The public fall out between the two tech giants is set to continue as Apple has announced new features in its latest IOS release that directly impacts upon Google and its strategy. For those of you who missed it, on Monday Apple confirmed that it would drop Google Maps from its mobile OS in favour of its own map app/service. There were a couple of other updates which I will talk about later but I wanted to start by talking a bit more about the significance of the maps update.

Google has invested significant amounts in its maps program and the announcement could hardly go unnoticed in Silicon Valley. Google could lose a suggested 100 million users (although I think this figure is wildly inflated) in a very short space of time. This is at a time when Google has just released its very own set of updates to its map service including 3D building views, updates to Street View and fly-over 45 degree aerial views. Such moves show just how valuable the space is becoming with each company vying for market share but what makes it so valuable.

Like many things in the tech industry, its about audiences, advertising revenue and selling handsets. A post on Econsultancy recently suggested that as many as 35% of smartphone users in five leading European countries reported accessing maps services via their device in March 2012. With 1.2 billion web mobile users worldwide, the number of users for maps are likely to be staggering and these can all be targeted in very specific ways. Google is well setup for this with its Adwords platform and hotel and flight search features – it can tie these in very nicely. However, for Apple it’s not as straight foward. The company will undoubtedly be able to deliver a solid maps platform but where will they get the most use from this? It largely remains to be seen but if done well will help to sell handsets.

I think the maps update is one interesting part of Apple’s overall strategy. Apple has a solid web browser in the form of Safari but hasn’t made any real attempts to enter the traditional search space. Is this because it is looking that one step further in the form of voice search and aiming to be king in this area? It’s certainly a strong possibility with the recently announced updates to Siri and how it will be integrated with Apple’s new map system and browser Safari. Google of course released its own voice search system but building it directly into handsets does have its advantages. I am personally very excited by voice search and hope it continues to grow.

The integrating of Facebook into the new IOS will also not please Mr Page as he would much rather Google+ be featured. Google has unsurprisingly come out and said they are undeterred by the news but I for one am excited to see how it will play out. Any thoughts, share your comments with us.

The post Apple Slaps Google Right in the Face with Latest Updates appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Stephen James Lock, SEO Product Manager, Analytics SEO

Laurent Boninfante, MD, Acquisio

Matt Roberts, VP Product Development, Linkdex

Our takeaway points from the session can be found below:-

• Recommended tools include Linkdex, Athena, Buzzstream, SEOMoz, Majestic SEO toolsets etc. These are for analysing profiles etc. Look at new features such as citations in Majestic SEO.
• Checkout BloomReach to learn more about semantics and content development. Read the post on how it works and think about how you can disrupt others campaigns with these.
• Retargeting will become a key part of a search marketing strategy. See Danny Roche’s slides for more information on this. While display advertising has been seen as a bit outdated the approach has vastly improved due to more transparency and better platforms. This makes it a much more attractive proposition to people and should be a viable option for many campaigns. (Laurent)
• If you are doing search retargeting you will want to look at the entire conversion funnel. You need to make sure it tracks the whole way through. You should have this set for any campaign.
• Schema.org is becoming increasingly important and people should be using it (Stephen)
• SPDY & Ajax can help speed up your website/server responses
• AuthorCrawler is another tool to look at. Lets you analyse authorships and can be used for link building

The post SASCON 2012: Cutting Edge Search Technology appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Jon Quinton, SEO Consultant, SEOgadget

Martin Macdonald, SEO Strategy Director, Expedia

Matt Roberts, VP Product Development, Linkdex

David Wilding, Head of SEO, Blueclaw Media

Our takeaway points from the session can be found below:-

• As an industry we have generally been reactive to the latest updates. In reality we are not going to spend time getting thousands of links removed when we suspect devaluation or a penalty. Its being clever about the steps you take.
• The way in which we get links in a scalable way has changed. Much of the focus is now on the process and understanding your existing link profile. Do you have good relationships with the sites linking to you etc. Look at the new feature on Majestic around citations.
• Building good relationships remains key. Without genuine contacts and relationships its difficult to influence sectors. Without these types of relationships its more difficult to build links at scale.
• Control is crucial, can you remove and likewise add links to sites quickly and easily. Traditionally this type of control has been lacking.
• It is possible to recover rankings in a short period of time. In the car insurance sector a couple of highly competitive sites lost good rankings but were able to recover them in around six weeks through un-engineering its link profile. You need to be sure about whether you have been penalised or whether the links you have, have been devalued.
• Whats happened was not unexpected with regards to recent updates. Google has been saying for the last decade that these changes were coming. The focus should be on what type of link profiles will look for in two years time. Authorship and other proof concepts could become key.
• For big and even small brands the first step for link building should be approaching sites that have mentioned your brand but not linked to you. It’s very effective and a quick win.
• Some agencies are bringing PR functions in house to help with outreach. Link building methods are very much being driven by the relationships formed by PR specialists.
• Google is building a large database of people who sell links. If your profile contains links from many of these then it will be apparent to Google. This has been achieved in part through people who have reported links they have bought back to Google when hit by a penalty. It’s easy for them to nuke sites from this.
• It’s easy to spot an SEO, Google is getting better at spotting it now.
• Google has had a lot of bad press about spam and is possibly a reason as to why they are doing something about a lot of the link techniques and spam now.
• Incentives is the only way to truly get the number of links you need (Martin). An example is giving away free money in the gambling sector.
• Social competitions are a great way to gain links, especially in sectors where content is similar across numerous competitor sites. Job sites for example.
• Backup a piece of the content that has gained or you have built links to with social validation. This should happen naturally but if you have built the links with other techniques then you need to make it look more natural. A good piece of content should be shared naturally.
• Members of the panel have gained rankings just using social mentions/bookmarks. Sites will need links though.
• Can’t ignore Google+ and rel=author. This increases click through rates but it might impact upon the link building we have done previously, eventually.

The post SASCON 2012: Link Building Session appeared first on PushON Ltd.

David is going to talk about statistical analysis and attribution. He is the performance director for 7 Things Media.

What is Diminishing Return?

David talks about when does profit disproportionately falls in relation to spend. Is it still worthwhile investing in. He was recently asked by his client about this and faced with the dilema of cutting their budget on affiliate marketing.

Multi Attribution Modelling?

David shows a slide from Google Analytics and Multi Channel Funnels. The different touch points people can now review is becoming more important.

Why is it important?

We need to weigh up the value of the whole funnel and the differences in reach and performance. Every change affects the output of a campaign. Its something David looks at closely. He goes on to talk about the recession and why people are looking more closely at where they invest their budget.

As a result planning models needed to be more concise. David looks at micro and macro level models and activities. This gives him a more clear picture of what provides value and how to optimise his spend.

No Definitive Solutions

There are no plugins or tools to work this out. It involves mining data and using lots of complex mathematics. Different modelling might provide a more optimal result and is something David is looking into.

What Can We Use to Measure It?

Data + Maths + Technology

This gives us the information we need to make correct decisions. Historical data is key however and the more data you have the better.

The Monte Carlo Simulation

This is where continual simulations of random scenarios are run until a pattern emerges. This process often outputs a train line like pattern from which you can pull data from.

How it Works: CPA v Spend

David shows a graph of the simulation results which gives you an idea of the lowest CPA you would get from a particular channel. From the line you can develop from the graph you can also see the point of diminishing returns. This is where the level of sales no longer grows or limited growth is achieved after a certain spend.

Plot Optimal Spend Ratios

From this graph you can then put together a spend ratio graph.

Limitations of Model

Large level of data required. If you don’t have the data you can’t compile this.

** David goes on to provide examples on how the model is used against real life clients **

Insights

- Search generally provides the lowest CPA when CPA increases

- Channels quickly change efficiencies at specific points of spend levels

Difficult session to blog without slides but i will add in a link to the slides once available.

The post The Digital Mix and Point of Diminishing Return (a4uexpo live blogging) appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Session starts with Sam Crocker who makes the formal introductions.

Kelvin begins session with a presentation about link analysis.

How to do Back Link Analysis Properly

What Type of Links Do You Need?

Competitor research can help you to identify these. The focus should be on doing better than your competitors. Kelvin uses radar charts to analyse links. He starts with link volumes, then link authority, link velocity and anchor text when looking at competitors. To visualise these he uses the radar graphs in Excel. He makes decisions based on these and pull his data from Majestic SEO. He can then see how he compares to competitors and the entire market.

Not about actual links but rather the themes

Should be looking at theme of links rather than targeting one link. So for example if a recruitment site has a link from one conference site then you should potentially look at targeting a whole range of conference links This is rather than the exact one your competitor has.

Understand the second order of links

Think about who links to the people who are linking to you. You need to go one step further as the power of this site may drop over time. For example they have received an initial boost for a topical news story. backlinks.in is a volume link checker and extremely quick.

Track down the tipping point links

Links that have led to good rankings for a competitor. He uses Raven for this and whether they have spiked in rankings for particular terms.

Key point of presentation is that there is a lot more to competitor link analysis than first meets the eye. Presentation comes to a close.

** Sam Crooker now takes to the stage **

How To Find Your Targets

Great data is expensive but you should use tools such as comscore if possible. Cheaper options exist however such as Google Insights.

How To Find Their Keywords

Check meta keywords tag. You can write scripts to pull these from sites. SEM Rush is another tool that can be used as is Spyfu. Finally you could use scraping techniques.

Finding Secrets The Easy Way

Ask them! Submit a support question. Alternatively you could pose an affiliate when looking at competitors.

How To Steal Their Thunder

Use alerts. Have they big up and coming launches. This is however quite reactive. Do searches such as Brand + Keyword to find press releases. You should then pounce on this and submit your own. Nothing wrong with a bad press release provided that the information is true.

How To Go Too Far

Some people will do anything.

Distractions

Setup a fake mobile site, create a fake dev site, mess with their analytics, send in head hunters (Sam doesn’t in anyway recommend these)

The point is you should be aware of these things.

** Sam has asked not to blog the next part **

Sam suggests people invest where

Hit Them Where it Hurts

What are they doing badly. Are they socially proactive or invest in poor links. To steal market share you need to do something special. Can be as small as offering a more streamlined design than competitors.

** Sam Crooker now takes to the stage **

Martin Beijk is from ComScore

How Do You Measure Performance?

There are some great tools you can use to measure these.

What is Web Analytics?

The outershell is the click stream and a key part of it. In order to be effective you need to refine and optimise.

Measuring Performance

Ask the network if they can support with track backs. You want to know which pages in your site are performing best and creating the most money. A good flow of information is required.

Do you know who your audience is?

You could use onsite surveys, ad planners, build relationships in person to find this.

What are your competitors doing in terms of web analytics?

WASP Plugin for Firefox. Gives you some insight into what they track. Ghostery can be used to look at the code of a site and understand what a site is trying to measure. You could also take a closer look at their analytics implementation. You can get a feel from what they are trying to gauge from their visitors.

** Dave Sottimano now takes to the stage **

Dave is from Distilled and going to talk about competitive analysis.

Reactive vs Proactive

we should be reactive at certain points however it can be very dangerous. Understand what works and how the landscape is reactive. There is a time and place for being reactive, especially when a competitor makes a mistake.

What do i want know about the market leaders?

Focus on key competitors. You want to understand what they are going to do in the future. Its too late to understand what they are doing now.

Proactive

You want to beat the competitors by staying ahead of the curve. You also want to beat the competitor but not copy them.

Getting Insider Information

Setup a couple of niche sites which is optimised for guest posts etc.

Staying ahead of the curve, Not Just SEO Anymore

There is no tool to beat your competitors. Its a change in mind set and about thinking ahead. Don’t just look at your industry.

** Dave now shows us a tool he has put together **

http://dis-tl/a4u-2011

Takeaway Tips

- Setup a satellite site

- Try something new & cool. Don’t worry about failing.

The post Internet Sleuthing: Gathering the Intelligence Required to Beat the Competition (a4uexpo live blogging) appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Does HTML 5 Matter?

Google doesn’t have any preference. However user support should be considered.

Should i cloak my affiliate links?

Don’t cloak anything for Google.

Should you no-follow affiliate links?

Yes

Mobile specific site vs a responsive layout. Which is better for Google?

Mobile specific sites are typically better, its more of a business decision. The user should be at the centre of the decision. Pierre recently wrote a long blog post on this.

Are there any potential problems with duplicate content with mobile versions of a site?

Problems do occur, especially with redirects.

Someone has the same site in US, UK & Canada but on separate domains. He has changed titles and meta descriptions etc however the content is exactly the same. How far do they need to go to prevent duplicate content problems?

He could potentially use the canonical tag and add in the ‘hreflang’ tag. http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=189077 Giving your site some local flavour in terms of language can be really effective.

Why does the site report/feedback process not allow you to submit more than one url at a time?

This is something that is going to be looked at and improved by Google.

How important are links in the algorithm?

A vague response but the Pierre said he should look at ‘how to chose an SEO company’ page on Google Support page as the current company has clearly given him some bad advice. He suggested that he changed his thinking about links and the overall marketing of a website.

Can you talk about the Panda updates in relation to affiliate sites?

Google does not hate affiliate sites. It doesn’t like however sites that don’t add any value. Worth looking at forum post on Google Webmaster Help Forum for people who think they have mistakenly been hit by Panda.

Title tags on occasion being taken from navigation links and brand not being included!

Google does re-write titles on occasion. This is typically when the title tag is empty or called things such as ‘home’. It can also occur on query specific searches. For example CNN and Cable News Network. If you search for Cable News Network then this title could be rewritten from CNN to Cable News Network. This is more useful to the end user.

Attendee asks about positioning of ads in Google. He was seeing them at the bottom of the search results and asked if this will be rolled up fully?

Response: not our problem, this is a question for the PPC team : )

How long before we know if we have a problem when moving an existing site to a CMS?

He should move the site over section by section to minimise impact. Read http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/04/best-practices-when-moving-your-site.html

Apologies for the short post, it was a very difficult session to live blog.

The post Open Q&A about Google Organic Search (a4uexpo live blogging) appeared first on PushON Ltd.

A session about Google’s algorithm update known as Panda.

Timeline

Hit in February this year and since then there have been five updates. The latest is 2.5 and hit 12% of sites. Daniel asks whether this is the last update. He believes that this is not and quotes Matt Cutts. He thinks we should prepare for more updates and moves to what Google suggests to avoid a Panda slap.

Google Recommendations

It is crucial that you improve the qyaity of your content and evaluating whether it is providing value. Look at metrics such as page views, bounce rates. If these are not performing well then it suggests the content is not of good quality. You should review your metrics in Google Analytics and check whether your content is upto date. Any old content should be 301′d to relevent new pages.

Quality of Content

Is it factual, does it provide the end user with any value? Google provides guidelines on what makes good quality content. It provides a series of questions and you should answer these truthfully. We often have a bias to these so its worth putting these questions out in a survey to other people. 200 word pages = think content. Its probably not going to provide the end user wiht enough information. You should review your site for pages with small amounts of content on them.

How do you make great Content?

Daniel asks what are people are talking about and what social stuff is currently being shared. This can provide inspiration. Addict-o-matic is a tool that can help with this. It allows you to enter a phase or keyword and brings back results from a range of sources and lets you see what people are talking about in your niche right now. Ubersuggest or Google Suggest is another tool you can use. You can also look at last years data as trends often reoccur. Q&A platforms can also be useful. These include Yahoo Answers and Quora. Social media platforms could also be used to find ideas. Other ideas include attending events.

Now What? What’s Next?

Duplicate content is becoming an increasing problem, especially with the recent update. Use Webmaster Tools to make checks along with searches in Google. See if others are copying your content. Daniel also suggests that you reduce the amount of syndicated content. Lots of people are using product feeds for example. Why would your site rank well if you have the same product feed as hundreds of other sites. Why not rewrite these using services such as Copify.

Page layout and design maybe becoming more influential. If your site is over ten years old then it is going to need an update. You need to make sure that your adsense units are not in the content. Many sites do this including big article sites.

Look into social link building with your content. Make it easy for people to share your content. Google is looking at this more and more and iss relatively easy to do.

Example

Hubpages was hit heavily by the Panda update. Most companies would have folded however Hubpages decided to adjust its strategy. It reduced the level of syndicated content and advertising and moved thin content pages. The updates they made helped to drive more traffic than they were achieving even before they were hit by the Panda update. A massive recovery and showed that Panda could be defeated.

Takeaways

- Remove low quality content

- Create high quality content

- Deep page link building

** Daniel closes and Kevin Gibbons takes to the stage **

Kevin’s presentation focuses on part time affiliate marketing and how to maximise your working week. This is based on the 4 hour work week.

Looking Genuine

Establishing credibility is key and the aim is to make yourself look like a real business. To do this you should try to include contact details and phone numbers on your site. This is difficult however as many affiliates like to keep a low profile. A team profile page could also be a good strategy. This makes you look like a real business.

An affiliate has to build natural looking links. This takes a lot of time which often affiliates don’t have. A blog can also be a trust signal. Try to talk about things of interest and your company. You should focus on these things as they don’t take too much time.

How to make your affiliate site to look like a business site?

- be creative

- maybe hire a PR specialist

- pitch to journalists, journalisted lists contacts in the field for which you can contact

- Use Haro and become a source. Journalists can then quote you for any stories they maybe running

- Learn SEO so that you can support your outsourced team and understand what they are working on

- Create a content strategy to target top converting terms. Focus on these

- With limited time you don’t want to be writing hundred of articles, posts or press releases. Outsource using Copify

- Remove duplicate and low quality content. If you aren’t recieving any visits for them then maybe redirect these

- Build and manage your online reputation. Create social profiles and conversations

- Trust factors are key. Try to gain certificates, add logos etc

- Register a limited company. Costs £18 and can help to build trust

- Get a virtual office address.

Tactics

- Guest blog. This gives you a link and helps to build your brand. MyBlogGuest is a good place to start

- Participate in forum and blogs. Its not about links at this point but more getting noticed

- Hire a professional designer. 99 Designs is a great place for cheap design work and they look great. People more likely to link to good looking sites

- Hire a professional developer. Designers and developers have very different skill sets

- Scale your activities. Potentially use oDesk to hire a team

- Hire an infographic designer. These have to be good as the market place is over crowded

These activies will cost about £480 a month depending on which activities you do. This is relatively cheap considering the potential rewards.

** Floor opens to questions **

The post Post Panda: Affiliates Guide to Surviving Google (a4uexpo Live Blogging) appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Chair: Richard Gregory

Nick Garner (Unibet)

James Lowery (Latitude)

Nick kicks off the session by talking about word of mouth marketing and how it is often undervalued. In our word endless conversations are going on around a range topics. A brief history of this is provided. In today’s environment we get information from a wide range of sources.

Nick goes onto talk about Ubinet and the number of employees it has and its geographical spread. Employees are thinly spread all over the world, so Nick asks how they get so many international customers. He goes on to talk numbers which we don’t have to hand at the moment but he does mention the high cost of acquiring new customers. So in essence word of mouth is a cheap and powerful approach for them.

12 awesome WOM facts:

- 67% of all consumer decisions are primariry influenced by word of mouth

- 93% of customers identify WOM as the best, most reliable source about ideas and information on products – up 26pts vs 25 years ago. Nick tells us how this is becoming more powerful online.

- 74% of people hearing a personal, negative recommendation were influenced to buy another brand. This shows the power of reviews.

- Only 3.4% of face to face WOM conversations are stimulated by a marketing organisations promotional activity (Journal of Services Marketing)

- 1 out of every 7 social conversations are word of mouth based (Northeastern University)

- 44% of consumers claim to avoid buying products that overwhelm them with advertising. You spam people, they walk away

- 90% trust their spouse, 65% trust their friends. Only 27% trust manufactures, Only 14% trust advertisers. Shows the importance of social circle

- Where does word of mouth happen? Answer: everywhere. With Whom? In your family 88.9%, in your social network 77% etc

- 500 – 1500 is the number of weak ties we have in our lives (colleagues, associates etc). – easier to reach people than ever before

- The composition of your customer base involvement: 20% – referrers – 10% – Advocates – 1% – Zealots

- As of 2006 77% of WOM is face to face

- 7,500 number of committed, talented word of mouthers you would need to send your message with, so that every single Canadian would hear about it in 12 weeks

- WOM ‘memes’ spread like a virus. A graphic showing the spread of the MRSA virus. Provide interesting and powerful content.

How can you do WOM?

5 T’s of WOM

- Talkers

Find people who will talk about you. Fans, existing customers, friends, bloggers, employees etc

- Topics

Give people a reason to talk. Behave properly and provide great service, special offers, cool product, great ad etc

Doing things. Build up a knowledge base and provide it to people.

- Tools

Help the message spread faster and further. Eg. tell a friend, viral email, refer a friend etc

- Taking Part

Join the conversation. Nick is interested in social CRM’s and goes on to talk about there importance. Tactics include reply to comments, post on blogs, join discussions, answer emails etc.

- Tracking

Measure and understand what people are doing. Check out Jim Sternes book on Social Media Metric. He talks in particular about the different KPI’s.

Spend you time on looking after your customers and they will do the selling for you.

——— End of Talk ———-

James takes to the floor and begins talking about expanding and understanding your audiences. Many sources of deomgraphics data including hitwise. If you know who is of most value to you, you can target them. Finding these can be achieved through social media conversations and a whole range of channels. You can then use this to build more meaningful/useful content.

Where do your costumers come from? Which sources convert best? Tracking this data is crucial as you can do more with these channels and types of customers. Once you find them you should build much richer pages.

What do customers want from your site? You need to understand what works best for them and what provides the best long term value. Life time engagement is much more valuable. Also look at what times of year, day or week customers convert best.

Post blog posts inline with your customers reading/browser habits. This is inline with the caffeine update as posts get indexed extremely quickly these days.

——— End of Talk ———-

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Presentation from Paul from Brilliant Media “Turning share of voice into share of traffic”:

The internet can help us segment users, however we don’t use it effectively.

Using local, ppc, sitelinks and other universal search elements enables us to own a greater amount of real estate on the SERP.

Question: What are your views on the new legislation regarding using cookies?

Paul: We’re waiting to see what happens, if we can’t use cookies then we’re screwed.

Rishi: Cookie legislation is unenforceable, see Dave N’s blog post.

Simon: Do you think that this legislation may make us less competitive as a country?

Rishi: Agrees.

Question: What are you pro-actively doing regarding the cookie legislation?

Gareth: Speaking to larger clients, they’re most likely to be hit by any legislation and advising them that they should get the ball rolling.

Rishi: Looking at email marketing options, inbound marketing will not be effective. Also looking at alternatives such as IP targeting.

Question: How are you trying to use mobile and the ever-developing “I want it now” culture?

Gareth: Trying to get more like amazon, one-click buying, creating mobile enabled websites. Devices such as the iPad are a great opportunity to give a great user experience.

Paul: It depends on the type of retailer; if you’re a store based retailed then typically users are already in the purchase cycle and are using mobile to either re-visit or reserve products.

Rishi: It’s not just about mobile, people are getting more impatient – it’s now more important to quickly determine what stage in the purchase cycle the user is in (behavioural targeting).

Question: would it be safe to say that this is the year of the mobile we’ve been waiting for?

Rishi: We’re passed that, we have internet enabled devices like the iPad, etc.. but definitely.

Question: does anyone have any opinion about barriers to entry for mobile apps?

Rishi: Developers are becoming smarter and more adaptable.

Gareth: We’re advising people not to focus on building apps for the sake of it, you have to download an app, a mobile website can be cross-platform.

Audience: Trip Advisor direct mobile visitors on the main website to a mobile version of the site, then encourage them to download the mobile-specific app.

Simon: Often clients are focussed on Facebook Likes, RT’s, etc.., how do we educate them?

Paul: Ask the client if its worth it?

Rishi: It depends what the clients objective is – do they want branding or selling? Facebook is a great place for obtaining research.

Audience: All social is another connector,

Rishi: Search engines are not filtering fake likes, they may be looking at the profile history. Google is definitely using social as an influencer. A lot of people are logged into their Google Account and will see influences through their social circle.

Audience: Fake likes/RT’s are illegal.

Rishi: Yes, its possible but big brands should not be doing it – they should leverage their brand and resources. If you want to make a quick buck through affiliate marketing, its worth looking at. Yes social media will loose some of its value over time, but at the moment its working.

Gareth: It’s a good test of your brand proposition, if you’re operating in a niche you can see how people react and engage.

Paul: It’s hard when it moves away from niche to get users to engage as products become more generic.

Rishi: At the end of the day, you have research, data – be creative, we’re all marketers.

Question: How will Google start to weed out fake accounts?

Gareth: Google will start to look at the history of Google Profiles, they’ve been trying to do it for a while.

The post SAScon 2011: Market Focus – Retail appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Link Building with Infographics
This week was only ever going to start with this post as i am mildly obsessed with inforgraphics. Although i have a great appreciation for them there have of late been many examples of poorly developed infographics. The infographic market has become somewhat saturated but still provide a great way to generate new links. In this latest post from Justin Briggs a break down of the development and research process has been created. Its not exactly ground breaking but provides some nice pointers.

Read more at: SEOMoz

Wired Interview with Amit Singhal & Matt Cutts
Wired (in conjuction with TED) held a fascinating Q&A session this week with Google’s Matt Cutts and Amit Singhal and provided some great insights into the recent Panda update. This is undoubtedly this years biggest algorithm update and is effecting a significant number of sites. Search Engine Land for example ran a post on the winners and losers of the algorithm update and there have been some really interesting post coming out in the last few weeks. For example Ezine was hit particularly hard and on their blog they released a statement about how they might reduce the impact of the update.

Read more at: Wired

What To Do About the Algorithm Update
As always, another great post from Tom Critchlow about the recent algorithm update. Tom provides some actionable ideas around reducing the impact of the algorithm update. His suggestions are in keeping with Google’s current drive to clean up its results and something that i think Google has needed to do for some time.

Read more at: Distilled

What Happens When You Build 10,000 Dodgy Links to a New Domain in 24 Hours?
A fun experiment run by Marcus Taylor of SEOptimise. During the christmas period he pointed a large number of links towards one site in a very short time frame. His aim was to see how Google would treat this and what penalty they might apply. This is because of the type of links he was pointing and the unatural time frame in which he acquired links. The results were interesting to say the least and his post is well worth a read.

Read more at: SEOptimise

There are of course many other great stories this week but if any really stood out to you why not share them with us in our comments section. We welcome your comments.

Read more at:

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