Smaller sites performing poorly in search
In
a recent study by Dan Caplin from Click with Technology (CWT), he found just
12% of travel agents scored well when it came to search engine
optimisation and the majority of the independent agents...
SEO and Google Chrome
We all use web browsers to access the internet so that we can surf the net, in most cases it's either Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Mozilla's Firefox. They are the user's first point of contact...
Get IndexTools / Yahoo Analytics now
With IndexTools recently purchased by Yahoo, you can
expect great things from this world class analytics system moving forward. In
the interim, however, Yahoo have not let new users sign up in...
Matt Loughlin takes 4 hours to get to number 2 on Google
Receptional ran a search engine optimisationseminar for its new team members yesterday and Andy Langton (our CTO) led with an exercise... to try to get one of our newest team members - Matt Loughlin...
Search News Briefing
Several items have come across my radar recently in search that I think will be of more than a passing interest to Receptional's friends, so I have summarized them in to a short Search News Briefing...
UK Website Accessibility - What Website Owners Need to Know
With recent news that the US retailer Target has settled for $6 million in a lawsuit about the alleged inaccessibility of their website, we've decided to republish our accessibility overview for UK...
Google, flash and the changing world of Search
The recent announcement by Google that it has started
indexing the contents of Flash files was welcomed by many webmasters, but
brought with it a whole new set of optimisation issues.Traditionally,...
Is there room for branding in search marketing?
One of the first things I learned when I started working in online marketing, is that there are two
very different camps in the advertising/marketing world. On one side we have
the brand-based...
Receptional's Workshop
Over the 9th and 10th of June, the entire Receptional team embarked upon an two day workshop which was focused developing client relationships and knowledge sharing. The location was a beautiful...
Once is not enough - maintaining your SEO achievements over time
As an SEO consultant, I am generally brought in for set
projects - advising my clients on their search
marketing strategy and, often, implementing things like link building
strategy, content...
Don't be too trigger-happy in your SEO strategy
As search marketers, it's our job to know the makings of a
well-optimised site and get our clients to implement those as best they
can. In an ideal world, all the SEO best
practices would be...
Sub-domains or sub-folders and SEO?
The URL structure of your site is something you should be
putting some thought into. It shouldn't necessarily be a reflection of the way
your site is physically laid out (i.e. which parts of it are...
Getting people to link to you is not as easy as it used to be
As the
owner of a niche blog, I occasionally find myself at the receiving end of link
request emails. As an SEO, I am always fascinated by the different approaches
people take to try and get me to...
SQL injection attacks: what to do if your site is vulnerable
Database injection attacks are a form of hacking that is becoming increasingly common, and is being conducted on an extremely large scale. Tens of thousands of sites, including those operated by...
Internet Marketing Howlers
At the International Search Marketing Conference last week, held at The British Library, I was asked to represent Receptional and join two other leading European marketing firms in that twilight...
Integrated on and offline marketing for enhanced effectiveness
Many marketers are now using both offline, and online, channels to market, when developing promotional campaigns. A recent survey by eConsultancy showed that over 60% of respondents were planning to...
Organic SEO and why it should be your first choice
As an online marketing all-rounder, I generally get hired to assess and develop companies' overall online marketing strategy. This can involve anything from SEO, to PPC, affiliate marketing, banner...
Will new regulations spell the end of grey hat SEO?
This month will see the introduction of new UK regulations: the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations, aimed at stopping aggressive, misleading and otherwise unsavoury trading practices...
Content management systems and SEO
I was recently asked by a web editor contact of mine to give him a bit of advice about his company’s new website. When I came to look at the site, I was shown their CMS (content management system)...
Search Marketing goes from strength to strength
The UK market for internet marketing is strong and healthy, bucking all the current trends predicting doom and gloom, and economic downturn:
Cutting corners vs Good SEO
I came across a funny story the other day, about a programmer who got so suspicious of various sites that hand out so-called software awards on the web, he submitted a simple text file to a number of...
Google Adwords relaxes their trademark use in the UK
From the 5th May 2008, Google will be allowing people to bid on your trademark and you will be able to bid on other trademarked keywords in the UK and Ireland. At first sight, this may seem wrong,...
Keywords: think before you target
We all know it makes sense to spend some time thinking about keywords before starting a campaign. After all, you need to know which keywords to target, what competition you may encounter and how...
Are You Connecting With Customers In Your Community?
When we were asking customers what they wanted to see from a new PPC engine like Microsoft adCenter back in 2005, one of the overwhelming themes for discussion was about customer service.Search...
Internal PR: your key to making the most of external consultancy
One of the biggest problems I find with SEO is getting clients to implement my suggested course of action correctly. Back in the days where I served as in-house SEO, there were several of us in the...
Google changes from Search Company to Media Company
Search marketers manage search advertising. But since last year we've been encouraged by Google to use their system to also manage other types of adverts. Mobile adverts, video adverts and...
Landing pages, landing sales
Writing in this blog last year, Matt Paines talked about the need for one's online marketing strategy to be more conversion focused (quality based) rather than traffic focused (quantity based)....
Microsoft Adcenter converts better than Google in Paid Search
A recent study by Receptional's Web Analytics partner, IndexTools has reinforced Microsoft's claim that their paid search product converts better than Google's across a broad range of search...
Receptional Recruitment - Internet Marketing Consultants
Internet Marketing Consultant: No openings at present
Starting Salary: NA
Job Description: NA
Making sense of optimised content
A former colleague of mine has recently started working for a certain company and sent me a link to their site. I had a look around the site, reading the different pages about the company and the...
Shimrit Elisar
Shimrit Elisar is an all-round online marketing consultant with experience of SEO, SEM, affiliate marketing and media buying. She finds organic SEO the most interesting and challenging of the lot....
Why internal SEO work should be on top of your list
What do good SEO and charity have in common? They both begin at home.It always amazes me how many companies are willing to budget for extensive (and expensive) PPC campaigns and/or spend countless...
What will the Microsoft Yahoo deal mean for internet marketing?
There's no doubt that Microsoft's announcement that they plan to take over Yahoo is going to have a huge impact on internet marketing. For several years now, Google has run away with the show, even...
Building on Analytics
All too often we come across companies running analytics packages on their websites, for nothing more constructive than to count the volume of 'hits'. Just to blow away a few myths, 'hits' are not...
SES Discount Code
As Dixon Jones from Receptional will be speaking at Search Engine Strategies in London on the 19th-21st February, we are able to offer our clients and readers 20% off the conference price. Just use...
Microsoft AdExcellence Membership
Barrie Smith at Receptional has become one of the first people in the UK to pass the new exam from Microsoft's AdExcellence programme. TheMicrosoft AdExcellence programme is a new Microsoft driven...
Google to read image text
Ever since the early days of search engine optimisation the whole process in every case was to remove image navigation and replace it where possible with text links or at least Alt tag images. This...
Dealing with Cyber Squatting
If you've tried to register a domain name recently you'll be in no doubt how difficult it is to find what you want. Amidst the enormous number of domains that have been registered there exists a huge...
Dixon Jones' next few speaking engagements
In February I look set to be participating at an unusual array of speaking engagements, starting with a trip to the arctic circle.The annual Reykjavik Internet Marketing Conference and Expo (RIMC)...
Beta sites and the dangers of using Google Analytics
Earlier this week we found a curious effect on a client site. The site was ranking very well for its primary search terms, then all of a sudden over last weekend it dropped like a stone to page two...
Google on Paid links
Link building and the whole process of gaining rankings has taken another twist recently. Google's algorithm is significantly biased towards the analysis of those sites that link to the recipient...
Translating Traditional Marketing Terminology to the Online World
I thought it might help to create a short table comparing traditional terminology with online terminology. I think that in every sense, the online measurement will be better than the offline...
Receptional's brand is gaining ground
I would imagine that for brands like Colgate or Honda, measuring "brand" is something pretty important to someone, somewhere in the brand management department. I would also imagine that...
Microsoft PPC Research Uncovers Suprising Misconceptions Amongst Small Business Managers
Mel Carson is the Community Manager for Microsoft adCenter in Europe. He works as part of a global team that manages the adCenter Blog, supports customers online through forums like WebmasterWorld,...
Mel Carson Biography
Mel Carson - adCenter Community Manager - Europe
Mel joined Microsoft the day the French adCenter pilot started back in the Summer of 2005.
As part of Microsoft's Client Service Operations team, Mel'...
Google Adwords publishes Receptional Case Study
Receptional are very pleased to announce that Google have published Receptional's success story with Moneycorp on the Adwords website.
The case study details how Receptional drove down the cost per...
A long week in SEO
After last weeks shenanigans with Google, I cannot help but sit here and gloat. For us and our clients the latest update was not a significant disruption. This is not the same for everyone, we are...
To Google, domains are like fine wine
Last year I wrote about the Google Patent application (from March 2005) on aged domains, this is a significant issue when it comes to optimisation for search engines. The article explained how they...
Which Search Engines should you optimise for?
This question comes along all too often. I'm sure you have seen the emails and websites that offer "submission to 1000 search engines for $20". This may be a very tempting proposition, in fact, for...
Internal Search tracking and reporting is easy..huh?
Over the years I have spoken to many IndexTools users from agencies to direct clients and all of them agree on the importance of tracking internal search. I think it's safe to say that if, as a...
