims that the changes brought about by the update have caused the travel industry to lose confidence in Google. Our own observations on the Panda update are that very few websites with original content have seen a material change in their rankings. The update was ostensibly targeted at improving the quality of Google's results pages. Many of the losers have content farms and article websites although Google has never named the targets. This won't be the last Google update and it is unlikely to be the most controversial.

Simply Clicks Gets A Mention on Yahoo Answers

2011-05-20T13:02:00.000+01:00

I spotted from Statcounter that Simply Clicks' has just received a positive mention on Yahoo Answers. The poster appears to be a lady by the name of Jo. The mention is in relation to our Yahoo PPC management service. Guessing by the comment, the contributor talks about costs in US cents, I can only assume that Jo is based in the US. So thanks to Jo.

PPC Management Blindspot for Digital Agencies

2011-05-20T12:45:00.000+01:00

I added a new post to Simply Clicks' internal blog that covers an editorial in yesterday's New Media Age. The editorial by Jonathan Briggs questions why many traditional advertising and digital marketing agencies fail to exploit the opportunity presented by Google's advertising tools - especially Google Adwords and Google Analytics. To read my thoughts, click on the post title above.

Since I wrote the original post I have spotted that New Media Age is the title sponsor of the Online Marketing section of the Marketing Week Live Exhibition that is taking place at Olympia on 29th and 30th of June. What is somewhat ironic is that of the 15 presentations scheduled not one of them contains the words pay per click, SEO or even Google in their title!

Blogger Problems for Travel Thinking

2011-05-16T16:46:00.001+01:00

I'm having real problems with Blogger. And the problems appear to be growing. This morning the Travel Thinking Blog disappeared entirely. We immediately filed a reinclusion request with Blogger. But as at 4.45pm we do not seem to be able to get the blog back.

Travel Thinking has been online since 2004. We have made over 280 posts. Many with absolutely original content. In the meantime we have put up a temporary version of Travel Thinking. As you can probably see we are using a .co.uk domain.

Simply Clicks WordPress Blog Fully Integrated

2011-05-14T20:46:00.000+01:00

The process of integrating a WordPress blog into the Simply Clicks site has now been completed. As Simply Clicks we have been blogging about SEO, pay per click, Google and developments in the search marketing industry since 2004. Over the years we have utilised TypePad, Blogger and WordPress blogging platforms. These have been external blogs to the main Simply Clicks website. From today the blog is fully integrated within the main Simply Clicks website.

UK Search has new Title Tag Structure

2011-05-12T17:20:00.000+01:00

UK Search has a new title meta tag structure. We have edited the blog's basic html code to ensure that individual blog posts will have a much more topic specifice title tag. Changing the title tag should see individual posts feature more frequently in search engine rankings.

Travel Thinking gets its own domain

2011-05-06T10:06:00.000+01:00

Simply Clicks' specialist blog on travel SEO gets its own domain. The website design and configuration has not changed. The new domain is www.travelthinking.com. The blog will continue to use the Blogger platform.

Google Q1 Results 2011

2011-04-14T22:28:00.000+01:00

Google has announced its quarter 1 2011 results. Revenue of $8.58 billion is up 27% on the same quarter 2010. Most comment in the financial markets appears to be on the negative side. Seems costs have risen faster than expected. This has been driven by large numbers of new employees as Google expanded into Mobile search and Display advertising.

See: Fierce Mobile Content. See: Telegraph, Google misses financial targets.

Vehicle Tracking - A LinkedIn Approach

2011-04-14T09:44:00.000+01:00

Mercedes Benz - Tracking Me on LinkedIn

I jokingly refer to the above as a new approach to vehicle tracking. Online Targeting has been in the news. With a new EU E-privacy directive due to come into force next month online targeting, sometimes called re-marketing, re-targeting or behavioural targeting is a hot topic. Essentially online advertisers gather information about your web use and target ads at you that are compatible with that use or behaviour. For some reason I keep being shown ads about weight loss or pay day loans. I suspect these ads are in response to search marketing activity on behalf of clients. Today, I notice on LinkedIn it is being suggested I follow the Mercedes Benz UK company. My wife owns a Mercedes. Is there some way Mercedes or LinkedIn has worked this out? Or have I left a trace somewhere in my Internet usage?

First Man in Space - Google Doodle

2011-04-12T09:41:00.001+01:00

Google Honours Yuri Gagarin

Today's Google Doodle honours Russian Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. Today is the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's historic flight.

Stacey Solomon chooses Blackberrie Bear Parties!

2011-04-04T17:15:00.001+01:00

Last month Blackberrie Bear Parties were chosen to entertain the children at Stacey Solomon's son's birthday party.

Stacey Solomon with a Blackberrie Bear

Stacey and her family thought that a Teddy Bear making party was ideal as children's entertainment at her son's birthday party. Teddy bear parties can be held at home or at a venue of your choice. There is a choice of 15" bears and other soft animals that can be mixed, require no sewing and can be personalised. With orders of 10 or more, there is a free Party Box to help you make your party a success from invitations, plates, cups and napkins to games and thank you letters. You can host your own party, or do as Stacey did and book the party with a hostess to help you keep all the bears under control.

To find pictures and more about Stacey Solomon's son's party and Blackberrie Bear Parties, click on the blog post title above.

Pay Per Click Management Presentation

2011-03-16T16:34:00.000Z

Seven Stages of Pay Per Click Management

Prompted by my recent experiences at the recent Global Travel Conference, I have added an updated presentation on pay per click management.

I have also updated the main pay per click page on our website. This shows a slide from the presentation.

The presentation has a separate slide for each of the seven stages of managing and optimising the performance of a pay per click campaign.
The presentation mainly relates to Google Adwords, covering subjects such as quality score. Most of the key points could also be used on Yahoo search marketing.
The management of a pay per click campaign goes through the following 7 stages.

Market Category Keyword Research and Selection
Plan Campaign Strategy, Structure and Budgets
Writing Advertising Copy and Descriptions
Organise Pay Per Click Bid Management and Budgetary Control
Select or Build Landing Pages
Monitoring Keyword, Ad Group and Campaign Performance
Revising Copy, Amending Bids, Tuning Campaign

Global Travel Conference

2011-03-08T08:38:00.000Z

Global Travel Conference

Today I am attending at the Global Travel annual conference in Leicester. In the morning I will be attending the supplier and agents speed dating event. This afternoon I will be speaking on the subject of search engine marketing for independent agents. Here is my travel agent SEO presentation.I aim to provide low cost ideas to enable individual travel agents to boost their exposure on the various form of Google search.

Google Farmer Update Victims

2011-03-01T11:41:00.000Z

There has much speculation about the Google "Farmer" update. According to Google the algorithm update is aimed at improving the quality of its search results. The SEO community however believes the update is specifically targeted at reducing the influence of content farms. Hence the update name of "Farmer".

Several major SEO sites have carried out various tests in attempting to work out who are the biggest losers from the update. Generally it seems to be the larger article based businesses. According to a test undertaken by German firm Sistrix the following falls in search engine visibility have been recorded.

Articlebase.com - 94%
Suite101.com - 94%
Associatedcontent.com - 93%
Business.com - 93%
Essortment.com - 91%
Ezineaerticles.com - 90%

The largest loser overall in terms of visibility is apparently Wisegeek.com.

The update is currently restricted to US based searches. However, it can be expected to apply to Google.co.uk in the near future.

Google Cracks Down on Content Farms

2011-02-28T10:02:00.000Z

The Official Google Blog reports that Google has launched an algorithm change that aims to improve the quality of its search results. The change will impact about 12% of search queries.

Google states that the change is to reduce the exposure given to "low quality" sites. However, it is widely reported by WebProNews and The Daily Telegraph that this change is specifically aimed at reducing the influence of content farms. The most famous of these are controlled by Demand Media and included websites such as eHow. I suspect that it could also mean the end of the article industry from a link building perspective.

Content farms (sometimes called Content Mills) are websites that produce low level content specifically to generate income from advertising and pay per click websites such as Google's Adsense advertising programme.

Demand Media pays thousands of authors around $15 per article. This is top dollar compared to many of the budget content writers that are based in Asia.

Bing Copying Google Caffeine Style Results

2011-02-03T09:37:00.000Z

Bing now showing Google Caffeine style results

The UK Search blog has received a lot of visitor traffic in the past 24 hours regarding the Bing copying Google results. Much of the visitor traffic came directly from the Google Blog post that revealed Bing's trangressions. Some of the visitors came from specific topic related searches. One search from Bing - "Bing copying Google search algorithm" - shows the UK Search blog in number 1 position. What is more interesting, though, is the nature of how Bing is presenting these results. To me Bing's results for these searches look very much like the Google Caffeine style results. If you look closely at the results, the UK Search post is shown with the information it was posted 22 hours ago. You then get results 2 and 3 before you get a news results section of 3 results.

In the past Bing did not appear that interested in blog posts. Barely featuring them. Now it appears to be going down a similar track to Google.

Does Bing Copy Google?

2011-02-02T10:19:00.002Z

Bing accused of copying Google's search results

Google's engineering team led by Matt Cutts has claimed that Bing is copying Google's search results.

Google planted obscure results on its search algorithm to try to prove that Bing was echoing its results. It posted dummy results on the Google search engine in response to deliberately garbled queries. When carried out later on Bing, the queries returned the same dummy responses, Matt Cutts, head of search quality at Google, said.

Microsoft apparently uses data collected via its latest browser and toolbar incorporated into Internet Explorer 8. I imagine this is only if all privacy settings are switched off. Microsoft has defended itself by claiming that Google is referring to a few outlier examples.

It would be a surprise if Google, Bing and Yahoo did not monitor each others search results. It is a question of when adjustments for quality purposes become imitation. Obviously there are many ways to capture almost real time data. Information from browsers and toolbars would be particularly powerful. I use the Alexa toolbar to gather information about competitor websites. Alexa, backed by Amazon, would have a much smaller reach than microsoft.

See the Google Blog for Google's version of events.

Start ups and b2c retailing

2011-01-31T21:51:00.000Z

At Simply Clicks we get involved in businesses of all shapes and sizes. From start ups, to medium-sized SMEs, to multinational businesses. In the last few days we have had the pleasure of helping a very small B2C retailer of pearls that wants to make the transition from relying on ebay and Amazon to setting up their own e-commerce website. The current business model relies on the Auctiva action platform.

New Exhibition Stand Blogs

2011-01-26T11:09:00.002Z

I have just come across three new exhibition stand blogs. The blogs will be managed by Astro Exhibitions, who are stand builders and designers based in Manchester.

Exhibition Stand Designers

2011-01-25T16:39:00.000Z

Astro Exhibitions - Part of their exhibition stand portfolio

Today I am working just outside Manchester with exhibitions stand designers, Astro Exhibitions. Astro manage an exhibition stand portfolio for a range of international brands. These include Takara Belmont, S&D Chemicals, Sony, Fuchs Lubricants, Casio and Carron Phoenix.

Google Adwords Display URL Restrictions

2011-01-12T11:59:00.000Z

Google announced yesterday that it is to place further restrictions on the use of display URLs in Google Adwords advertisements. The display URL is the visible URL in the ad, rather than the actual landing page URL. Currently the display URL is limited to 35 characters and should bear a close resemblance to the actual landing page. From very shortly all the characters in the domain components of the display URL will be shown lower case.

Example: www.BedsonLegs.co.uk/Guest-Beds will be changed to www.bedsonlegs.co.uk/Guest-Beds

Google Adwords - Showing display URLs

The Google Adwords blogs says that the changes will be made automatically. There will be no such restriction or changes to characters that form part of the URL extension. These can remain as upper case letters if so desired.

Google Adwords advertisers and agencies have used the display URL to generate extra copy alignment and bolding with the target keywords. This tends to improve click through rate, and by implication, Quality Score. Combined together these two impacts lower cost per click and cost per conversion. The use of upper case characters in the domain part of the display URL, in our particular use, has been solely to generate brand awareness for clients. Google's own research indicates that bolding the domain reduces click through rate. Our own research bears this out.

Google Adwords - New Home Page

2011-01-11T10:13:00.003Z

Google Advertising's New Home Page

It seems Google can't resist tinkering. Today my business partner spotted a new home page for Google Adwords and Google Adsense.

Given the URL the new page looks like a test. Maybe there could be different versions in use simultaneously.

The new page appears targeted at new advertisers. As an established user of the Adwords system I was fed a different page from my desktop browser.

Google Optimisation and Link Building

2011-01-10T10:39:00.000Z

It seems that there are some changes under way for the results on Google UK for searches relating to Google optimisation. One of our competitors that buys and sells large numbers of links from one of the largest link selling SEO businesses seems to have disappeared from the results. Only last week this business occupied the No. 2 position. Today it is not visible for the top three pages. Is there something going on with the results related to business that rely on large numbers of bought in link?

Bing Cache Showing PPC Dynamic Code

2011-01-07T09:33:00.001Z

Yesterday I spotted a very odd issue with the Bing indexing of one of my client sites. The Bing "site:" command for septic tank specialist MTM shows a series of pages with URLs that feature the dynamic code extension from pay per click campaigns. In the case of Yahoo based pay per click campaigns this URL extension would be ?OVRAW and is automatically inserted by Yahoo. On Google Adwords we use manually inserted codes that typically show ?S=GoogleAdwords or similar. The image above is a screenshot of the relevant website index.

I have been discussing with my business partner how this may occur. For example could the Bing spider actually be following Yahoo and Google paid ads? If so, is there a risk that ads are being charged for when no genuine site visitor is being attracted to the client website? We will investigate.

Web Analytics Statcounter Wordpress Plugin

2010-12-22T16:25:00.000Z

I have just installed the Statcounter Wordpress plugin on Wordpress based website about beds. The process was extremely straightforward and Statcounter appears to be recording the website traffic accurately. Given the expected level of traffic involved Statcounter's free allocation of 500 page loads should be sufficient. For lower levels of website traffic I find Statcounter so much more convenient to use than Google Analytics. I have also used the Wordpress Google Analytics plugin on our own website's internal blog.

Local SEO Activity

2010-12-21T17:22:00.000Z

I have just set-up a local SEO campaign. Over recent months it seems increasingly difficult to get geo-locational rankings on Google if you do not have a Google Place page. To get one of these you need a physical address near to the geo-locational search. To get around this problem I have created some county based web pages for a client who specialises in servicing clients in the south of England.

These county based pages include:

If the Google local search activity proves a success we may well extend the local search marketing programme to include pay per click.

Oak Dining Furniture Sale

2010-12-17T15:26:00.000Z

Contemporary Oak Dining Table and Chairs

Old Sawmills have launched a new oak dining furniture sale. Save up to 20% on a contemporary dining collection that includes oak dining tables, chairs, coffee tables, occasional tables, sideboards and TV cabinets.

Old Sawmills are a local furniture manufacturer based in Ashford, Kent.

Jane Austen on Google Home Page

2010-12-16T10:20:00.000Z

Does this depict Emma or Pride and Prejudice?

Today marks Jane Austen's 235th Birthday. To commemorate this Google have put a Jane Austen doodle on their home page. A key question being asked is whether the doodle represents a scene from Pride and Prejudice or Emma. If it is Emma we have a local connection in Kent where the BBC TV production of the story was filmed close by in Chilham and screened in 2009.

The doodle is shown on both Google.co.uk and Google.com. This just shows the current stature of what was once considered quite an obscure author. Not ignoring the timeless appeal of romantice fiction, I suspect the recent popularity of Jane Austen is possibly due to immaculate English and good manners displayed by most of her characters. Well done Google!

iPad Mobile Search Boosts Conversions and Margins

2010-12-07T09:23:00.000Z

iPad search values rapidly on the rise

At Simply Clicks we have often referred to mobile search as the "elephant in the room". Our reasoning behind the use of the expression is partly based on our own experience of mobile phones and secondly the belief that with smart phone penetration growing rapidly, search volumes will follow.

The second part of the reasoning behind the elephant expression is the relative lack of attention the search, and the online marketing community in general, appears to focus on social media rather than mobile. Based on our own observations from web analytics across 30 different websites little real business is generated by social media.

When we look at mobile as a source of business we are seeing B2B activity and conversions steadily growing. This across the RIM, iPhone and Android platforms. We have been early adopters of the Google Adwords mobile service and have seen small amounts of traffic generated for hotels from the Adwords mobile "click to call" service.

The reason behind this post on mobile search is the fact that we are now seeing significant volumes of mobile search on the e-commerce B2C websites we have access to. Most significantly, we manage the search marketing activities of a bed retailer where e-commerce sales sourced from iPad are rapidly on the rise. Not only that, but the iPad conversion levels are higher than other sources of traffic by a factor of 75% and the average spend per transaction is 17% higher. In e-commerce terms, over the past 4 months, an iPad visit to the retailer's website is worth twice an average visit.

Google Local Search - How it works

2010-12-05T18:08:00.001Z

Google's LatLong blog has provided some very useful information regarding how Google local search works out rankings. It even provides some insight into the local search ranking algorithm with reference to three main criteria.

Relevance
Prominence
Distance

Along with the bog post there is also a highly informative video featuring Google Local Product Manager Jeremy Sussman.

Relevance

Relevance along with the other criteria are driven by the business name and description in your Google Place page. Relevance refers to the fact that non-relevant businesses are screened out.

Prominence

The use of prominence provides a clue to a connection with your normal Google rankings. It talks about the references to your business found elsewhere on the web.

Distance

Distance refers to your business address in relation to the search. This data would typically rely heavily on the information shown on Google maps. UK searches typical refer to a town or county. Sometimes they use a postcode or part of one. We have encountered problems in relation to Google's use of centroids. And have found ways of both exploiting and overcoming the issue.

The video also has several mentions about mobile search and mobile use. It is an exciting time for local search. Along with mobile search it is the new frontier in Google optimisation. To watch the Google local search video, click on the blogpost title above.

Google Calls off Groupon Talks

2010-12-05T17:25:00.000Z

Google has called off talks to acquire Groupon. The acquisition talks with Groupon owner Anderew Mason were underway last week. Google is keen to boost its local search business. The acquisition talks apparently broke up late Friday. Groupon which turns over $50 million per month, and trades in the UK as My City Deal, will now look at an IPO that may value the business for as much as $6 billion.

Being Good for Your Customers is Good for Google Rankings

2010-12-03T09:26:00.001Z

The Official Google Blog carries a story that points to formal recognition of the role of reviews. I believe it points to some recent changes in the way Google compiles its rankings.

I have been aware for sometime about the way Google has been using feedback from websites such as Tripadvisor when compiling hotel results. A typical hotel search generated results that were a combination of map results and web results. The map section of the results appeared to be biased by closeness to the map centroid and partly by the stars shown in the results section. In the last month, the same type of hotel search appears to have fused the map and web results to show a single set of rankings. Also, this new type of review based search has spread to searches in other market categories. A search for "Beds in Hull" is shown below:

The first organic result, "A", shows a bed retailer, several miles from the Hull centroid. See map on the right hand side of the image. On inspection of the Place Page data you will see that this website scores 5 stars for their review rating. Prior to this change the Beverley based outlet did not appear for this type of map based search.

The thrust of the Google Blog post refers to negative reviews. Here we are talking about positive reviews. In essence search engine optimisation has always been both a technical and a marketing discipline. What this latest change to the algorithm shows that is that Google optimisation even extends to product quality and customer service.

Google in Talks with Groupon?

2010-12-02T10:48:00.000Z

Groupon - In Google's Sights?

There is much speculation that online voucher specialist Groupon is about to be acquired by Google. The deal is rumoured to be in the region of $5 billion (£3.2 billion).

The acquisition would give Google a key strategic position within the online local marketing arena. A market where Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare and others are well established. javascript:void(0)

Groupon works by giving its members exclusive online deals that are funded by suppliers. The scheme is locationally based. In the UK there appear to be around 33 towns and cities where deals are available.

Google has yet to comment on the speculation.

Google to Face European Competition Probe

2010-11-30T16:51:00.000Z

EU Follows up on July Complaint

The European Commission has decided to open an antitrust investigation into the activities of Google. This follows allegations that Google has abused its dominant market position in online search.

The investigation will probe Google's behaviour in managing both organic and paid search results. A specific area of investigation will target Google's use of its Quality Score algorithm in the way it ranks paid search results.

The EU antitrust probe became likely once a major complaint were received about Google back in July.
At the root of the original complaint is the belief that Google's results show a bias to its own inhouse products. Amongst other businesses, this affects providers of shopping comparison websites and map services.

Search and Complementary Activity

2010-11-12T15:50:00.000Z

I have just returned from a client meeting where very clear objectives and a tight deadline have been set. Search - and specifically PPC - is the major driver of the campaign. The question is whether search can achieve the objectives on its own.

Banner Stands for Visibility

I am often asked about the stand alone value of search marketing. In my opinion search is quite capable of working stand alone. However, I would always stress that search marketing is like any other component of the marketing mix in that it works best when it is aligned with other components of the mix.

When it comes to B2B marketing you are generally talking to smaller and more targeted audiences than when working on B2C. A visible presence at key trade exhibitions, customer meetings and workshops is highly valuable. Right now many organisations are cutting back on their trade show activities as they shift their marketing budgets online. In many respects, even though search is the beneficiary of this shift, I believe this is a mistake. Rule one in my sales manual is "turn up". Rule two is turn up and make sure the key people know you are there. Nothing beats a low cost banner stand for value for money visibility.

Search marketing currently leads the way when it comes to measuring and tracking marketing return on investment. However, some physical presence, particularly at key trade meetings, whilst not so directly measurable, definitely pays off.

Simply Clicks' Website Redesign

2010-11-09T10:49:00.000Z

We are in the process of redesigning our website. Today we have changed the home page. Other pages will follow. Currently, most of the interior pages feature our previous design. we apologise for any confusion.

Google Launches Mod_Pagespeed Application

2010-11-08T17:06:00.000Z

Mod_Pagespeed

Google has launched a new page speed initiative called mod_pagespeed. The application aims to help web developers to automate the process of improving website speed. So far the initiative is restricted to Apache web servers. According to the Google Code website, mod_pagespeed is describeds as follows:

mod_pagespeed is an open-source Apache module that automatically optimizes web pages and resources on them. It does this by rewriting the resources using filters that implement web performance best practices. Webmasters and web developers can use mod_pagespeed to improve the performance of their web pages when serving content with the Apache HTTP Server.
mod_pagespeed includes several filter that optimize JavaScript, HTML and CSS stylesheets. It also includes filters for optimizing JPEG and PNG images. The filters are based on a set of best practices known to enhance web page performance. Webmasters who set up mod_pagespeed in addition to configuring proper caching and compression on their Apache distribution should expect to see an improvement in the loading time of the pages on their websites.

Google Analytics Fails at Global Level

2010-11-03T11:36:00.001Z

Google Analytics failed entirely yesterday, 2nd November. No data is currently available. We spotted a earlier this morning but assumed it was confined to one client. Now we can see that it was a widespread problem. If nothing else it demonstrates that you shouldn't be beholden entirely to one organisation. Luckily for Simply Clicks many of our clients use Statcounter. In some case we use both Google Analytics and Statcounter.

London Restaurant Client - Freshest Fish

2010-10-29T15:46:00.003+01:00

Freshest Fish - London Fish Wholesaler

Simply Clicks is to handle the Pay Per Click management of London fish wholesaler, Freshest Fish. Freshest Fish are based in central London, close to Borough Market. They supply fresh fish, shellfish and seafood to sushi and sashimi restaurants around London. They also supply a comprehensive range of shellfish, smoked fish and seafood in London to professional chefs and commercial kitchens. Along with fish, they also deliver Japanese ingredients for sushi and Japanese cooking.

The Connected Kingdom

2010-10-28T10:11:00.000+01:00

In relation to the Connected Kingdom, I have also established a discussion on UK Business Forums. Given that the initiative is predominately aimed at UK small businesses, it is probably a better place for a discussion the The Connected Kingdom's own discussion forum.

The posts on the thread are currently referring to connection and download problem's with the website. The initiative could be more popular than Google anticipated.

The Connected Kingdom Video

2010-10-28T09:48:00.001+01:00

I have spotted a Connected Kingdom video on YouTube. The video last for just over 2 minutes 30 seconds:

The Connected Kingdom

2010-10-28T09:19:00.002+01:00

The Connected Kingdom - Home Page

Google is behind a 40 page report published by The Boston Consulting Group that claims that, at £100 billion and 7.2% of GDP, the Internet economy is more important to the UK's economic wellbeing than construction, transport or utilities. The report has been produced with the objective of promoting the Internet and Getting British Business Online. Coincedentally, as GBBO, the name of a Google business initiative. In Google's words:

Google commissioned Boston Consulting Group to produce an independent analysis of the value of the UK’s Internet economy, the factors that are driving this, how we compare to other countries, and how this will change in the future.
Google wants to help UK businesses get online and use the Internet to grow and have run programmes like ‘Getting British Business Online’ to help businesses create their first website, we’re also interested in helping existing online businesses to grow further.

The report has been put together with a number of partners and comes complete with a complete set of reference sources:

Obviously the Internet economy is not standalone from the rest of the British economy. Indeed the construction, transport and utilities industries are all users of the Internet. And much of the £100 billion that is referred to is made up of sales of products and services that would count themselves as part of another industry.

Google Now Creepy - Daily Telegraph

2010-10-26T12:55:00.000+01:00

The view that Google has crossed the creepy line has been taken up by The Daily Telegraph, one of the UK's most influential newspapers. The first time I came across such a reference was when Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy labelled Google as creepy back in May.

The creepy issue has been prompted by Google's laissaz faire attitude to people's privacy. This all stemmed from a programme, inadvertently installed, included with the Google Streetview service. The idea that a car could drive past your house and collect information about your wi-fi and email log-in systems is definitely creepy.

Six Years of SEO Blogging

2010-10-19T15:37:00.001+01:00

Well today the UK Search Blog is 6 years old. Its been an amazing journey. A total of 565 blog posts including this one. An average of 1.8 blog posts per week. Or a post every 3.9 days. The busiest year for blogging was 2006, when I wrote 176 posts, or 1 every 2.07 days. This year has seen the least output in terms of posts, just 50, or 1 post every 5.84 days.

Over time more of the blog posts have been specifically about Google. Principally because Google have become more dominant and have more active with products and changes to their search service. Google Adwords has become increasingly complex but, in essence, remains the same tool. Yahoo and its paid search service Overture, then partnered with Microsoft, were quite a force back in 2004. By contrast, less has been written about specific client activity.

Over the intervening six years, SEO has become more complex. And the competition has definitely become more content focused. The issue of links has changed from being one about raw volume to being one about relevance.

Six years ago social media was confined to blogging and forums. Today it dominated by Facebook and Twitter. The essentials of on page optimisation haven't changed. And our SEO training programme has evolved rather than been replaced. Many of the basic principles of SEO and PPC remain the same.

Let's see if we are still here in 6 years time.

New SEO Blog

2010-10-18T11:00:00.001+01:00

We are now just a day (19th October) from the 6th anniversary of our first blog post on UK Search. Our first blog was actually on the Typepad blogging platform. Sadly this blog no longer exists. We withdrew from the Typepad system and transferred the relevant content when we realised that blogger was almost as good a tool as Typepad but free! Our first Blogspot blog was for Travel SEO and was set up along with our first post on 15th October 2004. It is perhaps ironic, therefore, that we have at this point also unveiled our first internal blog utilising the Simply Clicks domain. The new SEO blog, utlising Wordpress, will not replace our existing blogs but will be complementary. This may involve a lot more blogging about SEO, PPC management, Google and SEO training.

Sudden Conversion Collapse Syndrome

2010-10-15T19:52:00.000+01:00

At Simply Clicks we monitor almost 50 websites. These are across a range of market categories both B2B and B2C. In sectors such business services, retail and travel. We monitor some websites in more detail than others. Using a range of analytics providers and tools we get to revenue, leads and enquiries. I have been struck this week by a sudden downturn in conversions. I can only call this sudden conversion collapse syndrome.

Across a sample range of websites I have seen the following declines compared to the previous two weeks:

Trade show products supplier -25%
Promotional products supplier - 35%
Household goods retailer - 40%
Warehousing distribution service - 50%
Transport and logistics product - 80%
B2B Services - 90%

The percentage variations refer to percentage conversion rates, rather than absolute conversion level. Where we have the detail and have processed the data we are seeing only two websites that have shown conversion rate gains over the same period. In most cases there has no major change in visitor levels. Unique and first time visitor levels are typically within a range of plus or minus 5%, with as many sites showing visitor gains as losses. And over the three period there little material variation in the mix of traffic generated by organic search, paid search, referring sites or direct entries.

All the websites featured operate at the national UK level. With some also supplying Ireland and two or three also operating at a European or international (including USA/Canada) level. But in all cases, the UK represents the bulk of their website conversions.

Where there has been client concern I have checked website performance such as loading speed, shopping cart performance or form data collection. In all cases I cannot spot any flaws.

So what accounts for this decline? Is there something peculiar in the spread of market categories? Or is this an early warning of problems in the UK economy? Earlier in the week I read a Small Business Newz post that reports a decline in confidence. But that refers specifically to the US small business community and my clients largely depend on UK sales. My own view is that the flood of bad news about tax rises and benefit cuts that started at last week's Conservative Party conference has really hammered middle income confidence. Child benefits will be cut. Tax allowances will be cut. University fees will rise. And a host of public sector organisations will see large job cuts. The new UK government seem to have the approval of the IMF. But as far as a fragile economic recovery goes, it maybe too many cuts and too many tax rises, too soon.

Google's Marissa Meyer Goes Local

2010-10-13T15:47:00.000+01:00

Google's Marissa Meyer, considered one of the world's most powerful women has changed roles within the search giant. According to the company Meyer is moving to a new role covering geo/local.

Local search is seen as a new front in the battle with social media rivals such as Facebook and FourSquare.

Google Celebrates its 12th Birthday

2010-09-27T09:03:00.000+01:00

Google - 12 Years Old Today

Google has decided to celebrate its 12th Birthday by featuring a birthday cake on its search home page. The illustration is by Los Angeles artist Wayne Thiebaud.

Google was incorporated as a privately held corporation on 27th September 1998. At its closing pricing on Friday, the business has a market capitalisation of $168.05 billion (or £106 billion).

It's sobering to reflect that a business that dominates the Internet and has made inroads into so many areas of modern life, is only 12 years old.

Spoof SEO Enquiries

2010-09-21T16:01:00.000+01:00

I seem to be receiving a what come across a spoof SEO enquiries via the phone. I am guessing that these enquiries are coming from or are on behalf of one of the larger firms in the SEO industry.

The characteristics of these calls are as follows:

They come from noisy call centres. Until very recently SEO enquiry calls have come from quiet offices, where it would appear the enquirer works alone.
The requests for information are very specific and include an upfront request for pricing. Examples include "how much do you charge to get two keywords onto the first page of Google?" and "how much do you charge for 1 million low quality links?"
The callers are very vague about the company they work for or the market category they operate within.
The caller seems disinterested in my response and requests for information about background to the project such the age of their site.

Until very recently I had never come across this type of enquiry. I am now getting one every ten or so days. I can only guess that the callers are employed by one of the more commodity based providers of SEO services.

Facebook Launches Facebook Places in UK

2010-09-17T16:25:00.000+01:00

Facebook has launched Facebook Places in the UK. It plans an almost launch into the rest of Europe.

Facebook Places - Immediate Roll Out

Facebook Places is Facebook's local marketing tool. It will compete in the same market space as Google Places, Qype and Yelp. However, it is perhaps the biggest single threat to the much hyped Foursquare.

The Facebook launch is just the latest move in the much hyped locational marketing category which sees the fusion of traditional search marketing, social media and locational marketing that utilises tools such as smart phone apps, wi-fi, GPS and behavioural targeting in a real time environment.

For Facebook this is a logical move. The social media service is perhaps the tool of choice for a generation that needs to know when and where their peer social group are congregating.

Is Big Brother Now Helping You Search?

2010-09-09T11:30:00.001+01:00

Google Instant Search - Time Saving

Google have now turned on Google Instant Search. This appears to be by default on Google.com but only if you are signed in on Google.co.uk. Google claims the new service will reduce search times by 2-5 seconds. See Google chart on right. The instant search service attempts to fill in the Google search box with word suffixes as you search. Below is an example:

Google Instant Search - Personalised Pens

In this example I am searching for "Personalised pens". As I type in "Personalised" Google suggests "Gifts". When I get to the "P" in pens, the suggestion changes to "Polo shirts", when I reach the "e" in Pens, the suggestion changes to "Personalised pens". See image on the left. If I then add a space after the "S" in Pens, then the suggestion becomes "Personalised pens for business".

Meanwhile the Google Adwords advertising around the organic results also changes to reflect the suggested search terms.

A key question to ask is where do the suggested search terms come from. And secondly why. Could Google be suggesting "Personalised gifts" and "Personalised polo shirts" because they are high value Adwords terms? Or is just a search volume algorithm?

The key issue for people involved in search marketing is what are the implications for our clients. In the example above the search term is crucial to a client. Delivering a significant amount of volume of both traffic and conversions. From both organic and paid search sources. What will be the implications for the client's business if either the pre or post fill-in or "personalised pens" leads to searchers being distracted and sent to other searches and other websites? If so, this will our job more difficult and our clients' businesses less profitable as search costs rise.

Thinking Long and Hard on PPC Management

2010-09-08T11:26:00.000+01:00

Having had some time off during August I have been thinking long and hard on the nature of PPC management. Pay per click advertising has been transformed by two key forces. Firstly the improvement in analytics has led to better tracking and measureability. The second force has been Google's continual innovations in both Google Adwords and the way it has integrated more variations of search into the blended (or universal) search engine results pages (SERPs).

This has meant that the effort and expertise required to manage a successful pay per click campaign has risen dramatically. Simply Clicks has been managing PPC since 2004. By an large the fees we charge for managing pay per click campaigns have hardly risen over the past three years. We charge a base fee for set-up and an ongoing fee for monthly management and reporting. This latter fee incorporates a spend related charge. As the costs of advertising on Google have risen our fees as a result have risen broadly in line. But in my opinion this rise does not fully reflect the full additional costs of effort and expertise. Secondly, our approach to charging does not account fully for the front end effort and planning that goes into building a successful campaign. To put the issue in perspective I have put together my initial thoughts on the tasks involved in setting up a well structured pay per click campaign.

Components of Setting up and Managing a new PPC Campaign

1. Marketing Objectives

1.1 Agree with or take from client

1.2 Nature of market category

1.3 Target customer

1.4 Marketing proposition

1.5 Role of brands

1.6 Relationship with competitors

2. Search Objectives

2.1 Agree with client input

2.2 Overall traffic targets

2.3 Overall spend on monthly basis

2.4 Value per visitor

2.5 Relationship between paid and free search, referring visitors, image visitors, map visitors, direct visitors

3. Keyword Research and Audit

3.1 Google Keywords tool

3.2 On site analytics – visitor engagement, bounce rates, conversion rates etc

3.3 Competitor review

3.4 Live search review and possible test

4. PPC Objectives

4.1 Agree with client

4.2 Impressions coverage

4.3 Click Through Rates

4.4 Paid traffic levels

4.5 Cost per click

4.6 Paid conversion levels

4.7 Cost per conversion

5. PPC Strategy

5.1 Agree with client

5.2 Regionality – UK, England, London etc

5.3 Devices – Computers, Mobile

5.4 Daily, Hourly Presence and Weighting

5.5 Impressions Share

5.6 Click Share

5.7 Landing page

5.8 Conversion funnel

6. PPC Campaign Structure

6.1 Structure campaign based around client strengths, client strategy and opportunities presented by keyword research.

6.2 If necessary create additional campaigns to facilitate budgetary and targeting flexibility at national market, regional market, language, timing and device level.

6.3 English language campaigns can be managed without external resource. Current facility in French, Spanish and Scandinavian languages.

7. Ad Group and Keyword Structure

7.1 Ad groups built around tightly focused keyword clusters with minimal use of wild card keywords and copy.

7.2 Tailored copy written for each keyword cluster.

7.3 Send traffic to specific landing pages

7.3 Focus on Exact match and Phrase match keywords. Generally limited use of broad match. If broad match used do so with keyword modifiers.

7.4 Some use of negative match terms to avoid inappropriate related and other terms being purchased inadvertently.

7.5 Aim for minimum quality score of 7/10 see remarks on copy. Progressive improvement via feedback and campaign tuning.

8. Management Set-up

8.1 Timeline Control and Check points

8.2 Installation of Analytics code

8.3 Installation of conversion code

8.4 Creation of analytics conversion funnels

8.5 Ecommerce linkages and goals

8.6 Link between Adwords and Analytics

9. Ongoing Management

9.1 Set appropriate dashboards for each time frame

9.2 Daily review of spend, volumes, cost per click, conversions.

9.3 Weekly review of cost per conversion. Keyword and bid tuning.

9.4 Monthly review of campaign structure. Campaign tuning.

9.5 Quarterly review of PPC campaign strategy.

10. Competitor Scope/Audit

10.1 Competitor Activity – What are they doing?

10.2 Monthly revue of keyword selection, ad copy matching and bidding tactics of top competitors. Quarterly review of landing pages and campaign structure. Performance assessed as below. Quantified where data exists and where accurate assessment possible.

10.3 Competitor – What have they done well?

10.4 Competitor – What impacts have they achieved?

10.5 Competitor – What have they done badly?

11. Ad-Variation, Testing and Reporting Protocols

11.1 Each ad is given a minimum time frame and volume threshold before adjustment. Short-term and low-volume performance will show unstable variations.

11.2 Minimum two ads per keyword cluster. Suggest four ads for priority keyword clusters

11.3 Ad-Variation – Reporting. Priority will be cost per conversion.

12. Budget Considerations

12.1 Volume of clicks vs plan and previous time periods

12.2 Cost per click vs value per click, plan and previous time periods

12.3 Conversion rate vs plan and previous time periods

12.4 Cost per conversion vs value, plan and previous time periods

13. Control and Revision

13.1 What is working and why?

13.2 What is not working and why?

13.3 Keyword performance - variations

13.4 Copy performance - variations
13.5 Landing page performance - variations

13.6 Eliminating functional shortfalls such as high bounce rates etc

13.7 Geographic and time based variation

14. KPI and Analysis
14.1 Profitability of client vs pre-existing position
14.2 Strategic progress of client vs pre-existing position

As you can see it is an extensive and fairly comprehensive list of stages and activities that need to be undertaken. My view is that a ceiling on realistic PPC management charges is brought about by the low cost offerings of some the PPC management agencies offering very low cost packages. I still see PPC agencies offering to set up campaigns for £60. This is laughable and of course relies on the target client not fully appreciating the strategic role of pay per click.

My prediction is that the market for PPC management services will increasingly segment. Those clients that understand the strategic role PPC can play in growing their business will buy in a more professional level of pay per click service, whilst the bottom of the market will become ever more price competitive and unprofitable,

B2B Marketing Blog

2010-09-06T11:50:00.000+01:00

I have come across a new B2B marketing blog that promises to take an unconventional approach to business to business marketing. B2B marketing is often considered the boring cousin to B2C marketing. So an unconventional approach to B2B marketing is welcome.
Obviously search marketing should be a core part of any business to business marketing programme. So I expect to see search marketing in both SEO and PPC management guises being covered.

Ashford Kent Beer Festival Soon Underway

2010-09-01T17:48:00.000+01:00

The 8th annual Ashford Beer Festival is soon underway. The taps officially start to flow at 4pm on Friday 3rd September. The festival features 70 real ales, 4 real ciders, a pig roast and live music from 10 bands.

In the meantime, a full Rugby tournament timetable is now available. The rugby gets under way at 11 am on Saturday with a veterans rugby tournament.

New SEO Training Blog

2010-08-06T23:11:00.000+01:00

I have finally succumbed to developing a serious blog using the Wordpress platform. I must sound like a luddite in the geeky world of SEO and social media but I just haven't got around to it. Strangely enough my first blog back in 2004 was on the Typepad platform. I moved the blog and its content to blogger in October 2004.

The second reason for starting the blog was to provide a separate focus for all the search engine marketing training we undertake. This now comes in four separate training courses; SEO, pay per click, web analytics and integrated search engine marketing. The SEO training course remains the main focus of our training activity but we are getting more enquiries regarding web analytics.

The creation of new courses is the natural development of a search engine marketing discipline that is becoming ever more competitive and ever more specialised.

Web Analytics Training

2010-08-03T15:37:00.000+01:00

Brantano -Shoes for all the family

I am out of the office today. I am delivering a web analytics training course at leading footwear retailer Brantano, who sell shoes for all the family. Brantano are part of the Macintosh Retail Group. In the UK, Brantano have 150 out of town shoe retail outlets.

Demand Media's Redirect Activity

2010-07-30T14:28:00.000+01:00

I have come across a very interesting post on Aaron Wall's SEO Book. The post refers to the redirect activity of Demand Media and the specific way it uses expired domains to build Google PageRank.

Demand Media, the company behind E-How and a number of other content mill websites, is planning a $1.5 billion stock market flotation.

According to SEO Book Demand Media have a sophisticated cross-linking and redirect scheme that is a typical example of banned behaviour according to Google's head of anti-spam, Matt Cutts.

In the article, Wall also points out that the expired domains are registered via a proxy. If Demand Media had nothing to hide, why don't they just own up to being the legal owners of the domains?

To read more, click on the post title above.

New Aquarium Blog

2010-07-29T14:57:00.000+01:00

A customer of Ark Pets Online has set up a blog. They have provided a customer testimonial regarding recent good service.

SEO Training for Aquarium Business

2010-07-29T14:06:00.000+01:00

Oase Aquamax Eco 4000 Pond Pump

Today I am out of the office running a training course for Ark Pets Online. Ark Pets are one of the leading discount retailers of aquariums, ponds and pet goods. They are based in Kent and stock 4,000 pet and aquatic related products on their website.

Products include leading brands such Oase, Laguna, Tetra, Juwel and Fluval.

Google Adwords Yellow Box Turns Lilac

2010-07-28T20:31:00.001+01:00

Google appears to have changed the colour of its yellow box at the top of the Google Adwords results. The new box is now lilac. See Google Adwords screenshot image on the left.

The box when it first appeared was originally blue. It changed to yellow (or cream) in April 2007. If you click on the post title you will be taken back to my original blog on the subject in April 2007.

Unlike the last time, this change was made, there is no mention of the rationale behind the colour shift on Inside Adwords. The colour appears to have taken place on Google.co.uk, Google.com and Google.fr although all the searches I have made have taken place from a UK based IP address. I guess we will just have to wait to see why Google has made the change.

Google Adwords DoubleClick Adcenter Returns

2010-07-27T17:31:00.000+01:00

doubleclick ad exchange - Google Adwords Rebrand?

I wrote a post on 13th July remarking that the log-in screen for my colleagues Google Adwords account had taken on a new appearance as Google doubleclick ad exchange. I speculated that this freak appearance possibly heralded a re-branding of Google Adwords. Today, at 5pm UK time, the doubleclick heading reappeared on my colleague's screen. On this occasion, the doubleclick branding stayed in place even when we navigated between different tabs of the Google Adwords My Client Centre.
The image above shows that the reports tab had been selected. Once my colleague tried to navigate into an individual client account, the doubleclick branding disappeared to be replaced by the standard Google Adwords template.
In the absence of any definitive information from Google, I can only speculate further regarding the demise of the Google Adwords brand.

Amex to Launch Search Manager Tools

2010-07-24T15:51:00.000+01:00

American Express - Start Booming

According to Web Pro News American Express is to launch a small business promotional programme that includes tools to boost performance. The programme is called "Start booming". Amongst the tools is Search Manager, a tool for managing paid search campaigns.

Obviously American Express has an interest in increased economic activity. But you have to endorse their bullishness in targeting the small business sector.

The underlying optimism of Start Booming programme is in contrast with the pessimism of a recent survey amongst UK small businesses carried out by the Federation of Small Business - The FSB. The Federation's survey basically indicates that pessimism is rife in the UK's small business community.

"Small business confidence has faltered each month since March with fewer small firms believing that business prospects will improve, down from 16 per cent to four per cent."

The contrast between Amex, offering self help, and the FSB asking for a tax break in the form of an employer's national insurance holiday and more financial assistance from the banks is quite apt. American Express, after all, are a bank.

My own experience is that many small businesses still have plenty of opportunities to exploit. Most of my small and medium sized business to business clients are involved in ambitious B2B marketing programmes. Obviously marketing has a cost but it also provides rewards and in the world of organic search and pay per click advertising a measurable return. To sit back and rely on the initiatives of an uncompetitive banking sector and a deficit reducing government is a recipe for stagnation.

Google Buys into Trada

2010-07-22T09:12:00.002+01:00

According to Online Media Daily, Google has paid $5.75 million to buy into online pay per click market place Trada. Trada operates a market place where clients and individual ppc management experts meet. To my recollection this is Google's first move into the downstream pay per click advertising market place.

This latest move comes within days of Google's purchase of MetaWeb and 2 weeks after they have purchased ITA.

Google Buys MetaWeb

2010-07-20T17:36:00.004+01:00

Google has acquired Metaweb. The company that specialises in answering questions has raised a total of $57.5 million in funding since 2005.

Details of the cost of acquisition are not available at this time.

A clue as to the reason why the company has been targeted is there links to social media resources such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Netflix, Daylife and Freebase.

Dental Insurance Website Now Live

2010-07-20T16:50:00.004+01:00

Dental Insurance company I Want Dental Cover gets its new website design today.

The website features an innovative "Quick Quote" screen that takes as little as 15 seconds to fill-in.

The website is intended to provide an all online service for individuals and families wanting convenient and economical dental insurance.

Please click on the image, or follow the link in the post title to see a screen sized version of the website.

Procurement Consultancy Training

2010-07-15T10:52:00.002+01:00

I am out of the office today, in Wallingford, Oxfordshire. I am with ADR International, who are leading procurement and sourcing consultants.

ADR have over 20 years experience as one of the world's leading procurement consultancies. Their portfolio includes supply chain management (SCM) and supplier relationship management (SRM).

Google Adwords - DoubleClick Ad Exchange

2010-07-13T10:23:00.004+01:00

Is Google Adwords to be renamed doubleclick ad exchange? A colleague logged into our Google Adwords My Client Centre this morning to be confronted with a screen headed doubleclick ad exchange.

There were other differences to the log-in screen too. The top navigation bar usually shows 5 tabs entitled "My Client Centre", "Alerts", "Client Reporting", "My Account" and "Pro Centre".
The doubleclick ad exchange version shows the tabs in the screenshot above. That is, "Ops Control Center", "Acquisition Tools", "Billing", "My Account" and "Foresight".

My colleague assures me she logged-in as normal. I tried logging in as well and was presented with the standard Google Adwords screen. There may well be a clue in the spelling of the doubleclick ad exchange screen. Google Adwords UK uses the UK English spelling "Centre", whereas this version uses the US English spelling "Center". Maybe my colleague was diverted by a glitch. Or maybe there are plans afoot to rebrand the Google Adwords product as part of the doubleclick business? There is an argument that Google is now too big, with such a comprehensive range of products, that Adwords would be better positioned as part of the more specific advertising branding of doubleclick. Google Adwords still represents 90%+ of Google's revenue.

EU Google Probe Likely

2010-07-08T11:23:00.006+01:00

According to an article in today's Financial Times, the European Commission is poised to launch a probe into the activities of Google. This follows complaints five months ago from three separate companies, one of which was owned by Microsoft.

The complainants each claim that Google has deliberately manipulated their search results to provide more exposure to their own Internet marketing properties such as Google Maps and Google Shopping. The latter has particularly hit the shopping comparison sites of which one, Foundem, is a formal complainant.

The decision whether to launch a formal investigation will be taken by EU Competition Commissioner Mr. Joaquin Almunia.

Google has denied there is a case to answer. A Google spokesman issued the following statement:

We’re working with the commissioner and his team to answer their questions, including how Google’s search ranking works to produce the most relevant and useful search results for users

Keyword Stuffing - Still Working For SEO

2010-07-07T16:24:00.003+01:00

One of the basic lessons in SEO training is to convince delegates new to SEO that keyword stuffing doesn't work. Keyword stuffing comes in two basic forms. The older version is stuffing the meta tags with repetitious or even irrelevant keywords. Google were able to get around this approach by ignoring the keywords meta tag and then downgrading the description tag. The second form is more obvious, keyword stuffing on the page. There is no rule regarding what constitutes keyword stuffing but, essentially, website copy should be written for the website visitor rather than the search engine spider or indexing algorithm.

Now, I still see supposed SEO company experts advocating high levels of keyword density a fairly close corollary of keyword stuffing. This is particularly the case when I hear keyword density levels of 15%-20% being advised.

My view, is, and always has been, that keyword stuffing doesn't work. However, I believe I have just been proved wrong. I have seen a site ranking number 1 in Google for a term that generates 40,500 impressions a month that uses keyword stuffing. The term is used 20 times on the same page in quite an obvious manner. If any reader is interested I can show them the website.

Simply Clicks Now Incorporated

2010-07-01T12:06:00.004+01:00

From today, 1st July, Simply Clicks is trading as a limited company. We are incorporated in England and Wales as Simply Clicks Online Ltd. Company No. 7298118.

As part of the process Heli Salmons, who has worked in the business since 2009, has become a substantial minority shareholder.

UK Government to Close 600 Websites

2010-06-25T12:59:00.004+01:00

A report in the Telegraph says the UK Government plans to axe 600 of its 820 websites in order to save £100 million. Francis Maude the newly appointed cabinet office minister says that it signals the end of vanity websites. Websites will be judged on their use and usefulness.

Maude will have access to cost and usage data. A report from the Central Office of Information implies that the average website costs £2 million to set-up and run, with a further £700 thousand a year in staff costs.

The most expensive site in terms of cost per visit is UKTradeInvest.gov.uk, which works out at £11.78 per visitor. BusinessLink.gov.uk, which is active in the pay per click market, costs £2.15 per visit. I have compared with several of the websites I manage and found typical costs in the range of 15p to 30p per visitor. The public sector obviously has a different approach to managing their website costs.

Kent Website Activity 2

2010-06-23T10:44:00.003+01:00

I have completed an update of a local Kent furniture manufacturers website. The update included the creation of two new pages. The first for contemporary oak dining furniture and the second for a new range of bespoke kitchen furniture.

Old Sawmills are based just outside Ashford in Bethersden, Kent.

World Cup Shows Limits of Social Media

2010-06-22T10:32:00.004+01:00

The World Cup is showing the limits of social media. Just as Facebook announces annual revenues of $800 million and Twitter achieves a record of 2,940 Tweets per second, a group of 32 women dressed in orange generate world wide coverage for a little known beer brand from Holland.

The Bavaria beer case is well known, but it seems Football brand guardian FIFA is determined to keep shooting itself in the foot by taking two of the offending women to court. Apparently, guerrilla marketing is a crime in South Africa. The problem is that the harder they try, the further FIFA walks into the guerrilla marketing bear trap. The more they attempt to punish the perpetrators, the greater the publicity for the Bavaria beer brand. By the way, nobody noticed that Budweiser were the official World Cup bear brand until the Bavaria story broke. I also notice that Brazilian beer brand Brahma is also featured when Brazil play, so its not like there is exclusivity for Budweiser. The other losers may well be Heineken, Grolsch and Amstel, Dutch beer brands much more famous than Bavaria.

Twitter, on the other hand, achieved its record number of Tweets just after Japan scored against Cameroon. The World Cup has the Twits tweeting like mad and I've noticed for much of the time , the service is capacity constrained. This shows limits to the leading of both brand and social media marketing. Meanwhile, back on planet Earth us mere ordinary marketing mortals are still using orthodox methods to promote their brands. You may not generate global publicity, but at the same time you don't risk going to prison either.

Cleaning Services Kent

2010-06-21T23:01:00.003+01:00

Today I have joined UK Business Forums as a paid up member. Over the past couple of years I have seen the odd post come up in Google's results. I have had an interesting day and made about 5 posts. One of these included a post about ranking for Cleaning services kent.

Forums seem to have become more antagonistic over the 6 years I have been contributing to them - even the UK ones. The level of manners has dropped and the UKBF appears to be no exception.

The thread on Cleaning Services Kent has attracted several types of contributor with varying objectives to participate in the debate. Being based in Kent and knowing something about local search - although little about the services involved in cleaning - I have joined in. The key to localised geographic searches restricted to area such as a county like Kent appears to be the Google Local Map. A glance of the image of the SERPs for Cleaning Services Kent, proves my point. See above map.

Kent Website Activity

2010-06-15T16:06:00.003+01:00

Kent business Blackberrie Bears has launched a new party bag offer for its build a bear product.

Google Caffeine Goes Live

2010-06-09T21:43:00.005+01:00

Google has announced that it has gone live with the Google Caffeine update. The Google Caffeine update is different from previous updates in that it involves a complete reworking of Google search technology rather than just a reworking to the search algorithm.

The most significant change is to speed at which Google can update its index. The old index relied largely on a fortnightly crawl and indexation of billions of web pages. The new Caffeine based technology will mean more frequently updated sites will have their content more rapidly fed into the search results.

My own observations have been that this speed of indexation has already been happening with blog and Twitter posts. What has yet to be seen is what implications Caffeine has for wider SEO management. As a related issues, Google, through Matt Cutts, has explicitly stated that website speed has not been introduced as a major factor into any new ranking algorithm.

How Google Adwords Works - Hal Varian

2010-06-09T21:25:00.006+01:00

I have was checking the "How Google Works" website and came across a video of Hal Varian the Google Chief Economist explaining how Google Adwords works. His explanations of how Bid level, Quality Score and Ad Rank interact are particularly useful.

Consumer Watchdog Takes Swipe at Google

2010-06-08T09:08:00.003+01:00

An American Consumer organization has launched a major criticism of Google. ConsumerWatchdog.org has launched a report entitled Traffic Report: How Google is Squeezing Out Competitors and Muscling Into New Markets.

The study published on 2nd June accuses Google of using its dominant market position to squeeze out new entrants and established entrants in various forms of search such as image, map, local and shopping. The contends that Google is creating a walled garden, where consumers are given a choice only if they select a variation of Google search.

The reports quotes examples and gives data from Experian Hitwise to show how Google has used its universal search display to undermine potential rivals such as MapQuest, Photobucket, Yahoo and Hulu. For using such anti-competitive behaviour the authors argue that Google should be treated in the same way that regulators treated Microsoft when it was penalised for bundling together its software products. The report, available as a pdf, can be downloaded by clicking the above post title.

Google's Schmidt Admits Privacy Failure

2010-06-04T09:04:00.002+01:00

Google boss Eric Schmidt has admitted that his company screwed up over the way it collected personal data from unsecured Wi-Fi systems using its Google Street View service. Schmidt blamed a Google engineer from the problem.

Schmidt also admitted for the first time that sensitive personal data such as bank account information has been collected.

Google has faced a storm of protest over the issue. Across the globe governments in Australia, USA, Germany, France and Spain have demanded the data is either returned or wiped. Only in the UK, does the government seem relaxed.

10 Reasons Why All Conversions Are Not Equal

2010-06-03T20:25:00.000+01:00

10 Reasons Why All Conversions Are Not Equal