How do you judge which is the top SEO company in Australia? Review their very own SEO results of course…

Check out the table below…as you can see it seems pretty clear that if you want at least twice as many keyword phrases on Page 1 and 2 or 3 times as many top 3 listings as your competitors, then SEO Works is the top SEO company for you…

Methodology

We started with the Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool and picked the top keyword phrases searched for over the preceding 90 days related to either “SEO” or “Search Engine Optimisation.

We then added in some key geographic locations around Australia (generally used by searchers to refine their searches across most market segments) for the terms “SEO” and “Search Engine Optimisation”…

…also in reverse order giving a total of 50 keyword phrases targeted by top SEO companies.

The next stage involved selecting every website that turned up in the first three pages of Google for these keyword phrases (there were 96 SEO-related websites that had at least one mention in the SERP’s). Then using independent SEO software – Advanced Web Ranking (AWR) by Caphyon – we recorded how many pages each top SEO company had appearing in:

• first place
• the top three listings
• the top five listings
• on page one
• within the first two pages
• within the first three pages

AWR then calculates an SEO Visibility Score by first assigning a number of points to each of the first 30 positions, as follows:

• Position 1 = 30 points
• Position 2 = 29 points
• Position 30 = 1 point
• Positions below 30 have 0 points.

A Visibility Score is then determined by the sum of the points given to an URL by each search engine.

The Visibility Percentage is then determined by the sum of Visibility Scores from all the search engines divided by the maximum number of points that the search engines can provide.

* This data was last updated on 15 May 2012. Search engine results can and do vary over time.

Google is the biggest Search Engine in westernised countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States as well as other regions in the world. To keep abreast of its competitors and maintain its domination of the market, the team at Google are committed to making improvements to their algorithms and enhancing the integrity of search for users. Here are five of the most recent developments in Google SEO.

Google SEO update #1: Google Search plus Your World

Google Search plus Your World was introduced by Google in January 2012. The update aims to customise and enrich your search experience by delivering search results that are based on both privately shared content from friends and family and traditional content across the web in a single click. According to Google, there are three new features including personal results, profiles in search and people and pages.

Find out more about Google Search plus Your World from the Official Google Blog.

Google SEO update #2: Google+ Business Pages

Google+ Pages for business were launched in November 2011 and was introduced as a social networking tool for businesses to connect with customers, clients, suppliers and other people important to your brand. Business networks could recommend your business with a +1 or add you to their circles so you can share information to your individual circles or start a one-on-one dialogue within someone in your circle.

Find out more about Google+ Business Pages from the Official Google Blog and watching the video below:

Google SEO update #3: Google Fresh update

An algorithm update Google Fresh was also launched in November 2011 and was designed to give users fresher, more recent and relevant search results from the last week, day or even minute for a particular search term. This would include changes to your website such as recent events, news updates or latest reviews. This put a continued and renewed focus on updating your website with new time-stamped content.

Find out more about Google Fresh from the Official Google Blog.

Google SEO update #4: Google+1

Google Plus, launched in 2011, has seen tremendous growth and with that growth has come several new features and a complete redesign of the interface. Features added recently include the You Tube search box (which seems to have since been removed), the addition of “Ripples” to discover how far a post has reached as well as the most recent interface overhaul that happened just last week (11 April 2012) which has divided the Google+ community to those who like it and those who don’t.

Find out more about Google+1 from the Official Google Blog.

Google SEO update #5: Google Panda

The launch of Google Panda was first announced in February 2011. However, this wasn’t just a one-off change; Google continues to refine the algorithm with the most recent update announced via Twitter in March 2012. It is designed to reduce rankings for ‘low-quality sites’. The Search Engine giant has defined these to be “sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful.”

Find out more about Google Panda from the Official Google Blog.

Keeping abreast of recent developments for Google is critical to the success of your SEO campaigns. But with Search Engines constantly changing their algorithms, this can be a daunting and overwhelming task. At SEO Works, one of the primary roles of our SEO Business Analysts is continuous research about Google SEO (so you don’t have to) and implementing these changes into your campaigns – contact us today about the SEO packages we have available.

WordPress (WP) is a free open source, fully customisable and SEO-friendly platform with high scalability. As well as the numerous SEO benefits of WordPress, it has great design templates and plugins available to increase the functionality of your website. It is also a really easy-to-use Content Management System (CMS) so you can effortlessly and painlessly update your content. Here are seven benefits of selecting the WordPress platform.

Open source software

WordPress is open source software which means that it is free to download and there is a large community of third party developers and programmers always working on adding SEO WordPress plugins to enhance the application. One of our favourite SEO plugins is the All in One SEO Pack which allows you to customise the meta tags from each post and page, create canonical URLs and fine tune navigational links.

Easy to use content management system (CMS)

You may have heard the marketing adage that ‘content is king’ but if you need to put in a call to your web developer each and every time you want to change material on your site, it can get very costly. The WordPress CMS has a very similar layout to Microsoft Word and it doesn’t take people long to familiarise themselves with the application and start using it to make changes to their site.

Permalinks

One of the main WordPress SEO features is the ability to customise the URL for every page and the flexibility it provides with respect to the URL structure – using keyword-rich URL’s will add weight to your Search Engine ranking. You can alter the structure of permalinks and add keywords you want to focus on for each post you make. Easy to remember URLS are also helpful for visitors to remember pages they have visited on your site.

SEO-friendly website architecture

With WordPress, it is easy to create both pages and posts on your website and then organise them into different keyword-rich categories which helps Search Engines to index your content. You can easily change your posts to pages or vice versa, as well as move them into a different category or even multiple categories. It’s also easy to interlink in between any pages and posts and you can specify a different URL for your categories.

Meta title and description tags customisation

With the help of SEO plugins such as the All In One SEO Pack, you can easily customise your title tags and descriptions. The title tag is an important on-site factor which tells Search Engines what the page is about and is also what is displayed on results pages. Title tags should normally be about 65-70 characters. You can also write a suggested description for your page/post for Search Engines which appears under the title in teh search results in most cases. The description is usually best to be around 150-160 characters as this is the length that the Search Engines display.

Anchor text customisation

Another important aspect of WordPress SEO is the ability to customise internal anchor text links with keyword-rich text. The anchor text is the visible, clickable words in a hyperlink. The text in these hyperlinks helps Search Engine spiders figure out what the ‘linked to’ page is about and rank the page for a relevant keyword. You can use the anchor text for links within your site as well as other external sites.

Optimising images

With the insert image button in WordPress, you can easily upload and optimise images by adding ALT (alternative) tags. The ALT tag text will appear when the image does not render properly onscreen. It also serves another purpose – Search Engines cannot read an image and rely on the ALT text to understand what the image is about. The text should reflect the keyword theme and content on the page so as to help Search Engines can determine relevancy.

The technical platform you choose for your site may be the defining factor in your SEO campaign. Some of the most important technical restrictions and challenges in the SEO process can be caused by the Content Management System not being ideally Search Engine-friendly. If you are planning on building or redesigning your website contact our SEO experts at SEO Works about the benefits of WordPress for SEO-friendly sites as well as other CMS systems we recommend.

Following up on our Google Places Page Optimisation article, here are five Google Places tips to enhance your page and boost its Search Engine ranking. Place Pages were launched in late 2009 and with the introduction of Places Search late 2010, Place Pages merged with organic listings on results pages (often referred to as “blended results”). Refreshing and monitoring your page as well as keeping up with algorithm changes are ongoing tasks for online marketing teams.

Google Places Tips #1: Apply for Google Business Photos

Google Business Photos is a pilot program introduced by Google that is only available in certain regions like the USA and Australia. Google ‘Trusted Photographers’ take high-quality still photographs of your premises that are made into panoramic images. When potential customers search for businesses such as yours on the internet, they will see images displayed on the search engine results pages*. The advantages of this include:

• The high quality images give customers a better sense of the layout, decor and style of your business interior.
• The images are published on Google Place pages, Google Maps and other Google properties.
• Using easy-to-use html snippets or Maps APIs, you can also link to these images from your own business website.

Google Places Tips #2: Encourage more reviews

When a Place Pages listing appears, you may have noticed that there is a star rating and the number of reviews available. Google Places reviews** are seen as a strong signal in Google’s local search algorithms. Encourage your customers to review and rate your business. When you have at least five reviews, you will start to see stars on your page. Remember to monitor reviews as part of your online reputation management strategy.

Google Places Tips #3: Build your citations

Citations are web references that include your name, address and phone number (NAP). They do not need to include a link back to your website. Google see citations as a validation that your website is an important part of the online community. It is important to keep your NAP consistent across the web and a local number is preferable. Places across the web to source citations could include:

• Trusted local and industry-related directories.
• Local chamber of commerce or local business associations.
• Customers/clients/suppliers/external stakeholders’ websites.
• Local bloggers/review websites and forums.
• Social media sites.

Debate reigns over whether citations are still relevant for local SEO. Google revamped Places Pages in July 2011 and removed citations from the search results but local search experts such as David Mihm and Andrew Beckman believed citations are still key for Search Engine ranking algorithms. Andrew discussed citations on the panel for the Local Myth Busters – Local Optimization Facts Proven or Debunked talk at SES New York 2012.

Google Places Tips #4: Optimise images and videos

Local Splash, also represented on the Local Myth Busters – Local Optimization Facts Proven or Debunked panel by Steve Yeich, has put together a page on optimising images for Google Place Pages. You can optimise images by adding keywords to your filename as well as adding your categories and keywords to the ‘Summary’ tab of the ‘Properties’ box of the image. See the screenshot below from the Local Splash website.

Google Places Tips #5: Maintain your account

You should visit your Google Places Pages regularly to monitor reviews as well as keep your content refreshed and current. You can update your page with images, videos, sales brochures, menus, special offers and other material to keep your page interesting and relevant for your customers. In addition, review your categories, description and other content to ensure they are optimised for the correct categories and keywords.

To keep in touch with updates, exchange advice, ask questions and troubleshoot issues for Google Place Pages and other business products, visit the Google and Your Business forum. The SEO Works blog also features more Google Places tips and guides and you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter. To find out more about our SEO Google Maps – Places Packages and boost your Google Places Page on the SERPS, contact us today.

*Search Engine Results Pages

**Only people with a Google account can add a review to a Google Places Page as of the 21st July 2011.

From the obvious to the more obscure, here are the top 20 SEO tips for beginners to learn how to optimise your website. Whether you are planning to hire an SEO company or keep your online marketing in-house, it’s essential to have a broad understanding of the industry so you can oversee your SEO activities. Here are tips on how to improve the technical infrastructure of your site, keyword research, off-site profile and on-site content.

Technical infrastructure SEO tips

• Although Search Engines are much better at indexing Flash content, most SEO companies still recommend having an HTML-style navigation and content template to get the most out of your SEO campaigns.
• Using a Search Engine-Friendly Content Management System is critical to the success of your SEO campaigns. It will allow you to create keyword-rich URLs and customise titles, description tags and anchor text.
• Do regular checks for broken links across your site. This includes sweeping the site for both broken internal and external links – use a tool such as Xenu.
• Use canonical tags to tell Search Engines what the preferred version of your URL is. If http://www.mydomain.com.au is your preference, then use a 301 redirect http://mydomain.com and other variations to this domain.
• Add a site map to your website – it allows easier indexing of your site by the Search Engines as well as improving usability and site navigation.

Keyword research SEO tips

• Employ a few different methods to shortlist keywords for your site. This may include reviewing Google Analytics, using keyword research tools, surveying clients and customers and social media and competitor analysis.
• Don’t just focus on trophy words or short tailed keywords like ‘Sydney gym’. Add long-tailed keywords to your keyword portfolio like ‘Females only Sydney gym’.
• Look at the search volume when using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. ‘Broad Searches’ will return results of combinations of keywords but ‘Exact Searches’ will only return results for the exact match of the search phrase.
• Ideally optimise each page with one keyword theme. This should be reflected on the URL, title and description tags, headings, ALT (alternative text) and links. Don’t try to optimise the page for several keywords at once.
• Search patterns change over time so keep up to date with keywords that are relevant your site and the language your target market is using. Monitor your keywords every year to expand your keyword portfolio.

Off-site profile SEO tips

• Post original and interesting content on your website other people want to link back to such as topical content, results of surveys, infographics or research your company has conducted or interactive content.
• The anchor text (this is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink) is critical to link building. Create anchor links with keyword-rich text.
• Don’t just link back to your homepage. Deep linking to as many pages on your website tells Search Engines that more of your content is worth indexing.
• Ask if you can write guests posts on respected industry blogs in return for a link to your website. This will not only help your Search Engine visibility but will position you as an expert in your trade.
• Continue to work on your link building and citation building activities. There are always new opportunities for backlinks on directories or blogs.

On-site content SEO tips

• Make a firm commitment to adding fresh and original content to your website regularly. Put together a copywriting schedule to ensure your website is updated regularly with quality, optimised content.
• Check for duplicate content across your site. If you have duplicate content that must stay on your site, you can add a robot.txt file to your site to tell Search Engines what and what not to index.
• Write for users first and Search Engines second. Keyword stuffing on a page may drive a visitor to your website but well written copy will nudge visitors down the path of conversion which is your end goal.
• Write copy in your target market’s language – this will also help in aligning your copy with search terms they are using. This means minimising jargon, acronyms and writing in plain English.
• Employ writing on the core web design principles such as breaking up text with headings, subheadings and paragraphs, use bulleted lists, the inverted-pyramid model of writing* and use the active voice.

SEO is a fast paced industry and to keep abreast of changes in optimisation, it is essential to read SEO blogs, watch webinars and follow influential social media sites. The SEO Works blog features SEO advice, articles and guides and you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter. To find out more about our SEO packages or to receive more SEO tips on how you can improve your website, contact us today.

*Writing copy that details the most important information to the least important.

The Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) industry is constantly changing as Search Engines try and improve the integrity of search results for users. It’s important for consultants to do constant research, be aware of SEO trends and new developments in the industry. This information is then used to put together online marketing campaigns for clients that reflect current methodologies and produces optimal results. Find out about five key trends for the 2012 year and beyond.

SEO trends 1: Increased focus on quality content

The Google Panda update in February 2011 and subsequent refinements has demonstrated Google’s continued focus on promoting high-quality websites that have valuable and original content such as research, in-depth reports and thoughtful analysis. This in turn has reduced rankings for low-quality sites which are considered by Google to be ‘low-value add for users, sites that copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful’.

SEO trends 2: Increased importance on quality incoming links

Following on from the Panda update, Amit Singhal, Senior VP and Google Fellow announced recently in February 2012 that Google has changed the way in which they evaluate links; in particular, they are turning off a volume oriented method of link analysis that they have used for several years. Rand Fishkin from SEOmoz believes that in 2012, Google’s search quality team will roll out algorithmic changes in how they value low quality links.

SEO trends 3: Emphasis on fresh content

The Google Fresh update increased prominence of pages that have been recently published or updated. The aim is to increase the value of websites that keep up to date with the latest information on topics, especially ones that are time sensitive like sporting results or award show results. Astute marketing teams will be refreshing their content more frequently to take advantage of this algorithm change.

SEO trends 4: Move towards integration of online strategies

2012 will see a move towards integrating SEO with other internet marketing strategies such as social media marketing and article marketing. There will be a growing demand for online marketing agencies that can offer a full package of services allowing a client to deal with one company for all their internet marketing needs. Rand Fishkin says that ‘We’ll start to move away from the title ‘SEO’ to something more all-inclusive…’

SEO trends 5: Increased demand for external SEO Services

Large corporations have long realised that to maintain a high Search Engine visibility, they require a dedicated internal SEO team or consultant. However, in the same way that most in house marketing teams work with specialised marketing consultants such as external media buyers and public relations teams, they may also require the services of an SEO company to cope with the increasingly demanding and growing complexity of search.

If you are managing an in house marketing team and you would like some assistance with your online search campaigns or you are looking for an SEO company to assist you, contact SEO Works today and ask to speak to one of our consultants. It’s an important part of an SEO specialist’s role to keep abreast of SEO trends as changes occur in the SEO industry, empower you with information about search and suggest strategic enhancements to your campaigns where appropriate.

If you’re new to the world of Search Engine Optimisation, it might be difficult to know where to find the best SEO advice and what information to trust. The sheer number of resources available can be overwhelming but here are five websites headed up by some of the important players in the SEO industry who happily share their insights, commentary and provide valuable resources to educate people about optimisation.

SEOmoz

SEOmoz is a leading developer of SEO software and the internet’s largest online marketing community with over 250,000 members offering SEO advice, tips and guidance. There is a premium package available called SEOmoz PRO. Members get access to a campaign-based web app, dozens of SEO tools, webinars and full access to Open Site Explorer. The community and education features include:

• Daily SEO Blog
• YOUmoz User Blog
• Learn SEO
• SEO Jobs Marketplace

SEMPO

SEMPO is a non-profit professional association working to increase awareness and promote the value of Search Engine Marketing. The membership base primarily consists of SEO consultants, advertising agencies and in-house marketing professionals and web developers. There are three levels of membership available. Their resources include articles, research papers and webinars as well as events held for members.

Google

Why not get SEO advice straight from the horse’s mouth? Google offers a wide variety of resources across all their business streams. Those new to SEO can have a look at the Webmaster Guidelines and the SEO Starter Guide. Other popular websites include Matt Cutt’s blog (head of the webspam team) and the Google Webmaster Tools YouTube channel. Here is a list of the official Google blogs across the world.

Yahoo! Search and Bing

Yahoo!, another of the world’s largest Search Engines also offers free tools and resources to webmasters and website owners such as information on content guidelines, a search community, webmaster support and feedback and information on site promotion. By subscribing to the Yahoo! Search Blog this gives you an insider’s look at Yahoo! You can find more information at the following websites:

• Yahoo! Search Marketing – Learn about a variety of Yahoo! services for online advertisers.
• Submit Your Site to Bing – Submit your site for inclusion in Yahoo! Search and Bing.
• Report Search Spam and Abuse
• Yahoo! Search Support - Feedback and request inquiries into the status of your site in Yahoo! Search.
• Advertiser Web Services – Tools and services you need to build a search business on top of the technology platform.

Search Engine Land

There are a lot of online marketing blogs but Search Engine Land is a “must read” trusted news and information site for SEO advice. The blog covers Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation as well as social media marketing. There is Pro Membership available which gives you access to exclusive discounts, special rebates for SEO events, newsletters, videos, guides and tutorials and much more.

As well as subscribing to blogs, you should also follow these companies and/or influential people in the organisation on Twitter and Facebook to find out the latest SEO news as it happens in real time. The SEO Works also blog features SEO articles, guides and tips and you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter. To find out more about our SEO packages or to receive the best SEO advice about how to improve your website, contact us today.

Some internet marketing companies may use the terms SEO and SEM interchangeably but SEM is an integrated strategy including SEO. It is an umbrella term that covers two broad areas driving traffic to your website through organic search such as SEO and paid search advertising such as Pay-Per-Click (PPC). A company may decide to use organic or paid search or a combination of internet marketing strategies. Find more about SEO and SEM.

What is SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

SEM stands for “Search Engine Marketing” and is sometimes called “search marketing”. As aforementioned, it is the process of gaining traffic from, or visibility on, Search Engines through organic and paid search. Paid Search Marketing is also called PPC marketing, Cost-Per-Click marketing or sponsored advertising. A comprehensive Search Engine Marketing campaign may include the following elements:

• Search Engine Optimisation
• Pay-for-placement management (includes pay-per-click)
• Paid inclusion and trusted feed programs

What is SEO (organic/natural search)?

SEO (or Search Engine Optimisation is sometimes also called organic or natural search. It focuses on search positioning and on-page optimisation as well as link and citation building. SEO may take longer to get results, but they will tend to be more long term or at the very least, your Search Engine visibility will be constant for some time (months) depending on industry competition and other factors.

What is PPC (paid search)?

Pay-Per-Click is where an advertiser bids on keywords associated with an advertisement in order to achieve higher position on Search Engine Results Pages (sponsored links section) for searches on that keyword. PPC stops immediately once the campaign ends. However it is a quick-fire strategy and in only a few hours, PPC ads can be active and visible on the net driving traffic to your website and improving revenue.

What is paid inclusion?

This is simply the practice of paying a Search Engine or a directory to add a site to its database immediately, rather than setting up that site so that it will be found by the Search Engine spiders on its own. With some sites, paid inclusion may be the only way that you can get listed on their website. An example of paid inclusion sites include:

• Yahoo Directory
• Several good directory listing sites often include a ‘featured’ listing selection where you can pay to have your listing on the home page or top of the category page.

One should be careful not to overdo getting links from paid inclusion sites and the percentage of paid links should be much lower than non paid links.

SEO and SEM – Pros and cons

Here are the advantages and benefits of using organic and paid search:

Despite their differences, using a combination of organic and paid search strategies will help your website perform better. As both are specialist online marketing techniques, you may want to hire experts to assist you. Speak to our consultants about our SEO and SEM services and how these strategies and tactics can work together in harmony to improve your Search Engine visibility, increase your conversion rate and boost online revenue.

SEO copywriting involves a balance of written copy to attract Search Engines while remaining reader-friendly and nudging visitors towards conversion. It has evolved from simply writing web page copy with clumsily-inserted keyword phrases to developing compelling copy for visitors and for other websites to link back to and resource for their own sites. Here are 7 SEO copywriting tips you can incorporate on your pages.

Write well and write often

The underlying premise of SEO copywriting is to write quality content that other websites will naturally want to link back to. Google and other Search Engines love useful, well-written, fresh and original content. If visitors find the material on your website useful, they will link to it and share it with their community. Google sees a back link from a high authority website as a validation for your website and this will impact on your rankings.

Natural keyword insertion

Your aim is to insert keywords organically within SEO copywriting. Remember you are writing for visitors as well as Search Engines. Well optimised pages will drive traffic to your pages but well written copy (see above) will result in a higher conversion rate and attract back links to your site. Be careful not to stuff your copy with keywords as this is considered to be spam by Search Engines and your website may even lose rankings as a result.

Use headings wisely

Headings are used to define organisation structure on a web page and as a navigation or guide for the reader but they are also important for Search Engine Optimisation and telling the Search Engines what your page is about. Headings should match the selected keywords and ideally your main keyword phrase should be at the start of your H1 heading on the page. Use subheadings to optimise for secondary keywords.

Title tags and meta description tags

The title tag is displayed on the Search Engine Results Page (SERPS). The text you use in the title tag is an important factor in how a Search Engine may decide to rank your web page (65 characters is the cut-off in Google). The suggested meta description tag you write is not always used by Search Engines but it is the summary text that sits underneath the title tag in the SERPS (160 characters is the cut-off).

Good use of inbound links

Cross-linking serves several purposes; it gives readers more information about a topic and guides them through your website and also facilitates Search Engines crawling through your pages, helps build the relevancy of a page to a keyword phrase and ensures PageRank is shared among the articles on your website. Interlink your pages with contextual links whose anchor text is relevant to the target page.

Have useful external links

Some people believe that if you link to external sites this will dilute your PageRank but organic copy should naturally have external links to help visitors find more information. However, if possible, try not to use your main keyword phrase for that page as anchor text to link out to other pages. Keep in mind you should only link to pages on quality websites that are relevant to your content.

Don’t forget about images

Don’t forget naming of images can also increase your website’s ranking and Google Images is an important referrer of traffic. With SEO copywriting, it is important to have a balance of text and images and a good image-to-text ratio as Search Engines prefer websites that are text heavy. Give your images keyword-rich names and use ALT text (alternative text) to describe an image in case it doesn’t render on a website.

When hiring either in-house copywriters or outsourcing your copy, it is important to find a writer who understands how to write for both Search Engines and for visitors to your site. SEO Works is a leading service provider with a team of SEO experts, copywriters and link building analysts who will help you optimise your pages and create SEO copywriting that drives traffic to your website and results in an improved conversion rate.

Setting SEO goals for your website is one of the hardest things to do especially when you have just launched a new site or you are operating in a new and unfamiliar market. An SEO consultant will work with you on achievable benchmarks for your individual business. Unfortunately, not all websites are SEO-friendly – these are just some of the factors you may take into consideration when setting realistic SEO goals.

Age of the domain

The age of your domain is an important factor when setting SEO goals for your website. An established website may have acquired more back links over time and may be seen to be more credible and authoritative due to its longevity and may rank higher in Search Engines like Google . A website that has just been launched will take a few months to get up on its feet – this needs to be taken into account when setting benchmarks.

Internal structure

The technical platform and ‘bones’ of your website also has an impact on the success of SEO. Search Engines have improved Flash indexing but most SEO experts would still recommend building a website on an HTML platform. An SEO consultant would also need to look at the navigation structure, the use of meta data and the relevance to page content as well as other technical aspects of your site.

Business model

The SEO goals you set will be largely determined by the purpose of your website. If your company’s aim is to inform people about a particular service or build brand awareness, you may be focused on the time on site, page views, and the number of new versus returning visitors. However an ecommerce site which is selling products may be more focused on tracking sales leads, goals and funnels and conversion rates.

Choice of keywords

Keyword selection has an impact on your SEO goals. Some phrases are easier to rank for as there is simply less competition. Companies who want to rank on page one for ‘trophy’ keywords or highly competitive phrases may have to tone down their expectations. An SEO consultant will work with you to find a workable blend of short tail and long tail keywords to drive pre-qualified traffic to your website.

Content

The existing content on a website will also influence an SEO campaign and goal setting. Search Engines have a preference for websites with quality content that are continually refreshed and updated. If you only have a few pages existing on your website, the consultant will have to set initial tasks to create the additional pages with keyword-rich quality content before they even start monitoring your rankings.

Size of the site

In general, the bigger your website, the more phrases it can rank for. This is a double-edged sword as you have more keyword opportunities but it also requires more work on the behalf of the SEO consultant. In this instance when setting SEO goals, you need to drill down and find out the most important pages/keyword phrases and then as they start ranking, look to expanding your keyword portfolio.

Analysing the competition

This is particularly relevant to companies who are launching a new website or diversifying into a new category. Analysing competitor’s websites will help you to set realistic and attainable benchmarks for your own website. You can find out metrics such as the number of keywords they are targeting, the number of back links and citations, how many pages they have and so forth to help you set SEO goals for your own website.

Budget and resources

It stands to reason that the more keywords you can implement on your site, the more landing pages you can optimise and the more people you have working on your SEO campaigns, the easier it will be to achieve your SEO goals. However, most companies are limited by a budget and time constraints. An SEO company may offer different levels of packages to suit different budgets.

If you do not set key performance indicators (KPIs) for your site and understand why they are set, it will be harder to measure whether your SEO Company is doing a good job. SEO Works is a leading service provider who will help you set realistic, attainable and measurable SEO goals for your website, implement campaigns and measure results – why not contact us today to speak to one of our consultants.

SEO in Australia has certain nuances that only an agency with a local presence may be aware of. On face value it may seem cheaper to hire a company offshore or easier to continue using your overseas-based agency if you are launching into the Australian market but you may be missing out on valued keyword opportunities or ways to capture the local region – here are five differences that an SEO strategy should reflect.

Keyword selection – Australian slang, colloquialisms, idioms and nuances

Australians use different language and spellings to search for products and services that is unique to this country or even city. When deciding on your final keyword selection for the Australian market, an SEO company must be mindful of Australian slang, colloquialisms, idioms and nuances. This is why it is beneficial to hire a company that is native to this region and has a deeper understanding of the specifics of the language.

Copywriting – Australian culture

When optimising landing pages for ecommerce sites in particular, it is advantageous for an SEO consultancy firm to be aware of special events and public holidays of cultural importance and distinct to Australia. These include Australia Day, Melbourne Cup, ANZAC Day, the Queen’s Birthday and Labour Day. You can create landing pages for special promotions and deals targeting these events – this is particularly relevant to the tourism industry.

Link building – Australian websites

When focusing on SEO in Australia, it is important to choose a link building company that has established strong relationships with web developers of business directories, industry associations, chambers of commerce and relevant governmental resources. An SEO agency based in Australia may have a better understanding of what websites have high authority, what strategies will work in this market and how to best approach web developers.

Domain strategy – Australian Business Numbers

Unlike other countries, Australia is quite unique in that you are only allowed to apply for a top level domain (TLD) ie ‘com.au’ if you have an Australian Business Number (ABN). In regards to SEO in Australia, it is more desirable for local search to have a domain name that ends in ‘com.au’ – this helps Search Engines recognise your website is targeting the Australian market and then rank it appropriately for local search.

Server – Australian location

Local hosting is also important and an Australian SEO company would be able to recommend the best hosting companies. Matt Cutts, the Head of Web Spam says that previously their Search Engine algorithms would only look at the TLD to determine where the website is based. However, now the IP address is also important to see where the website is hosted to determine rankings and return the most relevant local results.

If you are launching a new website or working for a global enterprise and entering the Australian market for the first time, it’s hard to know the best SEO company to choose. Why not contact SEO Works, look at our profile client list, learn more about the customised SEO Packages and SEO Services we offer and speak to one of our consultants who specialise in SEO in Australia.

Search plus Your World launched by Search Engine giant Google started its rollout last week. Starting with Social Search, Google has been very transparent in its goal to personalise search. The update aims to customise your search experience and make it richer by returning a set of results that are based on both privately shared content from friends and family and traditional content across the web in a single click.

“Search is pretty amazing at finding that one needle in a haystack of billions of web pages, images, videos, news and much more. But clearly, that isn’t enough. You should also be able to find your own stuff on the web, the people you know and things they’ve shared with you, as well as the people you don’t know but might want to… all from one search box.”

Amit Singhal, Google Fellow

Google+ members, and to a lesser extent others who are signed into Google will be able to search against both the broader web and their own Google+ circles. Search plus Your World is currently being rolled out across different regions firstly for those who are doing searches in English. You need to be signed into your Google account. When it is launched in your region, Google will alert you with a message above your search results (below):

Find out more in the official Google Plus Your World video:

According to Google, there are three new features of Search plus Your World:

1. Personal Results – this enables you to find information that has been shared by you and your circle of Google Plus friends, that only you will be able to see on your results page;
2. Profiles in Search – this allows you to immediately find people you are closely connected to or people you may be interested in following both in auto complete and results;
3. People and Pages – this assists you in finding Google+ pages and people’s profiles which may relate to a specific topic or area of interest, you can follow them with just a few clicks and build your community.

In a nutshell, Google search results are going to be automatically personalised more so than they were already fusing ‘normal’ or ‘traditional’ search results and signals drawn from your Google+ Circles that you or your friends have shared which will be clearly annotated. Google will also show photos shared on Picasa or Google+. If you have marked them private, they will only be visible to you and not everyone else on the web.

As you can see from the screen dump from an article from SearchEngineLand (below), Google has introduced a new category in bold called ‘personal results’. In this example there are 50 personal results and 419,000 other (traditional) results for this particular user and some of these will be included in the SERPS*. Google also gives you the choice to opt out of Search plus by toggling between the two screens (second arrow).

The exciting aspect for businesses is that as well as people seeing search results from their friends, family, business associates and other people in their circles, they will also be served results from Google+ pages of “prominent people” who Google considers to be experts on that search topic that you can easily follow. These are public profiles of people that you don’t necessarily follow or have in any circles.

In the past, Google has come under fire before for breaching privacy but has quickly reacted to complaints. Google has already addressed any concerns by saying they have set a high bar for security and that information found in these blended search results, including Google+ posts and private photos, is already secured by SSL encryption similar to the security found in your Gmail account or sites which require you to use a credit card.

But your community on Search plus Your World is only as strong as the connections you make and the way you interact with each other on Google+ – this will add to and enrich your search experience. So the more people you follow, the more you network and share content, the more you open up ‘your world’. To find out more about how Search plus Your World can enhance your business, contact us at SEO Works.

*Search Engine Result Pages

The start of the year is a great time to reflect on your past successes and also past failures and set 2012 SEO resolutions to follow. 2011 was an iconic year for SEO with the launch of Google Panda and Google Fresh on the back of the Google Caffeine update in late 2010 but what did it teach us? Here are five SEO lessons that you can learn from last year to structure your online marketing campaigns in 2012.

SEO resolution 1: Write quality content

Google Panda and Google Fresh, two algorithm updates introduced in 2011 inspired webmasters to raise the bar on quality content for their website. Identify your main keyword themes but focus on quality not quantity – less is more. The underlying premise of SEO is to provide value for readers – try and keep copywriting fresh and original, put a time stamp on published material and minimise duplicate content on your website.

SEO marketing tip: Put together a content schedule so that your website is not only continually refreshed with new material as well as doing a quick check for any outdated content, typos or grammatical mistakes.

SEO resolution 2: Concentrate on quality link building

If the Panda update has taught business owners, webmasters and SEO consultants anything, it is to concentrate on link building campaigns with quality websites that have high authority, are credible and trustworthy but are also highly relevant to the subject matter on your site. It may be time in 2012 to evaluate your link building strategies and source back links from on-topic sites that carry more weight with Search Engines.

SEO marketing tip: By adding quality and original content in newly created content opportunities on your site (such as a company blog, a news section and so forth), you can encourage websites to organically link to your website – work smarter not harder in 2012.

SEO resolution 3: Analyse your marketing campaigns

SEO strategies are not a set it and forget it campaign. With all the recent changes to Search Engine Optimisation, it is important to set a time to review your keyword research, the landing pages on your site, your website design, the link building profile and so forth. Ideally, you should conduct a SEO health check every six to twelve months to evaluate online marketing campaigns and see where you can make improvements.

SEO marketing tip: If your website has started losing traffic, it is not growing steadily or your conversation rate is slipping, you may need to consult an expert to do a professional SEO audit of your site – this is money well spent especially if your website is your main sales funnel.

SEO resolution 4: Read more

SEO is very dynamic – as well as the Panda and Google Fresh algorithm updates, Google also launched Google Plus Business Pages in 2012. Staying up to date with changes in search is a daunting task even for the most dedicated of SEO professionals. Make it easier by signing up to blog updates, adding yourself to relevant social media pages and participate in forums so you are aware of any recent and relevant changes and updates.

SEO marketing tip: Even if you have hired an SEO agency, it’s ideal that you at least have an understanding of the basic principles of SEO so you can maximise your internet marketing investment.

SEO resolution 5: Hire an SEO consultant

2012 may be the year that you decide to take the next step in growing your business and hiring a professional SEO company. There are many benefits to outsourcing internet marketing and employing a dedicated SEO consultant to optimise your website. Not only can they free up your valuable time and allow you to focus on your core business, they can also draw on a team of talent and pool of resources you may not have access to.

SEO marketing tip: You need to choose your online marketing agency wisely – a cheap SEO company may not always be your best option. Ask business associates and friends and family for referrals or consult industry organisations.

If you have been a bit lax about optimising your website, you think there is room for improvement or you are considering hiring an SEO company, speak to one of our consultants about the SEO packages and services we have available. Start 2012 on a fresh and new note and write down SEO resolutions or goals for your website that you can incorporate throughout the year – why not start today!

We recently wrote about the launch of Google+ Pages for Business in the first part of our Google+ series. Google + Business Pages is part of the social media network originally launched in June 2011 by Google helping companies stay connected with customers, clients, suppliers and other people relevant to their business – find out how your company can become part of the Google Plus revolution.

How can I create my Google+ Business Page?

Google+ Business Pages were only released a couple of weeks ago and companies quickly jumped on the band wagon to secure popular brand names before they were taken by competitors. You must create a Gmail or Google account to sign up for Google+ — no invites required. Pages are created by individual account holders. Take a look at this SEOmoz Google+ guide produced by Mashable to see how you can customise your company page.

In addition, here are some examples of Google+ Pages for Businesses that you can look at and see how these companies are using their pages to interact and engage with their customers and fans:

• Pepsi
• Toyota
• H&M
• Macy’s
• The Muppets
• Dallas Cowboys
• Good Morning America
• Angry Birds

Should your company have a Google+ Business Page?

Of course! You should also have a Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin Account. The social networking pages are also integrated directly into Google Search through a feature called Direct Connect so whenever a user starts a search query with the “+” operator, it will start bringing up Google+ Business Pages as they type. Typing “+Pepsi” and the result will take you directly to the Pepsi branded page.

Find out more about Direct Connect with this video released by Mashable:

How can I promote my Google+ Business Page?

You can let people know that you have a Google + Business Page by adding the Google+ badge to your site or installing the Google+ icon. The Google+ badge helps you grow your audience on Google+ and show more recommendations in Google search by letting people add you to their circles and +1 your page, all without leaving your site. Google says that using the Google+ badge to connect your website to your Google+ page, you:

• make it easy for your audience to subscribe to your posts and endorse and share your site.
• get more personal recommendations around the web, by connecting +1’s for your website with +1’s on your Google+ Business Pages
• qualify for Google+ Direct Connect which lets people type +your_site_name on Google search and automatically start following your page.

Having integrated online marketing strategies is always important to extend the reach of your internet marketing campaigns and maximise your brand awareness. By displaying the Google +1 button on all of your online properties, display and banner advertising, email signatures, enewsletters and so forth, it will promote your Google+ Business Page, encourage people to add your page and increase your social Circles.

Using Google+ already? You can add SEO Works to your Circles. The Google+ project is ongoing as Google has plenty of enhancements planned and we will keep you informed about any new updates that impact your business and Social Marketing. To find out more about Google + (Plus) pages for Business, contact SEO Works and speak to one of our online marketing consultants.

Google Plus is the Search Engine’s third or perhaps fourth attempt at social media and this time it seems they got the recipe right – perhaps someone in the development department had a strong cup of Java? Google Plus an ongoing project launched in June 2011 recently introduced Google Plus Pages for Business – find out why your company should become part of the Google Plus revolution in part one of our series of articles.

What are Google Plus Pages for Business?

“For businesses and brands, Google Plus pages help you connect with the customers and fans who love you. Not only can they recommend you with a +1, or add you to a circle to listen long-term. They can actually spend time with your team, face-to-face-to-face. All you need to do is start sharing, and you’ll soon find the super fans and loyal customers that want to say hello.”

Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President of Engineering

Find out more about Google+ Pages for Business in this informative video released by Google:

Google+ Pages for Business are designed to help businesses connect with customers and fans one-on-one in real-time. Companies can add clients, customers, suppliers, external stakeholders or anyone else important to their business to their social ‘Circles’. People are interested in different aspects of your business and by separating people into Circles; you will be able to share information that is more relevant and important to them.

For example some customers may be interested in new products and services and promotions while investors may be interested in breaking news and stock information. Google+ lets you easily share the right things with the right people. Similar to Facebook, you can +1 (like) a comment or post. You can only see posts in your Stream by people you have in your Circles although you can look at incoming public Streams too.

Once you have people added to your page you can use your Stream to post relevant content such as comments, videos or images or engage people in group or one-on-one discussions about your brand. You can choose to make your posts public so people can find them using search or you can use your Circles to customise your messages for specific groups so you can share what matters in a way that matters most to your business.

Hangouts are another aspect of Google Plus Pages and they are virtual rooms where you can video chat to all your different Circles. The feature allows you to set up one-click conversations with customers and colleagues alike. You can get face-time with your social networking groups and get feedback about products, help customers with their enquiries or liaise with colleagues and share documents all over high-quality video.

There is also a group messaging app (previously called Huddles) for people within your Circles of friends. Since it’s a messaging application, you can only access it by downloading the Google+ Android app on your Android phone or on your Apple iPhone. The group messaging experience allows for immediacy and lets everyone inside the Circle know what’s going on, right this second.

In part two of our series, find out how you can create a Google+ business page and integrate the social network page with your existing online strategies. Using Google+ already? You can add SEO Works to your Circles. To find out more about Google+ (Plus) pages for Business, contact SEO Works and speak to one of our online marketing consultants.

Merchant Circle, the largest online network of local business owners in the world recently released its seventh Merchant Confidence Index Survey conducted in November which revealed that the SMBs felt that SEO was the most important channel for their small business marketing. The survey conducted last month was sent to the 1,600,000 plus strong membership base and received roughly 2,500 responses.

One of the notable questions asked in the survey as reported by Search Engine Land was: “If you had to put all your marketing time and budget into only one channel, what would it be?” An overwhelming 32.9% of the respondents named Search Engine Optimisation as the marketing tool they would invest money in. The list of choices included SEO, paid search, mobile, social and traditional media as seen below:

It is interesting to see a shift from traditional media as the most important marketing strategy to SEO as SMBs recognise the significance and weight of internet marketing and what it can do for their company. If you would like to explore how you can incorporate SEO into your small business marketing campaigns, contact SEO Works to find out how optimising your website can drive on and offline sales and boost your overall revenue.

We all love a freshly brewed coffee in the morning and Google answered our call with Google Caffeine promising 50 percent fresher results for web searches than their last index update. Now they have released another update called Google Fresh giving you search results that are recent and relevant. Google understands that no one likes stale coffee or search results – find out more about the index refresh.

What is Google Fresh?

With the new Google Fresh update, the Search Engine giant is aiming to serve up the newest, timely and most relevant results from the last week, day or even minute for a particular search term. All it is in essence is a date and time stamp on the results being served up on the Search Engine results pages (SERPS). This is a change to Google’s ranking algorithm that will affect roughly 35%* of searches. This includes:

• recent events or hot topics
• regularly recurring events
• frequent updates

So using Google’s example if you simply type in the search term ‘Olympics’, you will be served up results on next upcoming 2012 Olympics in London. To give another example, you could type in the name of a TV show like ‘Ellen DeGeneres Show’ and it would bring up the most recent results for the show. Building on the momentum from Caffeine, you will start to see more high-quality pages that might only be a few minutes old.

Here is a video from SEOmoz who hosts the web’s most vibrant SEO community explaining more about the Google Fresh algorithm update:

How will Google Fresh affect your Google SEO?

As aforementioned, Google has stated that this update will only impact 35%* of the searches so not everyone will be impacted by this algorithm change. If your industry is not affected by recency, then this change is less important. If your website sells concert tickets or publishes latest products’ reviews, then it is more relevant to you. Here are some ways you can leverage the Google Fresh algorithm change:

Use Proper Time-stamps in Your Content

Add a clear publication date to your articles ideally at the top of the article or within the content. As the ‘Google Fresh results’ start to be served up on the SERPS, you will notice that they are time-stamped. This is not only important for Google so they can identify the content for recency but it’s also extremely useful for readers who can see when the article was written and if it is still timely and up-to-date.

Adding new and original content to your site

It has always been important for websites to add new and original content but with the Google Fresh update this has increased in significance. The important things to remember is to date stamp your content, ensure it is optimised for Search Engines and frequently publish content but aim for quality over quantity. By adding an RSS feed (see below), this will broadcast your content quickly and immediately. Content ideas include the following:

• developing a company blog
• uploading media releases and company newsletters
• creating a news updates section to your site including industry news such as white papers and so forth
• uploading videos and images of company events
• adding a forum to your site.

Getting published in Google News

This will not apply to every site but if you are producing newsworthy content, it’s a good idea to submit this to be published in Google News which has strict news quality and technical guidelines. If you think your site has fulfilled the Google News format, you can submit your site for inclusion. Google News will not accept how-to articles, job postings, advice columns, or strictly informational content such as weather forecasts and stock data.

Creating a News Sitemap

Before creating a news sitemap, ensure that your site is included in Google News, if it’s not, you can contact Google to request inclusion. Your News Sitemap should contain only URLs for your articles published in the last two days. You’re encouraged to update your News Sitemap continually with fresh articles as soon as they are published. Google News crawls News Sitemaps as often as it crawls the rest of your site.

Adding an RSS feed

An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) document – sometimes called a feed, web feed, or channel includes full or summarised text, plus metadata such as publishing dates (time stamp) and authorship. If you haven’t incorporated an RSS feed on your blog, in light of the algorithm update, it’s a good idea to do it now and optimise your site. An RSS feed can be submitted to Google and/or automatically downloaded.

The underlying premise of algorithm changes is to increase the integrity of search for users and now relevancy and recency is important. These changes you make to your site will not only improve your Search Engine rankings but will also lead to increased useability for your visitors – a win win. Contact SEO Works if you would like any more information about the Google Fresh update and how we can improve the optimisation of your website.

* To clarify, when Google say this algorithm impacted 35% of searches, they mean at least one result on the page was affected, as opposed to when they have said noticeably impacted in the past, which means changes that are significant enough that an average user would notice. Using that same scale, this change noticeably impacts 6 – 10% of searches, depending on the language and domain you’re searching on.

]]> 0 http://www.seoworks.com.au/01-seo-news-views/difference-between-mobile-seo-and-desktop-seo/ http://www.seoworks.com.au/01-seo-news-views/difference-between-mobile-seo-and-desktop-seo/#comments Sun, 20 Nov 2011 22:31:27 +0000 admin_seowma http://www.seoworks.com.au/?p=5951 Mobile SEO presents both an opportunity and a challenge for SEO experts conversant in desktop SEO – here are the key differences.

There is debate amongst search engine optimisation experts as to whether there is a difference between mobile SEO and traditional SEO. Best SEO practices apply to mobile search but there are nuances savvy webmasters need to be aware of when optimising sites for portable devices. While content is still king, brevity runs a close second with an emphasis on site speed and architecture. Here are ten factors to think about when it comes to mobile optimisation.

Site architecture

Useability guidelines differ for mobile users as opposed to using a PC or laptop for search. A website must meet user’s expectations and needs very quickly featuring fast loading pages with mobile-friendly layouts including smart navigation, easy-to-read content, large call to action buttons, minimal images and cleverly positioned links. If loading times are an issue, this is an opportune time to address the problem. Use this online tool to test how mobile-friendly your site is.

Flash-based sites

Search Engines are better at indexing desktop sites that use Flash technology but it still presents a challenge. However, with mobile SEO, this is an even greater concern as popular portable devices such as the Apple iPhone do not support Flash – this means that it will not render properly on these devices. Companies such as Sportsgirl whose desktop site is Flash-based has built a mobile-specific site to counteract this problem.

Search Engine Page Rankings (SERPS)

There is always an emphasis with desktop SEO to reach the top of the SERPS but with mobile search it takes on an even greater importance. The limitation of mobile-specific platforms is that the screen generally only allows for approximately five results as opposed to the usual ten. People searching via a mobile device are likely to only scroll down the first page of results and only move onto the consequent pages if time permits.

Keyword selection

Due to the time-sensitive nature of using portable devices, mobile users will have a tendency to use shorter keyword phrases than long tail keywords. Predictive searching such as Google Instant helping to generate concise search queries that have higher relevancy. They also have a propensity to use keywords that are location based such as ‘Bondi bars and pubs’ and usually use geolocalisation* to find places nearby.

On-page optimisation

On page optimisation such as descriptions, title tags, URLs/file naming, alt tags and other meta data must be on point with mobile SEO. As time is at a premium with mobile users, they are more likely to bounce off a mobile site than a desktop site if their user intent does not match what the site offers. Less is sometimes more with mobile search so make your meta data keyword friendly and short, sharp and to the point.

SEO copywriting

By the very nature of mobile devices in that they are portable; users may be in transit and have a very short attention span. Mobile users will be scanning the text even quicker than their desktop cousins so good use of titles, bullet points, short concise paragraphs and internal linking is essential. Keep the copy tight, focused and impactful with good use of call to action buttons (see below) and imagery only where appropriate.

Call to action (CTA)

CTAs are always important on desktop sites but on mobile sites they are an even bigger priority for webmasters. People using portable devices are often in transit so they need large visual clues to be nudged into action and improve your conversion rates. A rule of thumb on a mobile site is that big buttons generally work better than text and a click-to-call system is a necessary option for mobile users.

Link building strategies

Link building is equally important for mobile SEO as well as desktop SEO. However with mobile search, you need to focus on mobile-specific Search Engines, directories and portals such as Google Mobile and Yahoo! Mobile, mobile forums, mobile social bookkeeping, and so forth as well traditional desktop sites to build your link profile. Best practice SEO still apply as the websites need to be quality, credible and relevant.

Domain names

The jury is out on whether it’s better to use .mobi domain or traditional domain names like .com or .com.au for your site. There is no research to support that a mobile-specific URL name will rank better. As portable devices evolve, desktop SEO sites will render better and possibly only one will be required. It may be better to use the same URL for desktop and mobile sites: users will not have to remember two different URLs.

Mobile XML Sitemap

If you have decided upon developing a mobile-friendly version of your website, you should create a mobile XML sitemap. As per a desktop site, when the site map has been created, add the site to Google Webmaster tools and submit the mobile XML sitemap. This will also assist Google and other Search Engines to recognise and index the pages as mobile-compatible – thus improving your mobile SEO.

Space is limited on a mobile device so make every pixel count. SEO Works is a boutique SEO agency with a full service web development team, business analysts, link analysts and copywriters that works with high profile clients every day to optimise their websites for mobile search. Contact them for more information about their mobile SEO strategies and how they can make your website more accessible to portable devices.

The Webmarketing123 State of Digital Marketing Survey 2011 shows that SEO beats PPC and Social Media for lead generation.

An industry survey has revealed that Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) makes the biggest impact on lead generation for both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C), followed by Pay-Per-Click (PPC), and Social Media marketing. An overwhelming 57.4% of B2B and 41% of B2C said that SEO brought in the most leads with 33.3% of B2B and 21.5% of B2C’s budget invested in SEO.

The online marketing report was conducted by leading US digital marketing agency Webmarketing123 between August and September 2011 with 500 marketing professionals – two thirds working in B2B and the remaining third working in B2C participating in the survey. The report spanned across different categories of online marketing including SEO, PPC, and Social Media Marketing.

“Search Engine Optimisation is now, more than ever, a ‘must’ in the digital marketing world,” said Paul Taylor, CEO of Webmarketing123.

“In our survey, SEO has been confirmed as the most important program to integrate into a business’s online marketing efforts. According to a recent study by McKinsey & Company, businesses that engage in search engine optimisation achieve an average ROI (return on investment) of 7 to 1. This is valuable data that further supports the findings from our survey.”

Both groups cited website traffic as the key performance indicator (KPI) across both B2B and B2C digital media campaigns with 73.9% and 79.8% respectively online marketing professionals nominating this as most important with lead generation coming a close second for B2B with 69.2% and sales for B2C with 68.5%.  You can see the full results of this question across the two business categories below.

The full 2011 State of Digital Marketing Report can be downloaded from Webmarketing123?s website. You will need to provide name and contact information in the form provided. There’s also an associated infographic which gives you a quick graphical overview of the report available on Webmarketing 123’s blog, which you can view here: Infographic: Digital Marketer Views On SEO, PPC & Social Media.

SEO has long evolved from just generating traffic that chews up your bandwidth to driving prequalified traffic to your website that has high conversation rates. SEO Works has proven performance history of partnering with high profile clients to improve their lead generation. Contact SEO Works to find out how you can improve your online sales and increase your return on investment with SEO.

SEO strategies have long evolved from simply driving traffic to websites to focusing on the end goal of increasing sale revenues through lead generation. A lead is a prospect who is interested in your business and pre-qualified leads are warm leads (prospects who have indicated an interest in your product) and more likely to convert into sales than cold leads (prospects that you have contacted). Here are 7 ways to drive high-quality leads to your website.

Using long tail keywords

There are two types of keywords; short tail keywords which are more generic such as ‘LCD TV’ and broad or long tail keywords such as Sydney shop selling 55 inch LCD TV’ which are more specific. People who use short tail keywords are more likely to be in the research phase of their purchase while long tail keywords will drive pre-qualified leads to your website as people using these search terms are further along in the buying cycle.

Optimised landing pages

Once you have drilled down and found long tail keywords, it is important to know how to optimise key landing pages on your website to generate quality leads . Ideally, each landing page should be optimised with one keyword or keyword phrase and synonyms. Each page needs to have very clear call to actions so people know what you want them to do such as making a booking, downloading a brochure or asking for a quote.

Link building activities

Actively targeting customers through link building activities is an excellent source to obtain quality prospects. As well as increasing your Search Engine visibility, you can build your company profile and position yourself as an industry expert. It is important that you become a part of the community and not just use the sites as a means for lead generation even though this is your end goal. You can do this by:

• Developing a company blog.
• Uploading webinars on YouTube.
• Writing guest posts.
• Syndicating articles to websites.
• Actively participating on industry or community forums.
• Commenting on popular industry blogs.
• Posting on social media accounts in your industry.

Social media activities

Social media as a key part of your SEO strategy can also generate pre-qualified leads for your business. If people have added themselves to your social networks, it stands to reason that they are interested in knowing more about your business. As well as updating your page, actively comment on other related social media accounts. By doing so, they may also reciprocate and their community may also follow suit.

Local SEO

If you are a business targeting local customers, this is another of the essential SEO strategies to help you drive pre-qualified leads. By using specialised local search techniques such as targeting localised keywords, optimising landing pages and link building campaigns, you can reach regional markets. This results in warmer leads that are not only interested in your products but also searching for businesses in that particular location.

Pay per click advertising (PPC)

Depending on your budget and resources, you may also want to run a PPC campaign alongside your SEO strategies. SEO is an ongoing tactic to accumulate prospects over time while PPC advertising is a great way to start lead generation right away. However bear in mind that while it does not cost anything to index your websites on Search Engines but as soon as your stop paying for PPC advertisements, your leads stop rolling in.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a strategy where you place links, banner advertisements or buttons on quality, trustworthy and relevant websites with a similar target audience to your business to assist in driving hot prospects to your website. Here is an example of an affiliate page for SEOmoz on our website. Each agreement is different but the website owner may generate income if a sale is made, a trial is downloaded and so forth.

Accelerate your conversion rate by creating SEO campaigns that will drive high-quality prospects to your website. SEO Works is one of the leading SEO companies in Australia and has a local team of SEO experts, link building analysts, copywriters and a web development team. Find out more about our SEO strategies and how we can partner with you to increase pre-qualified leads and improve your online revenue.