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I just found this new video from Google’s Matt Cutts, it was released in May this year and he talks about what Google is likely to do this year, he does start off by saying that plans are constantly evolving, so it could change, but certain things like the upcoming Penguin update which they call Penguin 2.0 are very unlikely to change, he also says this is going to be a significant update and probably will have a bigger impact than the previous one! He also mentions a clamp down on advertising which passes PR, and says that any kind of paid  [...]

Just a quick one today. I’ve had a couple of people recently ask me about the accuracy of the Google Adwords Keyword tool data, and while I couldn’t possibly comment on it’s technical accuracy myself, I would be quite surprised if Google made a tool like this available to us but then fed inaccurate information back. After all, wouldn’t it be easier to just take it offline instead? That being said, there are a couple of common user errors which can mean the information you receive back is very misleading. The first and very widely  [...]

Warning – Major Google Update On the Way (Again!) I’m going to start off with an apology today, as it seems that it’s impossible to write a post these days without the mention of a Google update, either the fallout or implications usually, but today it’s about preempting one which hasn’t even happened yet! Do I look significant you you? Ever since Google’s Matt Cutts mentioned there would be a significant Penguin update in 2013 at SMX (I think) in March this year, everyone is already talking about the next big  [...]

Is Google rolling out another Update ? There has been quite a bit of talk just recently about another major update happening, it’s yet to be confirmed, however there is a theory that it all relates back to a big linking network being penalised. Over in Russia there is a link network (SAPE) which is so widely used, some claim up to 80% of sites over there have links directly from it. Google are said to have clamped down on it in rather a grand style, penalising every site involved. So how does this affect me? lets say (for the sake of simplicity)  [...]

How does Google view site-wide backlinks? This is a question which comes up time and time again, both from customers, friends (who ask me a lot of questions!) and on the internet forums. While we’ve always had a pretty good idea, Google’s Matt Cutts has produced a couple of videos which explain it in simple terms: The first video is about the type of links which you sometimes see in a blogroll for example. Essentially what he’s saying is they are OK if they are relevant, although you certainly won’t get the benefit of multiple  [...]

The Short Answer is There are No New “Tricks” For years people have been looking for the quick fix to achieve top search engine results, some worked for a while, some worked, most very briefly but if the technique in question was leaning heavily towards the dark side, the benefits have almost certainly been wiped out by the hundreds of Google updates rolled out over the last couple of years. I remember when I first learnt about SEO, my employer was paying a company for hosting, updates and optimisation, it was costing £750 per month and that  [...]

How to Improve your Site Content Ever since Google started clamping down on bad linking practices, site owners, webmasters and SEO’s have all been rushing to add more and more content to their websites, albeit in many cases, completely forgetting the ultimate aim of doing so, to make a sale or get an enquiry. It never fails to amaze me how many websites I visit which have blog posts, sometimes frequent, although often not, which are poorly written, include numerous spelling mistakes and the post itself has no real aim.  If a post or page does not  [...]

Do you currently have a small business website which you update occasionally or make minor changes to a couple of pages every now and then, but essentially remains the same from one year to the next? If so you need a blog. What is a Blog? Firstly let’s define exactly what a blog is and isn’t. There’s a common misconception that blogging is just for kids who want to complain about their school dinners, disgruntled employees to have a whinge about their boss or for big companies who have big news stories, “but not me, I don’t  [...]

Google Launches Disavow Tool Ever since Google launched it’s Penguin update back in April 2012, many webmasters have been scratching around on the web trying to have bad links to their sites removed. The common cause of these was by people hiring low quality SEO companies who hit their websites with literally thousands of keyword rich links, often from automated blog comments, buying links and in some cases mass directory submissions. Of course, many site owners have since discovered the hard way that there really is no quick cheap fix to gaining  [...]

New Google Webmaster Guidelines for 2012 At long last Google have updated their guidelines for webmasters (seo’s, internet marketers and anyone else who owns or manages a website), it’s been a long time coming but now they have there is much clearer explanation on most points, and a much better description of Rich Snippets. If you haven’t seen the new information it can be viewed here. There is a lot to read so make yourself a coffee, sit back and wade your way through it. The bit I found somewhat confusing (as if it isn’t a  [...]