Archive for the ‘SEO’ Category



Google Still Has Problems with Javascript

Posted on May 8, 2016 under SEO

SEO isn’t just about high rankings, boosting page rank, getting keyword anchor text links and it’s far from dead despite the onslaught of Google Ads. Site architecture which involves the crawling and indexing of pages isn’t the first thing that springs into a clients mind, though it’s importance for onsite SEO shouldn’t be overlooked.

Recently after another re-development and site migration I was asked to review a site that was experiencing problems. It won’t be the last site to experience a drop in traffic after a redesign, as poor site migrations seem to be standard practice. The client was able to spot an issue fairly quickly, not least because there was a drop in the conversions.

Google Analytics also showed a big drop in traffic year on year, and looking in Google Webmaster Tools there was a noticeable drop in the number of indexed. Some important pages weren’t being indexed.

drop in number of pages indexed in google
continue reading this post »

Comments Off on Google Still Has Problems with Javascript

Google’s PPC v SEO War

Posted on February 28, 2016 under PPC, SEO

Last week saw Google remove the text ads from the right hand side of it’s desktop search results. The 8 ads that seemed glued to many search results and appeared on desktop search are no longer appearing.

An additional 4th ad may appear in the search results for ‘highly commercial queries’, something that Google’s been testing for a while. The 4th Ad can benefit from showing all the ad extensions, including site links, call outs and location extensions.

The screenshot below shows 4 ads at the top.
Google introduces a 4th Ad at the top in Google AdWords
continue reading this post »

4 Comments »

Google My Business Listings Scam

Posted on February 18, 2016 under SEO

Google My Business listings are Free. You can sign up here if you already don’t have one.

If you have someone manage them for you then fair enough you may have to pay a management fee.

However it appears there are companies cold calling claiming to have a ‘special relationship with Google’ and are attempting to charge for the privilege of maintaining and improving your listing, when it’s already there and in many cases performing pretty well.

For those that don’t know, below is a screenshot of what a Google My business listing looks like in the SERPS (Search Engine Ranking Positions).

Google my Business listing

Just ignore any companies that phone out of the blue, claim they have an association with Google, and if you don’t pay an annual subscription your Google My Business listing won’t be renewed.

Comments Off on Google My Business Listings Scam

SEO Thoughts for February 2016

Posted on January 30, 2016 under SEO

Some quick thoughts to kick off 2016.

Brands & Multiple Listings

Weren’t the days of Google showing 3 results for a website in the SERPS supposedly at an end? Obviously Not! The screenshot below clearly shows 3 listings for Gumtree. It’s annoying to see Gumtree doing so well when the pages are all littered with ads (Google hammered one of my sites for this) and the content similar on all 3 pages. This is an example of Google’s algo favouring a brand and over the last few years, I’ve seen this more and more. No matter how much SEO you do, Google still favours sites like Amazon, Gumtree and Ebay at the expense of smaller independent sites.

multiple listings in the SERPS

continue reading this post »

Comments Off on SEO Thoughts for February 2016

All That Glitters Isn’t SEO Gold

Posted on September 12, 2015 under SEO

This is a cautionary tale for every siteowner thinking of getting their website refreshed or redesigned.

When the designers are called in to refresh the site, and it goes beyond a basic refresh of the skin, you as a site owner should be aware that you can seriously harm the rankings and performance of your website. Proceed with caution.

Remarkably this happens more times than you’d think, new designer comes in, does his magic, rips the site apart and pulls the rug from underneath. It’s gutting to see a site that you’ve worked on be massacred by a design team that have no idea of even the basics in page titles, internal links, site structure, 301 redirects or simple on site SEO.

no google analytics tracking code shows a dip in traffic

continue reading this post »

2 Comments »

SEO Thoughts July 2015

Posted on July 15, 2015 under SEO

Exact Match Domains

Do Exact Match domains still carry any ranking value in 2015?

I think it’s too simple to say keywords in domains no longer hold value.

I certainly still think they do, they certainly do in folder names and file path, absolutely no doubt about that.

I also still see plenty of keyword rich domains that rank highly, and the keywords are a contributing factor.
continue reading this post »

Comments Off on SEO Thoughts July 2015

Google My Business Update Goes Wrong

Posted on June 20, 2015 under local search, SEO

This morning I noticed a big big change in a particular Local Business market I would monitor fairly regularly.

Something has happened to the Google My Business local rankings for ‘web design’ related businesses. These have always been a law unto themselves and only recently started to show again after Google had pulled them.

I keep a close eye on the local rankings for ‘web design Belfast’ terms and the 7 pack seems to have changed overnight.

Google My Business update

So from these results here’s how to rank locally:
continue reading this post »

5 Comments »

Which Drops a Suspended Site Quicker?

Posted on June 19, 2015 under local search, SEO

Which drops a suspended site quicker? Google My Business or Google Organic?

hosting suspended dropped from google's index

continue reading this post »

Comments Off on Which Drops a Suspended Site Quicker?

SEO Thoughts May 2015

Posted on May 30, 2015 under analytics, PPC, SEO

Google Adwords v Google Adwords Express

Below is a quick comparison table I’ve drawn up between Google Adwords Express & Google Adwords.

Google Adwords Express Google Adwords
Easy to setup and admin Much harder learner curve, much more complex, and ever changing
Automated Management, enter your service and service area and Google will get things up and running for you You choose your own keywords, set bid prices and structure your account, you adjust bids, deal with quality score issues, poor performing keywords and ads.
Google Analytics stats and figures aren’t impressive Google Adwords has better integration with Google Analytics and can give you a clearer picture of what Adwords visitors do on the website
Reporting is simple Detailed reporting, you can drill down into everything
Adwords Express doesn’t support the advanced features that Google Adwords does. Google Adwords allows to you use many of the more advanced features.

For instance you can run callouts & site links that many of your competitors are running.

Remarketing and advanced advertising formats are available (read what remarketing is).

Google Adwords support Youtube ads.

Google Adwords Express may work for small businesses without the time and knowledge who want to run ads, but if you’re running campaigns spending hundreds of pounds a month, and your competitors are running Google Adwords campaigns with all the features then it is certainly worth considering running the full package even if that involves hiring a Google Adwords professional. You’ll need to look at your costs to see if it’s justified.

continue reading this post »

Comments Off on SEO Thoughts May 2015

Thoughts on Google’s Mobile Search Update

Posted on April 22, 2015 under SEO

So Google as promised started rolling out their mobile algorithm

As yet there has been no widespread panic and I haven’t seen any dramatic changes and this will no doubt take a while to kick in.

Couple of points to note:

“While the mobile-friendly change is important, we still use a variety of signals to rank search results. The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query.”

Will Google sacrifice sites that have great content, simply because they aren’t mobile friendly? It appears from the statement above that mobile won’t be the sole overriding factor, and that non mobile friendly sites may still rank on Google mobile search.

Once your site becomes mobile-friendly, we will automatically re-process (i.e., crawl and index) your pages.

Unlike Penguin or Panda updates that have been run periodically, get your site mobile friendly and any drop that it’s been hit with could be corrected the next time your webpage(s) are crawled and indexed.

Comments Off on Thoughts on Google’s Mobile Search Update
Michael Wall

Michael Wall is an experienced SEO based in Belfast N.Ireland currently running his own SEO Agency.

Michael Wall is available for Internet Marketing, Google Adwords PPC and SEO work. Please call Belfast 02890 923383 or use the contact form.

Google Partner

Popular Posts

SEO training in Belfast