SEO Blog

Meta Description Tag, Meta useful

July 31, 2008 | SEO

SEO should really be about more than getting to the top rankings in Google.  Firstly SEO touches many other important areas and we understand that our work as well as having a positive effect, should not just stop with getting the rankings, what’s the point in getting visitors who you barely make any money out of?  What you want is attract visitors who already have their credit card out. We also realise that SEO can also have a negative impact when not performed corretly

That’s why we’ve recently changed our packages to not only provide our clients with a cutting edge service but that also provide more than your bog standard SEO Company, our goal is simply deliver results.  We don’t yet have a nifty catchphrase, I’m not sure this should be it, but if our clients don’t realise we’re ‘more than just a SEO Company’ then we’re simply not doing a good enough job.

We looked at the Meta Keywords Tag yesterday and I said the thing that really annoys me about SEO is the pointless stuff that gets overstated, well with the Meta Description Tag it’s the opposite it’s always grossly understated.  This is simply because in terms of it generating rankings it’s barely more useful than the Meta Keywords Tag, however it’s power is in generating leads, targeting markets and qualifying prospective buying customers.

The odd thing is people who run PPC are used to doing this for their PPC campaigns yet seem totalltoblivious to it at times when it comes to organic rankings.  Let’s be honest and say that actually most listings for site’s in Google aren’t that attractive, in fact sometimes it’s a choice between the least ugly listing not the most attractive.

Tips for a more targetted Meta Description Tag:

Make it short and sweet but not too short and sweet, you don’t want Google to cut of your description mid sentence but you also want you used your allotted space.
Like the Meta Keywords Tag make sure you have unique Descriptions for each page.  Some general blarb is not going to attract prospective buyers.
You can start to generate the right sort of leads by mentioning the keywords you are targetting or have rankings for.  Remember the user has already qualified themself by telling Google what they want, let them know you have it.  The more elements of your listing in bold the better.
Don’t spam, simply everyone hates spam.
Don’t lie either, in fact be dead straight with your customer if you only sell a certain type or colour of widgets let them know.  There is little point them visiting your site only to be disapointed.
Ultimately it’s much better to target niche groups who are prospective buyers than get lots of click through’s but hardly any sales.  Remember the main goal is what you take home at the end of the day in your back pocket.

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Keyword Meta Tag, Meta useless

July 30, 2008 | SEO, Uncategorized

One thing I really hate in SEO is the minor things that get made into big majors. Page Rank is one thing that springs to mind, the less said about that the better. The ultimate criminal has to be the Keywords Meta Tag. In fact it is so pointless it won’t make a blind bit of difference to Google whether it’s there or not. Annoyingly it’s something which just seems to have ‘hung around’ from the dark days of spammy SEO.

What’s the Keywords Meta Tag for?

Back in the early 90’s when Search Engines emerged on the scene to catalog and put some order on the growing number of web pages popping up, meta tags were used as useful way for a web site to tell the engine what it was about. Due to the popularity of Search Engines this system was readily abused and most web sites started having meta tags about popular subjects they had nothing to do with like “Britney Spears”.

That’s the simple history of the Keywords Meta Tag. In the mid 90’s some of the Search Technology which we see today started and one of the key changes was that the Search Engine Spider popped up, this is an automated program (bot) that would index pages.

In some cases your Keyword Meta Tag can actually damage your rankings so if you insist on using it here is a few pointers:

Don’t Spam - make sure all keywords are mentioned at least once in your main content.
Don’t use overkill - limit the number of keywords you use to no more than a dozen. ie don’t have an endless list, the less really the better.
Don’t be repetative - say if your site is about Dog Food don’t have Dog Food this, Dog Food that, Dog Food more, Dog Food even more.
Instead each keyword should be unique - Dog Food, this, that, more, even.
If, in the case of the above example, Dog is not always connected to Food have a comma between.
Don’t use overly specific keywords, if your targeting particular phrases you should include some general markets too
Make each page unique - variety is the spice of life, Google certainly think so.

Meta Description Tag

We should mention the meta description tag at this point, this is far more important (more on that in another post), so make sure your major keywords are mentioned here.

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4 Reasons why you’ll never beat Google.

July 29, 2008 | Google, SEO

Do you Search or Google? It’s not a particularly important question, the result is the same, however the answer to this question tells you a great deal about how us as users perceive the Search Market. The real question is do we still see Search as Searching or has search become Googling? There are a lot of changes in the Search Market going on. We not only have the three big engines fighting for superiority which has become somewhat of a desperate struggle but we also have plenty of start-ups, the recent of which is Cuil. Google is starting to really dominate a market it already has control over. So how do you exactly beat Google at their own game?

This was the subject of a recent post in Sitepoint, the core of the post actually makes some good points, however rather than 4 ways of beating Google it should be called 4 reasons why you’ll never beat Google. By actually looking at Cuil, they’ve started to rhetorically answer the important question can it actually be done? In their four ways they’ve proved at present that’s not possible which really makes the whole post pointless. Their 4 ways are Creating Superior Technology, Disrupt their Ad Market Stranglehold, Get to New Markets before they do and Be Mediocre but be Persuasive.

Technology.

This is why anyone falls at the first hurdle, Technology alone. Ultimately Technology isn’t enough. Google have spent over 10 years developing the technology that is their search engine. In my opinion someone’s going to have spend 20 years developing something better and personally I don’t think that’s going to happen. Ultimately is that even going to be enough? I don’t think so.

If you look at the history of the web then there have been many elements of the internet that have revolutionised the product itself the two most important of these are Search itself and Social. Google have been the only Search Engine to truly respond to the dramatically changing landscape of the web. Ultimately Search will continue to change and ultimately search as we know is dead.

Google are not relying on their technology to keep them their stranglehold on the market, ultimately Google are investing in the Search of Tomorrow today while all the other engine’s play catch up by investing in the Search of yesterday today. It will only mean one thing that Google’s grip can only tighten and ultimately there won’t be any ways of beating Google at their own game because simply Google are playing a different Game now.

If you’ve been following all the ho yah on our blog you’ll know about Microsoft trying to buy Yahoo and Yahoo instead trying to get into bed with Google, blah blah blah. You also know while all this is going on Google quietly under the radar have bought Digg, which is one of the most eminent Social Bookmarking sites, the question in relation to everything that’s going on is why have they Google done that? Then why are Yahoo and Microsoft doing what they’re doing?

Yahoo, in my opinion, have spent the last several years playing catch up technology wise. Today Yahoo is as reliable as Google, sometimes I find Yahoo more so. Being better than Google isn’t enough. If you look at the market then Google’s share is increasing and Yahoo’d decreasing. In the eyes of the consumer Google already have a far superior product and that’s when we come to the arena of Branding which is the fourth point, being persuasive which is key to understanding everything else so we will deal with it now.

Persuasive

While we’ve hit this point we may as well deal with it and it’s critical in relation to not just the previous point but others. Having the best product isn’t about having the best product! It’s about having the best product in the eyes of the consumer. If the technology gives Google a tight grip then their branding does so much more. Google’s golden ticket is Brand Loyalty, if something else that is better comes into the market then it will take that product many years to prove itself before we consumers will even start thinking it’s possible. The two best brands in Search are firstly Google and secondly Page Rank, and for me that says it all. Google has most webmasters around the world worrying about their Page Rank when actually in today’s landscape it’s not even that relevant.

Ad Stranglehold

Google makes it’s money from PPC, so common sense tells me if I really want to hit Google hard this is where it’s really going to hurt, the wallet. Common sense says tells me it never will. Unless someone can be Persuasive which we’ve just looked at this isn’t going to happen. Firstly Google’s popularity means Advertisers are always going to use Adsense as their main online advertising outlet and in some case only outlet. Google have the best platform and if you look at what Yahoo are doing then there actually tightening Google’s stranglehold.

New Markets

I’m not actually sure this is possible. There are no real untapped markets out there, pockets maybe but markets no. As we’ve already stated the real new market is in changing nature of Search and Google again are completely dominating.

If we’re ultimately asking the question how do you beat Google, well if your living in the real world that’s not possible in today’s Search climate.

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Google to buy Digg

July 25, 2008 | Google, Search Engine News

If you’ve read all the hoo haa about the on off sarga with Yahoo and Microsoft you may be surprised to learn that Google have agreed to buy Digg, the social bookmarking site for around $200 million, something that has very definitely slipped under the radar. The deal is apparently all formerly ratified. Google will be experimenting with Digg in it’s News search.

While Live struggles to claw back some market share from Google, Google has been busily pulling off deals like this which look at adapting it’s search for the future. This has confirmed to us something we at WMA already knew, Seach as we know it is dead!

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Dental SEO

July 25, 2008 | SEO, internet marketing

Dental SEO is a new service we are offering which will be aimed at the dental and dental services market. The Dental market is hotting up. More and more practices are turning from NHS to private and the average patient has far more choice of where to go. As with most markets, the first point of research is online, and this is where most dental practices fail and why we have our Dental SEO service.

Working closely with the practice, we will undertake all SEO activities and reporting, not only making sure that the rankings are good, but also monitoring the return on investment.

Follow the link To find out more about the Dental SEO service

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