Directories in SERPS

Just came across a new change in how Google show directories such as Thomson Local etc, heres a snippet of a search result using the phrase "Driving School Bradford"

As you can see the listing in the description are now bullet pointed and also has either 30+ items or results 1-20 of 140.

Now so far I’ve played around with a few phrases to see how this will have an impact on local search. So far it’s a balance, however I feel some longer exploration is needed.

The negative is that some directories have jumped up positions due to this, which has pushed other sites down. Personally I don’t think these directories should really rank or they should have a smaller section in the search results called directories. Most directories are pointless as people don’t want to look through even more results just to not actually get what they want. A section on the bottom of the screen, on the right under the AdWords or even on the left would be a more appropriate place for them.

The positive side is with the way the description reads it’s now more useful for the user, they now know it’s a directory and they can decide for themselves if they want to click through or not. This means less competition on page 1. Going back to the search I did, I found at least 3 of these listings meaning that if my client has a good solid page 1 it reduces the competition by 3 which can only be a good thing. Well have to see what happens over the next month if the positive outweighs the negative and how much this will have an impact on local digital marketing.

I Love MCR! Manchester Celebrates!

The I Love Manchester campaign kicks of today as the city shows that it will rise from the riots just like it rose from the bombing.

The amount of people embracing this great campaign is fantastic and it was started last night in style as the ‘I Love MCR’ logo was projected onto some of the city’s best-known buildings.

Theres a full weekend of events from gigs, the 21st Pride and comedy acts performing throughout the city, theres even going to be a "Tweet Up" where people will be asked to tweet messages of love for the city using the hashtag #IloveMCR.

Everywhere you look Manchester is wearing its heart on its sleeve!

Will Kitty Brucknell have the X-Factor?

No doubt if you watch X-factor or read the press you will have seen or heard of Kitty Brucknell AKA Kimberley Dayle, who got through the auditions of the London heat of X-factor 2011 on Saturday with a full house as all the 4 judges said yes. What has this to do with SEO? Well were are Kimberleys SEO Consultants and we have had some fantastic organic SEO results with her 3 sites including 2 page 1's, different sites, same phrase Lady Gaga Tribute. As well as being a Lady Gaga Tribute artist she is also puts on an amazing Britney Spears Tribute show.

Kimberley has been a joy to work with and extremely enthusiastic about every aspect of digital marketing, she loves blogging, Twitter, posting videos on YouTube and doing daily updates on Facebook, not at all the diva that the media is portraying her as.

Everyone at GCO is cheering her on and wishes her the best of luck in the next heats, we’re all confident she will reach the finals.

Unrealistic Keywords

It’s better to have many slices of smaller cakes rather than not even getting a crumb from a huge cake!

Keyword research should be a relatively straight forward. You listen to your clients goals, examine the site content, jot your ideas down then get out your trusty keyword research tool of choice and find the keywords with the highest search volumes. Sadly, that's not the way to do it if you want to see real results and ROI.

Your first hurdle is that too many businesses high-competition keywords are simply out of reach or only really achievable for huge companies with bottomless pockets. It maybe they are achievable but in the long term part of your strategy. Being realistic is a good part of the research along with what could be your best keyword tool, common sense! Knowing about the sites age, current authority and adaptability for future work will help greatly in knowing which keywords can be realistically targeted.

Targeting one word keywords are unrealistic in most cases, they may get huge search volumes however this doesn’t mean you’re going to get traffic from it. Huge search volumes often don’t count as they should. Shock horror, well there’s logic to this statement and here’s where common sense comes into play, people learn to search and soon realise 1 word searches don’t work that well, it doesn’t answer what they are looking for. Example, the user is a man and he types in "jeans", he gets too many different results including women’s and children’s. His next logical step is to type in "men’s jeans", he may even want a particular style or colour, so he will refine the search again to "men’s black jeans" or "carrot fit jeans". So a huge search volume can actually be misleading for a lot of one word phrases.

So the actual search volume on one word phrases isnt actually accurate, as it takes into account the users first unsuccessful searches and the fact they more than likely only spent 60 seconds on that page 1, before refining they're search!

Knowing how the user will search is a big part of picking the right keywords, the phrase "men’s jeans" may bring in a lot of searches and traffic, however optimising for "men’s black jeans" qualifies the traffic, there may be a lower volume, however the traffic getting to your site is more likely to have their credit card by the PC and ready to spend!

I’m not saying don’t target one word keywords, but be realistic too and also think about the client. They are paying you not really for page 1 listings but to gain more business or sales, if they aren’t making their money back or profiting from the results, they aren’t going to be happy are they? They may have a limited budget too and can’t compete with the major players in that industry. Using more realistic keywords and I say it again, common sense will build a better campaign and will strengthen the website over time so that the one word phrase could become realistic, plus if the client is getting business then they’re happy too.

And the client can be in fact the final hurdle in your campaign and keyword research as they can fixate on one word or unrealistic keywords, once we return to them with our research it a matter of explaining the benefits and how a one word keyword isn’t as good as lots of qualified lower volume ones. I always explain it as imagine your site is a physical store, by using just the most competitive phrase you have only one road to your shop with many other shops all along the same road, people can only go one way and have too many choices to make and have to search every shop to the point of boredom to find what they want. In fact it’s more like window shopping! Now imagine your shop has many roads to it bringing customers who know what they want and can see it eaily displayed in your store, you’re going to gain more business overall and definitely more than if you had just one way to your store. Educating the client in how people search can be just as important as the research itself and doing it in a way that they can make sense from will help forge a good working relationship and trust.

All this makes more sense and being realistic will improve not only online presence, but will gain more business or sales, it will also set up the site for a strong future. Digital marketing is partially about common sense and understanding how users search and then interact with sites online, knowing this is a good chunk of your battle and works for both organic SEO and PPC.

Websites Selling Google +1’s

Continuing from my last article it seems the Google +1 has already spawned quite a number of companies that now sell clicks, heres an article I found that also shares some of my own reserves about the subject Websites "Selling Google +1’s, Will Google’s Results Be Gamed?"

I had a look myself and some of these companies are even selling clicks via searching your targeted phrase say for example "Lady Gaga Tribute"
or Solar Panels then clicking the +1 that appears in the rankings. Now Ive looked at that and so far its been hit and miss, sometimes you can click in the rankings and then also have to click the homepage itself too, other times Ive clicked in the rankings and the new click has appeared on the home page, so I not sure how exactly that service is being sold or pitched.

Im sure Google will soon either not include +1 in their algorithm or somehow combat this new digital marketing +1 farming tend.

Google +1

No doubt most of you will have spotted it or are using the new Google +1 button on your website, the big question in SEO right now is does it help your rankings?

Ive come across a good article here with the experiment results he discusses here.

Now Ive also been using this on a couple of sites to see its reaction and would it really help my rankings. I managed to get an initial 25-30 people to click on not only the home page button but those on inner pages too. The 3 sites I tested all jumped up in the listings within around 3 - 5 days, quite well too I may add. 2 of them were in the top 4 listings on page 2 and jumped up to at least position 8 on page 1.

Unfortunately one of the test site was our own and I was pushing to get digital marketing Manchester on to page 1 and keep it there, very competitive phrase however and once other companies spotted we were on page 1 a huge scramble to get listings back began! So its back on page 2 at the moment with myself now working even harder to get it back and keep it there.

So yes the new +1 button does have a positive effect, now to my own concern in it being featured in Googles algorithm.

What is to stop people from creating 100's of Google accounts and clicking their site or clients sites? OK there is of course ethics, but we all know when a client wants their phrase ranking we do everything possible white hat to do it, at present you could class doing such a thing as black hat or even "like" farming, however no one yet is being penalised and how can Google prove its the same person owning 100's of accounts?

So the whole +1 can already be manipulated, I wont be the only one who has thought of this and so far its not black hat as such, so of course people will use this to their advantage. Personally I cant see it lasting too long as an effective factor in the latest algorithm once Google realise that if given a way to manipulate the rankings using this, people will!

Also a quick update weve just added a new AdWords page for help with our Google Advertising
service.

Welcome to our Digital Marketing Blog

Welcome to Digital Marketing in Manchester

This blog will be covering all things digital as well as other subjects and news from the world of media.

Get Clicked On provide a whole range of digital marketing solutions from organic SEO and advertising on Twitter to advertising on Facebook and advertising on YouTube.

Every month we help 100's of customers get search engine and internet exposure to help increase their business and gain a good internet presence. From a driving instructor in Leeds and wedding photographer in Lincolnshire to a Lady Gaga tribute act and a steel ladders manufacturer, we can help you realise your websites potential through the right form of internet marketing for your site!