If they’re talking about Google changes on the radio, it’s got to be big! The new update, ‘Instant’, is essentially the introduction of on-the-fly search results. Such a major change will have an impact on both SEO and PPC campaigns, not least because it now adds in extra steps to a search query.
What percentage of internet users spell their first search query correctly? I think this is a very important point. The introduction of on-the-fly results means that the first search is massively important. Let’s face it, people can’t spell. We misspell things all the time, yet if the search result is correct we’ll click it anyway (and why not)! So does this open up a massive opportunity (yes the title is deliberate) for misspelled keywords, given that:
A user is typically only going to make one search, even if amended several times along the way.
We can’t spell.
One wrong character can completely transform a query.
I’ll expand on the third point because this is the one I’m interested in. I’m also assuming that suggested search results are ignored, and asking that you open your mind a little to other search examples. This example is flawed because it’s too commonplace already, but think creatively. Say I’m looking for a ‘used Porsche 911′ – the search has three elements that can’t be affected by Instant, or will probably lose out. The first being the word ‘used’. It’s simply far too vague for it to have any impact on my search. The chances of Google suggesting ‘Porsche’ as an extension is far-fetched. The last part, ’911′ is relevant in terms of the series/models I’m interested in, but crippled by the fact that it’s the last word. There’s a whole bunch of other SERP results ahead of it to compete with. Unless suggested search is kind, we can maybe assume that the user will actually never get to the point of typing the full search term without first clicking on a result they see.
‘Porsche’, however, is interesting. It’s the first specific element of the search that will define the results into something I care about. Of course I’d probably have to get to ‘Pors’ before I start becoming interested in what I’m seeing. After all, ‘Used Por’ might bring up porcelain plates or something way off what I’m after. How about if we went with a ‘H’ next, making our query ‘Used Porshe’. Phonetically it sounds correct and, unless you’re aware of the brand, there’s no obvious reasons why you wouldn’t go along with it.
At this point our search is completely transformed from logically delivering results for ‘Porsche’, to another subset of results for ‘Porshe’, whatever those may be. Yet if we were to optimise for this misspelling we’d have more opportunity to capture that user mid-query, reducing the chances of them clicking the suggested corrected spelling if it were a static search. Ultimately this update is designed to speed things up even more. We’re practically going to be making impulsive choices when searching, purely because of the amount of information thrown at us whilst we search. Instead of humbly correcting our search after we hit enter (and see that it’s wrong), we’ll be fixated on this moving, real-time, dancing results section. Anything that is remotely what I’m after as an amateur user will be enough to earn my click.
It’s my feeling that misspellings and, in particular, early character repetition (ammerica, shooes or hollidays) will see increased success and traffic spikes. Linguistically there is a huge gap that Google couldn’t possibly have accounted for. Words change so drastically with just one wrong character that it would take a monumental effort to translate that into an algorithm that predicted the right result. Yet as people we’re able to hone in on words that are susceptible to being misspelled, and we can make assumptions based on our real-world experiences as to what that user might be searching for. SEOs have been targeting misspelt words for years, it’s nothing new. The difference is that we’re now rushed in our decision-making process. Even with the “improved spelling correction” as mentioned by Google, I can see further opportunities particularly in the more niche stuff that is unlikely to be accounted for as intelligently.
Advanced Website Architecture – Structure plays a major part in the accessibility and ‘crawlability’ of your website, and once in place it’s difficult to change. These notes from SMX Seattle outline some quick pointers to follow.
Off the back of a fantastic meeting for Brighton SEO, organised by Kelvin Newman, here is a recap of the involved parties presentations (please leave a URL in the comments if you know of any I’ve missed!).
The whole event represented amazing value for money – just your transport in fact – and it’s always good to see familiar faces, and meet new ones too. A crowd of about 120 turned up to join in on the big ‘geek-out’ and I’d say everyone (minus one heckler) took something away from it. Of course, the pub meet afterwards erased some of the stuff from memory!
Note: Apologies for the length of this post!
Here is the breakdown of events:
Fellow Oxford-based SEO, Kevin Gibbons from SEO Optimise opened up the day with his ’20 WordPress Plug-ins To Supercharge Your Blog’. This was a pretty relaxed presentation to open up the proceedings. A couple of tools that really stood out were Blackbird Pie, which lets you embed Twitter messages into your blog, and SEO Friendly Images which automatically helps you out with your ALT tags – something I am forever going back over!
Second up was Cedric Wooding from Jollywise Media talked us through managing an effective Facebook campaign. As I’ve currently been discussing the option of Facebook with a client, this presentation was an added bonus.
I think the biggest thing I took from this was the insight into how Facebook treat customers who spend any substantial amount of money with them. It’s a case of picking up the phone and seeing if you can arrange for bulk ad uploads and other perks. Cedric also took us over the factors of targeting that effect price. Interestingly, he mentioned that specifying interests doesn’t have any effect, which I found amazing because this is effectively where you define your audience, whether by career, hobby, etc.
Another quick tip was to consider using cheaper bid prices from countries/contintents such as Asia and South America in order to ramp up your likes/fans. The knock-on effect would follow the science of social proof and therefore should attract an incremental increase in ‘likes’ as you begin to target your real market. This follows a book I’ve read, so it completely struck a chord with me.
————-
Next up, Annabel Hodges AKA Search Panda who talked to us about Diggerland her thoughts on when ‘SEO’ is not just SEO. I think one of the misconceptions we’re all victims of is that clients assume everything done online is ‘SEO’. It’s hard to explain otherwise, and often just confuses things. After all, what client really cares about ‘CRO’ or ‘PPC’? I think that the case studies that Annabel showed us on C4 Education and New Look further showed us that as marketers we have to be much more diverse than we did a few years back. In particular, using the rep/ranking/authority of another website to get the best result for the client is something that we should be smart enough to recognise.
The campaign they did for C4 involved a problem where by a site for teenagers was trying to be found by teachers for teacher resources. The conflict of interests (teens wouldn’t use the site if they thought it was a teacher’s playground) led Panda and team to think of ways to appeal to both markets. This was achieved using external profiles on websites like TES (the largest teacher resource in the UK) to drive relevant traffic to the website, avoiding doing much tweaking on the main website – which could therefore still appeal to the teen audience. Without this, Annabel mentioned that her team would probably not have been able to attract the same level of exposure if they had relied on only the main website.
————-
Mark Cook was up next talking us through traffic estimations, and why using Google Keyword Tool is actually pretty useless on its own! Mark has collected data of thousands of keywords and showed us an incredibly intriguing presentation of where there were obvious flaws in the accuracy of the tool.
Keeping in line with the SEO Freemasons joke that popped up, I’m not going to reveal much more of this presentation. If you were there, I’m sure it will still be with you. If you weren’t, well… why not?!
————-
Rob Green from iCrossing was up next, and took us through a quicker alternative to Mark’s recommendations. Although their ideas clashed slightly in opinion, the fact we were given two points-of-view actually worked well. Rob went into detail, showing us the downstream effect that non-branded keywords can have on brand terms.
————-
The only analytics presentation of the day came from Nikki Rae of Fresh Egg, who was definitely the most interactive presenter. Nikki used members of the group to show us a post-it demonstration of how custom variables can help us identify who our visitors are. This talk was interesting and probably focuses on a lesser-known area of analytics, and one that can be incredibly effective at recording visitor behavior. Whilst I don’t have enough room to go into custom variables, here are a couple of resources that may help:
On stage next was my good man, Sam Crocker from Distilled who talked about running competitions for links. This is such a simple idea that should be used more often! One of the things I took away from this was Sam’s point about the consideration of your prize. For example anybody can give away an iPad as a one off, but being more creative will resonate more with your audience/competition entries.
The example was granting the use of a Sky Lift to the best proposal for a photography shoot. Although the audience was photographers, it made something very boring, interesting and worth going for. The legacy and value from the shoot will/might last for a lot longer than if they had a bunch of freeloaders enter to win an iPad. Of course, choosing your needs and wants with your client is important here.
Another point to take away was the absolutely crucial planning stage. Sam advises not to focus on competitions that will take hours to manage. It’s better to have a photo competition than it is to read through essay after essay of why X would be best suited for winning the prize.
Also, beware of cheats! It’s not uncommon for someone to use proxies and other tools to send multiple entries that all lead back to the same person. The time taken to sort through this stuff can be costly, so plan plan plan!
Simon Dance from CheapFlights.co.uk took us through CRM management and more link building tips. This was a great presentation that really focused on old school tactics – like picking up the phone and speaking to somebody! Simon detailed how building relationships can really accelerate the link building process. Getting to know journalists/editors etc can have a profound effect on the media coverage you can receive. Remember that they might not only apply to one client, but instead look to them to be a link across all your client base – of course also remembering not to take the piss! Nobody likes a freeloader, as Simon reminded us, so always think of ways that you can help others.
Some of the tools Simon suggested for managing your links and relationships were:
Other tips Simon reminded us of really took marketing back to basics. Things like setting up follow-up reminders to prompt us to get in touch with someone. Simple advice, and no doubt extremely effective.
————-
Zachary Colbert from White Hat Media delivered a pretty deep theory into the effect that hyperlinks are having on us. Citing from Manovich, Zach told us his thoughts on how we associate words to feelings/memories/likes/dislikes. But using hyperlinks that are pre-determined actually erases the thought process from it all. I was quite taken in by his thoughts and ideas, but to get a deeper insight (and I think it deserves one), I’d recommend you read his write-up. I don’t think Zach is on mind-altering drugs, but he could pull it off!
————-
The penultimate (I’ve probably got it mixed up somewhere along the way) presentation was from Nichola Stott. Her talk challenged the conventional thinking that websites rank purely based on keyword anchors. The stats she showed had examples of sites that ranked without in fact targeting a single term.
I’m sure we’ve all seen similar examples that must go some way to proving that contextual content and brand association must play some part in where the search engines place a website. It challenges the question of where the boundaries are set between optimising and over-engineering.
————-
Lastly, Rishi Lakhani showed us how to get sh*t done! This is the first time I’ve seen Rishi speak and he is undeniably a captivating person. The delivery was humorous, passionate and honest. This was a superb presentation to end the day on (and I’m glad that nobody had to follow it!) that left everyone in the room thinking over their approach. Rishi went over his frustrations with client-agency miscommunication, reminding us all that the people pulling the purse strings are often too busy to care about what we do. Results are the only true metric, and results means an increased bottom line.
I can’t write on here the delivery of this speech because it was genuinely career changing in my mind. However, I can provide you the entertaining slides:
All in all, a huge pat on the back to Kelvin for organising such a thought-evoking event. What did you think of Brighton SEO?
I have a passion for Search Engine Marketing and Social Media, and I'm the proud Director of my exciting new venture, Zest Digital based in Oxford, England. This blog is a record of my hobby and passion, my thoughts on SEO, business, marketing and a whole load of other stuff.
I have a passion for Search Engine Marketing and Social Media, and I'm the proud Director of my exciting new venture, 