In December 2008 it is alleged that Google, the super power in search engine retrieval was up to something which could either be seen as fundamentally good for everyone or trying to further dominate in a very lucrative industry (selling targeted adverts).
Google always lobbies quite publically for neutrality in regards to web traffic and how it is handled with no website being treated differently than any other. However, it has been suggested that Google may have approached a major cable and phone company to create a super fast lane into which Googles own content will be delivered. Therefore, websites like YouTube would be super fast. This practise is called ‘edge caching’ and encourages ISP’s to install additional servers on their networks to deliver high speed traffic. Any company can do this and it is not exclusive. However, not many companies can afford or wield as much power to be able to do so. Having competitors in business is important to keep the other companies ‘on their toes’.
So, is it for the greater good of everybody or for Google themselves? Is it both?
Whatever the answer to the question it certainly goes against the Google ideology of ‘neutrality of traffic’ and will mean that Google Maps will run faster than Windows Live Maps and Picasa will be faster than Flickr.
Many people are in favour of edge caching as it speeds up the internet in general but i will stay wary.
I am reminded of the old saying ‘Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely’.
Yahoo has been conversing with those in the field of search engine optimisation about the new update codenamed Panama. Panama has taken about 18 months to complete and instead of relying on information provided by Overture (a company Yahoo purchased in 2003 and an industry leader a few years back) the new Panama update relies on the information from the Yahoo index itself.
Yahoo is trying to capture the relevancy rating that has proved so popular with Google Adwords. Yahoo’s current ad system is not very flexible and only takes into account the amount of money an advertiser is willing to spend. This new update by Yahoo closes that gap by provising a Quality Index where a number between 1-5 is assigned to an advert which takes into consideration the ads click through rate, keyword relevancy, the landing page, the display url amongst others.
Also, Yahoo are updating their interface and making it easier to use. Anybody who has used Overture and Adwords will hands down agree that Adwords is much easier to use. Overture also takes a few days to show and advert whereas Adwords shows an advert within 15 minutes. yahoo have also addressed this issue by allowing your ads to go live within minutes.
This is a welcome change but will it make Yahoo market leader again in the lucrative Pay Per Click market? Well, been as though Google had this nailed before work even started on the Panama update, i doubt it. I’m sure Google have something up their sleeve.
The new Yahoo update is likely to go live in the first quarter of 2007
Webmasters are so obsessed with their website ranking well for a particular keyword in a particular search engine that they forget the purpose of their website. The purpose of their website is to create enough marketing interest in your service or product that you can make that potential lead a sale or conversion.search engine that they forget the purpose of their website. The purpose of their website is to create enough marketing interest in your service or product that you can make that potential lead a sale or conversion.
Many webmasters ask how we get our websites to the top of the search engines so quickly and so easily. They ask about keyword density. They ask about what Page Rank they require to get a good ranking. They ask how many back links they require from other websites. They are all missing the point.
You will get a high ranking website if you create a quality website. That is all search engines and in particular Google is looking for. Google especially relies upon relevance and will reward websites that are relevant. Therefore, forget about ranking well in the search engines and concentrate on having quality, original copy text. Consider an analogy of a business. If you run a business that focuses purely on making money then sure, you will make money. However, if you concentrate on giving your customers fantastic service and reliability then the money will follow as a by product. What’s more, you will be more successful than if you followed the former business model.
Google itself states that you should design your websites with your users in mind and not the search engines. Remember, Google just want relevant results on the first page of it’s search engine results (SERPS) and not pages of a low quality with the perfect mix of keywords and title tags. If you run Google Adwords campaigns then you will understand exactly what we mean.
So, what will Google look for in a relevant webpage?
Relevance of copy in regard to the search term. This can be measured by actual visitors visiting your site from the SERPS as well a people linking to your website from Delicious and the like. The internet is organic and search engines rely on the fact that over a period of time good quality websites will attract the attention of other websites and various online communities linking to you.
Build a quality an unique site and they will come.
In the early days of the internet when Google and Yahoo was still run by two students and Alta Vista was the main player, getting your website to the top of the search engines was simple. You added some meta tags and keywords to your website and loaded the pages full of keywords related content.
However, search engines and information retrieval became big business and those small companies run by geeky students had shareholders to please and so the relevance of information retrieval became paramount to a search engines success.
Google is the major player when it comes to search engines. Google uses over 100 factors in deciding where your website will appear in the search engine ranking pages (SERPS). Google relies heavily on back links to a website as well as the quality score of your website.
Search Engine Optimisation is now more about analysis more than anything. There are various tools produces such as Google Sitemaps and Google Analytics that can help a webmaster see how the search engines are interacting with their website. Google is becoming extremely clever and is separating the men from the boys when it comes to search engine optimisation. Search Engine Optimisation is about watching, researching, making small amenedments and then waiting for the results of those actions. SEO is a waiting game now where results can take months to appear. However, the financial rewards for a high ranking website in Google or any other major search engine are huge!
The basis of a high ranking are steady foundations. You need a website designed properly in the first place to get anywhere. If your website is easy to navigate and read then it is easily read by the search engines themselves.
If you are interested in what EyePlot can achieve in the search engines please feel free to contact us.
There are about two billion people in this big old world that use mobile devices. Most of those mobile devices are internet enabled. Most people who use the internet use search engines to find what they are looking for. Getting the idea? That’s right. We are not far away from mobile devices being used fairly often to search the internet.
There will of course always be differences. People will search differently using a mobile device as they would if they were using a desktop. For instance, when you are using a desktop you may be searching for anything and everything as there is a perception that you cannot do this for mobile devices. This in theory is not true but people are still using outdated non-cross platform web design techniques. Anyway, at the minute (August 2006) people do not use mobile devices for e-commerce – but they will in time.
At present, mobile device users search for very specific things such as bus and train time tables, movie times, football results etc.
Google is a big player in mobile search at present and is trying to team up with China who have a huge internet industry at the minute.
How does this affect you? Well, one thing you need to ensure whenever you have a website designed is that it is cross platform and future proof. HTML is being slowly phased out and replaced by its new and trendier cousin XHTML. XHTML is a cross between HTML and XML. XML actually allows computers to ‘understand’ what a website is all about. Websites designed using XHTML will work in today’s and tomorrow’s browsers. Websites designed using XHTML will also work in tomorrows new mobile devices such as mobile devices.
So, when you ask to have a website designed make sure that the website is future proof.
Want to know more about website design?
Helping your company’s website to become better known makes your business better known. It also lets you communicate with more prospective and existing customers. These hurdles are of such importance that they can often make or break a company. Your website has to be made visible to those who are interested in your services and products but don’t yet know your company or its web address. This is where search engine optimisation comes into play.
Visitors to your site will be a mixture of those who have found your website via links or ads on other websites, who know of your business already, and those who have arrived as a result of using a search engine such as Google, Yahoo or MSN.
Most businesses become visible on the world wide web through a delicate combination of online optimisation techniques and high quality web design. EyePlot can help you with this. We have many years of experience and have helped many businesses achieve financial success thanks to our ability to promote high search engine rankings.
Interested in how we could help your business succeed? We don’t bite – give us a call today on 0870 99 05 188 or email us for a free consultation.
Today online marketing is as important as offline marketing. No business, whether small or big, can afford to ignore online marketing. The Internet has opened the doors of vast opportunities for businesses.
Online marketing involves search engine marketing, article writing, blogging, e-mail marketing, etc. All these aspects of online marketing are inter-related, search engine marketing being the main component.
So what is search engine marketing? Search engine marketing is a broad term that incorporates many things. Let us start by saying that if you have a site you would definitely need to pursue search engine marketing. In very simple terms, the main purpose of search engine marketing is getting exposure for your website. It is one of the most effective ways to get targeted traffic to your website.
Search engine marketing comprises various techniques.
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the main elements of search engine marketing and online marketing. The main goal of SEO is to get top ranking for your site on the search engines. Yahoo, Google, and MSN are some of the major search engines that people across the world use to search for information online.
SEO is a very vast field. Basically the top ranking for a website is accomplished with the use of right keywords. You might have used Yahoo, Google, or other search engines to search for a product or information. The first thing you must have done is type in certain words related to what you are looking for in the search box and then press enter. With a click of a button you can have a list of sites that are related to what you are looking for.
The use of specific keywords is crucial for achieving top rankings on all major search engines. Besides focusing on keywords, SEO techniques also focus on site design and keyword for achieving top rankings for the site.
Pay-Per-Click
Pay-per-click marketing is another component of search engine marketing and online marketing. It is actually very simple, but is very expensive. Businesses with small marketing budgets do not always prefer to go with this option because it is the most expensive and least credible of all the search engine marketing techniques.
In a pay-per-click marketing you place your ads on various sites and search engines. When somebody clicks on your ad, you will have to pay the site or the search engine a certain amount. Since you will be paying, it is very important to use this technique very carefully. Furthermore, there are many people out there who click on ads to get the money. This means that you will not be getting the targeted traffic you want and the worse part is that you will have to pay.
Article Marketing
Article marketing is a very effect technique for search engine marketing. For it, all you have to do is write content rich articles related to your website and post them in various article directories. There are plenty of free article directories on the net. Before you post your articles, you must remember to paste a link to your website in the resource box. This way people who find your articles interesting will definitely visit your site.
Besides article marketing, blogging and video marketing are some of the other techniques used in search engine marketing. With proper use of search engine marketing techniques your online marketing will definitely be successful.