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This weeks questions comes off the back of a post I wrote in 2011 around daily SEO tasks.

“Hi Dave, I read your post around daily SEO tasks and I was  wondering what you have changed now we have Google Panda and Penguin in place?”

This is a great question and one I’m really keen to answers, so on a daily basis I do the following:

Read, read, read, and then read again – It’s important to stay close to a changing landscape, and I will typically spend 30 minutes a day going through a number of sites, many of which can be found here.

Google Webmaster Tools – Check this for any website problems, recommendations or messages around outages and the like.

Client work – Regular tweaks, amends and improvements to on-page elements and off-page engagement and link sourcing is crucial.

Socialise and engage – Twitter, Quora, Google+, all great places to connect and see what others are seeing and saying.

Algorithm checks – I use Mozcast and Algoroo to check for daily turbulence in algorithm changes.

Backlink analysis – Due to Penguin updates, I regularly check Ahrefs and Google Webmaster Tools for changes and updates.

Competitor analysis – I believe it’s important to watch what other around you are doing and I’ll do regular on-page and off-page competitor checks.

Content updates – Keep on top of content calendars and fill any dead time with content creation and curation.

Stats overview – Check Analytics and any other stats package you for any issues and improvements.

To find out more around tools mentioned in in this post, click here to view what SEO tools I use.

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This week I was asked:

Hi Dave,

Just wondering, what SEO tools are you using in 2013 and are you using any specific tools to analysis backlink profiles?

Thanks,
DRJ.

Great question. Below I’ve listed all the tools in my armoury at present.

These range from backlink analysis tools, social listening tools and Google ranking changes, to name just a few.

1. Google Webmaster Tools (Free)
2. Bing Webmaster Tools (Free)
3. Google Analytics (Free)
4. Google Trends (Free)
5. Google Adwords Keyword Tool (Free)
6. Wordtracker (Paid)
7. MozCast (Free)
8. Algoroo (Free)
9. SEOmoz SEO Tools (Paid)
10. Open Site Explorer (Free & Paid)
11. Ahrefs (Paid)
12. Link Detox (Paid)
13. Raven SEO (Paid)
14. Majestic SEO (Free Basic Account)
15. XML-Sitemaps.com (Free – Paid Recommend)
16. Ping-o-Matic (Free)
17. Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool (Free)
18. Xenu Link Sleuth (Free)
19. Icerocket Blog & Social Search (Free)
20. Social Mention (Free)
21. SOLO Link Search Tool (Free)
22. Trendsmap.com (Free)
23. Crazy Egg (Paid)
24. Clicktale (Paid)
25. SEO Browser (Free)
26. WebPageAnalyzer.com (Free)
27. Google Site Speed Test (Free)
28. Robots.txt Checker (Free)
29. Link Diagnosis (Free)
30. Followerwonk (Free – Paid Recommend)

Hope this helps and if any readers have any further suggestions, please leave them in the comments box below.

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I’ve had a great question come through this week which asks:

“Dave, I’ve noticed you’re not blogging as much, can I ask why?”

Many of you have noticed that my blogging efforts have slowed a little as of late and for good reason…

1) version 3 of davecain.co.uk is currently being developed and my focus is leaning more towards this – hopefully the launch will be in June / July 2013.

2) a large part of my time has been put towards testing new SEO methods and techniques – I’ve some brilliant and in-depth case studies coming soon. These will be focusing on recent Google updates, link building and much more.

Over the coming months I’m planning to get back to my old blogging levels, but in the meantime I’ve some exciting things coming to my site very soon – watch this space.

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This weeks question is:

What links should I remove if I’ve been affected by the Google Penguin update and what links do you think will be in scope moving forward?

That’s a brilliant question and below is a list of sources you may want to review:

• Sitewide sidebar and footer links
• Links on low level directory sites
• Links on sites with malware
• Placed paid links in content
• Mass article marketing sites – normally contain links in the signature
• Advertorial or sponsored links
• Websites that have been de-indexed
• Links that appear on the same site as spammy links
• Links coming from link wheels and networks
• Low level self hosted blog sites - typically setup with one page of content which contain anchor text heavy links

A little more information…

Below I’ve also included a video by Matt Cutts who talks about the same subject:

…and here is a great guide by Search Engine Watch.

My two pieces of link building advice…

1. is the intent of the link correct – don’t chase anchor text, make sure its a ‘natural and trusted link’
2. make sure your backlinks are engaging as possible, ask questions, be a resource and helpful!

Do you have any thoughts? Leave your comments below…

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A nice simple and short post this week. As we know content has always been and always will be ‘king’ when it comes to digital marketing.

Content best practices continues to change, especially over the past 18 months.

Below I’ve listed 10 very helpful blog posts, videos and guides which go over many common questions, advise on strategy and how to start out.

Google Webmaster Help
Should I incorporate synonyms for important terms into my site?

SEOmoz
How Unique Does Content Need to Be to Perform Well in Search Engines?

Distilled
How to Produce High Quality Written Content

Search Engine Land
Content & Search Engine Ranking Factors

WordStream
What Is SEO Content? A Beginner’s Guide to Creating Content for SEO

Dejan SEO
eCommerce SEO Guide: Strategy & Content Quality

Mashable
The New SEO Rules in a Content Marketing World

Search Engine Watch
Evolving Your SEO: Moving Toward a Content Marketing Approach

Search Engine Journel
7 Content Marketing Tips from the Best in Social Business

Dave Cain
Content and copywriting Q&A with Chris Lomas of Clear Comms

I hope you find the above helpful and please leave your thoughts and comments below.

As I’ve blogged about time and time again, content really is king when it comes to SEO, in the Q&A, Chris shares lots of helpful tips, resources and advice around copywriting and all things content.

Hi Chris, thanks for doing this interview, tell us a little about yourself and how you got into all things content writing and B2B / B2C copywriting?

Hi Dave, thanks for the opportunity.

So, a bit about me… I’ve been writing professionally for the best part of 20 years now. First as an Editorial Consultant for Drain Trader Magazine – as featured on a very early edition of Have I Got News For You; then as a freelance copywriter. I was enticed out of freelancing by a role as Senior Copywriter at a big copywriting agency in Nottingham.

Then towards the end of 2010, I set up Clear Comms, a copywriting service for clients looking for well-crafted, clear and compelling copy, with an emphasis on plain English.

People that know me, know I’m not natural writer, what tips would you give to people who struggle to write content?

When people say they struggle to write, I think it helps to demystify what a copywriter actually does. Copywriting isn’t a creative art, it’s a process. And like any other process, it’s got steps you can follow, and checks you can make along the way.

I think the most important thing you can do is keep it simple, because whatever you’re writing will sound better that way.

So start out by thinking about what you need to say. What’s the one thing – above all else – that you want your reader to think, feel or do as a result of reading your copy. Then write it down. If you’re promoting a new product or service, it’s easy. You want them to buy it, or at least find out more about it. So work backwards from there. Why should they buy it? How will it make their lives easier?

Keep asking yourselves questions. And challenge everything. Why is this product revolutionary? How will it save your clients’ money?

By now you’ll have a desired outcome – and a load of benefits – together with a good few reasons why your clients should find out more – that’s everything you need. Now it’s really just a case of joining all the dots, and filling in the details.

I don’t think good copy needs to be coercive. If you’ve got a good product or service – and you’ve already gone through the process of highlighting its benefits, then you know your clients are going to be interested. Just tell them about it – as clearly as you can. That’s all you need to do.

Oh, and finally – it’s never finished when you finish writing. Edit, edit, and then when you’ve done that, edit some more. Editing is where the real magic happens.

What 3 tips would you give to business owners who are looking to write copy for their website?

First, write it for your customers. Stuff your copy full of things they’ll want to know. Answer the kinds of questions they’ll ask. Write it in a way you think they’ll respond to.

Second, I think it helps if you have (or can develop) a recognisable tone of voice – something that customers will recognise as being unique to you – that will really help set you apart from your competitors. It can take time to find the right tone of voice – and it really needs to be dictated by the kind of language and style of presentation your customers like. But it’s really worth doing.

Third, don’t try to use any existing brochure-copy or bits of leftover marketing material to write your website. Write it from scratch. And remember, websites should sound different to hard-copy marketing. Don’t be too influenced what any of your peers have done either. Do it your way.

Oh, and a bonus tip – read Dave’s site for SEO advice first!

What 3 things would you suggest to avoid when creating content? Example, rewording a Wikipedia post.

First, avoid writer’s block. I know that might sound a bit glib, but if you take a few simple steps you can make sure you’re never beaten by the blank page. In my experience, the hardest things to write aren’t the most complicated things… they’re the things you haven’t got a good enough brief for. Or you haven’t been able to research. That’s when writer’s block sets in. It’s not when you don’t know how to say something, or you don’t know which of three possible openings you could use… It’s when you haven’t got enough information to guide you.

Second, avoid taking too much notice of what everyone else is doing. It’s great that we can use the internet to see what anyone thinks about anything. It’s also terrible. If I want to give myself a fright, I can type ‘East Midlands copywriter’ into Google and see just how many competitors I’ve got – and how many clients they’ve got, and what they think about semi-colons. But I don’t do that (well, not very often) because I want to stay sane! And I want to go on doing things the way I do them, without being influenced by anyone else.

The same goes when creating content. Research is essential, but there’s a fine line between research and plagiarism. So try not to pick up too many inferences and opinions while you’re reading around your subject. Otherwise, it’ll seep into your work without you knowing it.

Third, try to avoid saying too much. The best content is clear and easy to read. I don’t like those US style sales letters that ramble on for page after page – I think that’s just beating people about the head with benefits, which can actually reduce credibility. Instead, make your copy concise. Make the important benefits stand out. And give readers a good sense of what they need to know as quickly as you can. Because if they want to know more, they’ll definitely get in touch.

What would you say are the main differences when it comes to writing website copy over brochure copy or email copy for example?

With brochures you can afford to take a more straightforward narrative approach. You can tell the story – build up tension, and take the reader on a journey with consecutive touch-points along the way.

Some rules apply whatever you’re writing. For instance, use clear sub headings to help break copy up into manageable chunks – and to help the reader find the information they want.

When you write web copy, you have to acknowledge that people probably aren’t going to read it all. So the trick is, writing it in such a way that readers will still get something out of it, even if they’re just skim-reading, or dipping in and out.

If it helps, think of web copy more as a series of linked tweets – useful nuggets of information that work in sequence, but also work in isolation. Ideally you want a reader to be able to read lines in any order and still get a good sense of what you’re saying. You want them to be able to glance at a headline and know straightaway if that section is going to be of interest to them.

Be rigorous. Subject every line to the ‘so what’ test – if it doesn’t say anything useful, get rid of it.

Take everything you’ve learnt from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and adopt the same kind of direct writing style to your website copy.

Is there such a thing as the perfect structure for content that is trying to sell? If yes, what is it?

Okay, this is where it gets a bit controversial! Personally, I don’t think there is a perfect structure or format. But really, it depends on who you ask. So, in the interest of objectivity, I’m going to say that there are plenty of copywriters who use a pre-defined structure for every sales letter, for example. It’s a more formulaic approach – and some people swear by it. But that’s not an approach that I’m very comfortable with.

Personally, I prefer to consider each new job as a unique proposition. It’s never, ever, a case of thinking what worked for this company will work for that company. There are too many variables at play, and I don’t think any of our customers would ever like us to take a formulaic approach to their one-of-a-kind commission.

In the SEO world, the saying goes ‘content is king’, but as we know not everyone reads a whole page of web copy, instead we scan them, what do you do to combat this and get the most important messages across?

The good news is that it doesn’t matter. Provided there is interesting, well-written content all over your site, and provided you know that readers will find something useful wherever they look, it’s okay.

Just remember that when you’re writing web copy, every line, or every couple of lines need to give the reader something – it could be a benefit, an answer to a question, or a reason to read on. Try to make sure that wherever their eyes come to focus next, your reader will be getting some value out of your site.

How you structure the content helps here. Break it up with plenty of sub-headings to draw the eye. That will make bigger blocks of copy look less intimidating too.

Use bullet points where necessary, and box-out sections – and again, make sure they all reward the reader with something useful. Highlighted quotes and testimonials are a great way to leave a good impression too.

Of course this does all mean that every line has to be carefully thought through. It means every page has to work as a piece of narrative text, and as a smorgasbord of useful titbits. So, no pressure then!

With the use of mobile and tablet devices, screens are getting smaller – has this impacted on how content is structured or written?

I think it’s increasing the onus on us all to write more succinctly. And that’s a good thing. Anyone who uses Twitter knows that, with a bit of effort, you can condense some fairly complex ideas down into 140 characters. And that’s a great skill to have.

If you can reduce your business proposition or sales message down to 140 characters, then everything else is just window dressing. So, as copywriters, we need to boil things down into sharp copy that works for the time-poor reader on the go.

And we can apply the same thinking to every kind of copy. There’s no desire or patience for copy that takes half a page to get anywhere, whatever you’re writing.

Another consequence of writing more succinctly is that it reinforces the importance of editing. You can almost always improve any piece of writing in the edit. It’s just the same with Twitter… it’s easy to go a hundred characters over length. At first, it might look like it’s all indispensable content, but as you start clearing words away, you soon get to the heart of the message. Invariably it’ll sound so much better in its stripped down form. And that’s the essence of clear, compelling copywriting.

Do you have any advice around giving a piece of content a title?

I do, and I’m afraid the boring truth is that simple is almost always best. Research shows that most readers are drawn in by benefit-led titles. Cryptic titles work to some extent, but aren’t nearly as popular, and humour is just too divisive. You’re liable to put off more people than you draw in.

So nine times out of ten, you need to play it straight. Get right to the big benefit and go from there. Provided you’ve got a good brief, and a good idea of what the copy needs to say, you should be able to identify your biggest benefit without too much trouble.

When it comes to turning that benefit into a headline, try writing it down in as many different ways as possible. Change the words; change the order of the words and see what works. It’s important that it trips off the tongue too. Say it out loud and make sure it’s easy to say. True, most of your readers don’t tend to read out loud, but it’s surprising what a difference it makes when your headlines look unwieldy or sound cluttered.

I was reminded of the importance of alluring headlines (or of any kind of promotional copy really) when I passed a restaurant recently. The sign outside read, ‘We serve quality coffee’. It was just so underwhelming. No benefit and no inducement. Whatever happened to ‘damn fine coffee and apple pie’, or ‘rich, aromatic coffee’? That would have put me in the mood to stop off for 20 minutes.

When you start thinking about it, there are just so many things you can do to market a product in a few words. Suppose this restaurant ran a quick survey among their regulars asking who serves the best coffee in town. There’s a potential headline for you…

Are there any copywriting blogs, books or tools you would recommend to go look at?

I think if you’re an aspiring copywriter the best thing you can do is just get on with it. There’s so much advice out there that you can a) spend too long sifting through it all, and b) get too swayed by other people’s opinions and writing styles.

So, whenever possible, I encourage people to jump in feet first and find their own way – and their own ‘voice’ first. I’m with Dr Seuss on this one – “Learn by doing.” You don’t learn writing, you just do it… And you keep doing it… And keep getting better at it.

All that being said, I can recommend The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman. Andy Maslen’s very popular and rightly so; his newsletter’s worth a look. And at the risk of sounding too self-serving, you can check out our free eBook, The A-Z of Copywriting. Its focus is on helping people who perform a copywriting or marketing function in their jobs but don’t necessarily consider themselves copywriters.

Another resource I’m happy to recommend is the TED website (www.ted.com). In short: a wonderful melting pot of inspiration and new ideas. It really is the most incredible resource, full of thought-provoking, mind-expanding talks – all free – by some of the world’s greatest thinkers, visionaries, artists and entertainers. You won’t find any copywriting advice there, but you will find plenty of new angles on marketing and creative thinking.

I expect, like SEO, there is a variation in price for copywriting services, very cheap to very expensive – what 3 things should somebody look for when looking to appoint a copywriting firm?

For a start, find someone you’ll be able to work with. You won’t necessarily meet your copywriter, but chances are, you’ll spend a fair bit of time dealing with them on the phone or via email. So it helps if you can get along. Do remember that copywriting is a process. From the initial brief through to completion, you’ll work through various ideas and iterations with your copywriter. So as well as being able to get along, it helps if you can talk openly. You need to be able to respect each other’s opinions and ideas.

Next, don’t get too hung up on the size of the organisation. There are some wonderful copywriting agencies out there. There are some exceptional freelancers too. It all comes down to how they write and how closely they meet their objectives. So ask for samples of work, and get a sense of how each piece that you see actually met the client’s brief.

Finally, make sure you choose an adaptable copywriter. This is particularly important if you’re looking for a longer-term relationship that’ll encompass different types of copy. A good copywriter should be able to hit any kind of tone of voice required. So again, ask for samples of their work – try to get a range of pieces so you can look at their different writing styles and approaches.

If you get all those assurances from your copywriter, price won’t be too big an issue, because you know you’ll get good copy that does exactly what you want it to.

And finally, tell us about your company ‘Clear Comms’, what you guys do, offer, your core services, etc?

Well I’m going to lead with the fact that we’re still the only copywriters anywhere to have been awarded a gold medal by the Plain Language Commission. And I’ll keep saying it until someone else comes along! So that means we take an anti-buzzwords approach to our writing. It’s clear, benefit-led copy that speaks in ways readers will respond to.

We’re very lucky in that we get involved in all kinds of copy – both B2B and B2C – and we can cover any kind of copywriting requirement. So that includes articles, case studies, company profiles, newsletters, product descriptions, sales letters, speeches, tender documents and video scripts.

Come over to www.clear-comms.com to find out more. There are lots of copywriting resources and guides there, and our free A-Z of Copywriting eBook. You can sign up to our monthly newsletter too, which is full of tips, articles and opinions on copywriting and marketing.

Note: I couldn’t finish this post without saying a massive “thank you” to Chris. To find out more about Chris and Clear Comms, visit Clear-Comms.com.

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Hopefully the title says it all, but already, there are some cracking SEO and digital marketing posts in 2013 that you need to be reading now.

If you missed this post “30 digital marketing websites you need to be reading now, in 2013, and beyond“, I’d strongly advise that you bookmark it and follow all of the blogs mentioned.

Check out my recommended reads below:

SEOmoz – The 2012 Local Year in Review

SEOmoz - 10 Predictions for Inbound Marketing in 2013

Search Engine Land – Our Most Shared Stories on Facebook of 2012

Search Engine Land – Top Search Marketing Columns & Features Of 2012

Search Engine Roundtable - Google Title Tags Measured By Width Not Character?

Marketing Land - Marketing Land’s Top Shared Stories on Facebook of 2012

State of Search - Top 10 Things Digital Marketers Need to Know in 2013

Search Engine Watch - Keywords Are Dead! Long Live User Intent!

Search Engine Watch - Where Link Building is Heading in 2013

SEO by the Sea - How Google Might Ignore Insignificant Terms in Queries

ProBlogger - What Every Successful Blogger Should Do Before Breakfast

Bruce Clay - A Question of Creative Content Ethics

SEJ - How to Leverage the Knowledge Graph for SEO

SEJ - Maximizing Your Meta Tags for SEO and CTR

SEO Book - Google: “As We Say, NOT As We Do”

SearchMetrics - Google and the Social Graph; more data to feed the beast

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Well another year is nearly over and it only seems like 5 minutes ago since I did a similar post in 2011.

Let me know which you enjoyed and also what you’d like to see more of in 2013.

So here we have it, my top 10 DaveCain.co.uk digital marketing posts from 2012:

1. Link Building Guide: 26 methods to help boost your rankings in 2012…
2. Copying your competitors’ backlinks, good or bad?
3. 3 ways ‘Google Alerts’ can help your SEO efforts
4. Link Building Routine: How many links should I build a week, a month etc?
   
5. 5 SEO tips for eCommerce product pages
   
6. Adding ‘nofollow’ on internal links – good or bad?
7. Post Google Penguin: 5 backlink types you need to be chasing now
8. Google Adwords: My top 5 ‘must do’ tips for complete beginners
9. SEO Question: Directory link building, is it still worth doing?
10. 10 super quick and simple local SEO tips you’ve got to adopt today…

And finally, thanks for all your support and reading my blog – I hope it helped in 2012 and I’ve some great posts planned for early 2013.

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Just one of the tasks an SEO faces is getting a client to commit to writing copy for a site. Over the years, many would copy text and pass it off as there own, but then… the Google Panda came along.

What this has done is force all website owners and webmasters into writing compelling content if they want to retain there rankings and progress over time.

Below I’ve listed some buzz words which might be helpful when do the above:

• Helpful
• Resourceful
• Unique
• Fresh (up-to-date)
• Engaging
• Adds value
• News worthy
• Linkable
• Likable

If you can write content that is all of the above, you are on to a winner – and to be clear… there are no short cuts around writing content..

In a recent video by Google, Matt Cutts talks about the need for great content which covers the above points. I can’t, along with the rest of the SEO community, stress how important unique content is.

Let me leave you with one final thought before you watch the video, Google is trying to make there search experience the best it can be, do you think it can do this by serving 10 results which are all the same?

You can view the video on YouTube here. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments box below.

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As I’ve mentioned before, reading is a big part of my week and it’s important to stay on top of all the recent changes, new features and updates that are happening around digital marketing.

There are  hundreds of great resources and my reading list is pretty extensive, but the sites I’ve listed below are the one’s I visit the every couple of days subscribe to:

1. SEOmoz
2. Search Engine Land
3. Search Engine Roundtable
4. Marketing Land
5. State of Search
6. Distilled
7. The PPC Blog
8. Search Engine Watch
9. SEO by the Sea
10. Yoast
11. Google Webmaster Central Blog
12. Conversion Rate Experts
13. Inside AdWords Blog
14. SEO Chicks
15. Dave Naylor
16. Michael Gray
17. Stone Temple
18. SEM Geeks
19. Ask Kalena
20. Problogger
21. Bruce Clay
22. SEOptimise
23. Marketing Pilgrim
24. Search Engine Guide
25. Search Engine Journal
26. SEO Book
27. PPC Hero
28. Matt Cutts
29. Eric Ward
30. SearchMetrics

As an added bonus, I often get asked which dedicated digital marketing forums I contribute on, read and trust, below are my top 3:

1. WebmasterWorld
2. Warrior Forum
3. High Rankings

Do you have your own favourite sites which keep you up-to-date with all things SEO, PPC and the like? Please feel free to leave your comments below…

One of the sources that I read often is KISSmetrics.com. So who are they?

“KISSmetrics is a revolutionary person-based analytics platform for your whole team. Get product, sales, marketing, customer support working together to improve the metrics that matter.”

To be clear, these guys are experts and certainly know there onions when it comes to online marketing and making websites work better for business.

Below I’ve listed my top 5 SEO posts that they’ve written over the past 12 months:

1. The 2012 Guide to Google Webmaster Tools
2. Meta Description Magic: Think Less about SEO & More about Click-Throughs
3. The Marketer’s Guide to Google Plus
4. Step by Step Guide to SEO
5. 79 Link Building Resources for 2012

And it’s not just SEO that they write about, they have some brilliant posts around social media, conversions and design to name just a few. Seriously, if you don’t read there blog – make sure you do! Now go bookmark: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/.

If you’ve enjoyed this post, don’t forget, sharing is caring!

Over the past month or two, 20 new videos have been added which cover a wide range of topics from parked domains, duplicate content issues and to paid links.

To view more of the help videos, click here to visit the Google Webmaster Help YouTube channel.

Below I’ve included my top 5, these relate to recent issues and algorithm updates:

(Flickr: Image Credit: Robert Scoble on Flickr - CC Licensed)

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With 2013 just around the corner, your probably starting to think about your digital marketing strategy for the next 12 months.

You may be asking yourself:

• Could I be utilising other social platforms?
• Am I targeting the right keywords?
• How do I plan a content strategy?
• What tools should I be using?
• Do I need online reputation management?
• Should I consider Google Adwords?

Whatever your digital marketing, SEO, PPC or search question – I can help!

I’ve been answering questions similar to the above for the past 2 years and nows your opportunity, take a look at some of the previous Q&As here.

To drop me a line and ask a question, click here and fill out the short form with a valid email address – if I answer your question, I’ll drop you an email to let you know.

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As we know, local SEO is becoming more and more important within a large proportion of digital marketing strategies.

I get asked about this a lot and there are some simple things that can be done which will make a big difference.

Below I’ve listed my top 10 super quick tips:

1. DNS Records

When registering your domain, make sure you use your actually location. Google can views DNS records and will use the location on these records as a signal towards your overall authority.

2. Find the right local keywords

As a rule, always start with the city name (example, Nottingham), then branch out to the area (example, Nottinghamshire or East Midlands). Then look at individual towns and villages within the city.

Most people search locally by typing [service + city], example [BMW car dealers Glasgow]. Use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to discover your local keywords and potential targets.

3. Targeted local content

Make sure your content has a local spin on it, make reference to landmarks, tourism spots and other local attractions. Not only is this engaging for the read but Google like references and synonyms.

4. Google+ local page

Previously known as Google Places and Google Maps, this/these have now been integrated into Google+, it works on a similar platform to the previous and is used within Google Map results so this is a must.

5. Local business directories

Having touched on these before, I can’t stress the importance on submitting your site to national and local business directories. Often using this as a strategy, I have seen jumps of 8 places on page one which makes a massive difference to a business in the local area.

6. Define your location socially

Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+ – all have the option to add a location, as long as you make a good connection between your site and profiles, Google will use this as a strong signal – social matters!

7. Engage in local conversations

Most cities have local forums and online groups, LinkedIn might be a good option for your business here. Connect with the local community, they are the core of your business.

8. Use file names, ALT and title tags wisely

Filenames, ALT text, title tags and image filenames, all be it very small, Google will add weight to these, and even if they make just a small difference, a 1% difference could mean the difference between page 1 and page 2 in Google.

9. Reviews, reviews, reviews

One of the most important factors, encourage your clients, customers and the like to write reviews about you on local directories and Google+ – Google is adding a lot of weight and not only prove a business is legitimate, but can offer a good customer experience which people want to talk about.

10. Blog, with a local spin

Blog, blog and then blog again, create a content strategy and stick to it. Make sure your content is linkable and likeable and if you add a local spin with good internal links, this can also aid your local SEO efforts!

Have any thoughts or recommend techniques? Leave your comments below.

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This weeks SEO question is:

Is it still worth getting my company listed on standard web directories? I know that this should only form part of our overall strategy, but is it worth doing at all?

Great question and in a nutshell, I would say no.

Most web directories run off scripts, and as long as you meet the websites criteria, your link will be accepted, this in itself doesn’t sound to bad but when they are spammed and not managed correctly, that’s what makes these types of sites poor, low quality and not user friendly in Google’s eyes.

If you’re really wanting to do directory link building as a daily task, concentrate on business directory links using such sites as Yell, Scoot, Thomson Local and the like. These can help with localised search phrases.

A similar question was asked here and the response was:

“thin and unrelated links can and will hurt you, focus on strengthening your content”

Below is a great video by Matt Cutts on link building (it is quite an old video but some of the techniques mentioned are really good, i.e – social media participation) and I’d recommend that you check out this guide from KISSmetrics.

Also, don’t forget to view some of my more recent link building posts.

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This week’s SEO question is…

I’m going to see an SEO agency shortly about working with them, what they’ve presented me in a report looks really good but what should I be asking them about there SEO and digital marketing services?

Brilliant, first and foremost, you need to make them work, challenge everything! As an SEO, there is nothing better than explaining the process, talking about the latest developments in SEO and working with someone that’s understands digital marketing.

Below I’ve listed my top 5 questions you need to ask every SEO agency:

1. What are you doing to combat the recent Google updates (Panda & Penguin)?

This needs to be your number one question above anything else, the Google Panda and Penguin updates have really sorted the men from the boys this year, so you need to make sure the agency that you choose are using best practices to protect your site from updates and all activities adhere to Google’s search quality guidelines.

2. Can you explain your SEO best practices in detail?

You really need to be asking this, similar to the above, see how confident they are when talking, listen for buzz words like, content, social activity and quality. If they start talking about directory link building, mass article syndication and anything else that sounds dodgy – run a mile!

3. Can you show me some recent digital marketing projects, achievements and keyword results?

I think this is really important and you need to be looking for the following examples:

• Singular keywords (example: cars)
• Broad keywords (example: upvc windows)
• Local keywords (example: lawyers in glasgow)
• Branded keywords (example: vauxhall corsa)
• Product / Service keywords (example: web design services)

These show a good range of keyword scope and success, don’t forget to ask how these performed from an ROI point-of-view, how they achieved the results and what time-scales.

4. What other services do you have in place to work in conjunction with search engine optimisation?

SEO should be just one part of your digital marketing strategy, you may/will also need:

• Copywriting
• Social media
• PPC / Google Adwords
• Conversion rate optimisation
• Web development
• User experience
• Web design

SEO is about driving traffic to your site, you need other areas to convert these visitors into sales and the agency you choose should be offering these as an overall digital marketing strategy.

5. Do you guarantee SEO positions and/or results?

Still to this day, agencies, freelancers and the like guarantee results – let’s be clear, this can’t be done as SEOs don’t have control over the search engines, what SEOs do is influence the results using best practice guidelines.

So what would Matt Cutts do?

Whilst this is an old video, there are some really good points:

Do you have any thoughts or questions?

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SEO Question: I’m looking to syndicate articles as part of our overall SEO strategy, how many times can I syndicate an article so I’m not affected by the Penguin and Panda update?

I was asked this only a week ago and whether or not this is a real and legitimate question, I’m not sure, but it makes for a good post all the same and hopefully will answer some questions which others may have.

I think the title speaks for itself, but I really wanted to be clear on a few points.

• I never have or never will be a fan of mass article syndication – I really don’t see the value or benefits of submitting one article 50+ times to multiple low level article sites.
• I’ve never recommended it as a ethical or white hat strategy
• Google Penguin is after crap links and scrapper sites (this also brings into play Google Panda) – enough said!

The proof…

• I did a small test around article syndication, submitting 50 articles targeting a niche keyword and using my domain, and the results… I saw no benefits or gains in Google.

What Matt Cutts has to say…

What makes for a good article strategy?

• Guest blogging is a good strategy, especially if they are willing to link back to you or are willing to use Google Authorship
• Doing one off, unique articles on relevant and highly trusted article sites is fine  (time wise, this would be a lengthy task, plus the article might be better on your website instead of someone else’s.)
• Add unique, user focused, helpful, resourceful and factual content to your site on a weekly basis

Article marketing or however you want to coin it is tough and time consuming, writing unique content over and over again is hard and that is why a yearly content strategy is a must – this is something I tend to do and works well, plus when changes happen, you can change and adapt.

If writing one post and submitting it hundreds of times was a good way forward, we’d all be doing it, so for the last time, please stop asking if mass article syndication is a good strategy, the simple answer is ‘no’.

If you are unsure what is Google Adwords or pay-per-click is, I’d advise that you read this handy Google Adwords guide.

For those of you who are familiar with the platform, here are 5 simple but effective tips to make your Adwords campaign run more efficiently.

1. Use different keyword match types

There is a lot to be said about different keyword types and how they work, below is a great infographic with examples (I’d highly recommend that you study this closely and check out there blog post noted in the source below).

(Source: WebRanking.com)

2. Find negative keywords

Depending on your keyword type, many different phrases could trigger your ads. Many sure you check what these phrases and words are as some might not be relevant.

Every couple of days I would suggest that you review what users searched and what keywords triggered your ad’s. You’ll quickly find keywords that have no relevance to your business or aren’t the right target market. You can define negative keywords account wide, campaign level or ad-group level.

3. Run multiple ads

With each ad-group, don’t just run one ad, run up to 3 and test different headlines, ad copy and display URLs. Remember to keep your eye on these and keep testing so to improve your click through rates (CTR).

4. Optimise your landing pages

Make sure you have specific landing pages for your keywords, campaigns and ad-groups. Don’t just send everything to the homepage, make the users experience is the best it can be and give them what they have searched for. This will help them with there enquiry and buying decisions, not forgetting the Quality Score within your Adwords account.

5. Track everything

Make sure you have made a connection with Adwords and Analytics, then track everything possible using goals, eCommerce data, and custom alerts. Just because a keyword looks to be performing well, has it every generated a sale or enquiry?

Pro Tip: Don’t delete or modify keywords or ad’s

As it says, don’t delete or modify keywords or ad’s, you will lose valuable data if you do! Pause the keywords and ad’s and just archive them accordingly.

Final thought…

Remember to keep testing and optimising your Adwords campaign(s), every click costs you money!

Over the coming months I’ll be writing further Google Adwords blog posts, so be sure to check back soon or subscribe to my RSS feed.

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In light of the recent Google Penguin updates, link building methods and techniques have changed quite a lot. Here I’ve listed my top 5 methods which I would recommend post Google Penguin.

1. Social profile links

In my opinion, links from social profiles are the best, retrospective of the anchor text. Google knows that it would be very difficult to game 50 tweets or 100 Facebook links for example. You need to chase links on Twitter and many other social media sites, they are natural and organic in there type.

Backlink anchor type: Website URL, page or post title

2. Social bookmarking links

Gaining links from Stumbleupon, Digg, Delicious and the other various social booking sites can work well. They only work well, in my opinion, from trusted and established social bookmarking profiles that have regular activity – it shows they are genuine and trusted accounts.

Backlink anchor type: Website page or post title, anchor text

3. Blog commenting

Commenting on blogs is a method that can take some time. Many webmasters will verify comments before they are set live on a post so you need to make sure your comments are of a high quality. Also the name you use will be scrutinised (as this links back to your website in most cases). So you need to make sure its real!

Backlink anchor type: Name, company name or website URL

4. Local area directories

I’m a massive fan of adding sites to local area directories such as:

• FreeIndex
• Yell
• Touch Local
• Scoot
• Thomson
• and many more…

You can define your business details and add a standard URL backlink. Many of these sites are reliable and highly trusted by Google, plus, it will also aid your local SEO efforts.

Backlink anchor type: Website URL, business name

5. Video creation

Many may question this, but there is a logic. Whilst you can’t have a link ‘in’ an actual video, an engaging and link worthy video that can be shared and embedded on other sites which could result in many different types of editorial and social backlinks. Thus making your backlink profile extremely varied and trusted.

Backlink anchor type: Website URL, business name, social profile name

Bonus Tip. Content creation

Yes, I know, this isn’t a backlink method as such, but writing unique, user focused, interesting and engaging content will result in shares and links back to the article thus improving backlink variation to different pages.

Notice something interesting?

1) For all of these to be done effectively and well, you can’t game the system or do these backlink methods in mass, something which Google is aware of.

2) Notice the variation in anchor text you will need to use (see backlink anchor type)? This will make your backlink profile look more natural and varied, instead of just chasing exact anchor text.

Do you have any recommended methods for link building post Google Penguin? Leave your comments below.

Here are my top 15 Google, SEO, algorithm, link building and online marketing tweets from August 2012.

1. Stefan Weitz Discusses the True Value of Social Signals http://t.co/Hw6oNXM3 via @stonetemple

2. SEOmoz Received Link Notice After Negative SEO Challenge http://t.co/7hSevIf8 via @rustybrick

3. How Website Structure & Information Architecture Should Mirror Your Business Goals http://t.co/PDRs14zl via @sengineland

4. Winning the Video Thumbnail in Google Universal Search | SEOmoz http://t.co/VUmigxO7 via @SEOmoz

5. SEO Q&A with Samuel Crocker of OMD UK: http://t.co/4Mofe71I via @DaveCainSEO

6. 101 Ways to Link Build in 2012 http://t.co/kdgIRaUy via @sejournal

7. How to Blog: 50 Tips, Guides and Tutorials that Will Make You an Expert Blogger – ManageWP http://t.co/Op6XIntI via @managewp

8. I’m watching ‘your content strategy is part of your link building strategy’ http://t.co/qtufYKs4 via @distilled cc/ @wilreynolds

9. Tips From Google On Providing Multiple Languages On Your Site http://t.co/IzgRjHZe via @rustybrick

10. Inside Search: Search quality highlights: 86 changes for June and July: http://t.co/n93UqUCa

11. Google’s June-July Updates: Site Clustering, Sitelinks Changes & Focus On Page Quality http://t.co/dG83cuzx via @sengineland

12. A Look Inside Bing’s Human Search Rater Guidelineshttp://t.co/46uCgoj2 via @sengineland

13. Google: Further Penguin Update “Jolts” To Come; Panda Is Smoother & Monthly http://t.co/AnpYf3WK via @sengineland

14. Google’s quest for “high-quality” sites – the role of content. | SEOptimise http://t.co/QEOMfAuQ via @SamanthaKHall #seo (@seoptimise)

15. Google Panda Refresh On August 19th: Version 3.9.1http://t.co/AwDuDM2o via @sengineland

There has been so many great tweets and articles in August  I’ve included a further 5 tweets:

16. Readability and #SEO -http://t.co/nPRq3ExQ via @ajkohn

17. Do Improved Social Signals Cause Improved Rankings? | SEOmoz http://t.co/7fYuUf3Y via @SEOmoz

18. 4 Tips For Your Mobile SEO Strategy – Whiteboard Friday | SEOmoz http://t.co/ikpn3l2f via @SEOmoz

19. Analytics Blog: Tracking Adjusted Bounce Rate In Google Analytics http://t.co/tdhfZph5

20. Google Search Update On August 28th?http://t.co/oklUnndg via @rustybrick

Have you seen any SEO or Google news worth mentioning? Leave your comments and links below.