Search engines have transformed significantly over the past decade. In the early days, Google would simply scan web content for keywords in order to match users with results. Now, Google has a much more accurate understanding of the true meanings behind search queries and content – interpreting user intent, search behaviour and context more accurately…
Internal linking is often an underused tactic in SEO. Not only do they act as a signal to search engines, but they help users to navigate the site, providing links to related information and similar products. This can also help to aid conversion. This guide aims to define internal linking, explain why it’s so important…
A common myth in the SEO industry is that you must be publishing ‘x’ amount of content on your website regularly to rank well over time. It’s true that by providing your target audience with valuable, relevant, and optimised content that answers questions and shares insight, you are likely to see increased visibility. However, the…
When devising a content strategy for your business, it’s tempting to focus on just creating new content. But by ignoring the content that already exists on your site, you’re missing out on a big opportunity to gain more traffic. The hard truth is that no piece of content will perform well forever. Google updates their…
Many people assume that the internet is largely eco-friendly. However, while accessing content online reduces the usage of resources like paper, websites, for the most part, are not carbon neutral. In fact, the internet and websites have a very real environmental impact – regardless of whether we can see it or not. It is reported…
The beauty of digital marketing is that everything can be measured. With SEO, you can measure organic search rankings and the resulting organic traffic and conversions. With PPC, you can measure cost per click, cost per conversion, and return on investment. With email marketing you can measure open rates, click through, and revenue. Almost every…
YouTube is one of the world’s biggest search engines. Utilising it for your business can build brand awareness, drive traffic to your website and even generate direct sales. YouTube SEO can help make sure your video content is more visible, more accessible, and most importantly gets you more views. If you’re interested in other ways…
Videos can be a powerful tool to engage with your audience, present information and enhance your offering. But videos can also be used for SEO – search engine optimisation. They can help to drive traffic to your website and improve a user’s experience. Want to learn more about using videos to improve visibility? Read our…
Whether you’re an eCommerce business owner, website designer, SEO or marketing manager, you need to know about website accessibility. It ensures that your website can be used by everyone. 22% of the UK population have a disability. While there are legal reasons to make your website accessible, there are also massive commercial benefits. Accessibility ensures…
Every writer has been there: staring at a blank page, waiting for an idea to form. It can be a stressful and frustrating experience – especially if you’re writing to help grow your business. SEO content is an incredibly powerful way to drive traffic and conversions to your website. But it can be difficult to…
Effective SEO is a culmination of lots of contributing factors, and taking a linguistic approach to SEO is a fundamental one. Gone are the days of only interpreting individual keywords – Google is getting better at understanding language in the same way a human can. This is all part of the push to reward ‘quality…
You may have noticed we recently moved into a brand new office in the heart of Sheffield. With the short move to our new home in Fountain Precinct, there have been a lot of things to organise and move, creating quite the “to-do” list. With moving physical items and making sure everything is ready for…
As an SEO, there are a number of ways that you can work. You may have met a few accomplished freelancers, high-flying consultants and entrepreneurial types who have started their own agency. At the beginning of your career, it can be hard to know which path to take, so in this post we’ll discuss the…
SEO and Love Island actually have a lot more in common than you might think. They are both premised on building relationships; in Love Island with one another, and in SEO with the customer, the client and search engines. We take a look at the lessons we can learn from Love Island and apply them…
With apps like Grammarly pointing out everything from typos to wordiness, are the days of proofreading over? We still think proofreading content is essential – whether you’re an SEO, blogger, or social media manager. Open up, it’s the grammar police. Jump to a section in our proofreading guide: Does proofreading still matter? Common mistakes in…
Page Speed has always been an important part of how a website performs in the Search Engines and how usable customers perceive a website to be. It can also be a deciding factor on whether or not a user will convert or make a purchase on a website. We’ve all been guilty at one point…
Search intent is often one of the most overlooked ranking factors but arguably one of the most important. Have you ever had a page that seemingly has super useful content and is optimised for keywords, yet you still aren’t ranking? The most likely culprit is search intent. Our complete guide will teach you what search…
The internet is full of holes. There will always be gaps in content based on questions and queries that can be exploited with some savvy planning to get your site ranking well, regardless of what you do. Using both keyword and content gap analysis can create a roadmap of content that plugs these gaps, making…
When creating an SEO (search engine optimisation) strategy, there are three categories that are always considered. If you have even a tiny bit of knowledge on digital marketing, you have probably already heard of the ‘big 3’ that should comprise your SEO plans; on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO. URL optimisation and structure is…
Every website conversion or action on a site has a story behind it. And like any story worth its salt, each of these conversions has a beginning, a middle and an end. In the case of attribution modelling though, most of them have a beginning, about 5 middles, and then an end. A study from…
Many people assume that search engines are smart enough to know exactly which website a visitor should be directed to. However, it’s not quite that simple. Have you ever wondered why a website appears on the first search engine results page (SERP)? That’s SEO at work. SEO is an acronym for “search engine optimization”, a…
Google loves information. More and more businesses are realising the potential in publishing quality guides and articles on their websites: it captures interest, traffic and ultimately can develop both brand awareness and conversions. However, just publishing content isn’t enough. You need your content to be found and to be recognised as having value by search…
If you’re a small business, SEO might be the last thing on your mind. It’s enough work sorting out your e-commerce website and stock, not to mention setting up your social media. Some SMEs have never heard of SEO and how it fits into digital marketing. In short, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) helps your website…
Wikipedia pages are a part of a company’s online presence that often flies under the radar amid the focus on Google My Business, local pack listings and social media, but it’s an area that is definitely worth exploring. While it’s not possible for all companies, there are a number of advantages to having a Wikipedia…
Voice search is widely touted as the new frontier of SEO- but as usual, the devil is in the details. The line between a dynamic, fast moving industry and getting swept up in trends has never been finer. A stylish presentation or LinkedIn gimmick might be enough to convince many that AR, VR, AI…
The failings of many an SEO can be explained like this – they don’t know what Google is really trying to achieve. And what’s worse is it that if they did know, they wouldn’t like it. If you don’t think about what Google is trying to do as an organisation, then you are at a…
There are a lot of different metrics that aim to signify the relative strength of a page or domain, particularly in relation to whether that page or domain is “good” or “bad” [for receiving a link from]. When discovering that these various metrics exist, you will likely ask one or both of the following questions:…
Ecommerce SEO is the practice of making an online store more visible for key customers searches in the search engine results pages. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation (the act of optimising websites so they fare better in relevant web searches). Ecommerce SEO is a huge business, as when done well it focuses on optimising…
SEO vs PPC – it’s a big debate amongst marketers. Unfortunately, though, there is a misconception that SEO and PPC teams are somehow working against one another, each trying to persuade marketing heads to allocate more of the budget towards their area of expertise. There was a time when The SEO Works only did SEO. Hence…
In the modern age of gadgetry it isn’t unknown for people to prefer to text rather than pick up the phone and speak to someone, which is why using message extensions can allow you to engage a whole new audience with your ads. By enabling message extensions you allow a user to contact you via…
When setting out on a website marketing project, the one thing that is important (but quite often overlooked) is measuring website performance. Without some key fundamentals in place from the start, it makes it hard to set a baseline of performance and then measure the improvement over time. This is where website goals come into…
Here’s some super mobile marketing facts (provided by our friends at Google) which outline the huge shift we are seeing in the use of mobile to support online research and buying. Bottom line – if you aren’t using mobile channels as part of your digital strategy, you won’t be getting your best return on investment….
Google has become an increasingly important channel of referrals for a wide array of businesses. Over recent years the development of local search and services such as maps has opened the door to small businesses and service providers to new opportunities for search coverage. The introduction of the Google my Business platform has allowed users…
Manipulative SEO practices can cost your website to lose rankings, traffic and business. Google has the power to penalise websites which it identifies as breaking their guidelines or employing unethical SEO practices. Businesses large and small have been caught out after being sanctioned with Google penalties. Back in early 2014 the major travel website Expedia…
The relationship between search engines and social media platforms is often debated and always changing. There is a lot of speculation about how much of an effect it can have on search performance. Social networking activity has changed since Google was first developed, when social networking was extremely limited compared to present day. Google have…
New tools have been rolling out by Google lately and the next is to allow users to understand what its ad-tracking service has learned about them. The new account setting, called ‘My Activity’ lets users review everything Google has tracked about their behaviour using search, Google Chrome, YouTube and Android. However, users can opt out…
Over the past few years Google has been at war with spammy SEO practices, one of the main culprits being duplicate content. As we all should know, content is one of the most important factors that Google takes into account when ranking your website and its pages. Not only does the content entail exactly what…
Right now, there are a large number of websites that fail to take into account seasonal SEO activity. It is something that often goes ignored by website owners, even though it can have a highly beneficial effect on rankings. Even though any potential ranking increase would be temporary there is always the possibility that it…
Previous Google updates have rewarded websites which serve content to mobile devices in a form befitting the restrictions of such a device. These restrictions include small viewports, restricted processing power, and slow internet access. Although using responsive design addresses the first of these limitations, it still takes mobile devices considerably longer to download and render…
Clients often ask us “what is a link profile and why is it important“? Link building is one of the most important factors when it comes to ranking a website. It is important to have a variety of links pointing towards your site, however there is always the risk that poor quality links could attract…
