A recent surprising success was The Lion King - re-released in 3D, which exceeded expectations in its opening weeks, despite competing against other big names such as Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt. The popular 17 year old animated movie, and its 3D aspect created buzz, and was (correctly) identified as the biggest film of its release week before it even opened in theatres.

Of course, this can be applied to any sort of product launch or release, although it relies on identifying your audience, separating sarcasm from genuine sentiment and the influence and power a few particular social commentators may have. In the film world, niche movies may create an enormous amount of buzz from a very small, but vocal audience. Without assessing elements other than pure quantity of comments, it might be assumed that such a niche film would turn out to be a surprise blockbuster, but this shows the importance of weighing up the statistics, since the general (but passionate) audience is likely to be small and potentially insignificant in the scheme of things.

So analyse with caution, and a good dose of common sense! If you really know your audience, know your product and are tracking and following current trends, then you can make solid general predictions on the potential performance of a new product or launch. And it shouldn’t just be a spectator sport, either – get involved, start creating your own buzz, get people talking and interested and intrigued. Natural word of mouth is fantastic, but sometimes it needs a little nudge…

And always take the time to go over your statistics and analytics after the event, to see whether your predictions were accurate, where surprises arose and what you can change in the future to ensure even greater success.

It’s now possible to sign up as a beta user for Facebook Timeline, a whole new format for your profile, which includes multimedia sharing, an embedded Spotify music player, Netflix lineup and Places map, as well as a potential host of other more visual-based app designs, including news streams from the Guardian and Independent newspapers. You can watch the Timeline introductory video and have a look at the potential layout here, and we have to say it does come across as kind of pretty.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg’s goal, he says, was to provide users with an audio-visual timeline of their life and encourage them to share the media they are interested in. If you allow it via your privacy settings, friends will be able to listen to the same music you are, see what films you’ve watched recently, scroll through your photo galleries and even follow your latest run route (and give you a virtual high five for completing it). Zuckerberg’s soundbite describes the experience as, um: “real time serendipity.” Ok then, Mark.

What most people will want to know, though, is how intuitive the new system is – how easy it is to set limits on how widely your information is shared, or change your privacy settings? Will there be a limit on music streaming if you don’t have a premium Spotify account (as free users are now limited to just 10 hours of listening pleasure per month)? Will there be ads? No doubt there will be an outcry to return to ‘old Facebook’ much like there was when ‘new Twitter’ was rolled out (really, people? It’s not that bad…), but on the face of it, Facebook Timeline looks like an interesting development in the social mogul’s lifespan.

The new Google sitelinks are here and they will certainly help brands dominate the search results page. The biggest help will be found with users able to bypass the homepage and find key sections on the website.

Some blame the government, some blame budget cuts, unemployment, lack of social care for poverty-stricken areas – and some are even blaming social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and BlackBerry Messenger, claiming that the escalating violence and rioting has been “fuelled by social media”. There seems to be, however, a clear polarity in the way the nation is using social media in the face of the London riots.

Certainly social media has been used as a form of communication between rioters and those supporting the events of the last few nights – in a shockingly barefaced manner at times. Groups on Facebook and hashtags on Twitter have been used to share images of destruction and to brag about looting – with many rioters not even covering their faces while they pose with their haul. In fact, a Tumblr website called Catch a Looter emerged overnight to post pictures in hopes of aiding police tracking down specific members of the riots. The main blame seems to be laid on BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) – a private network using BlackBerry handsets, where users can send group messages to their contacts as a free alternative to text messaging and a non-public alternative to Facebook and Twitter. Multiple sources showed evidence of using BBM to incite further rioting to the Guardian, with messages like:

“Everyone from all sides of London meet up in the heart of London (central) OXFORD CIRCUS!!, Bare SHOPS are gonna get smashed up so come get some (free stuff!!!) fuck the feds we will send them back with OUR riot! >:O Dead the ends and colour war for now so if you see a brother… SALUT! If you see a fed… SHOOT!”

Authorities are now considering whether some of the violence could have been avoided had they been able to intercept these messages. In the main, however, the use of public social media networks like Twitter and Facebook seem to be used to contact family and friends in dangerous areas to ensure they are safe, to share images and to voice disgust and sadness at the recent events. A Twitter hashtag, #riotcleanup, quickly began trending as the public, officials and celebrities alike encouraged Londoners to join the community clean up project Riot Cleanup.

The original group set up on Facebook to mourn Duggan’s death – with over 18,500 fans so far – began as a peaceful protest to the leaking of the news of his death by the police and a place to pay tribute for friends and family. However, soon after the situation escalated on Saturday night, some members were calling for others to add pictures and videos to “send the message out as to why this has blown into a riot.” The owners of the page have since tried to change the tone back to one of grief and shock at recent events, with pleas to stop the rioting and outrage that looters were carrying out these acts in Duggan’s name. This morning the page’s administrator posted the following message, amongst others in a similar vein:

“This is just disgusting, plain & simple! Areas affected by the riots, remember Mark’s family have never asked for this. People used it as a excuse.”

Many B2B companies and marketers struggle to initially see the purpose and benefits of social media (if this sounds like you then we recently wrote about Why Social Media Matters For Successful B2B), or once on board, fail to utilise the medium correctly. In his post, Cook focuses on the social relationships within B2B marketing with three basic ideas:

1. “Small communities matter.” It’s easy to compare a B2B social world with a B2C one and come to the conclusion that social media is better tailored to consumers than businesses as customers. This is just not true when there are so many small and influential communities specifically tailored around different subjects and industries. If anything, a B2B company has a more focused group of customers to engage with. And another bonus of a small community is the trust and weight that members carry in terms of word of mouth and recommendation. Your only real hurdle is finding the right community for your business.

2. “Virtual and physical relationships augment each other.” Another advantage of the B2B world is the increased likelihood that you may have already forged a ‘real life’ relationship with some of your online acquaintances, or at the very least attended the same trade shows, have links through other businesses and companies and members. Because your business world is smaller, you have a better chance to strengthen individual relationships with clients and peers both on and offline.

3. “‘Social’ is not the same as ‘personal’.” Keeping your social activity appropriate at work is one of the first things to learn when using social media – that doesn’t mean you can’t be friendly, humorous, individual or that you can’t interact on a one-to-one level with customers and clients. Imagine you are at a conference, a trade show or a meeting – turn on that level of ‘social’  interaction when you are working online and keep both a professional and approachable face on when using social media.

We would add another tenet to Cook’s list, which is: “Make yourself useful!” Consumers approach social media from a perspective of getting a good deal, a freebie, becoming part of a community or latching on to a particular brand/lifestyle or idea. Their needs are generally met quickly and on a short term basis according to what they are looking for. Businesses, on the other hand, are looking to forge long-lasting and beneficial relationships with suppliers, industry peers and service providers. They don’t need a quick fix, they need support, advice and to be able to trust who they are working with. By providing your B2B customers with plenty of information, fresh content, plentiful advice, efficient customer services and a friendly ear, you will become their most useful asset online.

If you are a B2B company or marketer, what have you found most useful and beneficial when using social media for your business?

However, it seems that B2B companies are catching on – social media marketing budgets are slowly increasing, and are predicted to double by 2012. Currently, social media marketing budgets make up an average of 3-7% of B2B budgets, and the main reason for reluctance lies in measuring ROI. What many businesses fail to realise, however, is the power of social media does not necessarily translate into hard figures; social media is a method to build your business online, to increase your brand strength and your reputation, to promote positive word-of-mouth and create worthwhile relationships with clients. All these attributes bring success to your business, even though you may not be able to put a percentage next to them on a spreadsheet…

Every customer, whether consumer or business-based, begins their journey to an online purchase with a search. They google, research, browse, read reviews and compare prices. Nowadays social media has become an integral part in the journey to purchase, bringing their peers into the mix, asking advice, comparisons, opinions and experiences. Whereas in simple B2C business, the customer’s aim is generally a product, in the B2B world, clients may be looking simply for information, a solution to a problem or a specific service. This, however, makes social media no less important in that process – in fact, it may be even more imperative to B2B success, since the majority of a B2B company’s client-base are long-term and recurrent customers. The relationship matters even more in B2B, and social media is making the creation, development and maintenance of quality and trustworthy business relationships easier and more efficient.

Your clients are looking for answers and long term support and service. If they find relevant (and free) content on your website, your blog, your social media profiles; if they find out that you are attentive to your customers and communicate freely and frequently through social media; if they decide that your company is transparent and your reputation is excellent on the basis of peer recommendation, then they will choose you over another identical company that lacks the social media presence you have.

Social media for B2B is not just about sales. An increase in sales should be a product of your social media efforts, but it is not the sole aim. Along with your services, you should be providing your clients with solutions, free information, advice, experience, connections, great customer service and long-lasting personal relationships. If you want clear-cut ROI stats, you can use analytics to track how and where your customers are sharing your content, and how much traffic you receive from social media platforms, but these figures will not reflect the complex and diverse effects social media has on your brand, your company and your reputation. Only time will show that.

The internet today is vast, and so as consumers and business owners need to utilise social media to find the best deals and forge the most successful business relationships. We graze on information, we follow a trail via search and social media until we find what we need… It’s up to you to ensure your business is at both the beginning and the end of that trail:

* Use SEO to achieve high ranking results and have your website appear at the top of a relevant search, therefore placing yourself at the beginning of a customer’s purchase journey.

* Use social media marketing to secure trust and approachability and end up as the final and definitive choice, therefore placing yourself at the end of a customer’s purchase journey.

Google has had a good month, with 10 million Google+ users signing up in just a fortnight, exceeding expectations of the giant’s latest attempt at breaking into social media. New CEO, Larry Page, has given some positive remarks about the progress of the company, which looks like it will include the continued ‘project’ of G+:

“We had a great quarter, with revenue up 32% year on year for a record breaking over $9 billion of revenue. I’m super excited about the amazing response to Google+ which lets you share just like in real life.”

Google has taken on an additional 2,452 employees in the second quarter, and revenue analysis has shown that shares have been boosted by the launch of Google+. So far, over 1 billion items have been shared via G+, and the new voice and image search are just a few of 100 other improvements made to Google search in the past quarter. Product growth, according to Page, is driven by a “product-focused structure”, based on devices and social media.

Google+’s main aims are to provide a user experience, although Google representatives acknowledged the potential impact the social network could have on search results. Primarily though, Google+ seems to be seen by Page as another ‘product’: “We want to make products people use every day, like their toothbrush. So that’s how we think about success there.” A central aspect to G+, right from the start, seems to be security and privacy. Without naming names, Page explained: “Google believes in users owning their own data and we think some of our competitors don’t believe that, but we think users will move to services that are in their best interest.”

So what do you think? Are you a Google+ convert or a die-hard Facebooker? Can Google’s new attempt at social media expect to compete with the big boys, or will it have a small but devoted following, or disappear into the ether like Wave…?

In response to an online study by the Chartered Institute of housing showing that most landlords felt they should make improvements in the way they work with young people to deal with anti-social behaviour. Traditional ways of working with communities to deal with anti-social behaviour such as postal or telephone surveys, estate walkabouts and resident meetings are largely ineffective, particularly amongst people who are not at home all day. This has lead social landlords to consider tweeting about nuisance areas and receiving complaints through websites instead of in person.

Social media will likely prove an effective method of reaching out to entire communities at once, particularly the younger generation, but the key is to understand your audience. Landlords need to use the information they collect on their customers to decide how best to target specific groups. Some people will always prefer to discuss issues face to face, but social media is a good way to arrange group meetings – Facebook events are useful for providing information, contact details, as well as an area for people to raise concerns before the meeting.

There could be negative consequences such as an increase in unacceptable behaviour in the community if certain tenant groups are neglected in favour of people who use social media. There is no one avenue of communication that will suit everyone, and it has been shown time and time again that keeping it personal is key. Whether landlords are communicating online or in person, people want to feel that they are talking with a real human being – that personal connection is crucial in combating anti-social behaviour. Conversely, the relative anonymity of social networking sites could encourage some people to come forward and raise issues that they may feel uncomfortable broaching in person.

However, it is important to remember that not everyone has access to the internet. In this day and age it is a somewhat shocking revelation to discover that around half of all UK social housing tenants have never used the internet. Therefore it is important that these digital resources are used alongside the more traditional avenues so that no tenant groups are excluded from the dialogue. Social media should simply provide another way for residents to be heard.

The new Social Plugin in Google Analytics allows you to analyse your visitors interact with and share your content via social media. If you have integrated social media buttons such as Google +1, and options to share on Twitter, Facebook and bookmarking sites, you can now use analytics to track these aspects and find out where, how and what your users are clicking…

There are some great tips on how to adapt these options to suit your website and your business on the Google Analytics blog, including examples of how Social Plugin works with Twitter and Facebook plugin APIs, which is really useful to know if you are a developer. They are even offering free t-shirts to “the first 100 developers who integrate a social plugin, or a Content Management plugin that adds social widgets to sites with Google Analytics.” Simply submit your plugin here.

Duncombe’s research showed that an internet business can double its revenue just by correcting mistakes on its web pages. Content is key, and poorly written content leaves you at a disadvantage. Let’s face it, no matter how swish or technologically advanced your website is, the basis of any page is the text. It’s how we communicate with our customers and entice them to read on, act and make a decision about our services. If your customer stumbles across an error while they browse, the credibility and professionalism of your website will be instantly called into question.

One of the main problems Duncombe found was simply the low level of basic spelling and grammar many employees possess. Research by CBI has shown that “42% of employers are not satisfied with the basic reading and writing skills of school and college leavers and almost half have had to invest in remedial training to get their staff’s skills up to scratch.” The use of informal language and slang in online communication also seems to play a part, with ‘text speak’ infiltrating into common speech and writing. But this is not usually acceptable for a respectable online business, and you should ensure that your content is appropriate to your audience.

The solutions are pretty simple:

1. Re-read your content and check for common mistakes or typos. If you are uncertain about a particular word or grammatical rule, look it up and double check.

2. Use a spellchecker!

3. Employ a proofreader and/or copy editor to ensure your writing is fresh, to the point and most of all – correct.

And if you are really not confident that your writing is up to scratch, seek out the services of a copywriter who will produce content for you. At Ikroh, we regularly review our client websites to check for errors and mistakes, and can provide copywriting, editing and proofreading services to new and existing clients alongside our search engine optimisation and social media services.

Well +1 metrics have now been added into Google Webmaster Tools to show you the different ways your +1 button can affect your traffic:

Search Impact: This report shows you how each +1 affects your organic search traffic and whether these personalised recommendations assist in boosting your content ranking. You can compare clicks and impressions with and without a +1 addition to see how things are sitting.

Activity Report: This enables you to see how many times you’ve been “plus-oned”, both from search results and website pages.

Audience Report: This gives you geographic and demographic info about the users who have clicked +1 on your relevant pages.

Used along with Social Plugin Tracking in Google Analytics, you can use all these metrics to see how users are sharing your content, and get a real sense of your impact online.

We provide award winning website auditing, search engine optimisation, social media marketing and website analytics to help your business grow and succeed online. Get in touch for more information on how we can help your company.

Google’s new attempt at social networking comes in the form of Google+ and its aims seem to include improving on areas where Facebook falls behind, by moving away from ‘technologically restrictive’ methods of social media and ‘rigid services’. The elephant in the room is obviously Facebook, which still holds the medal for social network giant, and many of Google+ attributes appear to pick up on elements that aren’t easily available via Facebook in both an attempt to differentiate and improve.

One of the main issues users seem to have with Facebook is the openness with sharing your information – so your co-workers and your mum gets to see the raucous late night photos that you really only want to share with your mates. Sure you could start a group but doesn’t that seem like a lot of work? G+ ‘Circles’ supposedly allows you to limit your status updates to specific groups of people. The G+ on this feature is that not everyone you are linked to online is a “friend” and you should be able to classify and segregate between classmates, your boss, acquaintances, best buddies and your Great-Auntie Nora. There is also a group messaging service named, rather cutely, ‘Huddle’. Users can instantly upload photos from mobile phones, as you can with Facebook, and the feature ‘Sparks’ lets you share and find online content that fits with your interests.

Google’s previous attempts at social media, dating back to 2009, have thus far been unsuccessful, including Buzz and Wave, but G+ is, in these early days, creating a bit of a stir. ”I think Facebook is going to have to up its game,” says Charlene Li of the Altimeter Group.

So far, Google+ is in “field trial” mode, only accessible by invitation. There is no official full launch date, so it does seem as if this really is a ‘project’ from Google as opposed to a full on confrontation with the big FB… Watch this space to see if it sticks!

Choosing incorrect or ineffective keywords can easily lead to online failure. A good way to think of the words that would best suit your business is to imagine what your customers will type into search engines to find what they are looking for. Often, this can be quite different to the keywords you might have chosen for your website initially.

Sometimes it is better to use a less competitive keyword to improve ranking, rather than trying to take on an already oversaturated market. There are many other aspects to be taken into consideration to ensure the best results, and we research in detail when choosing keywords for our clients. We will put together a list from which we select the words and phrases that best suit the budget and aims of each company, to best achieve success.

Facebook has very quietly launched an update to its facial recognition technology, which has had a knock-on effect on many users’ privacy settings. Once again, members are slightly rattled by the fact that Facebook has enabled the service without giving any notice.

Facebook now checks newly uploaded photos and if facial recognition finds a match, it will suggest a tag. One of the more annoying features of Facebook – especially for the camera-shy – is the ability for friends to tag you in any photo, whether you look fantastic or ridiculous… You still have to option to un-tag yourself, but for many the humiliation has already been done.

Not necessarily the most worrying of privacy settings, although many people are uncomfortable with Facebook ‘knowing what you look like’, and the general automatic nature of privacy updates continues to be a bone of contention for Facebook users. Instead of the current – sometimes covert – privacy changes, there is a general opinion that many settings should be ‘opt-in’ rather than enabling across the board and users having to ‘opt-out’ if they don’t approve.

Another notorious Facebook error seems to be the complicated and often circuitous route to actually changing your own security settings – many members find it confusing and there are reams of message boards and forums devoted entirely to finding your way around the system.

You may want to disable “suggest photos of me to friends” to avoid the automatic recognition service scanning for your face in others’ photos. To do this, you need to:

* Go to your Facebook account’s privacy settings.

* Click on “Customise settings”.

* Under “Things others share” you should see an option titled “Suggest photos of me to friends. When photos look like me, suggest my name”.

To check it’s worked, you need to:

* Click on “Edit settings” and the drop down box should say “disabled”.

Achieving number one results does not happen overnight and is not something that is easy to do. It takes time, effort, experience, expertise and a clear vision. Search Engine Optimisation, or online marketing, is comprised of various different key aspects which work towards providing the best results for your business. Many users with little experience tinker with SEO, employ cheap, unethical cowboys or create a marketing campaign but don’t follow it up with any action. It is fact that most of these companies in the long run fail, wasting all their efforts and hard work.

How can SEO marketing affect small business?

SEO is vital to online commerce, ensuring your website gets noticed and visited. Some benefits of SEO include:

• Increasing online visibility
• Providing an opportunity for your business to grow
• Building a strong company brand
• The chance of competing with the largest competitors in your industry
• Getting people talking about your services

By providing your customers with a great service, you can be sure they will be happy to revisit and use your services again, as well as recommending your website to others.

The success of SEO goes on and on and on and starts with a marketing plan!!

Ikroh has years of experience providing SEO and internet marketing services worldwide. We have watched small companies with low budgets develop their SEO until they are competing with the largest names in their industry. As one of the top UK online marketing companies we deliver a marketing plan and great service tailored to your business. Unlike many other SEO companies, we do not tie you into a contract – each and every client we work with remains with us because they are happy and confident in our ongoing work, rather than because they are stuck in a contract!

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is built up from many different aspects of which some are very technical and some very basic. By applying these different techniques correctly, a website will be viewed by search engines as more powerful and will rank higher, making it more visible to users searching for the keywords relating to the site.

For many beginners, SEO is often not fully understood and therefore gets overlooked, despite being an important part of online marketing. For any business, large or small, marketing is a major factor in success and overall growth. For an online company looking to attract more customers into their website, SEO is the answer.

Over the years, Search Engine Optimisation has dramatically changed and now offers many different techniques and methods to increase website rankings. Some basics to get started with include;

• Content
• Internal link structure
• External link building
• Page titles
• Site maps
• Keywords/phrases

There are other key areas that can also provide a massive impact on a website, and the right knowledge and expertise is required to implement these. With our help, you can have the opportunity of competing with your largest competitors and target the number one result spot every company dreams of having.

• Firstly, you must have a well-structured website, containing informative, relevant content. Ideally, you should be adding fresh content to your site regularly, to increase the amount of unique information your website provides.
• Within your content needs to be specifically chosen keywords and key phrases – the kinds of things users will be typing in to search engines when they search for your type of product or service.
• Content must be within the html code of your page – for example, text within flash will not be picked up by search engine spiders and therefore is useless in assisting your ranking.
• Assign relevant page titles and meta data, to help search engines categorise and index your website’s pages correctly.
• Provide a good internal linking structure – this will assist the usability of your site for users.
• Avoid spamming and unethical SEO techniques – these may see you penalised by search engines and subsequently lose your ranking.

There are many qualities beyond these basic steps that search engines look for to rank a website. We can help you to meet these expectations and, over time, receive higher rankings. We have years of experience within professional search engine optimisation, putting our knowledge towards testing and researching the best techniques to achieve the best results. For more information, please contact us.

Providing your website with a solid SEO campaign gives you the best chance of quick visibility and good rankings within search engines.

What are the benefits of building my website around SEO?

• The best use of your initial investment by optimising right off the bat
• A well structured website will help convert searching customers into clients
• Better navigation helps users find what they are looking for quicker and easier
• Better usability encourages users to convert and recommend your site to others
• Extra visibility within search engines
• A chance to compete with the largest companies within your industry
• Achieve ranking on the first page of Google and other search engines

Spending a huge amount of money on a website does not guarantee you are going to profit when you go into business. Any online business needs the complete package of a well designed website and a professional SEO campaign, set up by a highly skilled and experienced SEO team. Getting your website right first time round and making sure it can work with SEO will guarantee you less hassle in the future and also decrease the risk of your business failing.

Creating a website from scratch can be a daunting prospect, but here are some fundamental questions to help you begin:

• What is the purpose of your website? Sales? Information? Both?
• How will people find your website? Consider integrating social media into your online business to increase the ways customers can find and contact you.
• How are you going to monitor the results of your website? Do you have an experienced analytics consultant who can tell you where, when and why customers are converting or leaving your website?
• Can a searching customer find what they are looking for quick enough? Is your site optimised correctly and appearing in search results?
• What layout best promotes your content? Unprofessional looking or awkward websites are less successful.
• Do you have images and multimedia to help to promote your products/services?
• Do you have strong, visual, recognisable branding?
• Are you using appropriate fonts, colours and designs to best reflect your company?
• Are you using a good hosting company?
• Are you using a reliable service provider?
• Do you have powerful, unique content to add to your website?
• Do you have an easy to remember, easy to spell, professional domain name?

There are many aspects to consider before going any further into website plans. Building a good plan and doing your homework to know exactly what market you are entering and how you are going to make all of this work online is massively important.

From a search engine optimisation point of view there are many aspects which we will take into account as to how the site comes across to the viewer, how it was originally set up and how effectively it works. We feel it is essential to integrate SEO into your website for real online success, and we can help you achieve that.

Providing your website pages with relevant, informative content gives your website a greater likelihood of being ranked higher within search engines.

When writing content for your site you need to keep in mind the keywords and phrases that you are using in your SEO campaign, as well as ensuring that you are creating fresh and engaging text rather than re-hashing or duplicating existing content.

All content within your site is crawled by search engines, and allows them to discover what the subject of each page is. By adding additional content, you can add weight to your website and increase its authority and respect from the point of view of search engines, which will in turn increase your ranking.

Content can be added in a variety of ways, for example: a regularly updated blog; extra pages to draw attention to new aspects of your business or promotions; or enabling user comments and reviews.

A few considerations to take into account when writing content for your site are:

• Plan what you are going to write. For example, schedule blog posts so you are adding fresh content each day/week.
• Ensure your content is actually interesting! An obvious point, perhaps, but many companies misguidedly think it is enough to simply roll out recycled sales pitches rather than providing content of value.
• What do your customers want to know? Research your audience and try to provide them with what they want.
• Provide clear information and stick to the point. Make it easy for customers to use and navigate your site, and gain the information they’re looking for.
• Think about layout – text too far below the fold might be missed by customers browsing a page, and excessive text without images can be overwhelming.
• Proofread your text! Typos, mistakes and incorrect information make both your site and company look unprofessional, amateur and untrustworthy.

Our copywriters can help with content for your website, helping to provide useful, effective content to assist with SEO and the general success of your site.

The vast database built up by a search engine means that it is able to retrieve specific and varied information extremely quickly when given a search to run, with the aim of providing the most appropriate and closely matching result as possible. This result is shown in a list of links, known as a SERP (search engine result page). The higher a website appears on this list, the more likely it is to be visited by users. Companies implement search engine optimisation (SEO) to help their websites rank higher in result pages, by ensuring that their content and website meet the criteria search engines look for.

Each page is studied and analysed by spiders to determine how it should be indexed – looking at titles, headings, meta tags and content itself to extract keywords and phrases. When a user searches for one of these words or phrases, the search engine chooses the sites that best match the query, depending on relevancy, popularity and authority.

The way search engines decide on the most useful match varies widely between engines, according to the algorithms they employ, and understanding the complexity of these processes can be extremely difficult. Each search engine also sets their own procedure which must be adhered to when conducting an online marketing campaign, or you run the risk of being penalised by the search engine and waste all your hard work.

Algorithms are created to allow equal opportunity for each company to rank highly, which is why SEO is a great long-term alternative to paid search (PPC) where budgets can dictate success.

Understanding how search engines work, and the processes they use to rank websites is extremely complicated. Therefore we spend a lot of time researching and testing to gauge the effects of different techniques on a website’s ranking. We have vast experience in optimising for natural search and can help to ensure your website ranks well for its relevant keywords.