Why SEO is no longer just about SEO

Search Engine Optimisation or SEO for short is far more well-known nowadays than it was a few years ago. But whilst some of its principles still hold true today the very practice of SEO is so much more than backlink building and keyword rankings.

Effective SEO is really online marketing - think social media marketing, online PR, email marketing and content creation and you might have some idea of what we mean by the overall phrase ‘online marketing. The only reason it is still called SEO is that people have finally got to grips with the name and the concept so calling it something else would be like going back to square one.

So SEO should instead stand for the overall online marketing strategies that will involve optimisation up to a point but also other digital disciplines and channels that contribute to building up the visibility of a product, brand or business online. You cannot ignore the fact that Google has huge power over websites in terms of its algorithms and rather than putting all of your eggs in one basket and relying on organic search alone, or the traffic that is delivered by one or two keywords that are ranking on page one, you now need to cast your net a little wider and look to generate traffic from referrals, from social media channels and from a diverse range of semantically linked keywords.

Yes, gone are the days when you should be building a marketing strategy around 5 or 10 key phrases. There are still plenty of SEO companies out there who are charging per keyword but these strategies are old fashioned. After all, how many of us when searching for a builder in Birmingham would only consider typing builder Birmingham into Google? What about the many other possibilities such as builders in birmingham, birmingham building company and birmingham builder not to mention the fact that some of us will look on Facebook to search for a local company or perhaps act upon information shared when one of our friends retweeted?

If you want to truly build a lasting presence and help your business to grow online you need to accept that SEO is no longer just about SEO and that only an online marketing company that talks about innovation and implementing social media, online PR and other elements will be capable of getting you where you need to be.

Posted by Frances Berry

A Good Time To Embrace Content Marketing

Content marketing is by no means a new concept but one that is taking even more precedence since the latest algorithm update.  If you have got by thus far without content marketing quite frankly you haven’t been doing SEO.  Google has always loved new content and more and more I am seeing that sites with lots of great content, good onsite SEO to back it up with and some sort of added value for visitors (rather than in-your-face selling) have a stronger online presence.

Google is increasingly placing more value on great content and this means going back to your website and making sure that you have the content to back up the keywords you wish to optimise.  Gone are the days when building copious amounts of backlinks would deliver rankings around many tens, hundreds or even thousands of keywords – now you need content to back up every single little thing.

So many times I have seen businesses that want their website to rank for local keywords but they have absolutely no mention on their website that they even operate in these areas.  If they are not based there or do not serve customers in that area it is pointless trying to optimise around these local keywords as you will never deliver traffic.  Everything has to be relevant to what the business can offer and where.

So where do you need to create this great content?  On your website in the form of updating existing pages and adding new pages to make sure your site covers all the aspects of your business you wish to promote, on blogs in the form of updating people with relevant news and info and in social media through status updates, profiles, landing pages and rel-authored content.

In short if you don’t have someone in house who can do this for you, you’ll need to engage content marketers to create this for you and help you to protect your site from future search algorithm updates.  This won’t just be an exercise in Penguin proofing your site but also ensuring that you deliver the best user experience possible.  

Posted by Frances Berry

Top Tips for Succeeding on Pinterest

Pinterest is the visual social media channel that allows people to pin up images of their favourite things on a virtual pinboard.  It is a great way to market businesses that rely heavily on visual appeal - such as online retailers - but to succeed and win over a new audience you have to add something of value and not just blatantly peddle your own wares.

You need to think about what your audience will find appealing and of value and then target this audience using the board segmentation functionality.  This is a great way of communicating with each target group as they will all have different needs and interests.

Another tip is to create quality content.  Like so many other areas of online marketing it is this quality, original content that will get you to the top, particularly as most people repin so you can gain good brownie points from pinning original content.  Adding new pins is what makes people value you.

Use Google Analytics to track the traffic that is coming via Pinterest as this will give you vital information on the audience you are attracting.  Pinterest can help you to drive traffic to your main website but it is important to assess the impact of pinning and understand how this can affect your potential client base.

As with all social media marketing it is important to get a mix of information sharing and soft selling if you want to successfully engage with your audience.

Posted by Frances Berry