Home The Froggblog Search engine optimisation

The importance of optimising your Google Place listing; a quick case study

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Ben Adam

Since Google integrated its Place results into the standard web results, claiming your listing has been a quick win to climb the search engine results page (SERP), helping many local businesses leapfrog the competition.

However, even if you’ve claimed your Place page it might not be fulfilling its true potential. Using an example from one of our retail clients, I’ll explain how.

What we did

We took a number of local stores and added some key store information to improve and optimise the listings both content wise and visually thereby making them more enticing to users. We…

Added listing to relevant categories
Added optimised descriptions
Added store specific information including

Parking availability
Disabled access availability
Ranges available
Brands available
Any extra store info

Added 10 product images that directly relate to stores range and best selling products

The results

Here are the great results we’ve seen in the last few months:

Note

Impressions = how many times users saw your business listing as a local search result
Actions = how many times users showed interest in your business listing

Store 1

Store 2

Store 3

Conclusion

A well optimised, enticing and informative Place page resulted in many more people interacting with the listings, sending increased traffic levels to the site.

Therefore be sure to optimise your Place page and add as much relevant and useful information as possible!

From tadpole to frogg – what I’ve learned about link building

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Johanna Hakala

As a new-ish member of the Leapfrogg team, I thought it was about time I blogged about what I’ve learned so far. I’ve been in the world of digital marketing for just over three months now and what a whirlwind of discovery it has been!

My experience over the last five years has been in traditional PR both agency-side and in-house, concentrating on the textbook ways of getting coverage; building journalist relationships and content sell in. I will be applying my offline knowledge to support the team’s development in online PR, helping Leapfrogg to build relationships in retail, travel, entertainment and national media.

It’s been really exciting getting to grips with how SEO link building works. The team at Leapfrogg has been great at teaching me the basics and how facets of traditional PR fit into the mix of link building techniques.

Over the last three months I’ve learned how to use link building to support SEO strategies – from the relatively quick links gained from submitting to the better quality directories and article sharing sites, to more labour-intensive blogger relationships and feature-led, online PR.

Introducing my ‘evolution of link building’ infographic

As a bit of fun, and to demonstrate how I perceive link building to have evolved over the years, I’ve put together the infographic below (I say ‘I’ve’ but credit must also go to Libby for her artistic flair!):

Beginning from the right hand side, submitting to directories, for example, represents perhaps the most straightforward of link building techniques; low hanging fruit if you like. Directory submissions are the ‘frog spawn’ of link building; there are plenty of them but only a limited number will flourish to have any real impact on your search marketing efforts.

Working around the diagram, I would consider the techniques to be both more complex and contemporary in nature (certainly where SEO is concerned). For example, writing exclusive features on behalf of a client for a relevant publication, website or blog requires a greater amount of research and planning. In some cases, the approach borrows much from the offline PR world; developing journalistic contacts, understanding editorial schedules and positioning your client (and their content) accordingly. These techniques are represented by a fully grown frog; more complex, mature and rounded in nature and thus delivering far greater impact commercially than a link on a directory, for example.

Over the coming weeks and months, I’ll be blogging in much more detail about the different methods of link building in the above infographic and their impact on our clients’ campaigns. So far I’ve had great success for clients including FindMeTV- both by creating features to send through SEO newswires and securing reviews for their mobile app. I’ve created higher quality links by writing an exclusive post for a wedding blog for Ecclesiastical Wedding Insurance, and achieved local radio presence for Roedean School, which resulted in some great online coverage…and links!

I’ve learned to take a two tier approach to campaign planning by encompassing the above strategies to both maximise ‘on the page’ optimisation and to fit link development into the wider marketing strategies of our clients. I’m particularly interested in starting to use widgets and social media tools within link building, as these are becoming easier to ‘sell in’ editorially to sites and they’re great ways to communicate with the audience. Another area I’m keen to learn more about is the use of mobile – the new frontier of search. How exactly link building, in its many forms, will evolve further with advances in technology is hugely exciting and something I’ll be keeping a close eye on. Maybe I’ll be the one to come up with the next big idea!

The changing face of how we search (and what it means for the future of SEO)

Posted on January 24, 2011 by Ben Potter

Reading last weeks Sunday Times, I came across a fascinating article about the developments in in-car technology; developments that I believe will represent new and exciting challenges for search marketers in the future.

The new Audi A8, for example will have a navigation system with Google Earth and Google search capability built into its ‘digital cockpit’ for drivers.

The Prius V hybrid that is due to launch later this year, will include Toyota’s Entune System. This will allow drivers and passengers to search the web and buy cinema tickets or reserve tables at restaurants, for example; all controlled by voice or text.

This ability to search from within a car’s cockpit represents one way in which the physical act of searching is changing. Consider the methods by which you can search in 2011; on your mobile phone, on a tablet computer such as the iPad, via your television and now from within the comfort of your car. Whilst most of these still rely on the traditional browser-based search experience, a driver’s method of searching will need to be quite different. In this case, voice activated search will become more prominent; search results might also be relayed back to the driver by the same means.

What is really interesting (and exciting) is how the discipline of search engine optimisation (SEO) will need to need to adapt and evolve to such advances in technology. In much the same way as the growth in smart phone technology has seen the need for marketers to create mobile enabled websites and applications; will we see something similar with in-car technology? Will search marketers need to create and optimise content for in-car search systems? At the very least, it will heighten the importance of claiming and maintaining local search listings (Google Places, for example) as car parks, restaurants, hotels and cinema listings will be high on the list of priorities for drivers.

For me, one thing is abundantly clear; if SEO’s are creating and optimising content in a wider range of formats, and for a wider range of platforms and devices, this is far removed from the notion of optimising for search engines in the traditional sense (browser based). Indeed, the term SEO might become redundant. In my view, it is already dated; it fails to represent the blurring lines with other disciplines such as social media, and most problematically it has a major reputation issue.

And it is this reputation issue that makes SEO such an easy target for doubters, the ignorant and the odd attention seeker with regular claims that SEO is dead (or dying). The advances in car technology, in my view, represent how they could not be further from the truth.

Granted, SEO, as a term to adequately describe what SEO actually entails (and what it will entail in the future), may be dying. But as long as people ARE searching, there will always be a need for search marketers to create content, optimise that content, and ensure it is visible on the platforms and devices where consumers expect to be able to find it.

And in that much, SEO is very much alive…it just needs a re-brand to reflect the very different world we live in now compared to when the term was coined in the mid 1990’s!

What we’ve learnt in 2010 (and what we look forward to in 2011)

Posted on December 23, 2010 by Ben Potter

With contributions from various members of the Leapfrogg team, we take a look back at what we’ve learnt this year in digital marketing and online retail. We also look forward to 2011; what we’ll be keeping an eye on and how we expect 2010’s developments to evolve.

Google continues to innovate but at what cost?

Leapfrogg’s natural search team, Suzanne and Ben Adam, comment on the significant changes Google has made to both its back end architecture and search experience:

“2010 saw Google roll out its new indexing system, ‘caffeine’, which updates their search index on a continuous basis and therefore should provide more up to date results to users. The Mayday update, placed more emphasis on authority sites for long tail searches. Sites that create fresh, useful, original content, in a range of formats (i.e. images, video) and optimise for long tail searches will benefit most from these updates. These are good practices that we’ve been advocating for many years so from our point of view the changes have had little impact on the recommendations we make to clients.

The typical Google searcher would probably understand little of ‘caffeine’ and ‘Mayday’ but 2010 has seen an unprecedented number of changes to Google’s search engine results page (SERP) that certainly would not have gone unnoticed, most notably Instant Search, Previews, the somewhat pointless blue arrows, and Google Places.

In 2011, it will be interesting to see if the increasingly cluttered Google results page turns users off OR will the changes to back end architecture counter this by reducing the amount of spam and therefore making search results more relevant and fresh? With Bing increasingly offering a viable alternative to Google, will we see users jump ship? Or is ‘Googling’ just too synonymous with the act of searching in the mindset of most search engine users? 2011 is shaping up to be a pivotal year in the search engine wars, not to mention the threat posed by the big social networks, such as Facebook”.

The growing influence of social signals on search engine rankings

Social Media and Content Executive, James Mortimer, comments on the continued convergence of search and social:

“2010 has seen Google and Bing confirm that tweets and Facebook ‘likes’ have an influence on search rankings. In 2011, I expect to see the continued convergence of search and social. This will demand that companies take a much more holistic view of SEO; an approach where traditional activities, such as keyword optimisation and link building are combined with more contemporary tactics in social media marketing, an approach we’ve been advocating for a long time. I am sure more and more companies will adopt this more holistic approach now that the major search engines have confirmed a direct relationship between search engine rankings and social media activity, particularly on Twitter.

If, as suspected, one of the factors the search engines focus on is the number of followers on Twitter, will we see an increase in the use of auto-following tools to artificially inflate followers? Personally, I refuse to follow anybody who has an unnatural looking Twitter profile (i.e. following 23,984 people with almost the same number following them back!) but will the search engines be able to spot this kind of activity?

The importance of having a local ‘footprint’

Analyst, Andy, and Client Services Director, Greg, have been paying particular attention to the growing importance of local search:

“In October, Google updated how it displays local search results; they are no longer restricted to a specific section at the top of the SERP. Instead, local results on Google are now integrated into the main ‘natural’ listings. With Google placing more and more emphasis on local listings, we expect 2011 will see an increase in online shoppers entering phrases such as “designer dresses” and being served results that includes listings for nearby retail stores (regardless of whether they use a location term within their search query).

What we find most interesting about this change is the potential impact it has on retailers without physical stores, for example ASOS. Herein lies a somewhat ironic dilemma for online retailers in 2011 – an online brand could start to suffer in the search results because it DOESN’T have a physical store(s)”. Do not be suprised to see brands that have traditionally traded online, for example ASOS and Amazon, develop some form of high street presence in 2011 (note; this will not be necessarily be purely as a result of Google’s change to local listings).

Joining the dots

Paid search manager, Amelia, saw huge benefits in the use of software and advanced tracking tools to measure the success of multi-channel marketing campaigns:

The growth in mobile highlights the key challenge faced by brands; ¾ of consumers use two or more channels to browse, research & purchase products. Not only does this demand that brands have a presence where consumers expect them to be (online, mobile, the high street and so on) but it makes analysis and optimisation of the path to sale absolutely essential. We’ve really seen the value of investing in software to better understand the user journey. The ability to measure the first click to the final sale visit (whether this is online or in-store) is crucial when evaluating the returns from digital marketing activity. We have been amazed with some of the insights we have found when looking at sale journeys, particularly for retailers where the path to sale is more likely to involve a number of channels over a period of time. Seeing the overall sale path journey enables us to quantify the success of specific keywords which contribute to sales via brand terms or via different traffic sources”.

The year mobile finally took off

MD, Rosie, comments on how the year when brands finally saw some measurable returns from mobile commerce:

“It seems that every year, for as long as I can remember, analysts have claimed that ‘this will be the year mobile commerce’ takes off. Well 2010 might just be the year that this claim was finally justified. Smart phone adoption still represents a relatively small percentage of the overall market, however, the number of people subscribing to smart phones this year has been significant enough for a number of brands to finally see tangible benefits of investing in mobile enabled websites and applications.

2011 will see this trend continue as more and more brands learn from the early adopters and invest in mobile commerce. However, it is vital that marketers understand the difference between the conventional browser and mobile experience. With mobile, there is an even greater emphasis to give people exactly what they want as smaller screens make it difficult for functionality, such as dynamic merchandising, to work effectively. Keeping things simple will be key to success for mobile websites and applications”.

Don’t run before you can walk

Head of Social Media and Content, Lucy comments on the need to ensure tactical execution is linked back to commercial objectives:

“Everyone seems to have embraced Twitter and Facebook this year, but we’ve sometimes pushed back on briefs because we didn’t believe social media was really going to deliver to a brands commercial objectives. It’s all too easy to jump on the social media bandwagon. However, when a marketing team has limited budget, often the more tried and tested direct marketing or more quantifiable and measurable link building and online PR activity can be proven to deliver more.

Although we love it when our brands want to experiment, we always need to ensure campaigns deliver to the bottom line. If you’re selling to a target audience that isn’t highly active in social media, then sometimes it is not the right medium to use. But even if it is, we very much advocate that clients get the basics right before they start investing in social media, for example. Very much a case of learning to walk before you run”.

Agencies need to evolve

Sales and Marketing Director, Ben, comments on how the role digital agencies need to take with their clients:

“In 2010, I’ve seen a noticeable shift in what clients expect from their agency partners. Clients are looking for much more than tactical delivery…and so they should. We’ve really seen the value of more closely aligning digital strategies to a client’s commercial objectives and completely changed the language we use to communicate with prospects and clients as a result.

It highlights to me how the SEO industry needs to evolve in 2011 beginning with a rebrand. SEO is a dated term that fails to represent the remit of the job undertaken by forward thinking agencies. The convergence of search and social, the need to be creating useful and unique content, and the strategic and analytical value added by an agency is much more than SEO. In 2011, I’d like to see less emphasis on somewhat dated language such as ‘rankings’, and especially those agencies still making ‘guarantees’, to instead focus on messaging that more closely reflects the landscape and the expectations of clients”.

What were you key lessons from 2010? What are you going to be keeping a close on in 2011? We’d love to hear from you?

Online retailers: how to beat the snow

Posted on December 3, 2010 by Rosie Freshwater

The atrocious weather conditions this week will no doubt have affected retail sales in the build up to Christmas, particularly on the high street as shoppers find themselves restricted to their homes (it will be interesting to see the impact on high street sales when figures are released in the coming weeks).

But the adverse conditions do present opportunities for online retailers, as it is likely customers will have time on their hands with their normal routines interrupted. With conditions expected to continue into next week (and beyond – it’s still only December!), we’ve been thinking about the ways in which online retailers can minimise the impact of the weather with a few quick-tips. Here goes…

Your website

Update your delivery information to reflect any changes due to the snow. It is better to be open and honest with your customers rather than maintain delivery promises that you may not be able to fulfill. If you are confident you are still able to deliver on time then shout about it on your home page

If relevant, upload some interesting content to your blog around how your products can be used in the snow, or alleviate the boredom of being snowed in. Fun or interesting content around such a hot topic has the potential to go viral

Your paid search activity

As the snow is such a hot topic of conversation, and if you can make it relevant, get creative with your ad copy by referencing the snow to encourage click through rates (CTR’s). Again, if you are able to offer a normal delivery service mention it in your ad copy as that is a real plus point for people affected by the snow

Some regions may be more adversely affected by the weather than others. If working to a limited budget, consider utilising geo-targeting options to focus budget on areas least affected where you can guarantee timely delivery

Social media

If you are utilising social media then this is the perfect tool to engage with your customers. Keep them up to date with delivery times and answer any queries where the answers may not be available on your standard information pages or where customers cannot get into a store to ask

Engage online with those complaining that things have arrived late or damaged due to the snow. It may not be your fault but if you can show you are responding publicly to concerns, customer loyalty will be positively affected

Take advantage of the current obsession with the weather by utilising relevant and popular hastags in your Twitter updates i.e. #uksnow. But only do so if there if the weather conditions are relevant to the tweet i.e. if you are talking about how the snow has impacted your ability to deliver on time. By doing so, you may capture additional traffic from social media users not previously aware of your brand

This weather is snow joke (sorry!) so consider these quick and low cost solutions to help minimise the negative impact during the busiest time of the year for online retailers.

What to include in a brief to a search marketing agency

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Ben Potter

In my seven years as Sales and Marketing Director here at Leapfrogg, I have spoken to many hundreds, possibly thousands of companies wishing to invest their marketing budgets online. What has surprised me, particularly during the recent downturn, is how few companies approach us with a brief. The reasons for this vary but, more often than not, it is due to the prospect’s inexperience in acquiring search marketing services meaning they do not know what to include in the brief. That’s where I hope I can help.

Why is a brief important?

For me, a brief demonstrates that a prospect is serious about their intention to work with an agency. In creating a brief, it is not always the case that the prospect will get it 100% right in terms of their actual requirements. Acting in a consultative manner from the start means the agency should use their experience and expertise to guide the prospect on what they ACTUALLY need. But regardless of this, a brief at least demonstrates a certain level of commitment from the prospect.

It is also worth bearing in mind that any agency worth their salt will use the pitch process to assess the prospect, just as much as a prospect will be assessing the agency. At Leapfrogg, for example, we are very focused on the type of client we want to be working with; not only are there particular market sectors we target, but also the companies within those sectors need to demonstrate a number of traits and meet certain criteria. A brief is extremely useful in helping the agency judge whether the opportunity is ‘on-profile’, thereby reducing the time and resource potentially wasted on both sides.

What to include in the brief

With the above in mind, here is what I recommend including in a search marketing brief. Note, you may want to put in place an non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before providing the level of detail below but remember, the more detail you provide the better the agency can guide you on what it is you need.

Background

Provide an overview of the business and its history

Outline what you feel makes you different to your competitors / what is your proposition?

Include who you consider to be your main competition; bear in mind that your offline and online competitors are likely to differ

Give an overview of the investment you have you made in search marketing to date, if any / have you used an agency in the past, what results have you experienced?

Provide some background on your website – how long has it been live, who built it, where is it hosted, is there a content management system, do you have any plans to redevelop it in the next six months or so?

Objectives

Demonstrate that you have a clear idea of where the business is heading; what are the company’s financial objectives for the next 1 – 3 years, for example?

Detail what else you are doing to meet those objectives i.e. investment in other marketing channels, recruitment and so on

Outline the budget and resource you have in place to meet these objectives

For the purposes of forecasting, it might be useful to include the following:

Current web traffic
Conversion rate (online and offline)
Average order values
Average margins
Website turnover (what % is this of total turnover)

The pitch process

What will the procurement process involve; how many agencies are you inviting to pitch, how many stages are involved, what type of proposal / presentation do you require, who will ultimately be making the decision?

Outline how agencies will be evaluated; what it is that you are primarily looking for from the winning agency i.e. particular skills or support to an in-house team, for example

Include details on when you are looking to start

Depending on the situation, you may choose to exclude some of the above, or add additional information. However, for me, three things are essential to form a brief; demonstrating you have a unique proposition, having clear business objectives in place and outlining what you are looking for from an agency.

And finally, a word of advice…

If you are approaching search agencies without a brief already in place and find that they are offering you a solution before seeking to understand your business, I’d recommend walking away. In the pursuit of a quick buck, and often preying on the naivety of inexperienced business owners and marketing managers, a huge number of agencies and freelancers will happily take your money with no real idea (or moral conscience) as to whether it will deliver any kind of tangible return. An agency failing to ask at least some of the questions above probably falls into this category.

On the other hand, intense questioning from an agency should demonstrate they want to understand all they can about your business and objectives so, in turn, they can align a strategy, and set of services, which are of most benefit to you.

Google Place Search and how it affects your SEO efforts

Posted on November 5, 2010 by admin

On the 27th October Google updated how it displays local search results. In summary, no longer are local results restricted to a specific section at the top of the page. Instead, they are integrated into the main ‘natural’ listings.

It is clear that this is a major shift for Google and users alike. It is one that some are celebrating as a triumph whilst others condemn as a step too far. So what does it mean for website owners and what will be the impact?

Normal search results are pushed out of the top 10
Firstly, and most importantly, because the local (now known as Google Place results) are integrated into the natural listings, they inevitably push natural search results down the page. Take the screenshot below as an example, searching for “driving instructor Brighton”:

You will notice that the closely packed local search results (known as the ’10 pack’ and then subsequently the ’7 pack’) traditionally found at the top of the page are gone. Instead, the local (or Google Place) results are now integrated with the normal, natural search results. In essence, there is no immediately obvious distinction between local and the normal search results.

In the example below, the Place results not only dominate the top of the search engine results page (SERP) but they are actually taking the place of “natural” search results that would have traditionally appeared. The result is that just four natural search results actually make it onto page one of the SERP. This is really good news if you have your local search listings in order. However, it is bad bad news if you don’t have a local presence and have instead worked hard to get your site ranking naturally in the main SERP’s.

Adwords ads pushed down and obscured by the new map
You will also notice the map on the right hand side. Not only does this map push ads in the 4th spot further down the page it also obscures them as it moves down the page as you scroll. This makes it much harder for users to notice and access your ads if you are not bidding for a top 3 spot. This will inevitably make it more competitive and expensive for paid search ads to appear in the top 3 in what some consider to be an already over inflated market.

However, its not all doom and gloom for paid search as the new format keeps users on the main SERPS page (previously when clicking on a local result you would be taken to the map page that contained limited real estate for paid ads). This may mean a higher number of ad impressions but only time will tell if this negates the impact of the map.

Customers reviews are more prominent
You will notice that customer reviews are now a more prominent feature with the new listings. These reviews may be pulled from a variety of sites including Yelp, Thomson local and Tripadvisor to name a few.

It is acknowledged by most experts that click through rate is one of the many factors Google adopts in its ranking algorithm. A strong local listing with plenty of positive reviews is therefore likely to attract clicks, highlighting the need to encourage customer reviews on relevant websites (ensuring they are likely to be positive of course!). In theory, positive reviews = more clicks = better click through rate = better rankings.

Local results showing for non local search terms
Google also appears to have a greater understanding of intent. From what we have seen over the last few days Place results are featuring more regularly for searches that do not necessarily contain a location term (even though Google claim this not to be the case).

This will mean that general search results may be cannibalised or improved based on which side of the fence you sit on.

What does this all mean?
Google have confirmed that local and general search algorithms have been merged, which essentially means there is no going back. Google Places, and the change to SERP layout will be here to stay. It is therefore essential that you have your local listings in order as soon as possible. We recommend the following action points:

1. Make sure you have a Google Places listing set up for your business. If you already have a Google Maps / Local listing set up within a Google account you should now notice it is called Google Places – you may need to reclaim it and certainly you’ll be able to add more information about your business, including relevant keywords.

2. Review the placement of your paid ads and adjust your bidding strategy accordingly if you find you are receiving fewer clicks.

3. Ensure you are monitoring your online reputation. With customer reviews being more prominent, you need to both encourage reviews but also monitor what is being said about your products, services or brand.

Have you noticed any changes to your search engine rankings, paid search performance or traffic as a result of this change? Get in touch and let us know.

Retail: gearing up for Cyber Monday (part 4 – editorial link building)

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Lucy Freeborn

In the last few days, we’ve looked at how diligent planning, optimising your website and refining your paid search campaign will stand you in good stead to take maximum advantage of, what most analysts expect to be, the busiest Christmas yet for online sales.

In part 4, we look at how creating content and marketing this content to relevant blogs, forums and media can hep you gain links, but more importantly at this time of year, coverage, traffic and ultimately sales.

Day 4 – Editorial link building

In-bound links to your website, from other websites of relevance and quality, is a crucial factor in determining where your web pages rank on search engines – that’s a given. Arguably, it is too late in the day to garner links that will have any meaningful impact on search engine rankings before Christmas, as it normally takes a number of weeks, sometimes months, for newly acquired links to affect rankings in this way.

However, link building should not be approached with the sole intention of improving search engine rankings. Our view is that link building is about developing great content and marketing it in the places where your target audience frequent i.e. blogs and social networks. The links that are gained by taking this approach are of course valuable, but in the build up to Christmas in particular, awareness and online PR are equally as important.

So with this in mind, let’s look at how you can maximise online coverage for your brand in the build up to Christmas:

Focus on the right products

On the basis of the ‘hero’ products you have established during your planning, be sure to focus your editorial link building efforts around those. Consider if the products have an angle, for example, are they unusual or unique to you? What might prospective customers, bloggers and journalists find interesting about your brand and these products in particular?

Realistically, unless you have a phenomenally exclusive, exciting or innovative product you may not have a story to begin with. So consider this stage carefully before moving onto the next.

Focus on the right websites

Offline, the long lead print publications have ‘Christmas in July’ with big brands and high street retailers all vying for attention. For online publications however it’s not too late to gain coverage and therefore some juicy editorial from highly relevant websites.

First and foremost, establish a list of websites, blogs, forums and media sites relevant to your market and products. Run some searches on Google, taking advantage of the new filtering options on the left hand side. For example, using the blog search, you can quickly find those bloggers that appear to be most active in talking about and reviewing products like your own.

Really focus your efforts on the bloggers and online media that are particularly relevant to your business. Look at what they are writing about and featuring. Do you have a different angle, something that you believe the readership might find of interest?

Reaching out

Once you have a list of sites to target, you need to consider how you can reach out to them with something that they will find of interest, which in turn they will want to share with their readership (your potential customers!).

You might need to get creative at this stage, unless you have a phenomenal story or exclusive product. For example, can you host a festive evening in person with your products on display and invite key players along? Or, can you send bloggers a ‘Christmas box’ with previews of your seasonal products or services?

Think carefully about how to target bloggers and journalists directly to build those all important relationships in one of the busiest and most cut-throat editorial seasons of the year. Simply calling and asking to be featured is unlikely to be enough – popular bloggers and journalists are being contacted numerous times a day. Be sure that you have a strong enough angle before picking up the phone or sending that email.

Keep search rankings at the back of your mind

Although the principle objective of editorial link building, particularly at this time of year, is to gain coverage, do think strategically about what you are doing. If you are lucky enough to be given some exposure on a website and therefore a link, the longer term SEO benefits will be realised if you can influence the ‘anchor text’ and if the link will remain on site after Christmas is over.

To conclude

I appreciate this post is somewhat broad in its nature; there are many nuances that need to be considered at each of the stages above. But hopefully, at the very least, it has encouraged you to think about link building in a different way; it being a way of gaining coverage for your brand on highly relevant websites, which in turn delivers targeted traffic. This is quite the opposite of the more traditional perception of link building; that it is purely for the purposes of improving search engine rankings.

The digital marketing agency for premium brands and retailers

Category Archives: Search engine optimisation