SEO Consultant Ireland

Search Insight Application

2009-11-26T19:58:00.015Z

Even in the interval between my last post and this (3 months admittedly), the nature of SEO has transformed. Appetite for real-time information, driven by the twitter-factor, has ingrained the philosophy that recency determines relevancy. Search results have followed suit. Increasingly, the top placements in organic search listings go to the latest content crawled. Granted, that source needs to be credible, and all the usual background checks are still in place (website adhering to search engine best practice guidelines, content focused on particular target search queries & market authority as a results of peer citation and indexed site interaction). With credibility assumed, search users now demand more; they expect the inside scope - personalised results delivered as soon as they come on-stream online.

I manage a small surf shop in Dublin. Lately, in the run up to Christmas, I've noticed a spike in customer requests for second hand surfboards. Tapping into Google's human behavioral nerve-centre, I discovered a mirror reflection in online research activity. Google has revamped and tanked up its keyword tool. One nice feature is the local search trends monthly chart. Check out the obviously increase in Irish interest in terms associated to second hand surfboards:

Go over to Google insights and the picture worldwide reinforces the theory:
Eager to capitalise on these learnings, I immediately logged-in to my surf blog, and drafted a post tailored to the topic in question.

Within hours, the Google.ie results had reshuffled and my post had secured an above-the-fold placement for my website in this niche market. Notice how swift Google is to index and reward new content, articulating the time that the post was published within the search result.

To date, my business has not dabbled in second hand trade - it's incredible how with the use of Google's psychological data-mine and an adaptive strategy, a company's market presence can rise from obscurity to a premium feature in the blink of an eye. This is not just-in-time production, this is ahead-of-time production.

SEO activities; A realistic breakdown of time-management

2009-08-16T13:37:00.006+01:00

I was tempted to right-click copy & paste Randfish's recent "doodles" on SEOmoz, but then I remembered something I'd seen over at SEO book not so long ago, which stopped me in my tracks. Instead, I'll just link over to the article about the field of search engine optimization, which clearly calls a spade a spade!

SEOmoz has the definitive business model for future search marketing. It's worth listening to this interview where Rand outlines why SEOmoz has become a publisher, rather than a consultancy.

A long walk to Google infamy

2009-08-15T13:55:00.002+01:00

I am not a Plastic Surgeon, I'm a Shrink!

2009-08-03T09:18:00.008+01:00

Search engines have challenged the status quo of marketing, or to qualify that, the information revolution, made possible by the Internet, has empowered individuals, as the industrial era did organisations. In the knowledge economy, information transparency enables choice. David can slay Goliath online. On this level playing field, those that treat their consumer pool as a renewable energy resource rather than an oil field will reap recurring dividends. The saying "Customer is King" must pay more than lip-service. Google search results embody genuine customer service, as they refine and improve based on user-feedback. As Chris Anderson points out in his recently published book *FREE*, Google's entire business model revolves around market demand, with monetisation an after-thought. Granted, not all stayed companies can be so liquid and responsive, but as more and more migrate to a foundation built on naughts and zeros, such versatility will be the gold standard.

This puts search analysts at a distinct advantage. Human behavioural scientists at heart, e-business patterns and trends deliver real- (and ahead-of) time insight into consumer psyche; intellectual property most valuable when network economics (herd mentality in the online marketplace) divvy out fewer market players in a competitive market space. Market research, once the occupation of accountants and management consultancy firms, is handed over to psychologists, with market mind-share the subject of their social practice.

Search engine strategists adopt an architectural role in defining the blueprint of a demand-driven business model. To optimise a website is to perform cosmetic plastic surgery - it covers over the wrinkles and excess but ultimately the cracks reemerge, often worse than had well been left alone. If happiness on a personal level comes from looking within oneself (with or without the assistance of a shrink!), corporate success is outward-looking and engineered by an architect who takes their brief at source, the voice of the market.

If you are looking for a quick (but expensive) fix in the operating theatre, try Adwords. If it is long-term results that you're after, step into my office prepared to have your assumptions challenged and your marketing plan inverted.

*book reviews online at the Economist and the Financial Times, both of which struggle with the conceptual framework of "freemium"!

Crack the Yahoo! search algorithm

2009-07-27T21:17:00.009+01:00

You could spend years trying to build up an "organic" search results presence in Yahoo! (as I have), or you could just create a Facebook page and feature almost instantly! Baffling how the algorithm can skew so heavily to one platform overnight ... yours in head-scratching bewilderment.

03 AUGUST 2009 - In a follow up to the above observation, it's important to note a couple of this week's revelations:
1. Microsoft and Yahoo! search will partner to become one (provided the deal is approved). The underlying search mechanic will be powered by Bing, with integration of Yahoo! technologies and intelligence. Interestingly, similar search queries conducted on Bing also render a higher number of social listings than would Google. Already the synergies between the two powerhouses of digital, Microsoft and Yahoo!, are evident, as is their calling-card; the next era of search result relevancy lies with the people, i.e. social networks. Google even admits that it is a pace behind real-time information relay, with Twitter search a forerunner. Cue Bing!
2. It's not just any old Facebook page that is being listed on my surfboard-related search terms, it is that of Mark McGuire, Powersource Surfboards. He is one of Ireland's few surfboard shapers, and his website features strongly in search results. That interconnection bolsters Yahoo!'s argument for a social listing on a search for "surfboards Ireland". My counter-argument remains; why list for the person when I am looking for a product? I already know that I am fighting a losing battle however. As the lines blur between people and organisations, and information becomes the new form of production, knowing Mark is knowing surfboards!

Banks: A Lesson in Saving

2009-05-06T09:46:00.008+01:00

Irish banks are marketing like fury in a bid to stay liquid. Capital deposits are the bedrock of any bank. Although ECB interest rates are plummeting, banks are grappling for customers by offering competitive current and deposit account rates. We've been bombarded by television, print and billboard media that screams out for our business - our money in other words. How does that translate online? Of course, there are banner advertisements dotted all over Irish portals like Ireland.com, but with 81% of Irish web-users visiting search engines every day¹, the value of marketing within this channel cannot be discounted.

First port of call will generally be the quick fix - Google Adwords. It's instant search engine exposure, at a cost. Marketing managers of old relate to this model, whereby creative is built, media purchased, and the campaign goes live. It gets results! Adwords offers a premium opportunity to see in Google results. With 30% of Irish search users clicking on "sponsored links"¹, Google ads guarantee digital presence, on a pay per click basis. Where they differ to the traditional mechanic of say, buying screen-time, or negotiating print agreements at a fixed cost, is that the market (Google, its' advertisers and its' users) determines how much it will cost to achieve an eye-catching placement on the results page.

Returning to the cash-strapped banks, it pays to employ savvy Google Adwords management in determining choice of keywords (those search terms for which the advert appears to users of Google), and instruction on the threshold (maximum cost per click) of willingness to pay. Banks may be tempted to corner the market. It can seem all to obvious - the bank is offering an attractive interest rate on its' savings account, so for every time someone in Ireland (be careful not to flog financial products to the U.S by default) queries Google in relation to "savings accounts", the bank's advert should show up. Do this, and according to Google, bank's can anticipate a cost of as much as €3.79 a click²!
Instead, go back and engage in keyword research - Google indicates that on average 4,400 searches are conducted a month with "savings account" in mind. Lateral investigation into the minds of Irish Googlers reveals the low-hanging fruit that doesn't fall far from the savings tree. "High yield savings accounts" is a term typed into Google in Ireland just as many times as "savings account". Closely followed by "high interest rate savings accounts", "instant access savings account", and "high interest checking account". In-depth understanding into the psyche of the relevant digital market delivers the competitive advantage to leverage campaign initiatives to an efficient, targeted level, where media wastage is curtailed and advertising impacts on consumers at the right stage of the research life-cycle. Think about it logically, will a generic inquiry about savings accounts, or one that specifies that the customer is in the market for an instant access savings account convert more frequently? Immediately with the latter, banks are poised to deliver a savings product to suit, rather than an off-the-shelf, one-size-fits-all solution. Better still, they've saved €3.79 for every visit to the bank's website, as these niche terms, with lower numbers of competing advertisers³, cost less!

Success with Adwords can be the catalyst that swings marketing managers attention to the rest of the search results page - the natural listings. The attraction of course is that no money changes hands with Google in this instance. For the business to feature in search results, their website must convey through comprehensive, specific content the market needs to which the bank caters. In steps that elusive acronym; SEO (search engine optimisation). All the website optimisation in the world may be in vain however should that priceless consumer insight previously gleaned from Adwords not be employed. In this market-led search industry, an intelligent SEO strategy will heed market signals and adapt to consumer choice. A cursory overview of the Google results pages displays marked differences in how many website pages an Irish bank's website has to contend with depending on search conducted, 33 million when it comes to "savings account", vis-a-vis, quarter of a million on "high yield savings account" (7% the number for "savings account"). Given that savings account queries, qualified by product feature, have both search volume, and are proportionately uncompetitive, the green fields of natural search marketing roll out into the distance.

Sources:
¹Interactive Return, survey conducted at Search Marketing World 2009, Dublin, Ireland.²Average CPC varies depending on keyword settings, and advertisement's historical performance (quality score).
³The results page on Google.ie features 25 advertisers in the sponsored links panel for the term "savings account". "Instant access savings account" by comparison registers less than half (10) that number of Google Adwords competitors.

Mayday Mayday Mayday

2009-05-01T12:02:00.009+01:00

I'm an advocate for Google. Their services deliver what I am looking for (and a lot more besides) at no material cost. The stealth tax is that of invasion; of privacy and of screen-space. Google posted a $1.4 billion Q1 profit for 2009. To amass these fortunes, Google must first become intimate with users (privacy) and then serve bespoke advertising (screen-space). Google is the quintessential American company. Reverse-engineered and consumer-focused, it first looks to gaps in the marketplace, fills them, then questions where the revenue stream will stem from. Their IPO in August 2004 put this socialist approach at loggerheads with the rigorous demands of shareholders for growth, the hallmark of capitalism. To date, few would argue Google's success, but as the western business model unravels before our recession-weary eyes, I get a niggling sense of self-destruction in the Googleplex. The train smash may be some way down the line, but the financial world's woes would advise prudence. Time to exercise the option to bundle and sell-off Google off-shoot enterprises, surplus to the core business model, rather than gorge on acquisition?

In practice, Google continues to diversify like wild-fire. Once a search engine built to index the web (text web-pages) and return the most relevant results to users, Google now lays claim to digital content of any form. Where there is a market for content, Google looks to take ownership, serve at a fraction of competitors' cost, or for free, (thereby winning the user-base), and then integrate highly relevant in-line advertising at the point of consumption. Two enormous projects brought to market lately involve books and music.

The Irish times reports that in China, Google is distributing more than 1 million music tracks to its users for free. A clever tactic in a bid to unearth Baidu's roots as premier domestic search engine, this strategic shift has greater global ambition. Google, through deals with music distribution companies, is fundamentally altering how consumers acquire music and who profits. With the music industry turned on its head by file-sharing, agencies will grasp at a commercially-viable digital distribution solution. They will have their tail between their legs however as Google's strangle hold, though keeping them on life support, will pale in comparison to the days of golden disks.

As Fintan O'Toole argues in Google's case of right to book publication, I caution that end-users, we the customer, stand to suffer through these apparent short-term cost benefits (free music and literature). Google intends to shrink content producers (music artists and authors) and distributors profit-pool, and transplant it to its own coffers. If the product is now free, it falls to advertisers to make up the difference. My bugbear is that there is no parallel in value between a book or a record, and whatever it is we are being spoon-fed in the ads column. Much like the property boom, sentiment enabled estate agents to sell sand castles, but as the tide turned, the grainy foundations could not support the house of cards. Consumerism drives advertising, but should economic slowdown reflect online*, which it ultimately must, a similar fate to that of the banks awaits Google; toxic debt.

If consumers turn bearish, legally smash-and-grab proprietary content belonging to Google (it is open-source after all) while ignoring the flashing lights of spam all around, advertising revenue could quickly deteriorate. Market contraction obliges scrupulous valuation. Like land to the banks, Google's greed for content inadvertently devalues the underlying asset, the book or the song, through accessibility. As banks relied on financial packages and debt consolidation offers to fuel land prices, so Google props up the investment in literature and music with affiliate ad partners. Dilute the core product however and third-party market proposition (services/products advertised) diminishes, thus spam.

Google, once the cream of the crop, is on a slow-burn of pasteurisation and skimming to a watery grave. Worse still for all involved, the future for literature and sound looks homogeneously bleak.
[In a related media update (25.07.2009) to this article, read how publishers/authors are groggily waking up to their unsavoury circumstance]

*e-retail is bucking the economic trend with online commercial trade, such as asos, and tech stocks (Nasdaq) outperforming market averages and world indices.

Refine your company's social presence

2009-03-03T10:37:00.003Z

Interesting sociological findings in The Economist this week, derived from Facebook networks. The message to those in search engine optimisation - Cherry-pick the platforms upon which to integrate and cherish interaction thereon. Less is more!

Online Advertising Hogs

2009-02-03T14:33:00.007Z

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=48093734409&h=Bgadi&u=N_Oqb

Facebook are just as keen as Google to retain traffic on-site, as site usage is their lifeblood, especially as they delve into market research solutions. Interesting to see how Facebook embed this Telegraph editorial, ensuring that readers logged into Facebook will be one click further away from bouncing off the social platform.
This of course has ramifications for advertising, as content websites witness depleted visitor interaction. Fewer eye-balls on-page, lower CPMs , less revenue for the online publishers. Who's it going to instead? Google and Facebook of course!

How to SEO

2009-01-20T16:10:00.003Z

Part 2 in this digital marketing series takes learnings gleaned from e-consultancy's marketing analysis, together with independent observations; namely that search is ever more valued as a marketing conduit, and that to fully leverage exposure on a given search query, optimised presence across multiple digital file types, and collaborative platforms is a pre-requisite.

CGC & Review-based Digital Marketing

2009-01-20T15:52:00.006Z

One of two presentations to review the nature of digital adverting -
This slide-show delves into some recent e-consultancy survey material and uncovers concrete evidence that digital marketing has become a pull dynamic, far removed from the traditional concept of sales as a push mechanic.

From the Horses' Mouth

2008-12-04T15:09:00.006Z

If you are going to optimise in order to list in Google search results, a good place to start is their SEO starter guide!

Google 2.0

2008-12-03T11:35:00.011Z

Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land brought this extension of Google search results to my attention via his weekly podcast. Benign as it may currently seem, industry professionals the world round have pricked up their ears to the news, confident that it is the migration of the search algorithm as we know it today (PageRank) to a social ranking system, dependent on users to determine end-results.

In a dramatic shift towards a community-centric search algorithm, Google has launched SearchWiki. The screengrab above highlight Surf Merchant's listing at position 6 in Google.ie for the search "surfboards in Ireland". Google's latest innovation is the addition of a promotion toggle arrow to the right of the listing, permitting logged-in Google account searchers raise or delete their displayed listings for given queries. This customisation of results is unique to the account user, and will not display in their preferred format universally for all Google Search users (if that were so, organic search engine optimisation would become a tit-for-tat between search query competitors pressing the toggle button!). Further to this priority listing mechanic, Google has provided users the functionality to comment on listings. As per the below shots, once we have signaled our intent to better position a certain result in the search listings, Google enables the searcher to tag that listing (sound familiar?):

Return to the Google search results for the same query, low and behold, the listings order has been altered and the users' comments displayed:

What's more, as a logged-in Google account user, it is possible to display all comments made for the listings given:

Back in July there was massive speculation about Digg being bought out by Google. Digg, a social bookmarking platform, allows members rate digital media, share it with friends and the Digg public at large. The concept is applied hugely successfully too with e-commerce sites like e-bay and amazon, where customers review articles and products, which in turn receive greater exposure the better the sentiment. Travel sites such as Trip Advisor and Boo.com similarly have empowered those with the most experience, the visitor, to determine elevation of content upon their portals.

Google eventually refrained from investing directly in Digg. Perhaps this is the alternative? Why buy a social network if you can create one yourself? Google has enormous wealth in traffic, and user loyalty. Google's ambition is to retain traffic for longer periods, across their proprietary network, from blogspot to youTube and Google Apps. The more content that sits on Google-owned frameworks, the more advertising opportunity. Why then send users off to Digg to rate what they come across online, when Google can provide the infrastructure to socially bookmark the web, and keep users coming back for more. It's a daunting prospect, but Google's policy is clearly to serve the web in its' many formats, and advertise on the side. In releasing SearchWiki, Google is entering the social bookmark sphere, and I see no reason for them not to leverage their incredible traffic reserves. If I was Digg, I'd be worried.

As for SEO, we're told for the meantime that user-generated result customisation remains simply an added-value tool for the user in question. However, as Danny Sullivan and Peter Stewart infer, over time as user-rating takes hold, the logical step for Google to take is to factor SearchWiki into the rank algorithm. Without doubt, the algorithm has been tweaked over the past 24 months to favour social media. My back-link research often highlights Google's awareness to specialist social search engines like BoardReader. Google acknowledges that relevancy is best measured by the crowd, so they have looked to links from blogs, forums and social bookmarking sites as qualified website citation, and thereby weighted their listings to sites that generate market conversation. All that is happening now is that Google is bringing the chatter in-house, where they can better monitor and filter it.

A key success variable will be sorting out the garble from the eloquent, and negative review from thumbs up. Google is positioning themselves strongly by controlling the discussion exchange. Albeit they are borrowing a system already employed, I will not be surprised if they quickly supersede what's already out there and deliver yet better matched results to our needs.

Search considerations for website development

2008-11-10T14:16:00.003Z

This slideshow is prepared for consultation with web designers and developers. It is important that search engine optimisation considerations be flagged and factored into production from the conception of a web project. The presentation uses live examples and working solutions of website architecture and layout. Jonny Darling also discusses how best to communicate with the search engines and your digital social arena.

Surf Website Search Review

2008-11-04T08:44:00.006Z

In this video presentation, Jonny Darling reviews the impact that his search marketing has had on his surf website's search engine listings. There is a brief overview of site amends and extensions, together with third-party marketing interaction, closely followed by a quick inspection of the website's key analytical statisitcs year-to-date.
The website has been scripted with Google Analytics ga.js code, which feeds back a vast array of web performance data. Jonny is especially interested in user paths, and the search behaviour that drives traffic to the landing page. He demonstrates how particular reports can expose pay-per-click activity, and where to look for market feedback that can then in turn be recycled into PPC and SEO optimisation.
The keyword data also reveals how the surf blog has become integral to the successful search strategy. As a sub-domain to Surf Merchant's mother site, the blog has built up its' own authority as an online surfboard forum. A glance down the list of search referral terms acknowledges that Surf Merchant now appears for a longer tail of search terms. Thanks to the blog, Surf Merchant has solidified online its' physical relationships in Dublin. No more obvious is the search listing for "Surf Dock" in Google.ie, where Surf Merchant's blog features strongly. Consequently sales of Surf Merchant surfboards in the Surf Dock have witnessed a spike in recent times.
The video goes on to review, using Aaorn Wall's rank checker tool, tangible jumps in positions for competitive market search terms over the last 4 or so months. It makes for slightly less painful viewing than that of spreadsheet analysis!
This clip is worth a look overall because it highlights how continual website development and online marketing delivers returns in search prominence. Another message to take from this digital marketing audit is that is does render financial gains, and is a marketing vehicle to be respected and nurtured.
p.s. the volume is really low for the first few moments as I whisper the secret to SEO success! Bear with it - it irons itself out soon enough. Thanks.

Web 2.0 Optimisation

2008-10-29T15:15:00.005Z

Aaron Wall of SEOBOOK gave a webinar last week entitled "SEO strategies for the 21st Century". Overall I am very much on his wavelength, and agree with his outlook for the future of search marketing. Below are the main messages that I took from him.

The first is that to feature in search engine listings, it must be the marketeers' aspiration to be industry leaders in their space. As sponsored listings and "one-box" features built by the search engines themselves appear more predominantly above the fold on page 1 of listings, the squeeze to appear in the mix tightens. Site Index results are another phenomenon whereby industry leaders take a greater slice of the pie on the premium results page. There lies the incentive to control that authority listing, as well as pay for advertising in the sponsored real estate of the page.

With reference to market economics, we know of herd mentality and monopolisation of industries. The same is forecast for the digital space. Only the best will survive and winners will take a disproportional share of market power. To succeed requires social networking. Any presence on the web should add value to the end user, and in fact should inspire your target audience to act as brand evangelists. Review-based marketing is pivotal to success. Fore-runners in this marketing mould, such as Expedia, understood this when they took ownership of sites like TripAdvisor and hotels.com, platforms to forum-based consumer-generated-content which cross-sell Expedia's other product lines and fortify their position as market authorities, as voted by their consumers.

Of course not all of us have the capacity to go off acquiring social networks. We can create our own community peer review schemes internally though. The key is define the offering exactly, and present it in an interactive manner. If a visitor to a website is empowered to communicate with the brand directly, be it through competition, product review, testimonial, or community log-in, they will feel affiliated to the brand, be it someone's blog or an e-commerce site. According to Aaron, "The Cluetrain Manifesto" is a very forward looking marketing dissection that describes markets as conversations, and the powerful voice of the masses. As it is freely available online, I for one intend to read it ASAP.

Another area covered was that of the manifestation of search suggest. Live, Google and Yahoo! have all incorporated this form of pre-emptive search query dynamic drop-down technology. Aaron delivered a telling statistic that he had overheard over at MSN, whereby search engineers reported somewhere in the region of 20% of queries being unique, and not registering previously for search. This emphasises the long tail of search. However with search suggest, that tail shortens and becomes a short head and fat belly, to quote Aaron again. Therefore, popular queries will experience vastly more search volume as they receive click-through from suggestion boxes. Competition for listings on these queries will heighten, as search query analysis returns a homogenisation of fewer high volume terms. Search marketeers then need to understand that it is better to put value on certain niche terms that they can compete on, rather than employ spray-gun tactics. As with migration to social, it becomes imperative to be a pioneer in a specialist subject, rather than a jack of all trades. Finally, these suggestion tool boxes also open up a wealth of keyword research faculties which can be judged against traditional tools such as compete, wordtracker, and overture.

The Knowledge Era

2008-10-20T10:08:00.002+01:00

Two aspects of Nick Carr's book, "The Big Switch, from Edison to Google", strike me. They have ramifications for search marketing, as they do for our everyday lives.

1. Migration to data cloud technology
2. User profiling

1. Salesforce.com and Google are prime examples of this shift to a central grid system of data storage and software application. I now have a clear idea in my mind of how the web environment will operate. I'm already a convert to Google docs and apps. I realise that I do not need to download my mail to view it. I am happy to host my website remotely. In fact, my personal computer is almost devoid of data, it simply runs the software programmes that I use to both interact online, or work offline. Soon that will be an archaic approach. Soon all I will need is a control panel and a connection to the internet. In the case of Salesforce, I will log on, access my purchased software programmes, view and build my projects, then store everything in my personal, private databank. I will not need all the processing power, RAM, or operation system requirements currently weighing my laptop carry-case down. I'll just need a portal to my online home. Initially that will require a type pad and screen, and inbuilt to that screen a wireless modem, but down the line, I hazard that I will not need anything physical to connect and work. Google Chrome marks the way in interaction with the web. It is a project that seeks to remove browsers' reliance on operation systems to function. The idea eventually is that no longer will I need to boot up my Mac OS, and fire up Firefox. Instead, my machine will hibernate in Chrome-mode, an Operation System in its' own right, the mechanics sitting above and before Windows, Linux, or Mac. I'll no longer need to invest heavily in the hardware. It'll all be provided free-of-charge, provided I put up with some advertising resting alongside my window into cyberspace. Nick Carr draws comparisons with the electric grid. It is fascination to look back only a few decades to a time when steam generators and individual turbines powered industry. Amazing then to realise the economies of scale achieved when businesses and households alike plugged into a central energy supply. The same is happening online. Billions of individual databundles (that's us!) are now merging into one voluminous ball of information. We are the knowledge economy because of this shared medium. The intelligence inherent in this web community is greater than the sum of its' parts. As artificial intelligence stages its' arrival, control of this information will dictate who best profits from this new-age economy, and as Mr. Carr predicts, securing the content of the web will be business on a grand scale.

What does this all mean for search engine marketeers?

In a nut-shell, more mediums to optimise for and greater inter-relation between these vehicles. As Google surges ahead with PDF crawls, video transcribing, the indexing of entire libraries of books, image association and translation to text, the future is mapped out in colour. We as the end-user will place more content online, and if published for public consumption (and sometimes even if private, depending on our host), it will be spidered, and it may return in search results. One striking example is that of corporate business plans materialising for all to read online. Such is the dilemma and the opportunity for SEO specialists. The other side to it is social referral. It seems clear that Larry Page and Sergey Brin's original PageRank algorithm still holds sway today, though the relational mathematics complicate exponentially. How one piece piece of information relates to another still signals the worth of one vis-a-vis the other. The search engine guru's job has moved on from just web-pages. In fact, it is possible to be a very successful SEO consultant and never optimise a piece of html code. As search continues to forage for rich-media to return in search results, multi-sensory listings will appear in various forms, that is audio, video, image, documents, news, maps, calenders, products and users' social profiles. Optimisation will be conducted by channels, from people search, to product search, traditional entertainment verticals(audio-visual), current affairs, community interaction, and individual publications, be they research, marketing, or location-based. That requires a strong presence across blogger, YouTube, Google Maps, RSS feeds, Google Docs, Google News and Google Base, to name a few. Notice how each of these portals has one overarching similarity. They are all Google-owned. The time is not far off when web content is brought under one roof and we are handed the controls (though perhaps with stabilisers and speed restrictions), much as a Google account now offers. Big question however is who will have or should have the keys to this centralised world-wide web? There's are two conflicting forces pulling in opposing directions here. The internet is built to to be a confetti of decentralised ones and zeros, but the growing consensus, like with Edison's electric grid, is that it needs a revamp. With regulation, comes authority, something the pioneers of the web rebelled against. Until the day comes when big brother is all-powerful, optimise by channel and inter-link these channels via the community at your disposal, the social networks.

2. The gatekeepers that I speak of above are those who understand the movements and conduct of the users of the web. Currently, it is social portals and search engines that hold all of the cards in this instance. I can say this with authority because user profiling is the output of this information filtering and analysis. Who offers the most specific, targeted demographic and intuitive personalised marketing? Search engines like Google and social hubs like Facebook and the Yahoo! content network. These giants know us, and it is coming to the point (not by chance I can tell you) that they understand our patterns, and the patterns of users "like us", to predict our future actions online, before we make them. Case in point, predictive search. For every search and click that a user conducts, these engines receive feedback which better helps them calculate probabilities of others' actions and of this users action in future. Armed as such, marketing can be persuasive and alarmingly accurate. Marketeers who side with this form of testing gain a competitive advantage. Access to analytics accounts is one example. Navigational paths and search query reports return an insight into your customers' mind never before granted. Dissection reveals where users come from, what they originally came online to do, how they found the marketing element, how they interacted with it, and whether they came back for more months after initial contact. Keyword search volume has long been the pillar upon which search engine experts stood. It has been both their strength and their achilles'. I believe it is one of the principle reasons why search engine marketing continues to have a greyness associated to it. It is the intangible mixed with the exact that the lay-man cannot understand and will not stand for. Smugness was the trait-de-jour of techie know-it-alls. White is the new grey, and transparency is the holy grail. Not that I want to be see through, but the concept of an honest, and revealing client/agent relationship is gaining ground. Instead of holding the ace of spades up their sleeve, search engines are opening up search trending data to the public, with innovations such as Google Insight. It may not be even close to the whole picture, and often when drilled down to location and niche market, the data is far from telling, but the notion is applaudable. Good search marketing then will not be identifying where the truffles are and quietly trotting off to reap the harvest. The true test will not be to identify your market, align you message to it and optimise in the traditional manner. That will be assumed. It will be to live the message in the digital community, across the channels, and your success will be determined by the market response as tracked by analytics scripts. It's much like the stock market. Sentiment will go a-long way, rather than a sneak preview to the financial accounts prior to publication.

Universal search: Optimise across search vehicles

2008-06-22T11:27:00.003+01:00

Jonny reviews how search engines globally are pulling content from multi-sensory (maps, images, videos, news, social networks, references sites) portals such as YouTube, New York Times, Bebo, Facebook, Trip Advisor, StumbleUpon, Yahoo! Answers and Flickr. Google and Yahoo! both demonstrate this trend with recent revamps of the search result interface, displaying rich media in preference for html links. Surf Merchant is now coming through for high volume search terms like "surfboards Ireland", but also for qualified searches such as "minimal", "latest surfboards" and "surfboard guide". Our involvement across these verticals must not be discounted for spring-boarding the website and its' associated marketing to dominance.

Observation proves that before long, real estate above-the-fold of search results is liable to be dominated by rich media together with sponsored listings. Google in particular is buying up the authority hubs across the verticals with fury. YouTube is in the bag, Google image is vast, Google and Yahoo! are getting into bed and Yahoo! has incredible network resources at its' disposal (Yahoo! Answers, Flickr, Yahoo! Mail). This finance is not to be squandered on trophy hunting. Ownership brings access to information, all of which will inevitably be fed back to the search user for "better" search experience and the holy grail of relevant search results. To stay on top of the page requires presence in these mediums. It also means we need to kneel to search engines insatiable thirst for data, that is permit access to our profiles. An example would be to link up our pay-per-click accounts to our analytics accounts, opening up internal data on site performance, so as that can feed back into keyword quality score, a result of which will be that CTR(click thru rate) will fall victim to click/website stickiness/lead ratios. The walls are being demolished, and best to be seen to be clean, local, up-to-date and on the brink of digital evolution.

Introduction to blogging

2008-06-22T11:12:00.003+01:00

"Content is King" - Such has been the mantra in search for many years. As the internet is inundated with websites of all shapes and sizes, with content ranging from questionable to highly qualified, search engines have implemented tighter appraisal mechanisms on content filtering and quality score. Ranking algorithms have been formulated to consider whether traditional website content is supported, and in some cases substituted, in place of newer, richer content, and blogs (topical journalism). The primary platform is always pivotal, but it needs arms and legs. One such extension is a blog, associated strongly to the content of the master site but also connected with many other websites and blogs in the same sphere. A blog must be used to intertwine a website with its' industry, providing interesting information outside the company immediate remit but of consequence to it and its' customers.

Jonny discusses his blog strategy, sub-domain vis-a-vis sub-folder placement, opts for a sister website orbing the master site to reinforce but act independently of http://www.surfboardservices.com, and shows how best to pull in rich media content from authority hubs in digital media, all of which are tremendous sources of link equity to the blog and master site, as well as terrific search vehicles in their own right.

Site Architecture and Website Design for Search

2008-06-22T11:03:00.002+01:00

Jonny takes you through the recent search ranks improvements as a result of on-page optimisation. He returns to the website planning stage to discuss web design and folder stucture. Site maps and wire frames are crucial so determine the website content, flow and depth. It is vital to index the website accordingly, not only for customer journey efficiency and best user experience, but also because we need to treat the search engine crawlers as human beings, spoon-feed the content of the website back to the bots, and make all relevant areas accessible.

On-page organic SEO

2008-06-04T21:45:00.005+01:00

Jonny Darling's presentation of his website, www.surfboardservices.com, appraises the on-page optimisation factors incorporated to list in search engine results. The website is minor in depth. As such, each page is unique in nature, targeting sought after, qualified search terms as indicated from analytics and keyword research, which compliment the company product offering.

Know your business, optimise for your audience

2008-06-04T21:22:00.004+01:00

In this, the first in a series of video presentations on search marketing, Jonny Darling analyses his Irish surfboard supply website. He reviews the search market, aligns the website build to his findings and optimises the content and site structure accordingly. The video provides as overview of the search space for surfboards and leads into the digital marketing presentations to follow - All of which are created as applied examples in universal search optimisation, web analytics and sponsored search listings.