Let’s get back to basics. If I’m to be honest, flashbacks of arguments with copywriters in ad agencies turn me off to the discussion of metadata. However the reality of the situation is that as Search and Social continue to rapidly converge, it is us SEOs that are left to pick up the technical end of the stick and metadata continues to land on our plate. The most …

SEOs – Your Typography Sucks

When people are on your website they are either skimming through content to find what they are looking for or they have found what they are looking for and want to read it as easily as possible. Either ways, having readable text will help them achieve their goal. A small change in typography can hugely impact the interpretation of your contentWhat do you …

Interflora – Where have all the flowers gone? – SEO Blog by Dave Naylor – SEO Tools, Tips & News

If you work in the search marketing sector it’s been hard to miss the penalty that has been dumped on Interflora this week. Is was first noticed on Tuesday but it wasn’t until SearchMetrics was updated today that the true picture of the penalty starts to take shape when you see such a dramatic fall from grace. This is plain to see that …

The New SEO: Search Marketing Integration

Every year, somebody proclaims that SEO is dead simply because Google has made some changes to its algorithm. But don’t worry, this post won’t be declaring that SEO is dead, dying, or even coughing up blood. However, the days of SEO as a distinct, independent discipline are certainly numbered. SEO is fast evolving into a more creative, diverse, and challenging profession. Over the …

Baidu SEO: Optimising for a Chinese Target Audience

As is common knowledge, the vast population of over 1 billion in China paves the way for fantastic consumerism which we Westerners should become involved with. All company’s need is to be recognised in order to succeed, and the best way to do this is through Search Engine Optimisation. However, when looking to heighten your company’s SEO in China, there are a few things you need to be weary of. Although Google is a large percentage of the world’s …

On-Page SEO Best Practices in 2013: 7 Rules of the Game

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard enough about on-page optimization to last a lifetime. I don’t want to repeat the same mantras you’ve been hearing since last year. Yes, on-page SEO has become more important (I can hardly remember a time when it wasn’t), and yes, on-page SEO can make or break your chances at ranking high on Google SERPs. But what has changed is the way we …

Don’t Sacrifice Design for SEO or SEO for Design

When looking at a new site build or re-design, it’s important to build search optimisation into its development from the ground up. We are all very aware of the on page SEO optimisations such as Title tags, H Tags, Image alt tags, content and links. However, there is little value in building a website without building SEO into its design and site structure. At Gravytrain we work hard at integrating search …

Inorganic versus Organic Backlinking Strategies: Getting Back to the Basics

 The backlink within the practice of SEO is an ongoing topic of conversation for marketing, sales, delivery and reporting of SEO services. Even in a post Penguin world, SEO professionals are still asking questions such as: What’s the best way to …

Integrating content marketing strategies and mobile design

Anyone who’s up on technology has heard of mobile web design and content marketing—two terms used with increasing frequency in the online world. Can mobile design and a great content marketing strategy be combined without sacrificing either content or design elements? Or does the content of a website suffer because of the restrictions imposed by design for small screens? The truth is that great content does not have to be sacrificed for mobile design and can even be enhanced by …

4 Ways Brands Can Plan for Content Success

Brands are often (rightly) told they need to move fast in order to play in the content game. But that doesn’t mean planning goes out the window. Quite the contrary. Some brand managers — and the agencies trying to win business from them — seem to think that spending a few weeks or even (gasp) a month in audit, goal-setting and research is a colossal waste of time and …

Is Thought Leadership The Future of Marketing?

In our last interview, Steve McKee asked if Big Data was the future of marketing. In previous interviews, Doug Kessler talked about creating a content culture, Todd Wheatland predicted that content and technology would combine to drive the future of marketing. Mark Schaefer discussed culture and the future of search. Marcus Starke predicted the rise of the science of marketing. Ann Handley called for …

Four Concepts to Grasp in Copyright and Content Marketing

If content marketing is part of your strategy, be it through newsletters, social media, advertorial and the like, the challenge is in creating meaningful, effective, and relevant content. The natural inclination is to simply pass along content found in a web search, but the legal implications of …

Content Marketing: The Fallacy that More Content is Better

Everywhere I go, I find marketers who are challenged with creating more content. More blog posts, more eBooks, more videos, more podcasts… more, more, more. Even our latest content marketing research found that the number one challenge for business marketers is producing enough content. I’m done with more. Here’s a little state of the industry that I’ve noticed: There are hundreds of marketing gurus out there who will tell you that …

Focus on Affinity with Facebook Posts

From a marketing and advertising perspective, Facebook is a game. It may not be very fun for businesses, but just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean that you don’t have to play along to be successful. On the other hand, some businesses have plenty of fun on Facebook. Whether you do or not makes absolutely no difference, though some will say that if you’re having fun with it that you’ll be more successful. I contend that fun or …

Cognitive Dissonance: Why Social Sharing Creates Employee Advocates

 “It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king,” the monarch told him. “I forbid you to do so.”“I can’t help it,” replied the little prince, thoroughly embarrassed. “I have come on a long journey, and I haven’t slept…” “Ah, then,” the king said, “I order you to yawn.” Le Petit Prince, …

3 Tools to Better Manage Your Social Media Presence

Do you want to make more efficient use of your time on social media? Are you looking for tools that will help you manage your social media efforts? In this article you’ll discover 3 tools to enable you to become more efficient and effective with social media. #1: Glyder – Social Media Marketing from Your iPhone Glyder is an iPhone app that allows you to share well-designed marketing messages as social media updates using predefined templates. You …

We’ll round-off this month’s round-up with a video from Matt Cutts addressing something a lot of webmasters are worried about: