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Twitter Transforms Again

One of the biggest changes to Twitter was announced today, with the roll out expected to take up to eight weeks to complete.

Over this time, some Twitter users will begin to see a completely different Twitter interface, with the major difference being the ability to now see photographs and watch video clips without leaving the twitter browser.

You are also able to view people’s profiles on the page you are looking at (next to the list of tweets), whereas in the past you had to go to the person’s profile page to read what they were about (and whether they were worthwhile following or not).

Personally I think these changes will greatly improve the user experience on Twitter, and I cannot wait until the new interface reaches my laptop.

My greatest fear, is the fail whale. In the past Twitter hasn’t been able to cope with the sheer number of people using Twitter at the same time, therefore the addition of embedded media into the interface gives me great concerns. Hopefully Twitter have looked before they leapt, and everything will run smoothly.

The great SEO experiment – SEO Lincolnshire

Recently I was at a Search engine optimisation presentation, when the presenter inadvertently did two things.

Firstly he talked about how well ranked he was for SEO Lincolnshire, a search phrase I had considered but at the time dismissed. When I got home I checked up on the search term and discovered it actually had enough people searching for this service, to optimise our website for.

Secondly, he mentioned that after his presentation, I would be going back and trying to topple him from the first page position his site held on Google. So. I. Did.

And so begins the SEO Lincolnshire experiment. Will I be able to out rank a fellow professional for this term, especially as he has held this position for quite some time (and I haven’t even tried before now). Only time will time, but as the saying goes……GAME ON!

Google Instant Search

At the beginning of this week I started to see instant results showing up on the Google search page.

On further investigation it appeared to be a preview of the new Google instant search that launched officially today. Essentially as you begin to type a word into the search box, google not only shows you suggestions but actually displays a full page of results & Google AdWords for each suggested keyword you highlight. This makes the actual search facility much more engaging and interactive as you can actually see search results without hitting search and if you don’t see instantly what you are looking for you can simply carry on searching (and refining your search) until you are getting the results you were looking for.

So what will this mean for Google AdWords (e.g. will it count as an impression or has someone actually got to stay on the results page?). What about Search Engine Optimisation – how will this begin to effect the results we have all been working so hard to achieve?

As I find the answers I will keep this blog updated – but this is a huge change for Google after a year of many changes to the way Google works (caffeine, may day update etc.) as it strives to become the perfect search engine (at the moment 94% of people don’t go beyond the first page when searching).

What does a first page Google position really mean?

All search engine optimisation companies talk about getting your website on to the first page of Google.

But what does this mean in terms of actual visitor numbers or potential business.

Research carried out by Chitika Research - looked at the results of over 8.2 million impressions across their entire network, and broke this down based on the positions each result occupied in the Google Natural Search listings results.

The results were as follows:

• Google Position 1: 34.35% of the total traffic
• Google Position 2: 16.96% of total traffic
• Google Position 3: 11.42%
• Google Position 4: 7.73%
• Google Position 5: 6.19%
• Google Position 6: 5.05%
• Google Position 7: 4.02%
• Google Position 8: 3.47%
• Google Position 9: 2.85%
• Google Position 10: 2.71%

What is even more interesting is the significant difference between the bottom of page 1 of Google and the top of page 2 of Google – which was a difference of 143% between the two results. Positions on page 2 of Google received the following levels of traffic:

• Google position 11: 1.11%
• Google position 12: 0.85%
• Google position 13: 0.70%
• Google position 14: 0.57%
• Google position 15: 0.48%
• Google position 16: 0.39%
• Google position 17: 0.33%
• Google position 18: 0.28%
• Google position 19: 0.27%
• Google position 20: 0.29%

If you were to assume a figure of 2,000 exact match searches per month for a particular key phrase then the top three positions in Google based on these results would be:

• Google Position 1: 687 visitors
• Google Position 2: 339 visitors
• Google Position 3: 228 visitors

This highlights two things – first the research you need to undertake before embarking on any quest to get your website on to the first page of Google for a particular keyphrase. Make sure that the words you choose are WORTH IT. There is no point in paying £1000′s to get a keyword that brings 200 new visitors to your website, of which you convert 2 into paying clients that make you £50 a time.

Secondly, if you ARE looking at search engine optimisation, then you really need to be looking at the competition in those top three positions, this includes how established they are, how old their domain names are, how many links they have coming into their website. I would also look at their page rank (only as a guideline) as to how their website has been “seen” by Google. Generally the older the domain, the more trust Google has for the website – don’t get me wrong, it is not impossible to get a new site listed on the first page (we have just done this for a fishing reels website and we haven’t even put the correct content in yet!!), however if every page in those top 3 positions are very well optimised, have loads of good quality links AND have old domain names, then you will have a real fight on your hands to “dethrone” them from their positions.

As I have mentioned many times before research (your keywords), research (your competition) and research some more (what is the value of a new client to you via your website).

Google AdWords – Broad Match Refinement

Many advertisers begin Google AdWords with a broad match keyword phrase.

For example – Garden Furniture

The problem has been that Google runs an “extended broad match” programme automatically which often means a search phrase “loosely” related to your search term might trigger you AdWord. In this instance “outdoor furniture” or “Patio Furniture” might trigger your AdWord. We have even seen instances where something garden related (but not furniture has triggered an AdWord).

The result is often poor quality clicks on your AdWords as the person searching was not looking for your product.

Thankfully Google have now allowed Google AdWords advertisers the “broad match refinement” facility. This means that by adding a “+” sign before a word, the search phrase MUST include this word to trigger the AdWord. Therefore in the case of Garden Furniture – you should now enter this as +garden +furniture. The search term triggered would have to include BOTH words to trigger your AdWord, which should see the number of impressions reducing significantly in people’s AdWords accounts.

Want to hire us for your AdWords account management?