A couple of weeks ago, Google announced the completion of Caffeine, their new web indexing system. They’re pushing its speed, its comprehensive coverage of the web’s content, and – this is where it gets interesting – the improved “freshness” of search results.
It’s a reaction to the ever-increasing amount of content on the web. The official Google blog explains it like this:
Our old index had several layers, some of which were refreshed at a faster rate than others; the main layer would update every couple of weeks. To refresh a layer of the old index, we would analyze the entire web, which meant there was a significant delay between when we found a page and made it available to you.
With Caffeine, we analyze the web in small portions and update our search index on a continuous basis, globally. As we find new pages, or new information on existing pages, we can add these straight to the index.
What does this mean for potential developments in the SERPs that Caffeine will allow Google to develop? We’ve seen the inclusion of video and real time search. Is this going to lead to more complex SERPs, moving further away from Google’s original design simplicity?
By altering their SERP generation process to reflect the rate at which content is being published, Google have made it more important than ever – and easier than ever – to drive traffic to your site via updating your content.
At Moo we’re well aware of the results that can be achieved through well optimised, well written content. Caffeine isn’t going to massively revolutionise SEO; it’s a reflection of the importance that Google – and its users – place on “fresh” content. Quality and quantity aren’t mutually exclusive, and all SEO strategies need to be user-focussed; Caffeine consolidates the importance of good SEO content.
June 21st, 2010 - No Comments »
Posted in Search Engine Optimisation | Tags: content strategy, copywriting, google, seo, seo news
Writing search engine friendly text which is keyword-rich and actually readable can be a tricky thing. It’s helpful to take a step back from focussing on the technical side of SEO, and concentrating instead on the real reason you’re writing your copy: to communicate with website visitors. Don’t ignore opportunities for crafting a search engine friendly sentence, but remember that copywriting has been around for a lot longer than search engines, and the best copy has always been based on clear, persuasive communication.
Focus on what you want to say, and work out how you’re going to say it. If you’re struggling, there’s a treasure trove of advice on numerous blogs and websites dedicated to the business of SEO copywriting. They all agree on the basics…
Keep in mind your client’s needs, identify the correct tone for your copy, and be ready to edit and redraft.
It’s at this editing and redrafting stage that you should really focus on your keywords and keyphrases. Copy that fits your client’s needs should be easy to optimise. Exact match keywords (brand name, product name, etc) should be in place already. A review will throw up opportunities to balance keyword density, removing them from areas where they seem too numerous, and fitting them in where there’s the opportunity.
The kind of long-tail keyphrases that can significantly improve your search reach may not have appeared fully formed in your copy. Some research, however, should identify related words and common queries that existing/potential visitors are combining with your keywords when they search. Alter your existing copy to include these phrases; you should be able to identify opportunities for placing them in a way that benefits your copy. Keep it balanced, with the focus on communication, but don’t be shy about using your keywords.
Remember that when you’re using keywords and keyphrases, you’re communicating with your visitors using the same language they’ve used to find you. They expect to see your client’s name, the name of their product or service, and so on. It’s an SEO copywriter’s job to repeat without seeming repetitive; it’s every copywriter’s job to engage, persuade and communicate.
May 17th, 2010 - 1 Comment »
Posted in Search Engine Optimisation | Tags: content strategy, copywriting, seo
“Content Strategy”… Two words that are thrown around a lot at the moment. We’re big fans.
The need for content strategy comes from the changing ways in which people use the web. Visitors have come to expect more from your website than a simple storefront. Which means you need to be providing content that’ll engage and inform your visitors, at the same time as being as SEO friendly as possible.
It’s time to think about quality and quantity. Regularly updated content featuring relevant information as well as relevant keywords; that’s what’s going to win you links, retain visitors, drive conversions and get return on your investment. Tailoring content for the “long-tail” keywords and phrases that reflect the language your customers use allows you to engage them in a dialogue; you’re capturing them early in their buying cycle and building your brand at the same time.
Keep supplying that kind of content and not only are you more likely to get conversions from existing visitors, you’ll also increase your search engine ranking. That’ll bring more people to your site, who’ll engage with that content and pay you back in more links and more conversions.
Content strategy and SEO are a long-term investment; dedicate enough time to them and it should result in you being able to reassess your PPC campaigns and redistribute your advertising spend. Early content strategy and SEO work can be balanced by driving traffic with PPC. The quality content on your website will persuade visitors captured via PPC towards conversion, whilst simultaneously increasing your search engine listings.
Targeting and capitalising on exact term matches with PPC whilst optimising for broader terms in your content helps you to avoid common difficulties with on-page keyword density, and makes your content more readable. The quantifiable nature of PPC traffic, plus the amount of user experience data available through Web Analytics, can be used to tweak your content strategy; it’s all work towards the same goal, conversions and listings.
A well thought through content strategy, combined with a similarly targeted PPC campaign and supported by insightful Web Analytics is a pretty dangerous combination. By employing a content strategy you’ll generate awareness by upping your profile, actively bring in more customers at an earlier stage in their buying cycle, and optimise your website for product categories and keywords. And here’s the kicker: however your visitors get to your website, whether through PPC or natural search, high quality content is persuasive content.
Simultaneously optimising your website for the search engines, improving your visitors’ user experience, and managing your brand? Not to be sniffed at.
April 26th, 2010 - No Comments »
Posted in Search Engine Optimisation | Tags: content strategy, copywriting, ppc, roi, seo
If you set up a blog, forum or customer review area on your website you are most probably looking to engage your users and looking for input back from them. Unfortunately it is pretty much guaranteed that you’ll end up with spam comments of absolute gibberish such as Iufosda fkoasdkfj sadkl;f;l or just random web links.
Spam affects both webmasters and web users in different ways. As a webmaster spam can become the bane of your online life taking up more and more time checking and deleting comments. This is necessary so that your website and brand do not get associated with the products, scams or views that spam articles often contain. As a website user you are forced to be more selective about which comments you read and this can also make following a thread or series of comments much harder if it is interspersed with spam. Users have different tolerance levels to the amount and kind of spam that they are willing to accept. This can also be different if the user is viewing a blog regularly or has come to the blog from a search engine looking for a specific solution to their query, as users looking for a solution are more likely to scan content and identify and ignore spam content quicker than a user that is reading all the comments since they last visited.
Ok so it is pretty much common sense that SPAM IS BAD, it eats away at administration time for the site and can negatively affect the sites brand. Users experience of the site is worse when there is spam so how can you cut it out. There a many ways on the web for cutting out spam comments the most effective way is to verify each post before allowing it to be published, but this can be very time consuming and can stop real time debates and discussions from users. You can implement a CAPTCHA ((C)ompletely (A)utomated (P)ublic (T)uring test to tell (C)omputers and (H)umans (A)part) where a word or phrase is converted to an image and distorted so that automated OCR (Optical Character Recognition) programs cannot solve them whilst humans can still read them. This approach cuts a lot of spam out but also makes the submission process more time consuming and incontinent to the most valuable users to the site, the ones are generating content for your site. Finding the best method for your site requires research and testing of the different methods that can be found on the web, but hopefully it will not be long before a solution is found that is less intrusive into the user’s experience. Our main strategies on this blog are a mathematical sum and comments are moderated by humans before they are published. What methods have you found to be most successful?
October 1st, 2008 - No Comments »
Posted in Search Engine Optimisation | Tags: content strategy, online presence, seo, spam
Within the last couple of months there has been some strange distribution of page rank form Google. Even so that a few months ago the team at Moo were under the impression that a page rank update was accruing.
Well yesterday it seems that Google has finally rolled out another page rank update showing live stats on most of their data centres around the world. It can be estimated that the page rank is updated every 3 months but in this case it has been approximately 4 or a little over since a full update was taken out.
With the improvements over the last months in the Google webmaster tools allowing the viewing of back links not yet seen in the link:wwwmoomarketing.co.uk feature of Google. This has open doors to a more realistic view of how Google looks at a site, although to giving too much away.
Hopefully we will see more tools form Google i.e. when the next update is likely to happen, allowing web masters to set goals, but it must be said that the Page Rank does always mean that a site will appear above another we can never forgot the trusted site factor and must only use page rank as an estimate of how strong a site could be
October 28th, 2007 - No Comments »
Posted in Search Engine Optimisation | Tags: google, search stat, seo
