Posts by Sam Crocker

Sam Crocker is an online marketer specialising in SEO at OMD UK. Sam focuses on increasing traffic and conversions for websites whilst always keeping his eye on a company’s bottom line. More articles and bio from Sam Crocker

The Growing (not provided) Problem and Why Google Will Act in 2013

Google-keywords-search-not-provided

Perhaps my boldest prediction for 2013 is that Google will likely be forced to take action over (not provided) and whether or not they opt to pass keyword referrer data from SSL search. My view is that with the percentage of users searching via SSL by default growing consistently (through default adoption by browsers, operating systems, etc.) they will find themselves in a situation whereby either their Premium Analytics product is no longer viable or they will be forced to pass keyword data for organic search referrers the same way they still do for paid.

There are a number of options for how they could address this problem. Below I have outlined the most probable approaches they could take and any risks they may have to take in so doing. With all the buzz going around twitter about the fact that Chrome will be switching to SSL search by default it seemed like a good time to share these thoughts. (more…)

More Lessons from The Hoxton Hotel’s £1 Sale – April 2011

really-seriously-hoxton-april

As you may remember from January of last year, we took an in depth look at how to integrate online and offline marketing efforts and to do so we used the Hoxton Hotel as a case study. In this case we saw a number of things that the hotel was doing well, and a number of areas in which they could improve. I tried to focus on the benefits of their efforts and the amazing success they have had in taking a (mainly) offline brand and making it work online.

When I heard that there was going to be yet another £1 Room Sale taking place I thought that I would get my snipping tool ready to take some screen shots and see if they have taken to heart any of the lessons from the last sale. The last story was largely upbeat, however I have decided to take a more scrutinizing look at the areas of opportunity on which they are still missing out, as well as some of the failures in the current sale as I found this sale to be more frustrating as a particpant/customer. (more…)

A New Era: Are Google and Bing Embracing SEO?

yellow-brick-road

The wonderful thing about working in SEO is the fact that things are constantly changing – we’re always kept on our toes and the man behind the curtain seems to go to great lengths to keep SEOs at a distance and to keep manipulation of the mighty SERPs to a minimum.

However, amidst a torrent of abuse from some of the more prominent white hat SEOs in the industry of Google for “making liars out of the good guys in SEO“, who have treated content as king, and who have put the user first, it seems to me as though some very serious changes are afoot.

Inspite of my critical view of a number of major developments in the industry and moves by the search giants, I am going to do something that I don’t often do and defend the search engines for a moment. As I have said in the past, it is easy to be critical and it is even easier to get frustrated when you put in the long hours doing what Google tells you is “right” and don’t see the results translate into success in the SERPs whilst others that engage in activities that would not appear on a list of “best practices” from the major search engines continue to benefit. (more…)

Updated: Will A +1 Get A Page Indexed Even When Blocked by Robots.txt?

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Please read the addition made at the bottom of this post as well as the comments on how this post evolved.

The post was published quickly as I was excited to share my findings from a recent “test” I was working on. The way I reported on this test was flawed and I rushed to conclusions about the degree of the finding. It is now clear to me that the contents of the test page have not been indexed.

I have left the post live and relatively unchanged to demonstrate the fact that I clearly made a mistake here, I’m willing to acknowledge that fact and there is plenty that both myself and others can learn from this post (primarily, how not to run and report on an experiment). The mistakes made were a result of over excitement rather than any intention to misinform and I sincerely apologise for my mistakes.

I was hoping to have the evidence to include this in my last post when I stated that there were some major concerns with Google+, but I can now say with certainty: Google will ignore Robots.txt and index a page* that you have specifically blocked once the page has received a +1.

My concern was two-fold after having read this in Google’s FAQ on Google+ in that the wording suggests that either: a. any page that contains the +1 badge could be indexed (still possible) or that b. any page that has been +1′d could be indexed (now confirmed*) (more…)

Weighing Up Google+ – What You (& Your Clients) Should Know

imagesource: reliablenetworks.co.uk

Now that many of us in the search marketing space have come to terms with some of the dilemmas associated with Google Search Plus Your World (GSPYW), Google’s new privacy policy and the endless stream of figures coming out of Google celebrating the number of “users” of the Google+ platform it’s high time that brands and sites of all shapes and sizes start weighing up whether participating in Google+ is right for them (if they’ve not already done so).

I will make a few points up front that will hopefully help you decide whether or not Google+ is right for you and your site, but I will also raise some key concerns with indexation and potential manipulation of competitor search results that I have not seen widely covered thus far. (more…)

The Unexpected Backlash of Google Plus Your World

Filter-Bubble-Google

Before we get started here I do want to take a minute to point out that SEOs are – almost unanimously – ultra critical of Google. In my opinion I think a lot of this is unfounded and that as a company Google has certainly been one of the most innovative and important companies in the last decade or two, but I can understand Google bashing is fashionable because we are so dependent on Google as search practitioners to make a living but also because we are the individuals (not machines) that actually interact with Google most on a day-to-day basis.

As such, many of us are quick to judge whether an algo change, product, feature, etc. is a better search experience – and far too often we do so with either: a. an oversimplified view of what an “average searcher” is actually like or b. based upon the percieved impact of such a change on the ability for us to do our job well and offer better results to our clients. (more…)

Honest SEO Conference Advice

live-blogging

After another busy year packed with SEO conferences I thought it would be a good time to lay out some tips to organisers, speakers and attendees alike from my personal experiences with conferences over the last two years.

The aim here is to be as constructive as possible, but to do so it’s important also to provide as much honest advice as is possible as well.I hope that this will be constructive and useful in some fashion for anyone that has anything to do with conference organisation, speaking or attendance… and hopefully won’t preclude me from ever speaking at a conference again! (more…)

How Brands Should do SEO – Martin MacDonald at #SearchLove

martin-macdonald-seomoz

All right folks, this will be my last bit of coverage for the event and one that I’m really excited about. For those of you who know Martin (or who happen to work for him ;) ) know that he has done some seriously blackhat stuff in his past and is a very creative guy. As his presentation at Distilled’s LinkLove conference last year Martin caused a bit of a stir so I, for one, am very happy to hear that today he’ll be imparting some of his wisdom from his more recent efforts of doing big brand SEO.

Without further ado, let’s hear whether Martin’s white hat tactics are as entertaining and inspiring as his black hat ideas… (more…)

Gamification: The Art of Getting Others to do Your Work for You

waynes world game on

This post is part of the coverage of the Distilled’s Searchlove London event.

Good morning folks, for those of you just joining the coverage we’ve been tirelessly pumping out notes on a handful of the sessions at Distilled’s Searchlove London event. Up next we’ve got coverage from Richard Baxter of SEOgadget talking about something near and dear to me: Gamification.

I’m really excited for this one so let’s get going.

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Personalisation, Profiles & Policy – Ciaran Norris at #Searchlove

outlook-not-so-good

Good morning folks, looks like there are a few hungover folks with bleary eyes but we’re going to get started right away.

Ciaran Norris has come down from Dublin to discuss some of the changes with the internet these days. First mention of the day goes to Google and the Citizen’s Advice Bureau campaign to get people to have more secure passwords and an increasing awareness of privacy on the web.

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Build Content, Build Links – Wil Reynolds at #Searchlove

search love

Up next and with our last post of today we’ll be having a listen to what Wil Reynolds has to say about building content and in turn building links. Wil is one of the brightest minds in the industry (in my opinion) and I’m really looking forward to what he has to this time around as I believe he received the highest positive feedback from the last Distilled conference.

Wil will be chatting through content led linkbuilding ideas – let’s go. (more…)

The Modern SEO’s Toolkit – Will Critchlow at #searchlove

fishing tackle box

Hi guys, we’re back with live coverage. Apologies for missing the last session – I’m the only one here today so I will try to get coverage of a number of sessions but may miss a few here and there.

Next up we’ve got Will Critchlow presenting on the Modern SEO’s toolkit – having worked with Will and the fact that he always seemed to be trying out the new fun things in the office I’m really looking forward to this one! (more…)

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