2012: A New Year shouldn’t always mean a New Start

Happy New Year State of Searchers! I hope 2011 was a successful year for you all and sincerely wish greater success for all in 2012. May it be prosperous and filled with fortune.

Now.. onto the body of this post. My initial thought for this blog post did centre on New Year and Resolutions. Pipped at the post by a winning top ten list by Jackie Hole, I had to give my post a little more thought. It occurred to me that my resolutions are always less about change and more about doing things ‘the right way’. Think a ‘classic’ coat rather than an ‘on trend’ coat. There is something to be said for  learning what works and sticking to something that will last! Think Audrey Hepburn rather than Paris Hilton. </Fashionspeak>

I’m not saying that change isn’t going to happen, nor should it ever be ignored. The opposite, however, is also true. Principles that work, techniques that make a difference, day-to-day methods should not be dropped after the latest hysteria or in order to keep up with the trends. My thoughts: … Continue Reading

Top 10 New Year SEO Resolutions

Resolutions! We all make them, 20% of us break them by the end of January and 50% fail within 6 months. If you haven’t made yours yet for 2012 – here are the top 10 most commonly broken New Year Resolutions (with an SEO slant)

#1 – Lose Weight & Get Fit

By now we all know what Panda is and which sites are the most likely to be affected. 2012 looks to bring more of the same algorithmic fun which means it’s time go on an SEO weight loss and fitness programme, and what better time than a New Year to put your site pages on the virtual treadmill, trim those low quality pages and firm up the existing content? … Continue Reading

Welcome to 2012, Here We Go!

So 2011 is over and 2012 has started. Funny, last year only is a few days ago, but already seems far away. That’s what happens when you make a fresh start. The year in front of us looks tempting. We are looking at the future and seeing the possibilities.

State of Search is starting the New Year fresh too. We will off course be looking back at 2011 somewhat, but our focus is to ‘start fresh’ and look forward. We have many plans for 2012, and 2012 will have many plans for us. Let me take you into 2012 a little bit, both from a State of Search perspective as from an industry perspective. … Continue Reading

2012 and the trends every marketer should be aware of – guest post by Sri Sharma

This is a guest post by Sri Sharma, managing director at Net Media Planet, he is giving us his predictions on what will be the big things brands will be devoting their time and budget to and how brands can act to stay ahead of the game in 2012.

Online will be used specifically to drive in-store retailing

The harsh economic climate and pressure from pure play retailers has created a huge headache for high street retailers in 2011. There is no sign of these pressures lifting in 2012 but in online, retailers may have found a saviour. … Continue Reading

All we want for Christmas

Since Christmas is literally around the corner now I thought I would pose that age old question to all State of Search bloggers. What do you want for Christmas? They get to ask for one real life present and one from the search engines. Some were whacky and some were very sensible so if you are an engineer from one of the engines pretty please can we have a few! … Continue Reading

People Searching For Rebecca Black Are Not Stupid

I have been doing training sessions for quite a while now. And for years one thing has been coming back on the table multiple times in sessions: listen to what your potential client has to say and act on that. It started off years ago with keyword research: trying to find what people searched for and act on that with your texts instead of trying to push your own ‘language’ and hoping people will adapt to that.

It has evolved to using not just the right keywords, but also the right platforms: be where your potential audience is and address them in a way they feel comfortable and familiar with.

It still strikes me however how few marketeers and tech people actually do this and how they sometimes respond to what ‘the real world’ is doing online. They don’t seem to understand that it is not them what makes the world go around but the bigger audience. Even people like Bill Gross don’t seem to understand. … Continue Reading

Top 10 Blogs That Are Not About SEO But You Should Be Reading Anyway

It’s that time of year again when people fall over one another to publish a list of ‘best blog posts of 2011‘ or ‘blogs to watch in 2012‘ or ‘digital marketing trends that will rock your world next year‘. Even State of Search can’t escape posts like that, because people apparently like to read it.

I figured if such lists get published anyway, I might as well make one of my own – but this time I’ll make one that could actually break the mold and, you know, be useful. So I thought I’d compose a slightly different list. Specifically, a list of blogs that are NOT about SEO – or only mention it in passing – but that you should be reading anyway. Because the stuff that gets published there is, simply put, epically awesome. … Continue Reading

What You Want To Read: Cases, Analysis and Infographics

We regularly ask our readers for information about what they like on our Facebook page so we can improve the site as much as we can to please our readers as much as we can. After all, we get the most joy out of the fact that people love State of Search.

The latest question we’ve asked on our Facebook page was one which was focussed on the content: What type of posts do you like best? The answers were diverse, but there are a few clear winners: Cases, Analysis and Infographics. … Continue Reading

Shall We Do Something Together?

Last week I had a call from the MD of Manual Link Building (MLB), Gareth Hoyle. As one of the lead sponsors of tomorrow nights’ UK Search Awards, MLB receive in return signage and exposure, as is normal in a sponsorship agreement. Hoyle told me that they had decided to donate a page of exposure in the awards programme to a charity and when searching for a suitable cause had discovered that the WWF are currently running an awareness campaign. … Continue Reading