Top 5 SEO audit checks for an SME

Published: August 8th, 2011

Self-auditing is one of those tasks which always gets over looked when it comes to SMEs. Unlike other types of audits web sites often get over looked when it comes to internal audits. In the same way you would audit stock, computers, stationary etc… It’s imperative that you audit a web site at least twice a year.

When it comes to SMEs it’s understandable that this isn’t likely to happen unless someone schedules it in, or buys in external help from an SEO company. What’s amazing is the number of larger companies or institutions which never even think of it. Even if you site is doing well there is no reason why it couldn’t do better! Even if the company has their own SEO team sometimes a fresh pair of eyes is worth the investment.

Here is my list of the top five onsite items to audit

1. Update your Google Analytics tracking code

Let’s face it most companies use this as it’s free. If you’re using other Analytics software like Omniture then this doesn’t concern you obviously. BUT if you are using Google Analytics then make sure that you are using the newest version which tracks some Social Media Metrics.

Social Metrics are very important for modern SEO, ensuring it’s tracked is your first step to increasing your social profile.

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

Published: July 25th, 2011

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.

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How to supercharge your search campaigns- long-tail love

Published: July 22nd, 2011

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.

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How to Quickly and Effectively Check your SEO Using Webmaster Tools

Published: July 21st, 2011

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.

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SEO Manager David Wilding @AweSEOme

Published: July 19th, 2011

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

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