Sam Tilston | Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Expert London » SEO

Google Command Line Tool

admin — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 09:29:02 +0000

A new tool has be released by the open source community called GoogleCL. It allows you to run a full range of commands to use Google services from a command line. This opens up many possibilities for scripted use of Google services.

Some examples may be :

$ google blogger post –blog “My blog” –tags “python, googlecl, development” my_post.html
$ google calendar add “Lunch with Jason tomorrow at noon”
$ google docs edit –title “Shopping list” –editor vim

Visit GoogleCL for more info.

Enjoy.

Google SERPs Get Busy

admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 08:18:01 +0000

Google recently made some layout and design changes to both the homepage buttons, logo and more importantly the search engine results page.

Personally I’m not keen on the SERPs changes, the page now looks incredibly busy.

Having these additional options presented to the user could have some big impacts.

Decrease number of clicks on both Adwords and Natural results
Increased need for sites to push content to blogs, news, images, videos etc
Ensuring sites are included in the different filters, i.e. sites with images

Enjoy.

New Google Adwords Tool

admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:06:46 +0000

Google has release a new Adwords Tool to help users select the best keywords to use for Adwords, this is also widely used for SEO. Here is a screenshot…

This new tools is much easier to use and has a load more features including:

Show stats for searches from mobile phones
See search market share
Use multiple filters
See high volume terms per categories
Check boxes for broad, phrase and exact match – FINALLY!
Search trends
MUCH MORE ACCURATE DATA!

Take a look for yourself – Adwords Tool

Enjoy.

Link Building Mashup

admin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:46:17 +0000

Nice show of current link building mashup techniques, contact us to get these links done for your sites.

Enjoy.

Android Pagerank & Backlinks App

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:53:39 +0000

Today I’ve released an amazing Google Pagerank and Backlink checker. See the pagerank of any domain name and take a look and the individual backlinks. The price is £2.95, if you have any suggestions for improvements post them here.

Here are some screenshots.

Enjoy.

Android SEO Rank Pro

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:36:06 +0000

I’ve just released a rank checker for the Google Android operating system. Have it running on my nexus one and it’s working great. So if you need to check search positions on the go then grab yourself a copy.

SEO Rank Pro allows you to check keyword positions for your website in Google.

Supports many international Google engines.
Check multiple keywords.
Very accurate.
Check you search positions fast and easily.

How To Write Linkbait

admin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:25:45 +0000

Over the years I’ve produced countless pieces of ‘linkbait’ for an array of different clients, and as a result have gradually developed a successful and trusty routine by which to work. Below are what I believe to be the most important steps to follow in order to supply your client with a piece of work which is effective enough to signify that your services are invaluable.

Know your client

To most people this would be filed under ‘Common Sense’ but believe me, there are some who wouldn’t even consider such a step. How do you expect to produce a unique and link-worthy article related to your client’s business if you don’t understand what they do? Even when working with existing clients – for whom I’ve written previously – the very first thing I do before starting work is become acquainted/re-acquainted with the client’s product and/or industry. Start by exploring the client’s own website. Do they have a News section related to the industry? If so, read it. Do they have an existing blog containing previous linkbait? Read that too. In fact, read the whole website and you’ll be surprised at how worthwhile such an elementary task can be.

Research, research, research

Although Wikipedia can’t always be trusted, it happens to be a great starting point when researching a topic. For example, if your client operates in the travel industry one of your first stops should be the Tourism page at Wikipedia where you’ll find a wealth of knowledge related to your client’s work that could prove invaluable when writing content. To illustrate my point: a quick glance at that very page will provide you with information about the history of tourism, niche forms of tourism, recent developments in the world of tourism…all subjects on which – with some tweaking and further investigation – a piece of linkbait could be written. Speaking of recent developments, another fantastic place to frequent is Google News. A quick search for “insurance industry” results in a goldmine of extremely recent information related to your new insurance client from which you can pull a trending topic to write about. While you’re at it, use those same search terms at websites like Digg, Reddit, Metafilter, Delicious and even Flickr, and sort the results according to popularity. This will all serve as inspiration whilst also making you aware of articles and photos that have already set the online world alight.

Tread on fresh ground

Following on nicely from the last point: once you’ve discovered those stories which have already gone viral, make it a priority to avoid re-hashing the same material. It’s wholly unlikely that a re-jigged version of a popular article will go viral for a second time so, unless you really have something new and of additional value to bring to the table, avoid touching it like the plague otherwise it will look lazy, you’ll have wasted valuable time and could even attract negative feedback from the very online community you’re hoping to engage with. Instead, use these stories to discover the type of article people have been drawn to and use that as inspiration.

Stop obsessing about lists

Although it’s true that list-based articles are easy to digest, don’t interpret that as a reason to arrange everything you write into bullet-points at the expense of a simpler but just as interesting piece. The old adage ‘Quality not Quantity’ still applies when writing linkbait and a short, traditional article about a bizarre hotel that’s rarely been seen before can result in just as much traffic and links – if not more – than an enormous list of less interesting hotels which have already done the rounds. Your client is hopefully paying you to bring in links and exposure, not to regularly fill the company blog with Top 10 lists that rarely perform. Another question worth asking yourself is this: if each stretch of sand on that ‘Top 10 Unique Beaches’ list is fascinating in its own right, why not buck the trend and instead post one beach each week as part of a series? Readers returning each week to see the latest addition to a fascinating series is an extremely valuable occurrence and will do your client’s website no harm at all.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Humans are suckers for visual stimulation, and for that reason a photograph of the world’s most expensive office chair will, without doubt, attract more attention and links than a thousand word description of the same seat. My point is this: don’t be afraid to use photographs when writing linkbait. In fact, make it your mission to include at least one picture. Also, don’t be afraid to use large, high quality ones as there’s nothing worse than reading an article online which relies on a photograph, only to find yourself squinting to appreciate it due to its size and/or quality. If you’re worried about bandwidth, host your pictures at Flickr. It’s free.

Keep it simple

Remember that the objective of writing linkbait is to attract as wide a readership as possible. Using the word ‘pusillanimous’ when you could have used ‘courageous’ is a surefire way to alienate a large percentage of your potential audience, so speak in a voice that the majority of people will understand without needing to check a dictionary, or else risk losing readers unnecessarily.

Cite your sources

As well as being good practice, citing sources for both the information within the linkbait and any photographs used will build trust amongst your readership, which will in turn make them more likely to link to your article. I can’t think of any website owner who would happily send their readers to an article that suspiciously lacks any source links. Further, sending readers to external websites by way of source links is a great way to make others aware of your work when they check their traffic logs.

Keep the title snappy

We’re all told not to judge a book by its cover but, in all honesty, it’s something the majority of us will continue to do throughout life. First impressions do matter and it’s the same with linkbait titles, so to spend two days writing an article for a client only to fall at the last hurdle by naming it ‘10 very awesome beds that I would love to lie on’ is inexcusably bad form. Keep the title short, punchy, even intriguing. Ask a question that begs to be answered. Even include a carefully chosen pun if you have to, but most of all, before you hand it over to the client, imagine yourself coming face-to-face with that very title for the first time. Would you carry on reading? If not, try again.

The Top 100 SEO & SEM Resources

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:09:07 +0000

If you are wanting to learn about SEO & SEM then the following resources may come in useful. I have identified and categorised what I believe to be the best search engine optimisation and search engine marketing resources on the web.

Search engine blogs

If you are wanting to do well in SEO then you should keep up to date with all of the latest search engine news, here are links to 10 of the best sources on the web:

SEO blogs

Here are links to 10 of the best search engine optimisation blogs from around the web, all of them provide solid SEO tips, advice and information.

SEO company blogs

Most of the SEO companies out there now have a blog added on to their websites mainly because they can help so much with rankings, many of them publish rubbish but there are some that produce quality content, here are 10 of the best:

Link building blogs

Here is a list of blogs that specialise in providing information about link building techniques such as link baiting, social media promotion and more.

Online marketing blogs

The following 10 blogs provide online marketing and social media marketing tips, information and advice. I read all of them on a regular basis and you should to if you want to stay ahead of the game.

Search engine directories

If you are looking for new search engines that you want to rank high on then the following list of search engine directories and lists will come in useful:

SEO & SEM directories

If you are looking to find SEO or SEM companies / consultants then you should check out the following list of directories. Some of them just list companies, others also list resources.

SEO tools

The following sites all provide useful search engine optimisation tools. Some of them just provide one, others provide a whole range of tools for things like keyword research, link popularity and more.

SEO forums

One of the best ways to learn about search engine optimisation is to join a few SEO forums, ask questions read what other people have to say, plus you can usually get free links for your site whilst you are learning as many of the forums allow you to have a signature link or two for your sites.

Web directories

Here is a list of 10 of the best web directories for search engine optimisation, some of them are free to submit to, others charge either a one off or annual review fee.

Automatic Personalised Search

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:50:49 +0000

Previously when a user was logged into Google all search results were tailored to the user. When logged out all users from a country were displayed the same results. This is no more. From now on, Google looks at the past 180 days of your search activity a displays search results tailored to that search history. If you want to turn this off for testing you need to append &pws=0 to the end of the search query string.

Enjoy.

Google Rich Snippets Testing Tool

admin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:09:01 +0000

Google has just released a tool which allows you to markup search results to look even better.

http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets

Enjoy.