Mcgoogle & LadyBT's Blog

McGoogle Goes Polish

mcgoogleandladybt — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:00:38 +0000

Mcgoogle is jetting off to Poland to investigate the polish search market we currently have an office inPoland however search marketing is not something they specalising in working with our polish colleagues we have found that search marketing is where the UK was around two, three years ago. This got us to thinking how we could work within Poland using our developed knowledge of SEO & PPC. This quickly turned into some meetings with a range of top polish companies and a return ticket to Poland for McGoogle! Watch this space…..

Christmas Sales Roll In!

mcgoogleandladybt — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:18:57 +0000

Its under 12 weeks until christmas and already we are seeing great results with our christmas campaigns which just goes to show how the nature of consumers have changed researching and buying earlier. I have also decided to jump on this band wagon! With only two more paydays until christmas it puts things into perspective and rather than stretching my last wage to the ends of the earth I have started making plans to buy things over the next couple of months whether this actually happens we shall see but I’m going to give it a damn good go!

SEO & Web Developers – They Just Dont Mix

mcgoogleandladybt — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:37:42 +0000

It never fails to amaze me when I end up speaking to web developers just how much SEO knowledge they think they have and how unimportant they think it is.

A recent conversation went along the lines of ” no, meta data is useless in the search engines, they never use these pointless tags anymore..”

Well to help set the record straight – YES THEY DO!!!!

The Meta Title Tag can be used (when optimised effectively) to help calculate a ranking position for a keyword and more importantly, it is displayed in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) to help the user understand what your webpage is about. Having strong “call to action terms” and keyword rich content in the tag can really help to increase your ranking positions across all of search engines.

The Meta Description Tag is used in the SERPs to help with the conversation through to your site. Google calls this text the “snippet” and it is displayed to add further information to aid a users decision on if your site is going to be of use to them. Although this text does not have any direct correlation to ranking positions (no matter how many keywords you stuff in it), it does help to improve click through rate of the listing, which intern can help with your ranking positions. Example: if your listings are being clicked on to a greater level than your competitors, the search engines may place you ahead of them in the results.

OK so the MEta Keywords field is completely useless for rankings, It is not displayed in the SERPs, on the site or in any other location than the source code.

So the main lesson here – sometimes it can be the smallest of things that have the most powerful results. (and dont always listen to your web developer for SEO advice!)

Christmas Is Nearly Over……

mcgoogleandladybt — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:46:15 +0000

Well it is for me! In Search Marketing we are always thinking ahead and our PPC christmas campaigns will be launched this week so whilst its just over 12 weeks away we are in full swing I have research and know the toys your kids will be crazying you for.

Launching now enables us to tweak, optimise and enhance during the next couple of weeks ready for the full on christmas traffic during the end part of October and September. Although you think there are the standard christmas searches and keywords users behavious and patterns change. Also this year we have to take into consideation that the ression has changed user behaviour massively with many customers researching for longer before making that all important purchase. Now I’m off for some mulled wine and a mince pie.

Getting Lost In Google Analytics

mcgoogleandladybt — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:32:33 +0000

Google is kind enough to provide website analytics free to everyone making this one of the reasons I love Google it gives everyone a chance to review, take learnings and implement them. Google Analytics has grown over the years and it provides a wealth of knowledge so much that you can get lost in it all. Many times I have started to review some data and its like pulling at a thread you never know where its going to take you or what your going to find out. I highly recomend that if Google Analytics is something you have implemented but never really done anything with take some time to look at the data or if you have an SEM company ask them to give you an overview of the best reports for you to look at and leave the grafting/analysing to them (which I love )

Yahoo powered by Google? I kid you not

mcgoogleandladybt — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:25:23 +0000

In the UK www.BT.com is one of the major ISP’s with a large chunk of the ISP market, and until recently, they offered a search function from their homepage which was powered by Yahoo Search. However in a very strange turn, it now looks like Yahoo is still hosting the search function; however it is using the Google Search results to power its search function – Very strange!

Now strange as this is on its own (Yahoo using Google results instead of its own), you also have to ask the question why it has not decided to use its new partners (pending review – Bing.com) search results over Google, as surly this would have strengthened the relationship for the struggling Search engine.

Could it be that Yahoo has realised that although Bing’s new platform is good, maybe it is not quite as good as Google yet and Yahoo simply want to increase their profit sharing capabilities while it still can?

When to Question an SEO Company

mcgoogleandladybt — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:32:22 +0000

I found an interesting post this morning about when you should start questioning your SEO company the full article can be read here http://searchenginewatch.com/3634941

It frustrates me that SEO companies include outdated and sometimes useless tasks into your strategy. Every website is different and no “blanket” approach works. We work hard to develop unique strategies that fit the client and not a one size fits all approach. SEO is constantly changing with new techniques talked about every day. We strive to build relationships with our clients empowering them with the knowledge of new techniques and changes discussing each one in full rather than stating you need to do it. This enables our clients to talk confidently about their SEO strategy.

Staff at a well known pc shop!

mcgoogleandladybt — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:05:28 +0000

So as my laptop died last week, I went to a well known computer shop where the staff are in a whole world of their own! I thought it would be easy, I know the model I want, I know they have it in stock, so a quick in and out misson, simples right? Wrong!

First finding a member of the staff took 10 mins, them when I told him what I wanted, he said, and I quote “why don’t you by a mac?” so still being polite I said “because I want a pc!”, to which he looked shocked that I dared to queation his computer advice! Then he went for what I can only guess at for a fag break while he was finding my pc! 20 mins later he turned up just as I was heading for the manager, with a cart and a box!

So seeing a light at the end of a long frustrating tunnel I head to the tills where I was then spoken to like I was 5, “I would be best advised to take the store insurance policy for at least the first month, just incase [I'm too stupid to follow the instructions in the box and] i mess it up” “its only £12.99 a month”. So after the fourth time of saying no he finally gave up on his commission and sold me my pc.

All I can say I will not be heading back to this world of pc pain and stupidity, again any time soon.

MSN AdCentre Fustration

mcgoogleandladybt — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:47:36 +0000

I’m impressed with MSN Adcentre, MSN has come along way since it launched however its still has some teething problems one of the biggest problems is the continual crashing of our computers just when you have that all important last ad uploaded or final changed completed a “computer says no” monent occurs. Incredibly fustrating when your dealing with thousands of keywords and hundreds or ad groups. So whilst a good effort MSN Adcentre keep up the development!

Mcgoogles free to post on the move

mcgoogleandladybt — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:32:13 +0000

Well I just spent the last 5 mins setting up the blog so I can post on the move from my htc magic mobile phone, no more down time when I’m on the train back from london ladybt