Many of our clients often ask us what is involved in our SEO campaigns and much of the time we talk about linkbuilding and the importance of quality of quantity.

As a professional and ethical Manchester SEO company, we only use White Hat SEO and ethical linkbuilding techniques to build links from reliable and relevant sources on the web. So, unlike many unethical SEO individuals out there that build links from hundreds or sometimes even thousands (so they claim) of unreliable and irrelevant sources, we base our campaigns on quality not quantity.

Linkbuilding for SEO sometimes isn’t that easy to understand, simply because it’s not tangible like advertising, so what we like to do at UPSearch is to do is explain things in analogies.

The Linkbuilding Analogy

Let’s imagine your website was a tradesman, say a bathroom fitter, and the friends of that bathroom fitter were the links (recommendations) that were linking back to your site.

In this scenario, there are two identical bathroom fitters (websites); Bathroom Jim and Bathroom Dave, both are excellent at fitting bathrooms, the only difference is the friends (links) that they have.

Bathroom Jim only has four  friends;  Henry, James, Claire and Patricia.

Henry writes a column in the Home and Lifestyles section of local newspaper and has studied bathroom design.

James owns a successful luxury house building business and relies on Jim to fit all of the bathrooms in his new homes.

Claire is the editor of The Bathroom Magazine and has 20 years experience reviewing bathrooms

Patricia is a well-known blogger; she writes about bathrooms and has a big online following.

Although there are only four of them, together they know pretty allthere is to know about bathrooms and bathroom design.

Meanwhile, Dave’s friends include, a Bartender, Hairdresser, Mobile Phone Salesman, Gardener,

Taxi Driver, Car Mechanic and many others.

All of them are very good at their own jobs, but don’t really know very much at all about bathrooms.

One day Mr Google arrives, he’s just bought a fancy new house and asks everyone in the room to recommend the best fitter.

Both Jim and Dave’s friends give Mr Google their recommendation.

Although Dave had a lot more recommendations, Mr Google decides that to let Jim fit his bathroom.

Jim’s friends were far more experienced and better placed to give an educated recommendation

Link Building: Quality over Quanitity

In the scenario above, Jim would be a bathroom website and his friends would be links from relevant online sources; a link from the Home and Lifestyle section of the local newspaper’s website, a link from the company website of a Home Building company, a link from the website of a major Bathroom Magazine and finally a link from a blogger who writes about bathroom design.

When Google looks at these links and where they point to, it’s very obvious that it’s all relevant and that Bathroom Jim clearly has better quality recommendations that Bathroom Dave.

Even though Bathroom Dave had far more recommendations, it’s clear to Google that none of the recommendations (links) were relevant and therefore less trusted that Bathroom Jim’s recommendations.

White Hat vs. Black Hat linkbuilding techniques

Ethical and White Hat linkbuilding techniques involves spending a lot of time researching, liaising and negotiating with relevant online sources to point back to our client websites and it’s not about volume, it’s about getting good quality links. One good quality link is better than a thousand irrelevant bad quality links to a website and often so many bad quality links can actually damage a website’s reputation and therefore it’s ranking.

Black Hat linkbuilding involves underhanded techniques to try to mask and exaggerate linking efforts to trick Google into thinking that the site has a better reputation than it really has – quite often they work for a short while, but Google is an intelligent creature and very quickly, blackhat techniques are uncovered and more than often websites get penalised for this activity.

To find out more about SEO drop us a line today on 0161 236 7161.

Essentially, the aim of SEO is to increase the chances of one or more of the pages of the website appearing in search engine results pages. This would be in response to an internet user typing “keywords” into the search box of their search engine, such as Google.

Why is being at the top of Search Engine Results important for a website?

SEO is all about getting a website to the top of search engine results, which will result in the website seeing an increase in visitors, and more visitors means more customers, which means more money.

If a website appears in the top three positions in a search result page, the page is likely to receive more than 58% of all clicks from users (results of an Optify study). Basically, being in the top three could increase your website’s visitors threefold.

It is believed that surfers click on the top results because they will usually see these results first (it is easier) but there is also an underlying assumption that the sites at the top of the list are likely to be the best ones (it will get you what you need).

It is also important to remain in the top three positions for visibility purposes. The higher your website ranks, the more people will see it, recognize the name of your business and therefore promote your business.

How does SEO actually work?

Keywords – Keywords are central to SEO. Search engines use keywords to rank websites. The keyword terms or phrases that you would expect someone to search for to find your website are firstly determined. (For example, somebody looking for a place to eat might type, “restaurants in London”) Then, the SEO consultant optimises the website with a focus on these keywords.

On site SEO – Onsite SEO is focused on your website. It uses various techniques to make it more search engine friendly, as well as keyword rich.

An SEO consultant will also ensure that the website is full of relevant content. This ensures that Google and other search engines can “see” and “read” the content to determine its relevance based on the keywords the surfer has typed in.

Some techniques concerned with onsite SEO include well optimised title tags, plenty of content, the page URL, and internal anchor text links (keyword links within the content connecting pages of your site together.)

Off site SEO – Offsite is an important part of the SEO process. Offsite SEO is concerned with everything you do off the site, which essentially involves building links to your website that acts as “votes”. Put very simply, the more votes you have, the more Google can “see” your website and will rank it higher.  This is also known as back links.

There are many techniques involved with offsite SEO. These include acquiring back links through social forums, back links through social bookmarking and writing articles with back links in for other websites or bloggers.

Back links will vary in value depending on the authority of the site, the topic of the page on the site and also what “anchor text” the back link contains. The anchor text is the text that you see in a hyperlink. If the hyperlink is similar to the SEO keywords, then this will be far more beneficial for SEO purposes.

What should I expect from SEO?

You shouldn’t expect instant results, but the results will show in time. SEO is an ongoing process, so a gradual improvement in your website’s visibility will be seen. Sometimes it can take weeks, even months, to see major results in the search engines.

Also, remember that your competitors are also likely to be conducting SEO so ranking number one in the search engine won’t be seen straight away. In addition, rankings constantly fluctuate so don’t be shocked to see your website move up and down in the list. Your SEO will be measured and monitored to track progress and continual improvements.

In summary, SEO encompasses a wide range of techniques, some of which have been discussed here. It involves changing the way your website works, and how search engines see you, to enable maximum exposure and self promotion.

There are many reasons why you should conduct effective SEO. Firstly, it is an investment in your business. With the world moving to a more digital age, online marketplaces are very competitive and a website needs to do everything it can to be seen.

Without SEO, your website will do nothing for you. No one will know your website is there apart from you, and the money you spend designing and building it will be in vain.

Speak to a professional SEO Manchester company today about increasing your websites visibility.

Thank you to the UPSearch team for all their hardwork and thanks to all of our lovely clients – we look forward to working with you in 2012 and making it another great year.

Ali joins our web development team as a web developer and has moved over to us from JD Williams. She’s already been here for a good few weeks now and is already making a huge difference in servicing new client sites.

Ali is an Angry Birds fanatic and although she’s only been here for a few weeks, her desk is already gathering a collection of Angry Birds plush toys! But let’s be honest….who DOESN’T like Angry Birds???

Chris is going to play a large part in the growth and development of the business over the next few months and years, we are all extremely pleased with our new pair of hands…..dont take that much notice of his Weemee he doesn’t have that much hair really!

So, Christmas is just around the corner and we’ve been planning our Christmas do this week. This time last year there were just 4 of us and by Christimas this year there we will be 12 – so we’ve grown considerably, so much so in fact that we will shortly be moving offices in Manchester City Centre (More on this next week)to accomodate our ever expanding family.

Watch this space!

The applicant must have a keen interest in all things web related and be constantly refining their skills with new development techniques. The applicant must have a keen eye for detail and be able to work confidently to deadlines.

Essential Knowledge :

•          Clean, pragmatic development in PHP

•          Excellent, valid web markup (XHTML / CSS)

•          JavaScript & Libraries – jQuery Pref.

•          Experience with Web 2.0 Concepts/

•          Experience with Open Source packages (e.g. wordpress)

•          Solid UX skills

•          MySQL

Beneficial but not essential knowledge:

•          HTML5

•          Knowledge of SEO principles

•          Ecommerce (Eg. Prestashop)

•          Knowledge of SEO principles

•          Knowledge of LAMP stack

•          Dynamic Interfaces/AJAX

•          Object Oriented Programming

Experience/Knowledge in the following would be beneficial but not essential:

CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, XHTML, Working knowledge of PHP, MySQL, HTML5

The Role:

Reporting to and working with the lead developer, your role will include designing, building, updating and tweaking client websites within our current team of developer and SEO Engineers.

Please reply with CV, covering letter and a portfolio if you have one to recruitment@upsearch.co.uk

*No agencies or job boards please*

Sometime ago I read an article about email Spam and how modern email platforms do a great job at filtering it out into the junk box – so Spam is no longer (as big of) a problem as it used to be. The bigger problem now isn’t Spam but what people are calling Bacon.

Bacon: {Emails that have been sent to you because you have subscribed to a newsfeed or newsletter for offers or promotions –

stuff you wouldn’t consider traditional spam – but does clog up your inbox}

So, what does Bacon include? Well, every morning, I wake up and the first thing I do is check 2 of my email accounts – Gmail and my UP Search email (I also have hotmail and yahoo – but I never check them and have them forwarded to my Gmail, because Microsoft and Yahoo thinks it’s ok to offer a crap email service and expect people to use it – but that’s another rant altogether).

The first thing I’m presented with in my Gmail inbox (apart from the things I have rules and labels for) is a bunch of unwanted (but asked for) emails from the likes of:

Groupon – Because I like a good bargain – but to be totally honest I’ve never purchased anything from Groupon but the way that Groupon is designed, you have to stick in your email address before you can even view the site -plus there is only so much leg waxing, facials, hair removal or spa treatments I can take (I’m not that hairy) – for goodness sake offer something people want to buy!

Love Money and Motley Fool – because once I read an good article on interest rates and I thought I’d subscribe – now 2-3 years down the line I still receive their emails and out of the 1000 or so emails they’ve sent, I’ve probably read (or even opened) no more than 2.

Various Online Shops including Ebay, Amazon, HMV, O2, Apple et al because I’ve previously purchased things from their sites and therefore they feel they have the right to bombard me with emails about Jim on Ebay who’s selling a tractor exhaust for a fiver.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as well, only this morning I counted 33 non-personal emails – that’s 33 pieces of bacon. I know what you’re thinking…why don’t I just unsubscribe? Then I don’t need to rant on like this? Well there’s always the “What If”….

…What if one day Groupon has an offer for 90% off Air Force 1 trainers or £10 for a set of £10,000 diamond earings? (I have a dog and she likes to chew stuff – I also have a wife and she likes to shop) these offers could really come in handy – so I’ll keep my subscription.

…What if one day the finance experts at Love Money or Motley Fool find a legal loophole under the Consumer Data Protection Finance Rioting Act of 1911 that states I can pay off my mortgage using pistachio nuts? – so I’ll keep my subscription.

..What if one day HMV decide to sell Celine Dion’s greatest hits for just £20? Yeah ok, I’d unsubscribe from that…but my point is, yes sure I asked for these emails and although they’re not strictly spam like the Viagra or the “Hello I’m the daughter of a Nigerian ambassador and I want to give you $15 million if you help me…” , it doesn’t make them any less annoying.

What am I going to do about this? Probably nothing because I really do think those finance boffins at Love Money are going to pull through with the pistashio nuts idea, and a tenner for diamond earings is just easy browny points – I just wanted a quick rant about it.

Here’s an interesting infographic which details how lucrative Bacon is:

It is with this trend, that a new technique in web design and development takes full merit. With responsive web design, gone are the days of creating a mobile friendly mini-version of your site – all you need is one, designed correctly. As the name suggests, responsive web design is the process of creating a website that can respond and change it’s layout under certain circumstances. The circumstances involved in this example being: the size of the screen on the device, with which you’re viewing the webpage. So rather than creating a multitude of different versions of your site (due to enormous amount of different web devices) all disconnected from each other, we can build one, and treat these devices simply as differing tools to deliver the same experience.

The linchpin behind responsive design, is the CSS media query – a new technology as part of the CSS3 specification. These media queries, most commonly applied using the @media CSS rule, allow the stlying and layout rules of a webpage to be changed based on (among other things) the maximum or minimum width of the current device viewport.

Implementing basic CSS media queries is straightforward:

@media screen and (max-device-width: 480px) {
  .some-column {
    float: none;
  }
} 

The above rule, as you can see, will stop the floating of an element with the class name some-column – but crucially, it will only apply this change if width of the device is less than 480 pixels wide. With this technique you can have your floated columns line-up underneath one another, thus ensuring the user can simply scroll down to see them – and not across. This helps the web experience stay in line with that of the native mobile user experience.

So the next time you’re thinking of creating a sub-site for mobile… stop yourself, and go responsive!

Oh and if you’d like to read more on the subject, there is a fantastic article on responsive web design at alistapart.

With Literally hundreds of self proclaimed SEO and PPC “Experts” to choose from, finding the right agency to match your needs has become a bit of a minefield. That’s why I’ve created this ten point guide to finding the agency or freelancer that best suits your needs.

1.   Service deliverables

What core services are at the heart of your management, does your fee cover copywriting costs, social media, paid search across the ‘big three’ platforms (Google, Yahoo, Bing)?  What additional services are included that most other agencies don’t include, Mobile PPC, Google display network etc.  Be wary, some agencies may reel you in with the lure of a broad range services only for you to find out they all have an additional cost. Be sure of what’s included from the get go.

If you outsource both PPC and SEO, in an ideal world the same agency should manage both services for you, or at a stretch they should have a good relationship with each other.  SEO and PPC should hold a symbiotic relationship, with PPC giving you coverage on keywords you have yet to achieve organic rankings for, as well as informing you of immerging keyword trends.

2.   Contract terms

What terms are available? Is there a rolling monthly contract option or do you have to be tied in to a long contract. Depending on the seasonality of your industry, you may not require PPC management all the way through the year.  If a longer term contract is more convenient for you, can they offer you a management fee reduction or any additional service?

3.   Location

How important is face time for you? Would you prefer to deal with somebody local to you, do you need to see them frequently for updates?

4.   Proactive not reactive

What strategies or measures do they have in place to ensure that your campaigns are at the forefront of your industry? A good SEO and PPC agency should keep you up to date with industry innovations that may affect your campaigns.  A proactive agency (or freelancer) ensures small problems aren’t able to escalate to the point where they impede your campaign.

5.   Reporting

What modes of reporting are available, do they have an online system that you can log on to. Will you have access to the Adwords account to view what’s happening?  What information do you need to know and what information would be good to know?

6.    Experience

Is this prospective agency experienced in your niche, direct or similar experience means that they may have a better grasp of what your trying to achieve and can bring the lessons learned from previous clients to your campaign too. What results have they achieved for others, don’t be fixated on being number 1 in Google, proof of meeting Clients financial goals should suffice!

7.   Flexibility

How quickly will they respond to last minute campaigns or the need to change an account immediately?  Do their terms and conditions stipulate how soon you can expect changes to be made, if not find out specifics.

8.   Intellectual Property

Do you retain ownership of any content created (SEO content, Articles, Adwords accounts), although the practice is now fading out some agencies still hold on to ownership of the PPC account, meaning that if you choose to part ways further down the line you may be asked to purchase the account from the agency.

9.   Management fees

How much does the service cost, does the price reflect what you get in return. Is the management fee a percentage of spend or is it a fixed management fee.  Are you expected to pay your click spend up front to the agency, if so what happens if they go under.

10.   Gut feeling

How have you found their sales process, have they been overly pushy, and how long does it take them to return requests for information.  The sales process can give you some insight to the inner workings of the agency and the quality of service you will receive if you sign up.

For more information on Upsearch SEO and PPC management feel free to give us a call on 0161 488 2970.