Posts on State of Search about ‘Industry’

Jon Stewart Puts Google Project Glass and Instagram In Perspective, So Should We

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First of all: hat tip for Danny Sullivan for pointing this video out on Marketingland. I could just point you there but I wanted as many people as possible and it is a nice set up for some thoughts on the topics.

First of all the video itself, it is an extract of the Daily Show from Jon Stewart yesterday. He there talks about the announcement by Google of Project Glass last week and the acquisition of Instagram by Facebook. To say the least Stewart is sceptic about both topics. And as we are used from Stewart he brings that with the necessary humor. (more…)

Digesting the EU Cookie Legislation

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Perhaps it’s been the way in which the new legislation has been communicated, but there certainly seems to be an air of confusion. At SEOgadget we’ve been doing quite a lot of work recently to better understand the directive ourselves, and also to work out how best to advise clients on the most appropriate action to take. Rather than writing a definitive ‘how to comply’ type post, I thought it would be pretty interesting to put down some thoughts on the matter, and discuss some of the more confusing aspects of the legislation.

The challenge here is that we’re advising on a legal document, and whilst we understand cookies and the part they play in websites, we’re definitely not qualified lawyers. If your clients are seriously worried about the possibility of picking up a fine it’s probably best that they seek proper legal advice. However, the chances of receiving a fine as a first resort look pretty slim; the most likely form of punishment (if any) is a warning stating that your website does not comply, complete with details of where you’re going wrong. That being said, it looks like this is here to stay so it’s well worth at the very least gaining a good understanding of how this could affect yours or your clients sites. (more…)

The Source of All SEO Debates

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SEOs love to argue about our craft. You can barely read two blog posts about SEO that don’t mention or involve some argument about a particular point of contention.

Generally speaking I believe there are two types of arguments that are pervasive in the SEO industry. The first is what I call ‘tactical‘ arguments. In these tactical debates, the finer points of SEO implementation are argued over, from how to best build links to what an optimal title tag looks like.

I think these sorts of arguments are important and valuable, because they help us improve and refine our craft. Without conflict, nothing ever improves.

But there’s another sort of argument that is pervasive to our industry, one that I believe is less constructive. These I’d classify as ‘meta‘ debates, and they involve the nature of SEO, its place in the marketing mix and in the wider world. (more…)

How to Handle the Declining Status of SEO?

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As an SEO community we are the scum of the internet, the quacks, the crooks and the swindlers. We have been accused of manipulating the web, destroying the independence of search engines and basically being a virus within the world wide web. To some, we’re like door-to-door salesmen trying to sell stuff to people who don’t want it or need it. We’re manipulating the web so we can lead people to websites where we can lure them into buying all kinds of things they would never have thought of buying if it wasn’t for us.

Of course that’s not how we see ourselves, that’s not how everyone sees us, but some people do. And that’s not just because there’s ‘crooks’ actually trying to make money by manipulating either search engines or ignorant companies wanting to profit from this magical business called SEO.

It’s also because we as a community have a hard time explaining what we actually do. It’s not without reason an important part of being an SEO is about knowing how to convince others, knowing how to persuade. That’s because it’s a difficult business. Heck, not even everyone calling themselves an SEO understands it to the fullest. (more…)

How and Why SEOs Need to Change

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Year after year we see blog posts saying SEO is dead. Usually this is shortly after some kind of Google update. It was said after personalised search was launched, when Google instant launched, after Google Places got bigger.  The list could go on but I’m sure you get my point.

I don’t think SEO will ever die.  The fact is that there will always be the need for three basic things -

  • Good technical SEO and implementation (as people will always mess this up)
  • High quality, unique content (copy, paste and laziness will always exist)
  • Link building (you don’t really think that social shares will replace links do you?!) (more…)

The SEO Resource Conundrum

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Perhaps its something that affects the UK market more than most, however talking to a number of the colleagues both at SES London last week and since my return to the local scene the issue of SEO staff or more like the lack of it. A conversation with Richard Gregory at Latitude last week, as well as others from other colleagues at Group M and wider agencies highlighted a significant demand for SEO talent which at present many organisations are struggling to deal with. The net effect of this is an obvious rise in renumeration that many skilled SEO practioners can demand – and even more junior staff now demanding competitive salaries particularly in comparison with many of similar marketing related occupations – and even PPC. Perhaps the only similar channels are that of both social media and more recently conversion rate optimisation experts where one might argue demand is even more acute.

It would also appear that the problem isn’t just limited to the UK. Recent surveys by both Onward Search and SEOMoz suggest SEO in the states shares many similar traits in terms of both the demand and supply side issues as we do here in the UK with New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago leading the way in terms of potential wage earners in the states. (more…)

FairSearch.org comes to Europe

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The American FairSearch.org organisation has been fighting to ‘foster and defend competition in online and mobile search’ for a wee while now. Since its inception in October 2010 by Microsoft and Foundem, many other businesses have joined the FairSearch cause, which is specifically aimed at Google and what FairSearch denounces as Google’s anti-competitive monopolist behaviour.

Now FairSearch has crossed the pond and has started a European-focused branch: FairSearchEurope.org. It has recognised that in Europe Google’s market position is even more dominant than in the USA, boasting market shares in excess of 90% in many European countries, and that there’s a strong case to be made for regulatory intervention to safeguard search neutrality. (more…)

Your Weekend Reading List for Search and Social – February 17

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One and a half weeks ago we re-introduced our ‘reading list’. Great articles from around the web which will help you improve your online marketing strategies.

Off course we have a lot of great content ourselves, which you can see by reading the site. To keep up you can off course register for our newsletter and our RSS Feed or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

But there is much more and that is what we provide you with just before the weekend. If you have any tips: tweet us or let us know! Enjoy! (more…)

Google SERP Twitter Talk – Boring the Pants off the Normal Man

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This is a guest post by Peter Handley, SEO Director of theMediaFlow. Like this post? Let us know!

Sometimes it’s easy for us search marketers to get lost in our acronyms – and let’s face it, there are a hell of a lot of them in this industry.

SEO, SEM, PPC, CTR, CPC, SMO, PR– there is absolutely loads of jargon flying around in our industry, and we are constantly coming up with new ways to shorten terms – who can forget one of the latest ones with GSPYW?

It’s easy to get trapped in your own bubbles and circles on platforms like Twitter and forget that we communicate with wider groups of people. My own Twitter account, whilst predominantly search marketing focussed also attracts followers based on music and food/cooking that I share. (more…)

How to Leave your Job, the Country and Survive

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I am writing this in a flat, with food in my belly and water on tap, instead of a cave with a month long beard and nothing but a rattlesnake for company, so I guess in essence I have survived. And in doing so, I guess I am qualified enough to give some advice if you are thinking of moving to another country to work.

I decided to up sticks and move to Australia in October last year. I always wanted to work abroad and I felt with the job we do it was a perfect opportunity.  Sometimes I feel we don’t appreciate how good our industry is in this sense; not many people can work remotely, or work in an industry as flexible as ours and it took moving abroad for me to realise how fortunate we are.

There are certain questions that need to be answered before and after you move.  In fact, depending on your initial choices there are questions and challenges at every stage, but instead of looking at them as a hardship the right mindset should see them as opportunities. (more…)

No easy answers to an age old problem

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What started as an innocuous article on a regional publication, last week provoked a lot of debate on both sides of the pond around the age old SEO subject of integrity. The article in question related to a SEO company based here in the UK who had released a press release claiming to be the number 1 SEO in the UK. Now this post is certainly not going to tackle that particular subject as I and I would imagine many of the State of Search readers are very bored of that particular subject.

What I did think it highlighted was the fact that despite the SEO industry has come on leaps and bounds, we do still struggle with many of the age old problems that have so often blighted it in the past. Many people have suggested a number of ways of attempting to help organisations looking for SEO services – particularly as SEO moves away from the cottage industry mentality into one closely integrated with other channels such as PR and Social Media. (more…)

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