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Brighton SEO

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#brightonseo

www.brightonseo.com

BrightonSEO has fast become one of the most

anticipated search events of the year. Earlier

this year the Crafted Media search team were

poised at their desks ready to secure tickets

and just as the confirmation emails arrived

@KelvinNewman tweets that the event sold

out in a record 13 minutes.

On Friday 13th April the Crafted Media search

team prepared for a road trip down to the

Brighton Dome to join fellow search agencies,

marketing teams and delegates from as far afield

as Thailand. BrightonSEO certainly lived up to

its reputation this year so we’ve pulled together

key takeaways from some of the presentations.

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Contents1.0 20 SEOs and a Fish and Chip Shop

2.0 The Panel ‘Ask the Engines’

3.0 (Re-) Launching a Brand or Product Online Effectively

4.0 Killer Market Research for Peanuts

5.0 I believe that Authors are The Future

6.0 How you can get BIG links from BIG media sites

7.0 It’s only Words? Working with Content Strategy

8.0 SEO & PPC Working Together in Harmony

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1.0

20 SEOs and a Fish and Chip Shop Hearing about a free search event left me with mixed emotions; normally any conference that allows free tickets requires 3 pages of questions and a well-oiled overdraft before you get to know if you are truly rewarded with a golden ticket. With BrightonSEO I was pleasantly surprised and not force fed anything, other than free knowledge, experience and rubbing shoulders with some of the most talented SEOs and internet marketeers in the country. The venue wasn’t held in some ‘rent a space’ office, but held in one of the most historic locations in Brighton and Hove; The Brighton Dome. Amazing, considering it’s an event for a reasonably new and definitely up and coming industry.

One thing I really picked up on at BrightonSEO was the feeling that people, just like me,

and SEO as one solid platform, highlighting how one side of marketing can really boost the other. It was not that long ago when PR and SEO were kept at the other ends of the office, so it’s a true reflection on how things are changing within the online marketing world.

The venue was also fantastically placed for a quick bite of Harry Ramsden’s famous fish & chips on our extended lunch break, a whole hour and twenty minutes (remind me to claim expenses). It was great to see Brighton play host to one of the most rewarding online industries. So, to the guys at #BrightonSEO; “I salute you,” for pulling off such a knowledge packed and fun day!

Ever wondered how many SEOs you can fit in a fish and chip shop? Last time I counted it was 20 ;)

absolutely love what they do. In fact, not just love it but have a real passion for all things to do with search, social and online marketing. It’s great to work within a tight knit industry that’s constantly changing. Google and other search engines (yes others do exist), are always moving the goal posts to suit their needs and certainly not the needs of the website owners or online businesses. Rather than moan about what we do as an SEO community we simply roll up our sleeves and work around the bad (cheers Google) and make things good for website owners across the globe.

It was great to see speakers such as Lexi Mills (from @distilled), who is clearly from a strong PR background, making her presence felt on the stage in front of hundreds of gifted search engineers, consultants and in house SEOs. She simply said, “We welcome SEO”, before proceeding into a powerful talk on using PR

BrightonSEO in the words of Daniel Somers, Senior Search Consultant at Crafted.

By Daniel Somers, Senior Search Consultant, Twitter

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2.0

The Panel ‘Ask the Engines’…with Pierre Far, Dave Coplin, Martin Mcdonald, Rishi Lakhani

Is SEO dead?

Bound to spark debate and passion, the first question was an inspirational start to the conference and allowed the panel to reflect on the evolution of SEO and where the industry is right now. Pierre Far reassuringly answered, “SEO will never die,” whilst Dave Coplin of Bing compared SEOs to magicians. The big subject was that whilst this is an industry with no formal education or qualifications, it is a discipline that is constantly and rapidly changing. We have to adapt to new technology and products quickly.

SEO is not a checklist.

Pierre Far reflected on Google’s algorithm - “What does the user want? Did they get it?” And whilst we came back to ‘great content’ it is evident that this now extends beyond copy to images, video and applications.

‘Bad links’ was a hot topic and the panel responded to the question of what a site should do if it is deindexed or penalised for bad links. The answer was simple – Google are looking for

scripted to explain that Google are protecting user privacy whilst pointing SEOs to Webmaster Tools to uncover search queries.

Martin Mcdonald and Rishi Lakhani represented the SEOs in the room by responding with, “That’s rubbish”. Rishi went on to ask some key questions including, “What % of users of Google actually know that their search queries are hidden and who actually understands that if they click on an organic results its hidden but a paid ad is not?” Interestingly it was Bing who defended Google on this topic and Dave Coplin said “It’s really easy to be upset about this but we are at the forefront of some difficult questions in society about our privacy.”

It didn’t really matter that the room didn’t get the answer they wanted on the ‘not provided’ issue, as Dave Coplin puts it, “Debates like this are crucial to ensure we get the balance right”.

To put the fire out and in true BrightonSEO style the panel closed with the question, “Larry Page vs. Steve Ballmer in Sumo suits, who would win?”

a ‘really good faith effort’ to clean up bad links – ‘Clean it up – tell us what you did and be honest’.Undoubtedly link ranking factors are important but what next? Social.

Bing stressed that companies need to be really good at social – in particular Twitter and Facebook. To the amusement of the audience, Pierre added Google+.

The platform is perhaps irrelevant – create powerful, interesting content and it will naturally get shared. Social cannot be ignored – but if you do it ensure you do it properly.

Why do Google hide search queries? The infamous ‘(not provided)’.

There was no escaping the topic of Google hiding search queries in Analytics and of all the questions you’d expect Pierre to come prepared with a slick answer to, this was one. Pierre’s initial response was, “Thank you that it wasn’t the first question,” which demonstrates that Google knows exactly how SEOs feel about this change. Disappointingly the answer was defensively

Arguably the highlight of the day, this was a chance for SEOs to ask the engines some of the most pressing questions in search marketing right now. To mix the panel up Google (Pierre Far) and Bing (Dave Coplin) were joined by Martin Macdonald and Rishi Lakhani.

By Zoë Dean, Search Account Manager, Twitter

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3.0

(Re-) Launching a Brand or Product Online EffectivelySamantha Noble, Digital Marketing Director at Koozai

Koozai, formerly Impact Media, struggled with brand confusion therefore decided to rebrand. Sam highlighted other reasons to rebrand could include an overcrowded marketplace, buy-outs, mergers or because of a new product/service.Underlining the importance of conducting the research when re-branding, Sam stressed, “A brand is not what you say it is, it’s what they say it is”.

Consumer opinion will dictate the success of your brand therefore listening to their views and whether they connect with your brand is essential.

When choosing a brand name, Sam pointed out that your brand name needs to be something you will like and that fits for the long term. Before Koozai was suggested, the preferred name for the company was ‘Guava’. This word inspired them to create a unique name that would stand out against competitors. Koozai was born.

Sam gave some tips in further establishing your brand by creating social profiles with your name and associated names wherever possible, even if you don’t use all of them you can re-direct to the ones you do. She also suggested using reverse image searches to locate where your old logo can be seen on the web, giving you a list of sites to contact when you change logo.

As a final note, Sam said to put your ‘Page 1 Domination’ into action NOW and don’t lose sight of how you want your brand to grow.

Once your name has been chosen, brand development can begin.

• Securetrademark

• Findtherightbrandingagency

• Checkdomainavailability

• Checksocialprofileavailabilitywith Knowem and claim all possible profiles

• Reviewbrandconsistency

• Decideonadatetogolive

• Updatecompanyproperties and documentation

• Prepareapressreleaseandblog post ready for the go live day

Sam Noble from Koozai, the digital marketing agency, told the story of how Koozai re-branded themselves in May 2011. The process took over a year but gave them a unique identity that they have been able to monopolise.

By Amy Lightowlers, Search Executive

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4.0

Killer Market Research for PeanutsAdam Lee, Managing Director at No Pork Pies

Researching the correct language to use is important so your visitors feel like you really understand your product or service and can advise them accurately. To do this, use social media tools, market research tools and website optimisation software.

To find these prospective visitors, to find out what they are talking about, what they want or need, use social media tools such as Brandwatch, Klout, Followerwonk. From this research, you can formulate a set of keywords and ideas on which to base your website content.

There are a range of ways to gain information from your current customers, including market research, polls, surveys and questionnaires. Using

software such as ClickTale, can inform you about the ways your customers use your website and can help develop and redesign your site.

Additionally, to find out what your current brand presence online is, use Google thinkinsights for example.

Adam’s presentation confirmed that market research is an important element of SEO and can give insightful information that can be integrated within a standard search approach.

To create a successful business, understanding your prospective client needs is the key to success.

By Rachel Tooke, Search Consultant

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5.0

I believe that Authors are The FutureJames Carson, Digital Marketing manager at Bauer Media

Over the past nine months, Google users may have noticed an increase in author thumbnails appearing in the search results (SERPs). This development is all about giving authority to prominent online authors and was a hot topic at Brighton SEO.

Below is an example of author ownership in the SERPs, linking to an article which happens to be singing from the same hymn sheet as James Carson of Bauer Media, a speaker at Brighton SEO who gave an excellent presentation on the future of online authorship. He emphasised how Google will lend weight to articles and sites on which registered Google+ users have posted

content relating to their field of knowledge, thus potentially spelling an end to the effectiveness of writing online via a range of pseudonyms.

The relationship between a piece of content and an author is made using a small piece of HTML known as rel=“author”. There are numerous resources online to help writers and webmasters implement rel=“author” or rel=“me”, with Carson predicting that the concept of online author ownership will slowly see the value of quality journalism come to the fore on the internet – backing up the ‘content is king’ philosophy that has been a popular phrase in SEO for the past couple of years.

The Future of Online Authorship (rel=“author”)

By Nick Woolnough, SEO Executive

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6.0

How you can get BIG links from BIG media sites Lexi Mills, Online PR Consultant at Distilled

She also underlined the importance of presenting to ‘the right person with the right story at the right time’ and discussed the need to choose your battles wisely, only targeting relevant sites that are likely to have a realistic interest in your content. Mills also suggested that if a site had previously published your content without links, an agreement that links would be included should be a precursor to you providing them with any future content.

Next her presentation tackled the delicate subject of asking for ‘followed’ links as well as targeting specific keywords in your outreach. She emphasised a ‘softly, softly approach’, focused on relationship building and underpinned by helpfulness, whilst strongly advocating the need to make telephone contact rather than simply sending emails. She even suggested that if all else fails; tell the journalist your boss has requested that you ask for a link!

At this stage, she highlighted the importance of persistence, noting that any response good or bad needs to be acted upon and is a potential link waiting to happen. She also explained that often, journalists are weary of non-branded anchor text and that it is usually easier to request branded links.

Finally, Mills provided an example of useful twitter feeds including: #journorequest, #prfail and #prwin and also identified the value of PR distribution sites such as PRNewswire and BusinessWire. Her key tip when using BusinessWire was not to fill out the URL and blog boxes when completing your press release as this is the only way to get a link.

A thought provoking presentation that bridged the gap between PR and SEO – make love not war.

Lexi Mills offered tips and tricks for achieving ‘Big Links’ from ‘Big Media’ sites as well as highlighting ways in which PR and SEO can work together more harmoniously.

By Georgina Rayner, Marketing Executive

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7.0

It’s only Words? Working with Content StrategyCharlie Peverett, Content Strategist at iCrossing

Charlie began by painting the picture of SEO and its historical separation from editors, UX designers and ordinary citizens. He initially delved into the barriers between *magic* SEO practices and traditional online brand and content while comparing SEO to the Wizard of Oz and Toto (Web 2.toto to be exact) pulling back the curtains. Charlie then took a sword to the simple labelling of ‘Great content’ as a checkbox in search marketing presentations. Charlie discussed his disappointment with this brushing over of ‘creating quality content’ and emphasised his belief that it is the central element within all online marketing strategies.

The presentation then moved towards describing content. Charlie defined content as ‘all of your websites assets that communicate with users’ for example words, video, sounds, images etc. Also he discussed the widening of users who create content within websites. Expanding from IT, SEO and e-commerce in 2001 to customer services, brand, PR, CSR, the CEO and user generated content in 2012.

‘Content Strategy’ by Christina Halverson and thirdly to know your value as an SEO - “search insight is valuable at every stage”.

Five main takeaways

1. Content is your visible assets i.e. words, pictures, video, audio, tools, data

2. Widening vested interest in website content3. Speak the same language as everyone else involved4. Read the book ‘content strategy’ by Christina Halverson5. Know your value as an SEO - search insight is valuable at every stage

Charlie’s presentation certainly stirred a few feathers in the room but the central theme is something to which all websites should strive. A successful content strategy is central to brand and online marketing. Happy at destroying clichés at every turn I thoroughly enjoyed Charlie’s presentation and I am completely on-board with all of Charlie’s ideas.

This growing vested interest in website content means that content is;• Political – needs of all involved have to be

balanced• Shares multiple objectives – all involved have

different objectives i.e. SEO requires visibility while UGC strives for engagement

• Quality content is expensive

Charlie then made one of the central points of his presentation. All activities i.e. SEO, PR etc. share different objectives, these activities largely manifest as content and are all seen by users. Content therefore is becoming increasingly important to brand. Thus a content strategy is what ties your users and your brand together online.

Charlie then discussed some tips for online content strategy. Firstly he advised to speak the same language as others within the process i.e. link bait is sick inducing, over-optimisation means making something too good and using the term ‘bloggers’. Secondly read the book

Fresh from our lunchtime stroll to Brighton pier and back Charlie Peverett from iCrossing was first up with a presentation on content strategy.

By Andrew Doyle, SEO Manager, Twitter

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8.0

SEO & PPC WorkingTogether in HarmonyTim Ireland, Jellyfish

He first stressed that PPC & SEO are part of the overall ‘information universe’, which also features TV, radio and print. He suggested that the internet has a lower ‘threshold of influence’ than other mediums but is a more democratic environment where users share and pass on information they like. This makes it easier to shape.

Tim then focused on fundamental differences between SEO and PPC:

Organic listings • Receive the most traffic from SERPs but the

process of improving your rank in these listings is a slow one

• Require the ‘accumulation of relevance’ over time

PPC• Receives a lower volume of traffic but is an

immediate process• Has ‘no capacity to accumulate relevance’

Tim followed this up by highlighting that PPC can also support SEO in more practical ways.

For example, it can act as a ‘reconnaissance craft’ and provide insights about patterns of search behaviour and demand, which is useful in the organic keyword research process.

PPC can also contribute towards the relevance of organic listings by overwhelming (and even displacing) competitors and taking up more space on the SERPs.

The ultimate goal therefore is to use PPC in harmony with SEO in order to dominate your particular search market and turn user interest into a tangible reward.

He stressed that understanding these differences is vital for effectively responding to customers’ search behaviour and that advertisers need to recognise that customer’s relationships with products will change over time.

This will involve periods of highs and lows, with different products resulting in vastly different patterns of highs and lows. For example, newspaper buyers will enjoy frequent highs while an owner of a flat screen TV may experience an initial high which then fades.

Businesses must therefore use PPC & SEO tactically in responding to these emotional patterns.

• SEO should be used to capitalise on predictable emotion peaks

• PPC should be used to respond to fast-moving and unexpected changes in search behaviour or even to combat sustained low periods

Tim Ireland from Jellyfish, the digital marketing agency, highlighted the importance of using PPC and SEO in conjunction with each other, rather than as two separate entities.

John Stuchfield, PPC Executive

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