SEO’s are online marketing Superheroes

This was perhaps the stand out quote to take away from day one of the ionSearch conference in Leeds. The PushON team made the trip over yesterday for the first half of the two day event, organised by Blueclaw, to listen to experts in the search world who had travelled much further, from Germany, Canada and the US.

The theme of the day was very much the future of SEO and Search, with discussions on how to move forward from the Penguin and Panda updates that have impacted the industry. This was centred around both a cleaner, content led approach, as well as some reputation management for SEO’s – particularly those who are wrongly labelled spammers!

BIG Data was the buzzword in the keynote from SEOmoz’s @AndrewDumont who kicked off the day with why we should be looking at a wider range of reporting data (or BIG data!) than just the basic website metrics. He suggested a range of tools that he uses to report on important social data, and briefly mentioned a related secret project that SEOmoz are working on – you can find out a little more about this and sign up for updates at Moz.com

The day was split into three tracks, with workshops and expert panels running alongside the main speakers. These discussions covered the day’s theme of SEO recovery and future plans, with the first panel talking about link removal and Google penalties. There was some great advice to be taken from this, notably DON’T PANIC and rush into using the disavow tool prematurely. Further panels looked at using content to drive conversions and thoughts about ‘what makes a great link’. Kelvin Newman revealed one of the proudest links he’s built – from PR9 site w3.org – or “the inventors of the internet!” as he more delicately put it!

Without a doubt the highlights of the day was the presentation by animated German Marcus Tandler (@mediadonis), in which he led us through 477 slides in less than 45 minutes (honest!!) Marcus put some answers to the question ‘what’s next in search?’ and whilst it was hard to take detailed notes as he jumped from slide to slide of amusing Matt Cutts quotes and images, he made some important points about the  need to continuously producing new linkable content, as search is time sensitive and subject to trends. A thoroughly entertaining presentation though, and I look forward to attending his event in Munich later this year – SEOktoberfest!

The final, and much anticipated, talk of the day was delivered by Martin Macdonald, finely titled “Why I’m quitting SEO” (he isn’t..) Martin ran us through the issues that we as SEO’s are facing, due to bad exposure after penguin and panda updates, which have tarnished the industry with the tag of spammers. This is where he delivered the stand out quote from the day – “SEO’s are online marketing Superheroes”. Martin’s point was that SEO’s ‘get the net’ (another favourite line) and will be responsible for managing the reputation of SEO and encouraging people that our future SEO work is clean, creative and capable of delivering great results. The only outstanding question was what we will be called? Growth hackers, inbound marketers and content marketers were all mentioned, before Martin ended on his belief that one day SEO’s will have taken over all the top marketing jobs and world! Watch this space..

Notable mentions also go to Shain Shapiro, who revealed the secrets of Hootsuite’s social community and #hootups, as well as Nichola Stott and Ross Hudgens, who hosted fantastic talks on link building strategies rapid-fire content marketing.

As is tradition with these SEO events, we headed to the nearest bars for a much needed drink after a long day of talks, before we all met up again at Tiger Tiger in Leeds for more drinks and a social! It was a shame that the PushON crew had to leave at a reasonable time to come back to Manchester but I’m sure the rest of the night was enjoyed by all! No doubt there’ll be some bleary eyes at the second half of the event today (which we’re disappointed to be missing!) focusing a bit more on Social Media alongside SEO.

Big thanks to all at Blueclaw and the sponsors of ionSearch for a great, and incredibly entertaining and thought provoking day. See you all at SASCon!

The post ionSearch: The Future of SEO’s and Superheroes appeared first on PushON Ltd.

PlayStation 4 Announced 

On Wednesday night the worst kept secret in video gaming was finally revealed with the announcement of the Sony Playstation 4. During a two hour presentation the assembled media were told and shown the capabilities of the ‘most powerful platform ever’. However we did not get to see the console and were only shown the  ”DualShock 4″ controller.

Interestingly there was an acknowledgement from Sony that the previous console was difficult to develop for. This time round they contacted games developers whilst the console was being made, hopefully this means that more games companies want to get involved on the PS4.

So what can we expect with the PS4?

• A highly powerful AMD x86-based 8-core CPU, an enhanced GPU and amazingly 8GB of DDR5 RAM. This all means this will be the most powerful games console ever made and would go toe-toe with most gaming PC’s on the market.
• Games will still be on Blu-ray discs but all games will be fully downloadable, and can be played instantly with downloading continuing as you play.
• The PS4 will have an ‘Instant On’ feature which means the console never turns off but rather hibernates. This means that the user can instantly return to whatever was being played prior to turning off the console.
• The controller features a ‘share’ button which means gameplay can be instantly uploaded to Facebook and video streaming sites.
• The “PlayStation App” will enable iPhone, iPad, and Android based smartphones and tablets to become second screens
• PlayStation 4 Eye – 1280 x 800 camera (Xbox Kinect style feature)

Overall the PlayStation 4 is a smart piece of kit, the biggest disappointment was the fact the console was absent from the press conference. However this means it will most likely get shown at E3 in June. We are looking forward to it, now its over to Microsoft.

The PlayStation 4 is scheduled to be on sale in December 2013.

Google Glass

Google have been developing their revolutionary augmented reality head-mounted display for quite a while now, with little being shown apart from the headset over the last few years.

Now they are trying to push the sales in a social campaign by asking the question, ‘What would you do if you had Glass?’. To enter the competition you have to answer in 50 words of less with #ifihadglass using Google+ or Twitter, photos can be used and a short 15 second video can also be included.

The main drawback is that this is only available to U.S residents, meaning we will just have to write our own #ifihadglass tweet:

‘#ifihadglass I would visit the Wonders of the World and compare them using Glass to show the originals compared to 2013’s Wonders of the World.’ – Pedrom Pourkashanian

‘#ifihadglass I would go to a new city where I couldn’t speak the language and try and get a date by the end of the day’ – Jonny Pennington

‘#ifihadglass I could finally be on time for stuff without getting lost for 2 hours’ – James Whitelock

So I pose this question to you… What would you do if you had Glass?

Find more details here – if you are in the US you can enter on Twitter or Google+

interflora DISAPPEARS

Last Thursday, Martin Macdonald broke the news that Interflora had effectively been ‘wiped off the face of the Internet.’ Google hit the flower delivery service with a penalty which saw it virtually disappear from the SERPs for prime keywords it was previously ranking #1 for, including its own brand name. The company was sitting at the top of the search results for search terms such as ‘flowers’, ‘flower delivery’ and ‘florist’, but now finds itself buried in the 5^th or 6^th page.

We can only speculate the full extent of Interflora’s bad behaviour, but it appears a long history of bad link building practices has caught up with them. A quick Link Detox showed over 70% toxic and suspicious links, this includes advertorials, link networks, web directories and paid blog posts on abandoned networks.

Reminder: Google’s guidelines on paid links that pass PageRank also apply to “advertorial” pages. See goo.gl/PhwsY for more info.

— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) February 22, 2013

Following this incident, last Friday Matt Cutts posted a polite reminder on Google’s Webmaster Central blog that selling links is naughty and can lead to a penalty. It will be interesting to see how, and if, Interflora recover from this nightmare, whether they move to a new domain or start a long and gruelling recovery process, it won’t be easy.

The post Digital RoundUP 25/02/2013 appeared first on PushON Ltd.

Google removes non-profits grants for churches

As you may or may not know, non-profit organisations are given a grant from Google to help with advertising costs. These organisations are given a PPC budget of £10k rising to £40k if they continually max out that budget. This provides a welcome boost of advertising spend for those that qualify, however, that list has just been cut with the removal of churches and religious groups. More info.

Windows 8 Unveiled

There have been various snippets released about Windows 8 over the last few months, but it had its grand unveiling last week. As those who had already seen the various snippets will know, it is optimised for tablets and touch-screen computers. It looks beautiful but many of us at PushON have already got concerns with how well it will operate on an ordinary desktop. We will just have to wait and see as more information is released, but for now, here’s an in depth look at the Windows 8 unveiling.

Google release flight search

Google are continuing to bring out tools that allow people to do most of their searching and shopping through Google with the release of flight search. Only available in the US at present, flight search allows users to search for flights, whilst also filtering by price and flight duration.

Bjork releases album by app

Never following the crowd, Bjork has once again stepped into the unknown by releasing her album, Biophilia, within an app. Each track is available and adds a whole new dimension to music. We love it, and for £1.45 it’s a steal (no we’re not on commission).

Google Search share in the US declines, while search phrases are getting longer

Search Engine Watch have noticed a slight decline in Google’s search share from July 11 to August 11. Although only a slight decline over a short amount of time, it is definitely one to keep track of.

Another interesting development pointed out in this post was the increase in longer phrases being used in search, a 3% increase in six, seven and eight worded searches.

You can now edit YouTube videos without the URL changing

As the title suggests, YouTube videos can now be edited without the URL changing. This is a welcome update for those used to losing views and comments.

Five ways to improve your Link Building approaches

Sick of getting spammy emails that feel impersonal and a complete waste of yours and the senders time? Ever get the feeling that you do the same when making approaches for link building purposes? Here’s a great post on five ways to improve your link building approaches.

And finally…

Last week, we were completely star-struck at PushON as one of our newest recruits was blessed with a reply from the one and only Mick Hucknall on Twitter. Yes, it really happened and he even brought Wyclef Jean to the party. Wowee. Here’s the screenshot to prove it:

The post SEO Weekly Round-Up #9 appeared first on PushON Ltd.

With the start of a new year comes the start of a new article series. There are so many new articles being published each week that we thought it would be beneficial to have a roundup each week of the most important or popular stories. Each week we’ll bring you five of the latest SEO articles from the blogosphere, and maybe a few extra bits if you’re lucky!

In no particular order…

1. A Decade of SEO

It’s no surprise that one of the most popular SEO articles this week would be a roundup of the decade, but High Rankings really pushed the boat out here. From the year 2000 to 2009, a detailed review of what happened in SEO throughout the last 10 years.

EDIT - Also check out A Decade of Search series from iCrossing.

2. Wikipedia Emerges in Google Maps Results

On Monday this week, Search Engine Land reported that Wikipedia has emerged as a major influence in Google local search listings. Google Maps now pull content from Wikipedia for popular places in order to provide more information on the listings. This may influence listings, as places without articles on Wikipedia may not be prioritised.

3. Getting More from Google Analytics

Everyone loves a good refresher course, and Shark SEO this week provided a great guide to help you get more from Google Analytics. Creating custom reports, goals and segments, it is a must read if you haven’t put much time into Analytics.

4. 2010 Link Building Trends

A guest blog post on Search Engine Land this week explored some of the link building trends of 2010. The article includes some of the link building influences in 2009, with a look at some recommendations and advice for the coming year.

5. Google Caffeine Going Live?

This isn’t necessarily confirmed yet, but Search Engine Roundtable yesterday posted that Google Caffeine results may now be going live. Google announced that it wouldn’t happen until after the holiday period, so the release of Caffeine may be imminent.

Favourite Link of the Week

This was doing its rounds on Twitter this week:

How To Do Onsite Seo – Illustrated By Kittens

Is there a popular SEO article that’s been missed off this list? Please let us know in the comments and we’ll be sure to take a look.

The post SEO Articles of the Week 04/01/2010 appeared first on PushON Ltd.

In the last couple of months I have also been working on some of my own internet based projects. I recently launched an ecommerce site selling candles and hope to release a pub review site in the coming months. These sites have helped me to develop my online presence and test out new marketing methods which could be used on future clients. I find that, as with so many things in the online domain it is important to try things out and then review what you have learnt.

Finally I would like to take the opportunity to thank Simon, Roy and the rest of the team at Pushon for giving me the chance to work for such a vibrant and creative company. The focus and energy of the company gives me real enthusiasm and I am confident I can bring something new to the company. It will also be nice to work in one of the UK’s most vibrant cities.

The post New SEO Specialist Joins Pushon appeared first on PushON Ltd.

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We sat and sulked for the first couple of days blaming everything and everyone, life is so unfair, we didn’t deserve that, just who does this Google think, he/she/it is? We can do so much better anyway!

After our short period of sulking we finally admitted that Google had fallen out of love with us and set about trying to win back its’ heart.

We discussed, argued, researched, analysed and finally decided that there was potentially a number of factors that might have turned our soul mates affections sour, rather than any single given factor.

Here’s a list of factors we think may have caused Google to give us the cold shoulder:

1. Unreliable hosting
2. The change in method of displaying our RSS feed on our main site
3. Less frequent posting
4. Our RSS feed not function for a short period.

Here’s a list of things we did to win back the heart of big G:

1. Fixed the hosting issue
2. Changed the method we used to display our RSS feed on our main site
3. Made more regular posts
4. Fixed all issued with our RSS feed
5. Upgraded our WordPress install
6. Changed our permalink structure and used 301 redirects on all the old URLs
7. Updated our XML sitemap

It now appears that we’ve rekindled Googles love for us and we’re seeing a whole range of posts previously going unnoticed, whilst it was giving us the brush off, hitting top of the Google once again.

Search Result 1

Search Result 2

Search Result 3

Search Result 4

Search Result 5

Search Result 6

Search Result 7

Search Result 8

It’s nice to be loved again.

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