It has been an uneasy start to 2024 for some webmasters and SEOs as they try to identify the causes for significant ranking fluctuations. Close observation suggests that Google may be shifting from visibly aggressive penalties to gradual and calculated reductions over a period of weeks. Could Google be exercising a continual crawl link based devaluation? Let’s take a look back at January: 17th-18th January – Webmasters noticed significant fluctuations in rankings. There was industry talk of a possible update on the 17th/18th January, although Google did not confirm this. 22nd – 23rd January – Google announced a Panda #24 data refresh on 22nd January with no new ranking signals.…

In a growing trend, consumers are spending more on doing up their homes, including their gardens, rather than considering moving houses. Email viral marketing Online giant B&Q has recently run a viral marketing campaign which saw the company send out thousands of email messages to customers showing them how they could get hold of discount vouchers. Recipients had to log on to the company website and register receive a discount voucher. The email encouraged recipients to forward to friends and aimed to provide a viral marketing channel for the company. Industry analysts believe this type of email marketing campaign can increase website traffic by as much as 50% and has…

It’s no secret that for a long while now Google has been cracking down on those that try and manipulate page rankings for their own ends. Therefore, when last week yet another link network was hit, they couldn’t say that they weren’t warned. Just to reiterate how serious they are, last week Mat Cutts head of the Webspam team at Google stated they were “scaling up their plans to take on the link networks.” So What’s a Link Network Anyway? If you’re wondering exactly what a link network is, then these are sites that you pay a monthly fee to in order to add your own site to the network.…

It has been yet another fabulous year of quality conferences for the WebMarketing Group and this month, we sent our esteemed colleague Fred Gray, to the aptly named BrightonSEO conference. No prizes for guessing that this event involves SEOs from around the country gathering for a free one-day search marketing conference in Brighton. Through a series of intensive training workshops and interesting talks, SEOs can immerse themselves in the latest industry discussions. So what did our Account Manager Fred think of the BrightonSEO conference? Fred Gray Technical Account Manager @FreddGray What did you take away from the day? I love a good thought-provoking conference as much as the next man,…

Facebook is inundated with businesses, both large and small. This may make it harder for small businesses, without an existing Facebook presence, to make themselves heard. However many small businesses have used Facebook to their advantage, successfully marketing themselves by integrating Facebook into their larger marketing strategy. Using Facebook for business in this way is a good idea for any small business, even if you audience is small to begin with. Not only will Facebook provide your business with a more personal identity, it’s a great platform from which your target audience can learn more about your business and interact with you directly. And since consumers are more likely to…

Google Webmaster Tools has launched a new update that allows you to download backlinks by date. This is particularly welcome to those who are currently cleaning up their backlink profiles following the Penguin algorithm update. Webmasters will now be better able to see who is linking to them which will aid in their on-going link pruning and link building efforts. It is not just Penguin afflicted sites that should be focusing on clearing out the cobwebs from their link profiles. Regular maintenance of your backlinks is instrumental in the creation of a natural link profile. Cleaning Up Your BackLink Profile BackLink Analysis Have your SEO specialist provide you with a…

A few people in the WMG office have received their Google Plus invites and have already started testing out Google’s social networking platform. Some of us haven’t but we’re still happy to wait patiently anyway. We’re not sure what the criteria is for getting an email invitation (most probably at random), but we do know that it’s still invitation-only at present. So what exactly is Google Plus?  And what does it offer us that Facebook doesn’t?  Nobody can be sure of whether the platform will be successful yet, but we have to say, it’s looking rather good.  Here are some of the Google+ features: • Circles – a way for users…

Google is returning a new result type on the right-hand side of searches for brands with Google Plus accounts. Brands that have properly linked their website with their Google Plus page can now see their brand pages highlighted to the right of the search results using Rel=Publisher. It is only really happening for the super big brands at the minute but word on the street is that we can expect to see it rolled out across the board for more brands in the not too distance future. Rich Snippets and Online Marketing Brands should not only understand the importance where they appear in the search engines, but also how they…

Facebook is making changes to their news feed with a new design intended to reduce clutter and create a more consistent design across desktop and mobile devices. In an attempt to increase engagement and deliver a news feed that relates to individual users, Facebook appears to be creating more of a “personalised newspaper” for its users. Early debate surrounding the changes has suggested this new clutter-free and personalised approach could work in favour of advertisers too. The Main Changes: •De-cluttered news feed •More image-focused •Separation of feed types •Mobile inspired interface •Global site navigation What Does it Look Like? Where the old news feed consists primarily of text, the new…

Scandal rippled across the web in February when Interflora plummeted in the rankings for its own name. The company also dropped for the word ‘flowers’, a word that it had previously ranked in the coveted number one spot. SEOs sank their teeth into the challenge of finding out why they had taken the hit. So What Happened? There are several ways that Google calculates the way pages are ranked, many of which they have not revealed, but it’s now been collectively asserted that it was the way that Interflora has been getting links that caused the drop. Interflora was cheating at Google’s game (a game that no one knows the…