Archive for July, 2011

Why it’s important to be a good guy in the SEO industry

The SEO industry as a whole is changing almost on a daily basis and I’m not just talking about search metrics!

Whilst I have not been in the SEO industry as long as many of my peers I have certainly noticed a few changes over the past few years. When I first started in SEO there seemed to be an unwritten code within SEO-ers that you don’t ‘tell on people’. Ok you might do things to sabotage the competition, for example there was Google bowling, firing porn backlinks at the competition and more recently rainbow tables. But let’s take all that out of the equation as this all very black hat SEO.

In the past if someone were to implement an SEO strategy which impacted on your SERP rankings then you would merely add it to your strategy rather than try to take them down. I know what you’re thinking ‘where’s the fun in that’. The thing is, if you spend your time attacking an individual website SEO strategy, you could be investing that time making your own natural search presence stronger. So in a competitive sector it is pretty pointless implementing anti SEO tactics on rivals. Unless money is of cause no option.

All’s fair in love and war’, which let’s face it SEO is?

Over the years I have found 1000s of dodgy things being done by the competition and although sometimes it has driven me wild I’ve always come back to the same conclusion. Good for them!

I have found large Russian hubs, which to this day I still have no idea how many people they must have had employed to produce that amount of spam.

How to supercharge your search campaigns- long-tail love

Search marketers often advise clients- particularly large ecommerce companies- on strategies to maximise long-tail traffic to their websites as a way to boost sales. For SEO campaigns this means focusing not just on the top 10 or 20 “head” terms but optimising site structure and content for category and product pages to help visitors find your products, as well as building links to these pages, to attract “long tail” search traffic. The conventional online marketing wisdom states that somebody searching for “womens shoes” – although higher in search volume- may be in the research phase, collecting information and comparing prices whereas somebody searching “blue size 6 high heels” for example has a pretty good idea of what they want to buy and therefore has a higher chance of converting. I thought it would be interesting to test these theories looking at the data from the last month for one of our ecommerce clients.

How to Quickly and Effectively Check your SEO Using Webmaster Tools

The world of SEO is full of various tools to make all our jobs easier, which are perfect for thorough, in depth analysis. However, to quickly unearth any onsite issues and how best to fix them; there’s no need to look any further than Google Webmaster Tools. Here’s a quick rundown of how to quickly get a good insight into the Search Engine compatibility of your website.

SEO Manager David Wilding @AweSEOme

David will be joining the panel at AweSEOme on Wednesday 20th July 2011 to discuss the present state of SEO and how it will develop in the future.
AweSEOme is part of Leeds digital festival, holding seminars and gatherings to bring together all creative and digital agencies in and around Leeds.
Search/SEO round table discussion agenda

• Panda update and how this affects strategy
• Impact of social metrics and social personalisation on natural rankings
• Mobile SEO
• Google+1

David joined Blueclaw April this year and has 5 years of SEO experience including specialism of on page/architecture. He has worked in some of the most competitive online niches, ranging from finance to gambling.
David has a love for all things digital from semantics to social media and is keen to implement cutting edge technology across client websites to give them a competitive advantage.

If you are interested in hearing more from David and the expert panel make sure you get yourself to the Adelphi tomorrow at 12pm.
“Come and listen to our panel of Leeds based search experts, the city’s finest exponents of the form (and possibly in the country), participate in a round table discussion on anything and everything search. Can the specialists of Leeds help each other - without revealing their trade secrets?” www.leedsdigitalfestival.com

SEO Consultant Vacancy

Blueclaw Media Ltd is a well established, fast-growing SEO and internet marketing agency based in Leeds, UK. We are also winners of the DADI Award for SEO, Ecommerce and PPC.

Based in an old warehouse building, Blueclaw is a creative space with a dedicated SEO team working to deliver exceptional results for our clients.

We are looking to recruit a talented SEO Consultant to join our dedicated Search Team. You will have expert knowledge of SEO, link building and social media marketing with experience of running multiple campaigns.

You will need to have:

  • A love for all things SEO
  • Excellent written ability
  • Good eye for detail
  • Strong analytical and strategic skills
  • The confidence to express new ideas
  • Good telephone manner
  • Client facing skills
  • Strong SEO knowledge
  • Excel Skills
  • HTML

This is a fantastic opportunity for a highly motivated team player for a fulfilling career. We will offer a great salary and benefits to the right person.

Please apply direct and not through and agency. Call 0113 234 3300 - or email fergus{at}blueclaw.co.uk, send your CV and a covering letter.