Keywords don’t hurt businesses. Using them incorrectly, however, well that’s a different matter. Using the wrong keywords in AdWords means wasting ad spend. This isn’t ideal, but assuming you’re monitoring the results, you should be able nip it in the bud. And experimentation is a healthy part of the AdWords process, so it’s really not the end of the world. Using … Read More
Don’t join my list of SEO pain
I wanted to start 2017 with an important message. One that’s based on the pain of thirty-three businesses that I worked with last year. This post could save you many thousands in lost revenue. If you know me, you might not be surprised to know that I track more or less everything. Spending, weather, sleep, exercise (or lack of), mood, music, daylight, … Read More
The deadly dangers of riding big waves
The events depicted in this story aren’t based on a true story; they are a true story. This is the story of Bob. Not surprisingly, Bob wasn’t his real name, but every other aspect of what he did is 100% accurate and real. Bob was an ambitious and talented software developer, who was an early adopter of pretty much everything. … Read More
SEO is easy – and anyone can do it. Here’s how.
Most businesses never get round to SEO for one of three reasons. They don’t know what to do, they’re worried about the risks, or they don’t know how to gauge their efforts. Worst still, most businesses can probably identify with two or even three of these reasons at once – the perfect storm of SEO paralysis! (Your competition, by the way, love this.) The … Read More
Putting the oh in SEO
One of the worst things about being an SEO is telling people you’re an SEO. Really. The conversations you have are scarily close to digital versions of “I’m an arms dealer, but I only sell to the good guys.” Or “I’m a drug dealer, but only sell to responsible adults who aren’t addicted.” It may sound extreme, but everyone knows that there … Read More
Sudden Traffic Drop? Step by step diagnostic instructions
Your website traffic has fallen – possibly dramatically. You’ve logged into your Google Analytics account – you can see there’s a dramatic decline but there’s so much information. Where do you start? Every business website will see a traffic drop at some point, and when it happens it can be terrifying. Is it an SEO problem? Have you been hit by a … Read More
Don’t just survive, thrive; Living with Google.
At the end of February, Google unleashed the most enormous change of all time. (Ts & Cs apply) At least that’s what I thought, but when I spoke to Aaron, he had a very different take on it. We both agreed that the changes could have an enormous impact on businesses that rely on organic traffic. And that many AdWords-reliant companies could see a fundamental shift … Read More
SEO is dead – probably the worst advice you will hear all year
I’ve been working with SEO since 1997. And while a lot has changed, one fundamentally bad piece of information keeps making a highly undesirable appearance: The mistaken belief that SEO is dead. Here are seven reasons why the person giving you such terrible advice is wrong, and four compelling reasons to never take them seriously again. 1 – When someone tells you that … Read More
Enormous Google changes
You probably noticed that Google’s search results have changed. Quite dramatically in fact. The old results looked like this: Now they look more like this: For now these changes only apply to searches carried out on desktop computers. So the new format means: No text ads on the right hand side of the search results Up to four ads will be … Read More
New steps in a brave new world
I’ve been working with SEO since 1997, and during this time I’ve seen more changes than I can begin to count. I’ve also started to develop a taste for training other businesses how to do SEO for themselves. Apparently I enjoy interacting with live human beings more than fighting Google through my keyboard. Who knew? So in April 2016 I’m launching an SEO … Read More
