Expert Specialist Search Engine Optimisation

Pagerank is the way of counting the links that every website has pointing at it from another website. Every link is a vote and the more votes you get, the higher up in the Search Engines you will be. Using a rel=”nofollow” is handy way of keeping your pagerank on site.As every link transfers pagerank to another a website, sometimes you want to link to other websites without loosing any of your pagerank. Rel=”nofollow” is a handy way of keeping your pagerank onsite. Using a rel=”nofollow” used to work for demoting pages on your website, you did not want to appear high up in Google. Say you had an offer page which is out of date, you could link to it with a rel=”nofollow”, which would contain the pagrank within linking to page. However it looks like Google has changed its algorithm, so that Google disregards whether a link has a rel=”nofollow” on internal links. Read Rand Fishkin’s blog post here at SEOmoz.

So it seems just as people are worrying about the recession, along come the newspapers with the shocking revelation that every time you use Google you are generating as much CO2 as boiling a kettle. Don’t even think how hot you’d be if you locked yourself in a room with a kettle and turned it on every-time you used Google.

The story was originally published in the Sunday Times, and is currently in a state of perpetuity, with Google rebuffing the kettle boiling estimate of 7g, down to 0.2g, and with Alex Wissner-Gross a physicist from Harvard University stating “Various experts put forward carbon emission estimates for such a search of 1g-10g depending on the time involved and the equipment used”. The full story can be read here.

Predictions released by eMarketer for SEO in 2009:

Search Marketing Remains Recession-Resistant: While search marketing is not recession-proof, it is recession-resistant, with estimated spending growth in 2009 at 14.9%, to $12.3 billion. Key reasons for search’s strength: Search is highly measurable and will help retain many budgets and increase some others, as advertisers look for secure marketing methods to combat the fear of an economic meltdown. Although search advertising will grow less in 2009 than in any previous year, its inherent strength will mean greater spending gains than for any other major form of advertising, whether online or offline.

Video Ad Spending to Counter Economic Trends: Video ad spending will run counter to overall economic developments, rising by around 45% in 2009 to reach $850 million.

Shift in TV Ad Sales: US TV ad spending will decline 4.2% to $66.9 billion in 2009. This drop in spending reflects  expectations of a continued poor economy as well as a shift in the way television advertising is bought and sold, eMarketer said. Like other traditional media, TV advertising was already suffering, and now the climate will be even tougher. Fragmentation on TV and declines in viewership have made it more difficult for advertisers to reach audiences. Broadcasters will have to redefine their businesses in an increasingly online world. They will focus on expanding programming to the online realm.

Newspaper Companies Become Casualties: Newspaper advertising will decline in 2009 more than any other medium. Industry-wide cutbacks will continue, and there will be some consolidation, while firms will be forced to undertake drastic measures to stay afloat. The industry was limping before the recession and the market can expect more newspaper companies to become casualties.

This follows on from an interesting interview with Ken McGaffin, WordTracker at SES Conference London 2008. The changing roles of journalists, how incorporating keyword effectiveness into online articles, is coming to the fore. Check out the SES youtube channel a great resource for developments within the SEO industry.

There is not a definitive amount of copy that you will need to get to number one in Google because there are so many other factors involved. Ideally you should try and match or produce more content than your main competitor has. There are very few short cuts to this end as well, it is important to note. 

All your website content should hold the keywords that you are trying to optimise for. If I want to get to the top for “blue widgets California” I will have to use this keyword phrase a lot in my copy. Imagine you are trying to sell “blue widgets California”. If your content didn’t contain any references to “blue widgets in California” how would a search engine know that your website was all about blue widgets in California? Answer: It wouldn’t. Consequently when writing good website copy, it is always vital to have the keywords at the forefront of your mind. Imagine you are your own customer. You are looking for the products that your website sells. What would you type into Google to find your website? Ask your colleagues and friends. They may come up with something completely different to what you would think. Once you have a selection of 4 keyword phrases, you can start to research the results that come up when you type them in.