It’s that time of the year when all good marketers are looking at what’s coming up that we can tie our marketing activity into. And 2012 is packed full of opportunities:
- Golden Jubilee
- Extra Bank Holidays
- London 2012
- …
SEO 2012 – the death of linkbuilding?
11/01/2012 By
In late 2011 (and continuing in 2012) Google made so many changes that affect the SERPs (search engine results page) that I believe 2012 will see the end of pure linkbuilding, in favour of social, PR and brand awareness tactics.
So, where did linkbuilding fit into SEO in 2011?
In 2011 and before, Linkbuilding (the process of getting other websites to link to your website) was central to any plan to climb the SERPs. Broadly speaking the site with the most and/or best links going to it would come top.
The end game of any SEO activity is to get more (and better quality) traffic to the website. If everyone who searches for your keyword sees the same results, then it follows that having the most links and being as position no. 1 is where you’ll get the most traffic.
So it was key to any SEO strategy to work on increasing that number of links, employing a wide range of methods to do so.
New Google Analytics – what’s it all about?
28/11/2011 By
If you’ve logged into your Google Analytics account recently you’ll have seen it’s had a bit of a makeover. Well, it’s actually a bit more than that – so in this post I’m going to run through the best bits and how they can benefit you.
Before we delve into the new stuff though – they’ve also changed the navigation structure so if you can’t find something try switching tabs:
Within the “Home” tab you’ll find:
- The Dashboard – and you create new dashboards
- Intelligence Events – where you can set up alerts
- Real-Time (more on that below)
Within “Standard Reporting” you’ll find all the normal analytics stuff we all love:
- Visitors
- Traffic
- Content
- Conversions – which includes Ecommerce, Goals and Funnels.
- Advertising (where they’ve moved Adwords)
And “Custom Reporting” is now being encouraged as it’s got its own tab too.
Google’s Encrypting SEO Keyword Results ‘Secure Search’
24/11/2011 By
This is increasingly what we’re all going to get used to seeing in our Analytics Keyword Reports.
A set of data attributed to “(not provided)”.
Why are keyword sources going to be ‘(not provided)’?
On 18th October 2011 Google announced that they are rolling encrypted search out to all signed-in users.
This is part of Google’s activity to protect users privacy as they increasingly drive users to be signed in to their service. If you travel around Google signed in then you’ll be starting to see customised search results, including (if you’re on Google+) pictures of your ‘friends’.
Essentially they’re putting the search engine interface behind an SSL certificate – in layman’s terms ‘https’ not ‘http’.
From a personal privacy point of view it makes sense and is a good thing, but it’s going to make the lives of us marketers more difficult.
What does this mean?
It means that you won’t be able to see full data on what keywords people are using to search and find your website.
On our site, so far, we’re seeing 8.6% of keyword visits being (not provided). But there are sites seeing up to 33% of keyword traffic (not provided). (Great article at econsultancy, and another at Search Engine Watch). And there are several analyses of the impact that show that the %age of (not provided) is rising – not surprising as Google is rolling this out worldwide and it will take some time to get to everyone (my signed-in searching is as yet unencrypted).
So the big impact is going to be on your SEO decision-making, especially around keywords.
- You won’t be able to be as sure what your top keywords are, or how they’re performing
- The results may be skewed as the profile of people who do live signed-in to Google may be different from those that aren’t
- And, keep it mind when comparing performance over time
What about PPC Keyword performance data?
Won’t be affected – Google is not changing anything about PPC reporting in this area.
How can I get around it?
First of all, you’re still going to get some data on keywords – so you can assume it’s representative of all your keyword driven visits.
Secondly, Google is still showing “true” results for your top keywords in Webmaster Tools (although you won’t get all the details about their performance that you would in Analytics). So you can cross-check what you see in Analytics with your Webmaster Tools data.
You’ll also still get your full PPC keyword data, data from other search engines too.
Finally, if your website is totally SSL encrypted then you should get full keyword referral data. (so that would be the WHOLE of your site SSL’d)…
If you’d like to understand more about Google Analytics or SEO why not come along to one of our Workshops?
New EU Regulations – Transactional Sites
23/11/2011 By
The new EU consumer rights directive has been formally adopted which will strengthen consumer rights throughout the EU – particularly online.
What are the changes?
We’ve taken a look and pulled out some of the main points for e-commerce sites and retailers.
- Banning of pre-ticked boxes
E-commerce sites will no longer be able to pre-tick “add-on” products at the checkout – for example, when signing up for a mobile phone contract, the retailer will not be able to pre-tick the “Please also give me insurance at £7.99 per month”.
This doesn’t affect data capture. - 14-day return period
A customer will have the option of returning their goods up to 14 days after purchase for any reason – this is currently 7 days. Additionally, the 14 day period will not start until the goods have been delivered – currently it starts at the point of contract (i.e. when they buy).
So that’s actually a relaxing of the rules. - Refund rights
Refunds must be carried out within 14 days – including delivery charges. If the retailer wishes for the customer to pay return costs, this must be clearly stated before purchase (along with a rough estimate of costs of doing so if they are bulky items). - Total costs must be displayed
This is basically one aimed at low cost airlines!
A full description can be seen at Europa press releases or you can view the full directive.
When will retailers have to act?
Once published the UK government will then have 2 years to implement the new rules. So, you’ve got 2 years to find out how our government will implement AND do something about it. But, as all of these are sensible ways to keep the customer happy there’s not much reason not to start looking at it now.
Fewer PPC Ads Above the Fold on Google
17/11/2011 By
What’s Happened?
For some search results Google has now moved the Ads that were on the right hand side to the bottom of the page:
As per the example above this is mainly happening for “local” search terms at the moment, terms such as “takeaway”, “barber” etc.
That’s because Google’s moved the results to be able to use the Right Hand column for a map.
What does this mean?
Well, if you rely on these local search results pages then you need to:
- make sure the rest of your search activity is working hard – reviews, Place pages, SEO etc
- consider bidding to get into the top 3 on the page (but keep an eye on how well this works for you)
- don’t get scared when your PPC click through rate falls – with ads “hiding” at the bottom of the page the rate of impressions will go up but people might not see the ads
If you don’t rely on these local search results pages then at the moment you don’t really need to do a lot – this still a new development (Google only announced it 2 weeks ago). But keep eye on what’s happening with your PPC results – because this may (and probably will) be rolled out further.
PPC Brand Bidding – The effects of M&S vs Interflora
26/10/2011 By
A quick history…
In 2008 Google announced they were going to stop policing brand bidding within Google Adwords. This saw a mixed reaction amongst retailers.
Some retailers saw this as an additional promotional opportunity and immediately started to build PPC campaigns around their competitors’ brand names.
Other retailers thought it was unethical and took a stance to refrain from such types of PPC bidding and requested their competitors do the same.
Prior to the Interflora vs Marks and Spencer case, previous brand bidding court cases found in favour of Google. However, they were just that, in favour of Google, NOT people advertising on Google. Therefore, Google could not be sued if one of their advertisers was bidding on a brand name or trademark. However, the advertiser could, which brings us on to…
Interflora vs Marks and Spencer…
In Autumn 2010, Interflora sued Marks and Spencer for bidding on the Interflora brand name in Google Adwords. In a slight move away from previous court cases of this kind, Interflora chose not to sue Google for selling the trademark protected keywords but to sue Marks and Spencer for buying them.
Many companies watched with interest to see what the outcome would be and how it could impact their own trademarks and PPC activity.
Last month, the European Court of Justice ruled in favour of Interflora recommending that brands should be found liable if they are found to be bidding on competitor terms.
What does this mean for the Trademark holder?
Very little as yet…
The Google trademark policies haven’t changed (yet). They still do not proactively police brand bidding but will follow up any complaints raised by trademark owners.
Although the Interflora vs Marks and Spencer case does give some power back to the trademark owner, it is worth them bearing in mind that although they may be entitled to take legal action regarding brand bidding, this can be a long and expensive process. With this case as backing, contacting the brand bidder in question and starting a dialogue regarding any issues is a much better place to start than at the lawyers office. It may also result in a quick and painless resolution.
What does this mean for the Google Adwords brand bidder?
Although the Google trademark policies haven’t changed as yet, Google may well relook at it’s brand bidding policy due to pressure from the European Court of Justice.
However, just because Google haven’t changed their policies yet, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t review yours.
We know that bidding on competitors’ brands and trademarks can prove very profitable. However, if you’re carrying out such activity, the Interflora vs Marks and Spencer case has set a precedent so make sure you’re fully aware of the possible consequences of such a campaign.
In summary…
This case shows how important a company considers its brand and how far they are willing to go to preserve it. It also shows that if you don’t play your ecommerce cards straight, you may get burned.
It also shows how dramatically the rules of emarketing can change from one month to the next. In order to keep on top in the online world you need to be proactive, reactive and creative with how you promote your brand online.
Resources:
If you have an issue regarding your trademark, Google have an online trademark complaints form.
New! Facebook Page Apps Directory now live!
16/09/2011 By
As our Twitter Tool Directory has been so successful (over 65,000 views so far) we thought we should create one for Facebook Apps too.
There are several sites out there where you can search for Facebook Apps, but there’s not really any which give you a guide to the Apps classified by need. Plus, in July Facebook killed their own Facebook App Directory – leaving many marketers having difficulty finding the apps they need. So we hope our Facebook Page App Directory will help!
As with our Twitter Tool Directory we’ll be reviewing a different Facebook Apps each Friday – so keep your eyes peeled. And if there’s one you’d like to see us review – just let us know.
Short .uk domains Landrush phase now over
30/06/2011 By Leave a Comment
Nominet have now published the results of the Landrush phase of the short .uk domain names purchasing process.
There were 2640 domains available, and Nominet received a total of 10,663 applications:
- 599 (23%) of the domains only one person applied for, so those people will all get their domain
- 714 (27%) of the domains NO ONE wanted (see details below)
- 1,327 (50%) domains had multiple applicants and will go to auction imminently
Interesting stats on the multiple applicants domains:
- They received an average 7.6 applications per domain
The 5 most popular domains are:
- bb.co.uk – 43 applicants
- ip.co.uk – 40
- dj.co.uk – 37
- dr.co.uk – 35
- cv.co.uk – 33
The most popular single character domain is 1.co.uk with 32 applications.
So there’s going to be some fierce competition for some of these. (all profits from the auction go to the charitable Nominet Trust – so the higher the prices go the better!)
It’s fairly easy to see why DJ, DR, and CV are so popular, and I’d imagine that DJ will reach the lowest price of the 3.
IP’s popularity I’d guess is down to Intellectual Property professionals?
BB.co.uk is the one I’m most confused by – but I wonder if it’s people wanting to grab traffic from mis-spellers of BBC.co.uk? (or BIG fans of Big Brother?). Will be interesting to see what sort of site ends up there.
What about the 714 that no-one wanted?
Well as of 27th June (so Monday just gone) they’re available to buy – first come first served.
There’s one .me.uk (arpa.me.uk), and the rest are .net.uk. You can see the full list here.
