Google has determined that people are as important as websites. Not only should your domain authority and page authority determine how well your pages and content rank in the search engines but so too, Google believes, should your authority. The more authoritative you are in your chosen field the greater the quality of your content. Or, so goes the theory. This means that you should attempt to portray your authority in the eyes of Google.

Before you start posting great content, signing up for publish speaking gigs, and authoring best seller non-fiction titles, you should set your site and your profile up. Google will track all of the content that you publish, even if it is published on other peoples’ sites, as long as you direct them to this content.

First off, ensure that you are registered for a Google+ account. The social network is central to Google’s plans and so should be central to your SEO plans as well. Register with your name and fill in the details of your website, your blog, and any other sites that you publish to. Make sure you have a photo on your profile too because this will show up in search results next to any page that you publish.

You can also take the credit you deserve for content that is published on websites that are not you own. Ensure that the content you write and publish has a byline that matches your Google+ profile name. When linking back to your Google+ profile you should use the rel=”author” tag within the link. This indicates to Google that you are indeed the author while also providing a link to your Google+ account.

What if you don’t want to link there and want to link to your website? Happily, Google is quite an intelligent search engine and if you link to a profile page on your own website, which in turn links to your Google+ account it will be able to tell that this is you and you still gain the credit.

Your Author Rank will naturally improve as you post new content but also according to the perceived quality of that content. The more links your content gets the better its perceived quality. The more likes, shares, and comments that your content gets, the greater your Author ranking. As your ranking increases, so too should your content within the search results making this a viable means of improving search results while becoming an authority on your chosen topic.

About The Author

Richard Hartley is the Head of Strategy at Big Red Rocket, the digital marketing agency in Manchester. He is widely published across the Internet and is a specialist in digital marketing for lawyers.

If you wish to contact Richard them please click here.

The post Becoming An Authoritative Figure With Google AuthorRank appeared first on SEO Manchester by Big Red Rocket.

During a recent video post, Matt Cutts, Google’s head of anti-spam, said that they would be addressing certain keywords that are often associated with spam. The keywords he mentioned were payday loans but we suspect this also includes porn and gaming sites. The top 25 list of affected brands from SearchMetrics would appear to bear this out to some extent with numerous porn and gaming sites have been hit hard by the changes. Major brands, like the Salvation Army, have also been hit and there may be more dramatic effects in some foreign language indexes.

Sites with poor or bad links were also affected directly. Google has long said that natural links are best and their algorithms match this. In the most recent changes, it would seem that those pages with all of their links using a single keyword would see their ranking reduced. If a page has one thousand links and 990 of them use exactly the same keyword then there’s a reasonable chance that they have been gained artificially rather than naturally.

Google is taking social a lot more seriously and this means greater onus placed on the individual rather than a website as a whole. As such, Author Rank has come to the fore. The pages you post, the number of times those pages are linked to, and how popular your content proves to be socially will all impact your Author Rank and the higher your Rank the more weight your future content will receive. By combining links and social ranking factors Google has been able to ensure that the sites in the top spots really do offer high quality.

Bought links are another bone of contention for Google and their search team. Paid for links are not built naturally and buying a link certainly doesn’t give any indication of the quality of your website. Buying links is not prohibited but Google does penalise sites that pass PageRank via links and those that benefit from this passing of PageRank will also suffer a penalty.

The key to the Penguin updates and subsequent data refreshes has been to ensure that you post quality and enjoy quality links and shares. This has certainly continued in the same vein following the most recent, Penguin 2.0 update. Don’t buy links, steer clear of spam, and report those sites that break the terms and conditions set out by Google for webmasters. This is the message that Google is sending and, if you want to enjoy long term Google search result success then this is the message that you should listen to.

About The Author

Richard Hartley is the head of strategy at Big Red Rocket and an expert in digital marketing for solicitors and barristers.

You can contact Richard by clicking here.

The post Who Lost Out To Penguin 2.0? appeared first on SEO Manchester by Big Red Rocket.

An eventful summer.
Matt Cutts, Google Spam Team

Unless you have had your head buried in the SEO sand for the past 2 years, you will have had 2 words firmly at the forefront of your mind; PANDA & PENGUIN. For all those who have just returned from the outer reaches of the solar system, these were the names of 2 major anti spam algorithm updates that Google has made to their search engine. The desired effect of both these updates was to defeat the practice of SEO spamming which would result in websites manipulating the search engine results rather than optimising within the well known Google guidelines.

Both Panda and Penguin had dramatic effects in the SEO industry with some websites that had been practising spammy, or “black hat” SEO techniques finding their rankings decimated and in some sever cases, being dropped from the index entirely. It was clear to those in the digital marketing industry that Google wanted to return to where they started; being a contextual based search engines that returned relevant and high quality results based upon the users search terms. As with any business, Google realises that if their service is shoddy  then the chances of visitors returning to them diminishes greatly.

The first thing that Matt (I feel that I know this guy so well that we can be on first name terms) mentioned was that Penguin 2.0 is near to launch and deployment. He also mentions that it will be more far reaching than Penguin 1.0. The main target seems to be paid advertorials that include a back link to the advertiser. Many people will recall the debacle that was Interflora during March 2013. In this case Google accused Interflora of buying links as part of an aggressive SEO campaign. This resulted in Interflora being dropped from the Google index for a few weeks, distressingly for them in the run up to Mother’s Day. They had to rely solely on PPC advertising as even a search for their brand name would not trigger any organic search results. This is the power that Google has so please do not think that it won’t happen to your website as it can. Matt continues that they will devalue to the link juice that is passed though these paid advertorials and the best practice is to include a disclaimer that the content and the link has been paid for. Just by way of clarification, paid links do violate the Google web spam guidelines and they do take it seriously. If you are offered such a service then please be aware of the consequences, despite how good the deal may seem and how persuasive the salesman is.

There is obviously an issue for Google with certain verticals and keywords that attract a high level of spamming activity. Google.co.uk was specifically mentioned in line with the broad phrase of “Pay Day Loans”. Google will be looking closely at the SEO practices of these websites and no doubt keeping a watchful eye on the placement and quality of their links.

Penguin 2.0 will include a deeper link analysis than before. There has been a flurry a hacked websites and those that contain malware. Google will be tying this in closely with its Webmaster services and ensuring better communications between them and website owners. In the event that Google suspects a website has been hacked then they will be contacted sooner rather than later so that the required security measures can be put in place. Just by way of housekeeping, there has been a recent spate of WordPress website being hacked, primarily for those that haven’t changed their administrator login username from “admin” to something a little more unique. If you are one of those WordPress website owners that have not heard of this or you have and not changed your username, then please do it now.

Over the past year or so the SEO forums have seen an increasing volume of discussions around the subject of “author rank” and website authority. We know that Google has been working on this part of its algorithm and patents have been applied for in this regard. Matt has mentioned that Google will be paying a higher regard to certain niche areas and looking at the authority of those contributing to the websites. This is the first solid indicator that author rank will be coming into its own and for one I think it is time for all website owners to start concentrating on the quality of their website content and how that content is distributed through social media channels.

It also looks like Panda is being given a major update but mainly for those websites that have been sat in the grey areas between “on page” spam and what I like to term as “enthusiastic” optimisation. It seems that Panda is going to redress any downgrading of those website by reviewing them again and reassessing what practices the web masters have been employing.

An interesting point that Matt raised was that regarding SERP clusters. This simply means that when a visitor makes a search and the first page of the SERPs shows the same website in more than one of the results then this is known as clustering. Google now want to dilute the clustering effect and ensure that more different but highly relevant websites are shown in the SERPs for the search terms.

Watch The Video

You can watch the full video of Matt Cutts discussing Penguin 2.0 below.

Conclusion

This will be a very eventful summer for all of us in the digital marketing industry. Penguin 1.0 saw some dramatic changes to work practices and how best to optimise a  website for organic listings. Panda also saw us change the way in which we looked at “on page”optimisation.

Penguin 2.0 is looking to really clamp down on the way that links are generated and ensure that they are earned rather than bought. If you have recently found yourself undertaking this practice or you are thinking about it then stop now. If Google can drop Interflora then they will have no hesitation in dropping any website.

We will of course keep you updated with any fresh developments as they occur.

About The Author

Richard Hartley is the head of strategy at the digital marketing agency, Big Red Rocket.

The post Penguin 2.0 Is Due For Deployment appeared first on SEO Manchester by Big Red Rocket.

Those signing onto Google today may well have been taken to a landing page for Google Nose (the beta version). Not only have they created the landing page but also some great imagery of a young lady literally sniffing her smart phone with that “ahhh Bisto” look on her face.

Google Shows Sense Of Humour (beta version only)

Bless them, they have also incorporated some social media ideals,allegedly showing which people have been sniffing what. The real joke is on those who truly clicked on the sign up page to get access to Google Nose.

If you didn’t get to the landing page then here is the link – Google Nose.

As with all great jokes, they have tried to make it seem as real as possible. By being Google you can really make people believe anything through the power of brand led, digital marketing. Just watch the Google video below and see how real those jokers at Google make it seem.

Thanks Google. For those of us who have been working on Bank Holiday Monday in the UK, it did gives us a laugh first thing today.

The post Google Makes April Fool appeared first on SEO Manchester by Big Red Rocket.

Conversion rate optimisation enables you to make greater average profits from every single one of your visitors. Compare your own efforts to those of your competition, use cross promotions, optimise all of your landing pages, and experiment with different forms of Call To Action while testing any of the changes you make. Below are 7 tips on how best to improve conversion rates for your website and improve profits for your business.

1 – Consider The Competition

Take a look at what the competition are doing and use this for inspiration. Look at their marketing methods, their Calls to Action, and the type and quality of content that they have on their site. Use this to inspire your own content driven marketing strategy for your site. Content marketing and content based websites are the most popular and, arguably, the most effective.

2 – Don’t Copy Them

Use the information gathered from your competitors as inspiration but don’t get carried away copying everything they do. In order to beat the competition you will have to do something different or everything better. What’s more, copying too closely means that you may endure the wrath of Google and other search engines as they attempt to crack down on duplicate content.

3 – Recommendations And Cross Promoting

Use recommendations and cross promotions. Some of your website visitors may know that they want something but not fully understand exactly what. Your content should assist in providing the information they require but this can be backed up even further with good quality, accurate, and well targeted recommendations and promotions on relevant pages.

4 – Optimise Every Page For Performance

Make sure that every element of every single webpage is optimised so that it loads properly, fully, and quickly. Slow loading pages and broken page elements are a massive deterrent to the typical user. If they see broken pictures with no alternative text or titles, or they have to wait 20 seconds for a page to load they will be more inclined to leave your website.

5 – Try Different Calls To Action

If you are suffering on a particular page then consider trying a different Call To Action or even a different desired action for that page. Some services and products may require additional communication so find ways to collect user data and to communicate more personally than through the pages of your site. Newsletters and blog subscriptions are beneficial ways of doing this.

6 – Make Useful Reports From Your Analytics

Every website should benefit from the installation and implementation of analytics. An analytics package shows the route that visitors took to arrive on your site and the route they took while on your site. It will enable you to calculate conversion rates and to test new implementations and new strategies.

7 – Don’t Be Afraid To Implement Changes

Don’t be afraid to make small changes and implement them on your pages. Keep a copy of the old page and track results – you will be able to roll back your site to its old design so you will be able to recover from any changes that are not successful. A page doesn’t have to be broken to benefit from increased conversion rates but you should always be striving for the best results possible.

The post 7 Conversion Rate Optimisation Tips appeared first on SEO Manchester by Big Red Rocket.

Conversations

Conversation leads to conversion. The more involved a potential visitor becomes with your social media, the more likely they are to visit your site and because they are already involved in your business they will be more likely to make purchases when they do visit. Twitter can be a very useful destination for these conversations and Facebook can also prove useful for similar purposes.

News And Media

There are many social media websites and social networks where you can post media. YouTube and Flickr are two of the more popular examples but Facebook and Google+ are also very popular. Niche websites like Pinterest can prove invaluable when used effectively and once you have published media it can then be displayed on your own website and used to attract your social followers back to your website.

Author Status

Do make sure that your social profiles are set up to enjoy all the possible benefits. Let Google know who you are, add your profile to Google+, and link your Google profile to your various social media channels. When you add new content, include these links and also link to your website profile page with some of your content to be certain that all of your profiles and pages are gaining the same benefits.

Using Social Media To Your Advantage

There are numerous ways to use social media. By integrating your profiles with your own website you can increase traffic and improve your sales levels. Look for unique ways to add content and useful ways to publish social media content on your website so that you can increase your website profits.

About The Author

Richard Hartley is the head of SEO at Big Red Rocket and is a key exponent on SEO Manchester.

Big Red Rocket is a highly respected SEO and Digital Marketing Agency based in Manchester.

For further information on SEO, SMI and Digital Marketing for Manchester in general you can call us on 0844 332 6657 or send us an email by clicking here.

The post Integrating Social Media Into Your Website appeared first on SEO Manchester by Big Red Rocket.

Claiming Ownership Of Your Content

To enjoy the benefits of writing and providing high quality content you first need to claim ownership of the content that you write. This is done through your Google+ account, your own website, and any blogs and other channels where you produce content. Use the rel=”author” tag when linking to your profile from pages that you have written and include the blogs and websites where you contribute on your Google+ profile page.

Linking Your Social Profile And Your Content

Your social profile needs to be linked to your content and this can provide you with a range of benefits other than ensuring that you reap the rewards for your hard work. You can integrate social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, Newsvine, and other websites into your existing page template. You can start discussions on Twitter that then continue on your own site which not only gives your site greater credence and improves your author rank but it also encourages your social media followers to visit your website.

Become An Authority

You need to become an authority within your area of expertise. Produce high quality content regularly and post it to relevant social media channels. Get involved with the discussions that arise from your content and be certain that you answer questions and reply to comments. Ensure your links are in place and look for ways to persuade social media visitors to become website visitors; this is the point of social media marketing after all.

Author Rank

Author Rank is another important factor in the success of your online business. It means producing quality in everything you do and it also means becoming heavily involved in any discussion that may arise from the publication of your content. In return you will enjoy greater credence with your readers and improved traffic levels, conversion rates, and other metrics for your online efforts.

About The Author

Richard Hartley is the head of SEO at Big Red Rocket and is a key exponent on SEO Manchester.

Big Red Rocket is a highly respected SEO and Digital Marketing Agency based in Manchester.

For further information on SEO, SMI and Digital Marketing for Manchester in general you can call us on 0844 332 6657 or send us an email by clicking here.

The post The Importance Of Author Rank appeared first on SEO Manchester by Big Red Rocket.

Accessible Design

Whatever type of marketing you will embark on, ensure that your website is accessible. This means that pages should be problem free and error free. They should load quickly and they should enable the user to be able to quickly and simply access the information that they are looking for on your pages. Accessibility also means testing on different screen sizes and resolutions, using a variety of devices, and with a range of browsers.

Content Strategy

When it comes to content, start how you mean to go on. Populate your pages with high quality content and ensure there is provision for the addition of fresh and unique page content. Blogs, forums, and news sections can prove effective methods of introducing new content on a daily basis and incorporating these into your web design early in the life of your site will prove beneficial.

User Driven Website Content

You should also consider finding ways in which to involve your users. This not only means that they have a vested interest in the success of your site but it also means that they can help drive the marketing efforts of your website because your content can prove the driving force behind all of your marketing efforts from search optimisation to social media marketing.

Marketing A New Website

A new website can look great but if it isn’t marketed properly it will never be anything more than an attractive design. You need to encourage visitors to your website and use various marketing techniques to ensure that you are enjoying the greatest returns for your efforts. Start early and start positively so that you can continue to reap the rewards for some time to come.

About The Author

Richard Hartley is the head of SEO at Big Red Rocket and is a key exponent on SEO Manchester.

Big Red Rocket is a highly respected SEO and Digital Marketing Agency based in Manchester.

For further information on SEO, SMI and Digital Marketing for Manchester in general you can call us on 0844 332 6657 or send us an email by clicking here.

The post Early Marketing Steps For Your New Website appeared first on SEO Manchester by Big Red Rocket.

The Importance Of Web Content

Website content plays many roles on your website. It can attract new prospects to the pages of your site, it can convert those prospects to clients, and it can increase average order value, reduce bounce rate, and improve customer retention levels as well. Whatever the key metrics are for your site, providing quality content on your pages and away from your site will help to greatly improve results.

Google Updates

Google firmly believes that content should be beneficial to your website visitors and its search engine users. As such, they aim to give greater weight to pages that include high quality content and utilise content away from the page. Algorithm updates like Penguin and Panda have both been used in a bid to further cement Google’s position on the question of content quality. These updates mean that poor quality, duplicate, and scraped content are more likely to suffer a penalty than provide better rankings.

On-Page And Off-Page Content

When we talk about content, we are typically referring to the content that is found on your web pages. However, in reality, on page content is only a part of the equation and you should also consider off-page content as well. When you embark on search optimisation or social media marketing campaigns, your off page content will prove especially useful.

Content Driven Marketing Strategies

Virtually all forms of marketing rely on your website content in some way. PPC marketing not only requires high quality ad copy but your pages should be well written to ensure that they convert visitors to customers once they arrive on the pages of your site. SEO and Social Media Marketing (SMM) both require high quality content to enjoy the greatest benefits too.

About The Author

Richard Hartley is the head of SEO at Big Red Rocket and is a key exponent on SEO Manchester.

Big Red Rocket is a highly respected SEO and Digital Marketing Agency based in Manchester.

For further information on SEO, SMI and Digital Marketing for Manchester in general you can call us on 0844 332 6657 or send us an email by clicking here.

The post Content Driven Digital Marketing Strategies appeared first on SEO Manchester by Big Red Rocket.

What Was Posterous?

Posterous was, and for the moment sill is a simple blogging platform that is updated very much as the more main stream ones such as WordPress and Tumblr. It was started in May 2008, being based in San francisco and funded by Y Combinator. The main difference between Posterous and the other bigger blogging platforms is that Posterous was perfect for mobile blogging and was tipped as being the best free platform for life streaming.

Posterous Landmarks

Posterous received word wide attention very quickly and soon became the permanent home for many high profile bloggers. Social media expert, Steve Rubel very publicly announced that all his blogging was being moved to Posterous.

In January 2010, the3six5 publishing project was launched through Posterous and received world wide attention. It comprised of a live and continual publication, contributed to by a variety of well known and highly respected authors. It came to such high an acclaim that it was nominated for a Webby Award in 2011.

Following from there, Posterous was nominated as one of the “2010 Hottest Silicon Valley Companies” by Lead 411.

The Beginning Of The End

In March 2012, Posterous announced that they had been taken over by Twitter and many people waited with baited breath to see what such a social media giant wanted with this small but perfectly formed blogging platform.

A lot of people started to see the writing o the wall when in December 2012, Posterous announced that their users would be able to export their content in a format that would allow installation onto other platforms such as WordPress and Tumblr.

The bad news was broken on the 15 February that a little before the end of the first year of being under Twitter’s wing (sic), Posterous is going to close on April 30 2013, to concentrate more on Twitter based projects.

As I have mentioned, the ability to retrieve data from your Posterous account has been available since December 2012. Here is what the Posterous/Twitter team say about that:

Posterous launched in 2008. Our mission was to make it easier to share photos and connect with your social networks. Since joining Twitter almost one year ago, we’ve been able to continue that journey, building features to help you discover and share what’s happening in the world – on an even larger scale.

On April 30th, we will turn off posterous.com and our mobile apps in order to focus 100% of our efforts on Twitter. This means that as of April 30, Posterous Spaces will no longer be available either to view or to edit.

Right now and over the next couple months until April 30th, you can download all of your Posterous Spaces including your photos, videos, and documents.

Once again, a corporate giant takes away something sublimely simple because it may be taking a small percentage of market share away from them. Shame on Twitter.

The Future

All those Posterous fans have little to fear tough because the co founder of the blogging platform, Garry Tan has created a new site called Posthaven. In viewing the front page of Posthaven, it seems apparent that Garry is miffed about Twitter closing Posterous and he has openly stated that Posthaven is not ging to be closed down and is not for sale.

Gary recently spoke to Tech Crunch and this is what he said.

I’m teaming up with another cofounder of Posterous, Brett Gibson, and we are taking a pledge to keeping the URLs online forever. It’s $5 a month and will have all of the ease of use and power of Posterous. It’s just the two of us and we’re coding it in our bedrooms right now.

We all hope it goes well for Gary and look forward to seeing the creation when it is finally launched from his bedroom.

The post Posterous To Close April 30th appeared first on SEO Manchester by Big Red Rocket.