Remember Google testing new layouts with local search SERPs earlier this year? It seems that Google is showing them again. This is what we saw an hour ago in Google.com.au: [click to continue…]
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Google published a new SEO Starter Guide which you can download here.
Among other things the guide discusses:
- creating good page titles (Google recommends putting keywords in your titles, as long as you don’t overdo it)
- improving site structure
- optimising your internal and external links (by including relevant keywords in the anchor text)
- using robots.txt and rel=”nofollow” for links
- some basic information about SEO for mobile phones (including dealing with serving different content for mobile and desktop users)
- promoting your website and tracking progress with Google’s Webmaster Tools
While the part on promoting your website is quite short and lacks advanced SEO advice (Google apparently is not too keen on giving link-building advice), the parts of the guide that deal with on-site optimisation issues can be very helpful. I recommend reading through the guide for yourself, especially if you’ve just got into SEO.
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A relatively easy way of acquiring some free links to your website is submitting it to online directories. Directories vary in quality and automated mass-submissions to hundreds of low quality directories usually won’t help your rankings.
Submitting your website to a few good quality directories on the other hand is worth the effort. We’ve hand-picked some Australian directories worth submitting your website to.
10 Aussie Directories
- True Local
- Hot Frog
- Free Plug
- Start Local
- Aussie Web
- Wottodo
- Austrades
- Your Trade Directory
- Adventure Pro
- Shopseek
– accepts all Australian businesses
– all Aussie businesses
– list your coupons and free offers here
– all Aussie businesses
– all Aussie businesses
– lists tourist attractions, tour companies and restaurants
– trade directory
– trade directory
– sports, tourism businesses
– accepts all Australian businesses
As of publishing this post, all of the above directories allow you to link to your website with a SEO-friendly (dofollow) link for free.
Directory Submission Tips
- don’t forget to confirm your submissions – usually you will have to click on a special link that will be e-mailed to you, some directories might additionally call your phone number for verification
- if you’re interested in having your business appear in Google Maps then enter your business address and contact details when submitting your listing. Google will pick these up and these “citations” of your company details will help your Google Maps ranking. Be consistent – use the same address, business name and contact details throughout your submissions.
- don’t stuff keywords into your submissions – it won’t help your SEO and it’ll be a waste of time and opportunity if your listing gets rejected
- carefully choose the appropriate category for your business
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Last week Microsoft demonstrated an IE9-enhanced version of Bing and we have to say it looks impressive. The new version of Microsoft’s search engine takes advantage of HTML 5 and Internet Explorer 9 capabilities.
Some of the new features in Bing
- Users experience smooth transitions between the search page, results and filtering results
- The search box and certain navigational elements are locked in place when scrolling
- Animations are everywhere
Take a look for yourself.
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We’re being spammed many times lots of Indian Outsource SEO or Outsource Web Development companies.
Not only do we get countless emails but we also now get quite a lot of form submissions.
One particular Indian Outsource company that wants us to outsource SEO and Web Development work to them claims that they already work with our competitors has really decided that form submissions are they way to get my attention.
Okay, it has worked.
The first few times I asked them to stop it but know we’ve had multiple submissions overnight last night and that is just crazy.
Goal Tracking Messed Up
Goal Tracking is a great thing for every website. I gave a presentation is Brisbane to the Brisbane Web Design Meetup Group explaining how and why every website owner should use Google Analytics to the max.
The way it works is to count each and every form submission as the “GOAL” achieved by the website.
Naturally we have Google Analytics with Goal Tracking installed. It helps us to measure the effectiveness of the website, i.e. the number of visitors (y) versus the number of enquiries (x).
These many bogus submissions make the number of enquiries (x) an unreliable figure and we now have to discount this number so we can compare it with past data, quite a pain.
Will we buy from these guys? No…
- Being harassed isn’t good. They’re unable to track who they’re targeting or just don’t care.
- I’ve asked them politely many times to stop contacting us, they seem unable to acknowledge these emails to respect them.
- Working with a company that deals with competitors we’re outperforming isn’t good either. Why would we lower our level of quality?
- It seems a bit odd they’re chasing us to compete with their own clients. I wonder if their clients know.
BEWARE the outsourcing spammers! :)
Spam rules
I have some cool inbox rules that detect and remove messages from many of these blanket emails from Indian Outsourcing SEO and Web Development companies. If you’re interested in getting a copy of these rules send us an enquiry. Asking for the “outsource spam rules”.
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One little update to my WordPress SEO blog post way back in November 2009 is that you should update the settings in your blog to automatically notify Google’s blog search when new posts appear.
To do this…
- Log in to the WordPress admin area
- Go to Settings > Writing
- Scroll down to the “update services” field and add a new line (each service goes on a new line)
- Paste in http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
Just “update”
Now publish a new post and go to http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch and search for blog posts with your own blog’s web address by typing this into the search field…
blogurl:www.yourblogurlgoeshere.com/blog
You’ll be surprised how fast it gets indexed. That’s what Google Caffeine was all about… making things reviewed and presented in the search results much faster.
Now that instant search is a reality things are going to get very interesting for everyone actively trying to rank higher in Google.
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Social Media in essence is about making and maintaining connections. To do it well, you have to use it regularly. Trying to frequently update your blog(s), Facebook account, LinkedIn account, posting YouTube videos and Tweeting about all this can be a daunting task.
Take courage – we have a few tips for you to promote your business online and save enough time to make it feel easy
The Social Media Connection Chart
Relationship 1 
Connect Twitter to Facebook and LinkedIn
Twitter has an activity sharing system in place with Facebook and LinkedIn. All your tweets can automatically be posted to your Facebook and LinkedIn account.
Pros:
- All your Facebook’s friends and Linkedin connections will be up to date with your latest tweets.
- To share your tweets from one social media medium that sends them to two other more.
Cons:
- It can overwhelm your readers if they get the same message from your via three different mediums.
Relationship 2 
Connect Facebook to Youtube, Twitter and LinkedIn
Facebook has a status activity sharing system with Twitter and YouTube. Also it can easily get integrated with LinkedIn if you have your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts connected already.
Pros
- Constant activity displayed on your profile page coming from Twitter (tweets) and YouTube (videos).
- Video sharing interaction with your Facebook friends when you like or update a video to YouTube
Cons
- Similarly as with the previous connections, this might overwhelm your readers if the content posted doesn’t interest them.
Relationship 3 
Connect YouTube to Facebook and Twitter
YouTube has a great activity sharing feature that lets you share your video activities (videos, comments, channel subscriptions) Facebook profile page and Twitter page.
Pros
- All your video activity is shared with Facebook and Twitter which gives a potential of increasing the number of views your videos get
Tips
- Make sure the videos you share are related to your business or industry
Relationship 4 
Connect LinkedIn with Twitter and Facebook
LinkedIn lets you add your Twitter account on your LinkedIn profile. You can then display a Twitter widget on your LinkedIn profile page and share tweets with your LinkedIn contacts or groups. You can also connect your Linkedin profile with your Facebook account and show your Linkedin profile on your Facebok profile page.
Pros
- Keep your colleagues or professional connections up to date with your tweets.
- Show and share with your Facebook friends updates to your LinkedIn profile (new job titles or a new company).
Cons
- Be aware that your Linkedin connections might be more business or professional oriented than your Facebook ones.
Relationship 5 
Connect WordPress blogs with Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn
WordPres Blogs have the capability to send their feeds to social media portals such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. You can get the most of your social media relationships by connecting them with your blog. Every time you publish a new blog post, a message will get posted to your Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin profiles.
Pros
- Blogs are the best way to cultivate your personal brand.
- Keep reminding your contacts that you have a blog which they can read any time.
Do you do this?
Tell us what you think. Will these links work for you and your business? Comment below.
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Excellent hat-tip to Google’s new web address structure for Google Places.
I emailed someone a link to our Google Places page last night and this was the link…
Now this morning its a really friendly and well structured web address…
http://maps.google.com.au/places/au/margate/windsor-st/17/-matter-solutions?hl=eng
This will make the whole process simple for everyone :)
If you’re not listed on Google Places, add yourself here or contact us about adding your Google Map listing for you
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Search the freshest information on the Web with Google Realtime. News updates, social media sites, blogs – not only it’s all in one place but Google Realtime allows you to find information published literally just seconds ago.
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Just a few hours ago Yahoo! announced that it has fully moved from using its own search engine to showing search results powered by Microsoft’s Bing.
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