SEO Certified - Will it ever become a reality

Net Magellan recently wrote a post entitled “SEO Certification - What Is Your View?” tackling the thorny issue of SEO certification in todays Search Marketing industry. This topic of conversation always brings a variety of perspectives and heated debate.

As the head of an Online Marketing organisation, dissecting the wheat from the chaff is often a difficult thing to do, particular within the UK SEO market. I recently had a candidate who came in - who had previously been responsible for campaign where the client operated in a moderately uncompetitive sector - and the client in questions was spending 2K a month on paid linkage. Now - putting in bluntly I would suggest most people with an inch of intelligence would be able to do that, let alone a specialist search engine optimisation specialist.

Having some form of certification one could argue would be useful here - perhaps along the lines of the Google Advertising Professional qualifications, where the examinee is tested on his knowledge of the system, however it is here in my opinion that the grey area in the SEO certification debate exists.

Just what is acceptable SEO. Google has developed a set of guidelines - Paid Links are bad/Content is good. However lets face it - in an industry where the stakes are getting bigger - and the market more competitive -who is going to share valuable knowledge unless they really have to.

Secondly - What constitutes good SEO. There has long been debate around the ethical nature of SEO - and what hat us various SEO experts are - whether it be Black, White or a varying shade of grey. Surely some common ground rules have to be developed before we can develop appropriate and valuable SEO certification - something you can associate with your CV with pride -and know a potential employer (such as E-Gain) is going to appreciate.

I don’t for one minute think certification is a bad idea - however at present I would add it is nothing more than confusing for a market that do not always understand SEO. Lets get the foundations in place and make it something that is going to benefit our industry - rather than do something for somethings sake…

2 comments January 27th, 2008 at 02:11pm SEO UK

SEO has evolved - dare we say we are now a profession

Mike Grehan caused a fair bit of controversy back in 2007 when he wrote his article “SEO Is Dead. Long Live, er, the Other SEO”. At the time it drew some mixed reviews, the usual post-bashers and doom merchants, and those that took the article at face value. So have things changed since the article in question

Old-School “Textbook SEO” has been on the decline for a while. Back in the day (and it wasn’t that long ago in real-time - just an eternity in Online Marketing terms), SEO was as simple as keyword density, well structured contents and a smattering of meta tags thrown in. But things have changed significantly since then. Yahoo is no longer the behemoth it was, and Google now rules the roost, and all the knock on effects that has brought.

Google has introduced a number of features to the search engine results over the course of the last year. The onebox results continue to be refined and further incorporated into the search results pages - sometimes a bit too much in my opinion particular where cross-over with pop (and in particular R&B for some reason) music is concerned.

SEO as Mike stated - has evolved - it is no longer just about simple optimisation of the website. It is about far far more. Whilst many of the fundamentals are similar, the methods of doing so are so different. Content is king they say - a saying I learnt about seven years ago - however it has evolved from simply producing 8000 slightly varying pages of content, to a far more dare I say professional approach - where content is written not only to gauge relevance but to generate linkage -  its about quality these days - not just quantity.

Maybe this has something to do with a general acceptance from the marketing & advertising world that SEO and search marketing is here, and therefore SEO in particular has taken great strides particularly in 2007. SEO is a massive industry now, and as big a shame as it is - it is now a profession. Long since are the days when the likes of Rand Fishkin, Ammon Johns, Danny Sullivan and my friend Marcia would spend many an hour on the forums - and the likes of me could discuss various aspects of SEOMoz, Sphinn ). It is a shame but symbolic of how far our profession has come in a very short period of time
SEO is evolving - and will continue to do so. One thing is for sure - hang on to your seats there are some very interesting times ahead.

Add comment January 26th, 2008 at 11:19am SEO UK

Why you need Search Marketing and you probably didn’t know it

Many organisations approach Online Marketing and Web Design/Development, as two seperate entities, and often this is translated into the development of new sites in particular. New sites will be developed and then potential online marketing partners (such as SEO specialists or Paid Search management specialists) may be approached on completion of the site to market the site (and lets be honest there are still a number of organisations that dont even do this). However how early should you start thinking about your online marketing. Well, from the very start, and heres why….
Domain Strategies

We recently undertook a pitch for a client, whose strategy entailed a number of very random domains, whose very existance was not based on functionality, requirements or merely targeting, more on lack of awareness of the web and how they could best maximise not only visibility but conversion

This was an extreme case but it did highlight a number of areas in which SEO experts play an important part as early on as the concept stage of a web design project. For example:

• Which URL is best to use from an SEO perspective
• Is this URL acceptable from a user pespective (I know us SEO’s love hyphens - but this strategy should only be considered where you have the non-hyphenated domain as well - IMO the shorter the domain the better)
• Which URL is to be the primary domain
• Acceptable use of canonical domains - Matt Cutts (from Google) wrote a very good blog on SEO URL canonicalisation on his blog quite a while back
• Correct usage of domains - From a technical perspective - it still amazes me how many people dont correctly implement this correctly. For example use ‘mysite.com’. Most developers will remember to setup the www.mysite.com - but what about mysite.com (note no www). Correctly implementing this part of your domain is not only good from a user perspective (users not typing in www can still find your site), but also from a search engine perspective as Google et al are all presented just one ‘copy’ of your site - not two.

Good domain management is not just limited to sites/organisations with an existing online presence. This is even more the case for new websites. I was recently talking to a web development colleague regarding a site they were looking after where the decision was made to create a brand new domain (and redirect the existing site with good search engine visibility). Unfortunately the SEO in particular was not considered, and subsequently the new site disappeared from the search engines. They are now addressing this iissue, but surely it wouild have been easier to think about this from the very beginning!

User/Search Engine Management

Guiding users to your website is fundamental to online marketing, no matter whether it is a behavioural or SEO based campaign. However unlike in Paid Search, and Behavioural activity, Search Engine Optimisation is reliant on third party activity, and thus even the best laid strategies can come unstuck if all aspects have not been considered.

This is particularly the case where a new site has replaced a legacy site, along with a new hierachiel structure, and page naming convention. Here a well structured SEO campaign can pay handsomely, redirecting both search engine spiders and users to the correct pages. This is often a part of web development, often neglected by the web development companies and one that can mean a lot of problems. For example, what about those users entering your site via a bookmarked page that no longer exists. A 301 from the old page to the new page will direct those users through to the replacement page. However at the very least, implement a bespoke 404.

Secondly, and maybe a little more contentious. Search Marketing agencies rely on stats for a number of reasons

• See what channels browsers are coming from
• See what terms browsers are coming into the site from
• Measure the effectiveness of their channel against existing/benchmarked channels.
• however one often missed aspect is - how are users using your site - what do they do when they get to your site, and why … which leads us on to

Conversion

I was recently presented with the existing statistics of a client we are now working with. The client had previously worked with a very big media agency (no names obviously mentioned), but despite a significant outlay (circa £50K) the total number of online conversions was 6. The client in question admittedly does work in a congested market, however a CPA of just under £10000 seems a bit high.

However one aspect of the client was their website. Whichever way you look at it, Online Marketing in nealy all cases is reliant on the website, either to further inform or convert customers. A badly delivered website won’t convert, just as irrelevant traffic won’t convert, and therefore all aspects of your online mix need to be considered if your online marketing strategy is to work effectively and deliver a cost-effective marketing channel for your organisation. This is particularly the case, with smaller organisations which can’t rely on brand power to make up for any issues there may be in the conversion funnel

Online Marketing needs to be considered right from the very beginning, probably even before your website has been considered. These days with digital spend and therefore digital awareness rising, you can’t afford to get it wrong….

Add comment January 20th, 2008 at 01:57pm SEO UK

Google to sell web TV’s with Panasonic

Search engine giant Google has branched further into the ether by announcing a partnership with Japanese electronic giant Panasonic, to manufacture web enabled televisions. According to a report on StrategyEye, the two companies plan to sell flat panel monitors which will enable users to access YouTube videos and view online photo albums from Picasa, the Google-owned online photo service, in the US in late Q1 2008

Such a deal isn’t a first. Software giant Microsoft, has been selling its Windows MCE Internet platform for some time, however sceptics would point to the fact that previous launches of similar products have not exactly set the world alight. Panasonic however are to monitor sales before deciding whether to sell the products in other parts of the world.

However I would suggest the impending launch of IPTV services (in the UK) could make the purchase of such products more attractive to potential customers, particularly given the move towards digital later this year.

Add comment January 8th, 2008 at 11:02am SEO UK

Google to recognise text in imagery - more to follow?

A post on the Marketing Pilgrim website quoted a recent patent application by Google outlining a ‘method of optical character recognition in digital images.’, covering both static imagery as well as video.

Should this patent come to fruition it would highlight a significant step forward in indexation and thus potentially what you see in terms of SERPs, and ultimetely how the Online Marketing sector interact with both video and imagery, particularly given the increase in popularity for aspects of online marketing such as social media and the like, particularly given the apparent lack of technical advancement in terms of search within this area.

Still, I would suggest such advancements are stilll a while off and any introductions of the patent are likely to only come into mainstream play in the medium to long term. Still - watch this space….

Add comment January 7th, 2008 at 12:08am SEO UK

SMX London is on - UK SEO breathe a sigh of release

It seems contrary to an earlier blog post by Andrew Girdwood (from Bigmouthmedia), that SMX London is indeed still on for 2008, however according to Danny Sullivan from SMX

“We will have SMX London in 2008 - just confirming the exact month. News soon ”

Thats good news for all us UK SEO’s as I was starting to sweat as to which conferences to attend during the latter part of 2008

Add comment January 4th, 2008 at 01:53pm SEO UK

Getting the SEO balance right - writing content for humans

I have disagreed with Andrew Girdwood from BigMouthMedia a couple of times in the past, however I wholeheartedly applauded him on his article on ‘Think of the human. Write for humans!‘, an article tackling the topic of keyword density, and in particular a response to comments by David Cushman and Sean Warwick.

There are a number of pages around that do occupy some reasonable positions for moderately competitive term (studentcomputers is one such term that springs to mind), however for everyone of these keyword laden SEO-targeted pages, there are a number of other well structured and well thought out campaigns that comensate for this (I used the Monarch SEO campaign as well as a couple of our own - Escapes2 for example). However as Andrew states:

“Proper SEO (okay; let’s use the word ‘ethical SEO’) is about ensuring the search engine can see what your site is about. In fact, proper SEO includes basic tips like ensure web page content has an unique URL so communities and forums can link to it (as opposed to an Ajax style or single Flash URL which is used to display all the content). It tends to be the horrid combination of search spam and poor websites which result in Google searchers clicking themselves into a worthless experience.”

However it is Andrews response to Sean Warwicks comments regarding high keyword density pages that I think are absolutely spot on, and I can only aplaud his response

“And lastly, let me respectfully (and pleadingly) reiterate one key point: The fact that you *can* find sites that rank well for a particular keyword engaging in “keyword stuffing” is NOT evidence that such keyword stuffing is an effective SEO tool. I can also show you many sites that use the letter “Q” exactly three times that also rank well. And no, this is not an indication of a secret “jump the ‘q’ rule.”

SEO has come a long long way in 2007, moving from ‘Black Art’ to mainstream marketing with organisations such as Bigmouth, Latitude and JustSearch catapulting SEO into the mainstream. We still have a way to go, however it is the education of people such as David and Sean that will continue to see Online Marketing and Search marketing in particular continue to develop in the long term

Add comment December 16th, 2007 at 12:06am SEO UK

Launched: E-Gain New Media PPC Management Conversion audits

We have been working with a number of clients recently who previously had not used Paid search as a mechanism for driving increased traffic to their website, instead utilising a number of channels either above or below the line. Any online activity was limited to well established hybrid brands such as Yell.com, and has as yet provided limited success to the clients in question in terms of ROI.

Now Paid Search is a big enough jump in itself, however explaining to clients the potential benefits in terms of conversion of a well structured conversion funnel encompassing not only structured landing pages, but also a tailored approach to converting a website visitor.

It is still surprising how many companies fall into the OZDC Syndrome - thats over-zealous data capture syndrome to you and me - in order words - asking clients for too much information for what is required. I have lost count of the number of people who require everything but your bank account detail to register for a site. Why - why not capture some details the first time, follow up and capture more the second, and make it a work in progress. If a browser wants to buy/purchase he will give the information. If he/she doesn’t - make sure you get something off him, and then work on making you sure you get him the second time.

It is for this reason - I often advise clients to focus their data capture into bitesize segments. For example, I may have a cruise company. I may not be looking to book for six months or so, so therefore am going to be looking for a good deal and willing to wait. For this reason, why not look at capturing his/her details via price alerts, perhaps a newsletter - and the age old favourite competitions. All have their own little benefits, but above all allow us to build a profile of the user, and how our users use the website.

However probably the biggest aspect of the new conversion audit service is our bottleneck analysis. A good site is built up of a well structured navigation funnel, channeling users through a sales process. For example base product, upsell, cross-sell. However this process can often become lost and confusing for the client. E-Gain New Media analyse all aspects of the customer journey in order to refine and develop the purchase flow, and ultimately work at increasing your ROI.

To find out more simply contact us at E-Gain New Media via our contact form or call 0845 671 0018

Add comment November 20th, 2007 at 08:40pm Paul Greaves

SEO - The best example of black hat SEO … ever?

One of my colleagues Will Graham sent me this link the other day which almost made me fall of my seat. The site itself sits within the oft shady lottery world, however the extent to which the site has been ‘optimised’ was wonderful… Cloaking, hidden text, the list goes on …. and on.

Now to potential clients of E-Gain (and fellow SEO colleagues), this is not the way we do SEO, however this is probably one of the best black hat SEO sites I have seen for a while.

To see the site in reference - go to www.lottofast.com. SPAMTASTIC !!!

Add comment November 13th, 2007 at 04:51pm SEO UK

5 products no online marketing specialist should be without

We as search marketeers, are all looking for the next big thing.

All I am going to say on this briefest of brief posts, is go to Makemylogobigger to find out more. Sheer genius!!

Add comment November 5th, 2007 at 11:18am SEO UK