Anyone keeping up with the more recent changes from Google over the last 12 months could be forgiven for thinking the search giant has branched out into protecting wildlife. However, the very cute and cuddly names given to its recent algorithm updates, Panda and Penguin, have meant many websites have become endangered as far as their search engine rankings are concerned.

It’s not that Google’s algorithm updates have changed what it’s looking for in a website; they mean the search giant is improving how it separates the proverbial wheat from the chaff. The updates aim to crack down on bought links and keyword-stuff content. Punishing these previously successful SEO (search engine optimisation) techniques has sent a lot of Internet marketing companies back to (more…)

What does your company website say about you, your company and your ethos? Does it convey your company’s core values, is it filled with the same passion for your business as you are, or are you ashamed to show it to clients and customers?

It is difficult to succeed in business without being passionate, without having something which sets your business aside from the competition – yet all too often this unique selling point isn’t reflected in a firm’s website. Where values and ethos should be conveyed, banality and plagiarism are rife.

There are Internet companies out there offering ‘industry specific content’ for your website, so you can just ‘copy’ and ‘paste’ your content to be (more…)

Penguins may seem all cute and cuddly but, when they’re owned by Google and they’re looking for low quality paid links to your website, they can be vicious, powerful little blighters ready to take your site down in a flurry of screams and feathers.

Penguin is the adorable name Google gave to one of its big updates over the last 12 months. Penguin’s job is to crack down on the low quality paid links some websites and SEO companies have relied upon to gain better rankings.

Google is always keen to clean up its rankings of sites that don’t deserve to be there by identifying sites which have used paid links instead of building up quality, useful content and attracted natural links. This update affected approximately of 3.1% of search queries in the English language, and a further refresh of the update recently affected (more…)

There are few industries with the type of dark and shady reputation seemingly reserved for search engine optimisation and Internet marketing. If truth be told, some of the industry probably deserves this reputation and has done little over the years to dispel it.

Many SEO companies have, over the years, contributed to this clandestine image by employing what is called ‘black hat’ tactics with clients’ websites, such as renting links, spinning articles and filling websites with nonsensical content just for the sake of adding keywords.

These things were done, in short, because they worked.

Much like Anakin Skywalker turning to the Dark side and becoming Darth Vader, this represented the quick and easy path. Sadly for them, Google (more…)