Posts Categorized: SEO

Don’t chase after Google’s algorithm, chase after what users want

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Last week I attended BrightonSEO (biggest SEO conference in Europe) for the very first time, usually I just follow it on Twitter, but this year decided that I had to be there as so much has developed in the SEO and Analytics industry over the past 12 months. Search engine updates, coding enhancements through to how users have changed their behaviour online. Fascinating stuff. This for me was an opportunity to hear and speak to experts in the industry and get their perspective on how search is changing and is expected to change over the next few years.

The biggest point I took away from the conference was this, even if you decide to not read the rest of this post then the least you, as a marketer, can do is take this thought away with you:

“Don’t chase after Google’s algorithm, chase after your best interpretation of what users want because that is what Google’s chasing after” Matt Cutts – Feb 2011

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Why you should focus your SEO on search terms with more than 4 words (The Long Tail)

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I know of many marketers who spend a lot of effort, time and money trying to get their websites to rank high within search engines for head terms, high volume keywords such as bricks, rainwater harvesting, loft insulation, wall ties, LED lights, cladding, aluminum cladding, roof tiles, silver taps and so on. Whilst these types of keywords are attractive because they come with high volumes of traffic it’s not really what you should be focusing ALL of your time, effort or money on. I haven’t come across many marketers who spend time looking at or focusing on the ‘long tail’, you know, the one’s who are about to send you an enquiry. Let’s just remind ourselves of what the long tail actually means:Read More

MDi TV Episode 14: What are advanced segments in Google Analytics?

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Welcome to another episode of MDi TV. Today I will talk you through advanced segments in Google Analytics, explaining what they are and how you can use them to break down your data into smaller segments. Google Analytics already has some standard segments set up that let you view and analyse your traffic data in more detail by looking at segments such as:

  • How much traffic came from just mobile devices like the iPhone or iPad to enable to you understand how people interact with your site on a small device.
  • How many website visitors were new and how many are returning visitors to help you identify whether brand campaigns and blogs keep people coming back for more.
  • How many came from search engines or referral sites to help you determine if your SEO or link building tactics are sending quality traffic.
  • Non-bounce visits (viewed more than 1 page) which enables you to assess the quality of your content or landing pages.
  • View the data for those that completed a goal to help you just look at the user journey for those who subscribed, registered or filled in the contact form.

My favourite part however is the fact that you can create your own custom segments! This allows you to find out even more information about certain campaigns to see how your marketing efforts are working over time. Some examples of custom segments that I discuss in this episode include measuring brand and non-brand keyword traffic, brand loyal visitors and traffic from various social media sites.

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What is (not provided) in Google Analytics and why is it my number one keyword?

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Have you logged into Google Analytics recently and noticed a certain keyword slowly rise to the #1 spot in your Keyword Report?

(not provided) google analyticsBack in October 2011, Google announced it would encrypt (SSL) searches performed by those who are logged into their Google Accounts (Gmail, YouTube, Reader, Analytics etc) which means sites will no longer receive the referral search term from these searchers. This makes it difficult for SEOs like us to optimise websites for particular keywords or search terms but it also helps us identify how many people could be seeing personalised search results. In Google Analytics you will see all encrypted searches grouped under (not provided).Read More

Measuring Brand Awareness for Construction Product Manufacturers

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Using Google Analytics to measure the performance of your website can reveal so many useful insights and give you some really good actionable outcomes. At Pauley Creative, prior to doing any form of online marketing we carry out an extensive website technical audit which includes a full Google Analytics audit & analysis so that we can recommend actions, activities and projects based on data, and data which actually means something and can be benchmarked and measured against. It’s all well and good saying “Visits to our website increased by 130%” but what if I told you that 90% of those visitors stayed on your website between 1 second and 10 seconds? Not so successful now huh?

This is where Advanced Segments in Google Analytics can really help you understand and breakdown those larger numbers into more smaller, more meaningful numbers. Firstly, Google Analytics already comes with some pre-defined advanced segments for you to choose from. These are great but they are basic segments such as ‘search traffic’ which will display all the stats only for those who came to your website from a search engine or ‘mobile visits’ or ‘non-bounce visits’. However, Google Analytics does allow you to create your own segments based on the type of website you have and the information you want to extract from the analytics software.Read More

The SEO benefits of using Pinterest

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Last week I wrote about the growth of Pinterest and how it can be used by businesses in the construction industry. The article proved to be very popular so I decided to approach it from another angle and specifically look at the SEO benefits. If you decide to create an account and start using Pinterest, it’s also a good idea to add Pinterest buttons to your website (yes, ANOTHER button). Since social signals are becoming increasingly important for ranking positions, encouraging your audience to pin and share your images/videos can only help increase your online visibility. To add these buttons to your site visit: http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/

1. Driving traffic

The main reason Pinterest has been making headlines over the last few weeks is because of the vast amounts of traffic it’s driving. Pinterest can bring new visitors to your site that might not have come across you or your products and services before. At the moment, I don’t think much of that traffic is targeted or quality traffic but this might change as Pinterest comes out of beta and more people from your target audience group sign up. Below you can see that within about a week, Pinterest is already in the top 5 traffic referring sources to our site.

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Analysing Assisted Conversions and Conversion Paths in Google Analytics

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Many marketers struggle to identify which sources of traffic are most effective when it comes to converting web visitors into leads. Setting up Goals in Google Analytics for events such as downloads, registrations, subscriptions or enquiry submissions is the first step in working out which sources of traffic, and which campaigns, are most effective.

A few weeks back I decided to use one of our clients’ high volume traffic websites to test the new Assisted Conversion and Conversion Paths reports in Google Analytics V5 for a 4 week period. Assisted conversions in Google Analytics identifies which sources of traffic played a part in converting a visitor into a lead. This is an important report for identifying which sources of traffic are helping in converting visitors. Here is what the Assisted Conversion path report looks like:

Assisted Conversions

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MDi TV Episode 9 – Optimising page titles for product manufacturer websites

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The latest episode of MDi TV illustrates how product manufacturers within the construction industry can optimise their product page titles. When architects and specifiers are searching online they might already have a specific product in mind and will type this brand or product name directly into search engines. If your page titles are not optimised then you could be missing out on a large volume of quality traffic. Watch this screencast to learn how important unique page titles are and how you can ensure that your website appears in search results for your products.

Please let us know if you have any questions that you would like answered in a future episode by sending a tweet to @PauleyCreative or emailing us.

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MDi TV Episode 8 – How search engines use social signals as one of its ranking factors

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Welcome to the latest episode of MDi TV. This week Pritesh explains how search engines use social signals to determine which websites or web pages to rank highly within search engine results pages. The key take away from this is that whilst this isn’t just about a link from Twitter or Facebook pointing to your website, it’s more about producing quality content and then allowing your website visitors to share that content within social networking sites. The more social shares your content has and authority is built, the stronger the signal to Google that this content is of quality and is shared by authoritative people online (influencers) and should rank higher within search engines.Read More

MDi TV Episode 7 – Location based search optimisation

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Welcome to the latest episode of MDi TV. This week we are doing something different and showing you a screencast tutorial of how you can optimise your construction website for people who are searching by location. Pritesh takes you through the process, highlighting what website (and page) elements are most important and need to be optimised for search engines.

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