SearchPath Blog
SearchPath Internet Marketing Blog - Thoughts, ideas, humour, information and more ...
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
There is always lots of debate in SEO circles as to what constitutes duplicate content and what penalties Google doles out to those infringing its guidelines.
If you've not come across duplicate content issues before, essentially Google is looking to display the most informative, original content in response to web searches - why would it want to display a search page full of the same content? Therefore, what is the point of displaying the same content on multiple sites - Google will only show one of these pages in its search results.
Now the issue is, does Google penalise sites for duplicate content? According to this
Google blog on duplicate content, no, at least not in the way most people imagine.
In summary, if you're doing something to try to fool the search engines - scraping content from other sites, multiple sites with same content etc - there is a penalty. But if you have a site that have multiple URLs pointing to the same content, you won't be 'penalised'. Many E-Commerce Systems will create duplicate URLs when listing products, displaying one URLs for black shoes, another for blue, another for red etc. Google understands this & will not penalise your site.
Instead Google will try to show what it thinks is the 'best' URL to represent the various URLs it has found.
In Google's words: "Duplicate content on a site is not grounds for action on that site unless it appears that the intent of the duplicate content is to be deceptive and manipulate search engine results." So there you have it - unless you're doing something that is deceptive, you will not be penalised.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Last week Google made a significant step towards dominating the internet with the release of its long awaited browser, Chrome. The browser was announced (a day early by accident, as it happens) with typical Google idiosyncratic style - with a comic strip. This can be seen
here.
So why a Google browser? Well, on the official Google blog, Google stated that the reason for the release of Chrome was "...because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web." This may be true, but they neglected to mention the other major reason behind the release of Google's new product: profit.
By releasing a browser Google are staking a claim into the one area of the internet dominated by Microsoft and not Google, and one that is a vital battleground in the scramble for the web space and dollar. The browser is the access point (and therefore a sort of gatekeeper) to the web, so who controls it wields a lot of power.
Further to control of the internet, many commentators see the web browser as the future hub of all personal computing, not just the internet. They see the future as a movement away from the PC based applications (such as Word and Excel) toward so-called "cloud computing"(such as web-based word processing program Google Docs) where all the data and program is hosted on a web server, and to access it users just use a simple web browser.
So what does Google chrome mean for SME's? Well, for starters any new website or web development work done will have to be tested in Google Chrome to ensure compliance.
Although Chrome is unlikely to make a massive in Microsoft's Internet Explorer's market share any time soon, it would be good to keep an eye on Chrome's market share to ensure that your staff have the most advanced, fastest and popular browser to aid productivity.
We'll keep you updated with the latest on this important venture by the biggest force on the web.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Google has just released it's first piece of research to prove search can have an impact on branding. The report shows that being at the top of organic listings raised purchase consideration of a brand by 4%.
It also found that exposure to a listing in the top paid position with no corresponding organic listing, increasedpurchase consideraiton by 20%. Being at the top of both organic and paid listings raised purchase consideration by 22%.
The report claims to show the same increase in purchase consideratin across all markets - FMCG, retail, techonology etc.
These findings give the most clear picture so far of how consumers buy online and show the power of search.
Now there's no excuse for not marketing online! Give SearchPath a call now and power up your business!
Google has recently launched Google Grants, a free Adwords advertising programme for charities to promote themselves online via Adwords.
In the United Kingdom, organisations must be registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator or by the Inland Revenue to be considered for a Google Grant.
Eligible charities receive at least three months of free advertising on Adwords.
Even if you're currently paying to advertise on Adwords, you can be eligible to convert your account to a Google Grant and receive free advertising.
For more information, call SearchPath - we can help you apply for a grant and setup your campaign, so that your free grant is used in the most effective way possible.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Webmaster World hosts some interesting threads around the subject of search engine marketing, and this recent
thread followed this trend. The discussion was conducted mainly by SME owners, some of whom are attempting to manage their own PPC (pay-per-click) advertising campaigns, rather than go to an agency, such as SearchPath. Many people on Webmaster World were relaying stories of how hard it is to make Adwords (Google PPC) campaigns work for them. Some of the comments included:
"I know more than a few small businesses that tried Adwords for themselves, and saw a very poor return on investment - and decided to stop..."
"Just because you own a small business is not excuse to try and manage a PPC campaign on your own. As a small business owner, seek a professional PPC management company and you will get ROI. 90% of campaigns fail due to poor keyword selection and ad group organization. The bottom line is, you will just throw money down the drain if you are not tracking ROI OR know how to manage your account correctly."
"I believe that AdWords has become too complicated and intimidating for a lot of small business owners."
"I'm a small business owner and I'm really about to give up on Adwords. I guess I've been silly in playing the Adwords game and I have wasted tons of my time. I'm thinking of hiring some experienced Adwords professional to manage my account and I really hope this will bring me a better position to win this game. "
Many SME owners are tempted into embarking on PPC advertising on their own, perhaps having been swayed by the basic version of the Adwords interface (The Starter Edition). Whilst this stripped down version gives an entry point for the very smallest users (some without a website), to achieve any real ROI you need to work with the full version (with all its nuances and features), and with someone that has years of experience of setting up, managing, reporting and tweaking PPC campaigns at SME level. We at SearchPath have been doing exactly that for four years for a variety of clients, often producing measurable increases on campaigns that are already running in a matter of days.
So if you are struggling with geo targeting, quality scores and conversion tracking, give us call and see how we can make your advertising pound go further.
