Google opens twitter account

Read their tweets here

Including an interesting link to an article about some Google labs tools which you may not already know about such as Google's Flutrends

SEO is about speaking plain English

Online marketers and managers could possibly be divided into those who know search engine optimisation works, and those who think it's a good idea but haven't tried it (properly) yet. And I have a view - and plenty of experience to prove it - that there are many website managers and online marketers out there who started websites not (fully) realising that it must be built and developed with SEO 'front of mind' in order to attract steady streams of traffic and new clients.

Fundamentally, most (probably all) companies want business - leads and profits - from their websites. If that's not being delivered, some online-based employees are not going to be in their jobs very long. However, don't worry too much if your website lacked SEO from the start. It is possible to deliver return on SEO investment within a poorly architected structure. Your website can be found on Google and the other search engines with a careful approach, a certain amount of re-engineering - and a knowledgable SEO partner or company.

Not sure if this can work? Well, let's take a look at one area of search - URLs. Your website really ought to have URLs optimised for search. Why? Search engines tend to dislike dynamic URLs (you know - those horrible looking ones with question marks, code and ('&') ampersands!).

Take a look at most top ranking search engine results, if you don't believe me. Search engines place results written in plain English in page 1 positions. That's because search engine algorithms - and especially Google's - analyse and group information that is written in English. When a searcher types in a query, Google aims to serve up websites that are great centres of information about that query.

Recognisable, plain English URLs tell a search engine what that page is about, weighting that page over another with a poor URL. Of course, it's not the only factor but I hope you get the picture. Search engine optimisation is about sound organisation and structure of the site's key information - including website URLs.

It is possible to weave this approach into websites that did not follow it when they started out. Online marketers and managers need to spend time understanding this. Do contact us via the blog if you would like to understand more about SEO and plain English, or simply ring us up at one of the Fuse offices.

Google, Yahoo and Microsoft announce new canonical tag

In order to resolve issues often experienced by dynamically generated websites, the three big search engines have announced a new meta-tag (link tag) which allows a website to specify the URL to be returned in the search engine results.

Google gives the example of a site where the same page is accessible through two different URLs

http://www.example.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish and
http://www.example.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish&category=gummy-candy

Placing this tag in the header of both pages

< rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish">

Tells the search engines which URL to use.

Read more from Google here
and Yahoo here.

Microsoft gives examples of four URLs which can all be resolved to one with the new tag.

http://mysite.com
http://www.mysite.com
http://mysite.com/default.aspx
http://mysite.com/default.aspx?promo=ABC

SEO: more important than design

It's all very well commissioning a new website - but there's no point putting it live on the Internet if nobody can find it! Design is important but the top priority for a website must be driving traffic to it - a steady stream of new visitors.

The best way to achieve this is through having your site feature prominently (on page 1) of Google and the other search engines. So - when thinking about a new website and design, think first about the site structure, the architecture. A website structure that is well thought out with search engine optimisation (SEO) in mind will establish foundations that can guarantee you will rank highly over a long period of time, especially as you add optimised copy to your site. It's not the whole story but it is the key plank Fuse Optimisation has built a successful SEO firm upon.

You may think there are issues with this technique - that it undermines the design and content of your site, that it affects accessibility and usability? However, these perceived problems are, in fact, not at all significant. A well thought out SEO structure combined with regular, fresh, natural copy is a recipe that generates new clients for your business - and you don't have to compromise on the quality of your website. In fact, you can build a better one.

This strategy works... clients of Fuse Optimisation enjoy a terrific return on investment. For some, a single lead generate tens of thousands of pounds in new work. And this is no spiv salesman talk.

If you can appreciate building a successful website is about designing and implementing an SEO-led strategy then you are halfway to owning a website that attracts frequent visits from interested, new customers. Remember, search engines primarily work by 'reading' words - it makes sense then to develop website structures and content that search engines can 'read' and 'understand'.

 

SEO in limelight as Google joins Tories

Google's chairman and chief executive, Eric Schmidt, has been appointed to the UK Conservative party's economic recovery committee.

Described as a coup in the Financial Times, party leader David Cameron pointed out it is unlikely that the search engine's leader will be able to attend the committee's fortnightly meetings on a regular basis.

News of the appointment signals the importance of the Internet in modern day economic life.

Fuse Optimisation can't help thinking this focus on online by the UK's political elite really ought to make more business leaders sit up and take proper notice of search engine optimisation, whether that is SEO for solicitors, accountants, financial services, banks, insurers, retailers, whoever. 

SEO can deliver profitable (online-led) results to the bottom line of all types of business - and political parties.

Google Eye-Tracking Research

Google has posted an interesting article about their latest eye-tracking research including a video showing exactly how one of their participants scanned a Google results page.

Perhaps the most startling image is the accumulated heatmap data of 34 participants (left) showing that most people scan the first two results but their attention drops off rapidly afterwards.

Google suggests this may be a sign that the results were returned in the most successful order, i.e the users found a satisfactory result and stopped looking any further.

Alternatively users may scan the first few results and if they do not find what they were looking for, they refine their search.

The familiar 'F' pattern seen in the image has been known for some time, but Google makes no mention in this article of the amount of attention users give to sponsored link results.

The only images in this post of search results which include ads, seem to show that users only scan through the sponsored ads once they have looked through the first four organic results.

Search engine optimisation companies and website owners should be aware of the vast difference between the top-ten positions, it seems that moving from position 5 to 4 or position 3 to 2 in the search results could bring enormous increases in traffic. Also, being in the top 4 of the organic results may give a much better return on investment than a PPC campaign.

SEO pitches and proposals

Fuse Optimisation is an ethical, white hat SEO firm. We are focused on clients enjoying the best value and return on investment when employing our services - without being concerned that we engage in any dubious practices.

We reckon it's useful to consider a range of matters and issues when evaluating whether to commit to a particular search engine optimisation agency. Putting ourselves in a would-be client's shoes, here's what we would want to know:

• Overall, it is useful to spend time understanding how SEO agencies balance technical optimisation issues such as on-page optimisation, indexing and link-building (as well as the all-important keyphrase analysis) versus planning to achieve clients' business aims and objectives with a well thought out SEO proposal.
  
• Do they investigate website SEO improvements such as modifying site architecture and optimising existing content? Or will they only address new pages that are planned to be added?
  
• How is the link-building process carried out? Worth asking questions about this important area.
  
• SEO and PPC (search engine optimisation and pay-per-click) - do the agencies you are considering have a balanced commitment to these, or are they only interested in the most profitable option?
  
• For PPC, there needs to be understanding about the process and time required to improve results which happens via improving keyphrase selection, creative and bid strategies.
  
• Consider the agency charging structure. How much is front-loaded for initial technical set-up, analysis/improvement and subsequent ongoing charges? Cheap-sounding solutions are unlikely to deliver the best results.

For more detail about these areas listed above, see our section on questions to ask an SEO agency.

Fuse Optimisation is a professional search engine optimisation company happy to be assessed by any and all of these factors. Our reputation rests on our clients being satisfied with our service, and ultimately the business results we deliver.

Whatever your need - SEO for solicitors, accountants, banks, insurance companies, financial services, retailers, as well as other sectors - our website traffic and lead generation solutions are among the best in the SEO industry. Of course, we would say that - but you're welcome to question us, test us and check our methods as and when you choose to engage with us.

Website architecture and microsite strategy

The aim of splitting a site into microsites is to ensure there is a tightly themed area, where the theme and its corresponding keywords (or search phrases) are easily identifiable by the search engines. At Fuse we believe that getting the website architecture right through good microsite structures based on thorough keyword research, is crucial to the long-term aims of our clients websites.

In a perfect world we would be involved in the initial design and build of the site, ensuring that the architecture is in place even before any of the search engine bots have visited the site. However, often we are asked to optimise a website years after the initial launch and find the content badly organized or worse still, not organized in any recognizable way at all.

We have been developing our microsite (silo) strategy for five years and have found it especially useful in gaining rankings for our client’s generic keywords as well as very specific revenue-earning phrases.

We believe it is necessary to be extremely cautious about linking out from a microsite, as it can ruin the integrity or theme of that microsite. Wherever possible, all pages in the microsite link to each other and the index page of the microsite only. The only exceptions are the site’s navigation links which appear on each page in the header, footer, sidebar or all three. There is evidence that search engines can identify parts of a page which are repeated throughout the site, allowing them to focus on the unique body content of each page instead.

Some interesting reading on the subject
Layering content to maximise visibility
Bruce Clay - Revisiting silos