Use the Google page speed tool to improve website performance

Why is page speed so important?

The primary reason page speed is for general usability. The faster loading a web page the better the performance for visitors to that page, whilst slow loading pages lead to higher bounce rates.

Google monitors website performance and bounce rates and uses this as a baseline when comparing the click through rates and bounce rates of the top competing websites for keywords and phrases. This plays a role in a websites search positions as Google is keen to improve the user experience of its surfers and this is why this is increasingly becoming a ranking factor for top search engine positions.

Google has launched a new page speed tool for webmasters that checks the website load speed of sites. Check out the tool at Google page speed lab. This new tool is an indication of the increasing importance Google is placing on webmasters producing higher quality websites.

As the search landscape evolves and the expectations of surfer’s increases online, the broader quality of websites is likely to increase in-step with search engine webmaster guidelines expansion. This means that there will be a wider scope of activities and ranking factors that developers and/or your SEO agency will need to consider as time evolves to ensure client websites rank higher in Google and other search engines.  There will therefore be an increasing direct correlation between higher quality websites and higher performance in the search engine results pages (SERP’s).

To find out more about on page SEO please call us on 0844 870 9806

This article was produced by: Steve Bernard – Ecommerce SEO Expert,

Director at Seek4Commerce, a leading London SEO Company.

How top retailers improve seasonal SEO results

Many retailers understand the importance of ranking highly for seasonal events like Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mothers day etc when the event is upon them.

With up to 30% + of retail revenue in some sectors generated around the Christmas period alone ensuring that you dominate the events search terms is a primary business driver for retailers with a website. The time to act is now if you want to start benefiting later.

Christmas is here now

To truly maximize the impact of being top in Google for your top seasonal keywords at prime time then retail businesses need to start planning now for the Christmas period, and first quarter events.

Some quick tips below:

What is the sales window?

The Christmas sales window is 3 months prior to the big day meaning that SEO planning & implementation must be undertaken 6 months prior, whilst the New Years Eve event window usually starts one month before. It is important to understand the planning process to maximize the SEO outcomes during the sales window of these events.

Understand your keywords

Do thorough keyword research to identify the keywords with the highest sales value potential for your business around key events.

Build keyword research into your content strategy

Once you have identified a portfolio of keywords by sales opportunity. Create additional SEO friendly content that targets the long tail combinations and develop your universal search strategy by optimizing all elements of the content. Image, video and news pieces around the content will help you rank higher for your terms.

Identifying on a product level the keyword sales opportunities will allow you to rifle gun in sales success over the seasonal periods.

With Google increasingly applying a universal search approach to its natural rankings, the more bases covered by your optimization efforts the higher the probability of your listings being found. This can be easily evidenced by doing a product search on Google and seeing that shopping results are visible in the natural search listings.

Make best use of Google product search

Google product search is one key foundations of online retail success. It is free and highly traffic generative, for product search optimized listings it also pushes the top 2-3 listings in to the natural search results in Google increasing product ad exposure massively.

A well implemented long tail product based campaign can lead to transformational sales growth, whilst a poorly implemented campaign is money left on the table for your competitors.

Web content strategy to fit into overall communications strategy

Develop a online content strategy around developing new, fresh and SEO friendly product & sales copy that it part of the business’s overall communications strategy. Include; people from the various business work streams and ensure that document management and approvals processes do not hold up the issue of core content that could drive your websites performance at a critical time.

A leading SEO agency will be able to tap into your business’s communications strategy and content plans to help you obtain the SEO sales value from the copy you are already producing. This will save you additional time and money in executing your SEO campaigns.

This article was produced by: Steve Bernard – Ecommerce SEO Expert,

Director at Seek4Commerce, a leading London SEO Company.

Top 5 tips for multilingual international SEO

International SEO and international e-market growth can offer B2B & B2C businesses the opportunity for explosive growth. However, often an ill thought out strategy and incoherent implementation lead to frustration and wasted budgets.

Below some top tips for international SEO; to help your business avoid the main pitfalls that befalls a poor international search campaign.

1) Use the correct local search engines

Google is the main search engine in the UK but depending on your market. There may be more relevant and important local search engines.

2) Translations & localization

Translations of web copy and keywords will need to be very well done and include cultural specifics to be relevant for the local audience. An example is Portuguese spoken in Brazil and Portugal but when you take local cultural differences into account it can make a big difference to the end user.

3) Keyword research

Use search marketing specialists who can use your UK keyword model as a base for localizing keyword research in each local territory being targeted. This keyword localization work is a key element of the work to ensure that correct local phrases are being targeted to the highest sales opportunity.

4) Social Media

Social media marketing is an excellent tool; however it is used differently by the different international audiences. To maximize the impact of social media ensure that you are have localized and correctly targeted your campaigns for social media to be effective.

5) Technical international SEO

There are a lot of tactics to making sure that the technical side of an international SEO campaign is working effectively.  This includes how to set up or frame top level domains, directories, URL’s, the DNS, and where to host the website but to begin answering the how to’s you must first understand the technical/platform, and business  set up.

That’s why international SEO campaigns must always be bespoke and tailored to client’s specific situation. Because if you do not understand the platform and technical set up plus the back office works streams it is very difficult to design a best fit international SEO solution.

This article was produced by: Steve Bernard – Ecommerce SEO Expert,

Director at Seek4Commerce, a leading London SEO Company.

5 Quick SEO tips for ecommerce websites

Remove duplicate content across product pages

Many retailers fall into the trap of using the same product description across numerous product pages. However, having the same description posted across numerous pages across your websites and syndicated out via affiliates can damage the points Google attributes to your product pages.

Instead consolidate product variations into one product to ensure that maximum points can be attributed to a product.  Copying product descriptions from manufacturers or suppliers can lead to your website being damaged for content duplication. To mitigate this create unique product descriptions for all your products.

Add fresh content to your website

Regularly update your website with non product content which is linked to from your websites home page. This is great for visitors to your web store who maybe looking for articles or information on your products but also search engines who will push you up the SERP’s for having more useful things to say. One indicator of this is how often your web pages are cached by Google.

Don’t forget product SEO

It is estimated that over 80% of all web orders are generated from long tail keywords. Make sure that your product pages are optimized for Google.

4) Multi-channel search marketing

Have you ensured that you are dominating all sections of the search engine results pages?  Dominate the results for Google product search, maps, social updates, news, adwords and the natural search to put your competitors to bed.

This deeper and more proactive approach to dominating SERP’s leads to improved traffic and click through rate’s on your ads. An integrated search marketing approach can ensure e that you enjoy a much higher percentage of searches on any search result page resulting in higher sales for you not your competitors.

5) Image & video optimization

Do you have unique images and video about your products? Why not optimize video and images so that you can drive additional traffic via the Google Video & images search.  If you are an online retailer, your website is likely to be full of images – use them to gain better search rankings.

Adding the correct alt text and optimized captions can help getting your images optimized for Google image search.

This article was produced by: Steve Bernard – Ecommerce SEO Expert,

Director at Seek4Commerce, a leading London SEO Company.

The importance of a local search engine marketing presence

Local search is still an untapped market with huge opportunities for success. Many of these searches are from motivated buyers actively looking for the services that you offer.

A huge fraction of searches online are local searches. Research studies have shown that up to 60% of all internet searches are local. However, what ever the exact figure there are a lot of local searches happening 24/7 from motivated buyers. These can be hundreds, thousands or even millions happening every day, during all hours of the day non-stop. But are these searches finding you?

If you want to advertise nationally or for mail order items then be prepared to pay much larger advertiser rates and for a fight for every click. But if you are a local business with a relatively small catchment area it is a lot easier a victory. Many local businesses, including your competitors have not even heard of local search marketing. Why not steal a march on your local competitors by out competing them locally.

Is Yell Enough? or Do You Need Another Way of Generating Local Business. Local Search Can Help!

Thousands of small or medium sized regional businesses spend upward of a £1000 per a month on Yellow pages or Thompson Local book adverts, Yell web listings and other forms of paper or print advertising. But book directories have become very competitive, the sponsored advert rates are more expensive, and  fewer and fewer people are using Yellow Pages as first point of call not to mention that the searches going through directories are declining. More and more people are turning towards search engines for local searches, and with the advancement of mapping technology and integrated directory listings the search engines have quickly generated a great local search service.

If you are a regional business who has always used Yellow Pages or Thomson Local as a key driver to generate leads and you have slowly been seeing a decline in the number of the quality of the leads coming through then it maybe time to find another way of generating clients!

Seek4Commerce can help develop a tailored approach to your local search marketing strategy. We can create much deeper penetration for your business locally meaning your business is maximizing its local exposure.

Regional businesses: What is the risk of not developing local search marketing service?

• Losing out on lucrative sales from regional customers because they can’t find you
• Missing out on new channels of acquiring customers
• Waiting until your competitors are doing it before you follow suit too late
• Not taking advantage of the reduced competition in local search to build up your business quicker

What are the key advantages of developing a local search marketing presence

• Your website will be a lot more visible in the local search engine rankings
• Motivated local buyers ready and willing to buy from you
• See your average customer acquisition cost go down as your local search marketing traffic increases.
• A lot more leads from people who prefer to work with a local vendor they can visit and trust.

If you would like some more information on creating a bespoke local search marketing or SEO plan then please contact us.

Why business blogging is so valuable!

Creating a blog and regularly posting good quality content can have huge benefits for your internet marketing strategy. Clearly, the structure and type of blog website depends on your plans for your website.

If you have useful content to contribute to your industry then a blog website will allow you to establish your website as a “thought leader” in the industry. This would subsequently increase your authority in the industry which is very important from a self marketing point of view, but also provide highly valuable SEO back links from web users to your website. The increasing number of back links will increase the authority of website in the eyes of the search engine which will rank your website higher for generic keyword terms.

The trust built up through sharing knowledge establishes your businesses reputation as an expert and this can rarely achieved through direct advertising.

Below are some of the key benefits of setting up a blog.

• Increase traffic and sales revenue
• Share content and increase trust in your business reputation
• Good quality content attracts high quality links
• Blog posts attract book marking and user contributions which aid search engine optimisation.
• Blogs encourage interaction and feedback from users.
• Distribute your blog content around the web through advanced content distribution strategies.
• Create a readership base & attract new followers
• Increase your websites depth of reach and visibility online. Articles posted on blogs usually rank very well in the search engines and this tactic can generate high quality traffic.

Seek4Commerce, an expert London SEO company are experts at helping businesses set up powerful blogiing strategies that compliment their current marketing campaigns.  contact us for more information on how a powerful blog strategy can help you.

Why are directory submissions important?

Directories classify websites by category and sub categories based on relevance. The category your website falls under is based on the products or services or information that you provide.  The categories are classified by the editors of the directories.

Directories are very helpful for back links and traffic that they generate for websites. The number, quality and topical relevance can impact on a website’s performance in the search engines and for this reason directory submissions are one of the main link building tactics on the internet for search engine optimisation.

However, it is not only the number of back links but a few influencing factors such as:

• The quality of the website providing the link
• The number of links on the web page providing the link
• The topical relevance of the directory
• The keyword density of the page and the topical relevance of the link
• The keywords in the  anchor text of the link
• Whether the content is static or dynamic
• Whether the link is “follow” or “no follow” meaning that search engines can or can not index the link.
• The volume of back links
• The velocity of link building over a period of time.
• The link growth relative to your key competitors and key industry website over a period of time.

How do you know which directory websites are good to submit to?

• Check out the quality of other website listed in the directory.
• Does the category have more than 50 links a page.
• Is the directory reviewed regularly by editors?
• What is the editorial policy and terms of use?
• What is the Alexa rank of the directory
• What kind of traffic does the directory achieve
• Are any of your competitors listed in your directory

The above considerations are just a few and not an exhaustive list, but it is best to do your research before spending time and money on directory submissions.

As previously mentioned directory submissions are a key source of one way link building that can aid your online PR and drive up your keyword positions in the search engines.

However, directory submissions are one tactic in the armoury of any SEO firm. The exact mix of  link building service depends onhow competitive your niche sector is and what your competitors are doing.

Some benefits that one way directory links provide is:

• Topical one way link to your website increasing your websites authority in your sector.
• Increase in your website page rank
• Higher search engine positions for core keywords and phrases for your website = higher traffic & higher sales and/or leads.
• Direct traffic from directory links
• Greater control over your link building campaigns.

Trusted Directories:

Trusted directories are a key source of traffic and also provide authoritative back links to your website. These directories have a lot more authority in the eyes of the search engines and carry more weight than standard links. Examples of trusted directories include:

• Open Directory
• Yahoo Directory
• Business.Com
• Yell.com

Seek4Commerce are a bespoke London SEO company that builds high quality link building programmes for our clients. All our submissions are manually done to ensure the best  results for our clients after very careful research.

Please get in touch if you would like to know more about how Seek4Commerce can build a powerful link building programme for you to get you listed high for your desired keywords or phrases.

Deploy the power of local search (SEO)

Why Use a Local SEO Service?

Seek4Commerce offer a powerful bespoke local SEO solution for regional and local businesses or those businesses wishing to target specific regions with greater depth.  We develop custom plans to ensure that you van dominate your local niche in the search engines.

A huge fraction of searches online are local searches. Research studies have shown that up to 60% of all internet searches are local. However, what ever the exact figure there are a lot of local searches happening 24/7 from motivated buyers. These can be hundreds, thousands or even millions happening every day, during all hours of the day non-stop. But are these searches finding you?

Local search is still an untapped market with huge opportunities for success. Many of these searches are from motivated buyers actively looking for the services that you offer.

The local marketing suite brings together SEO creates localized and targeted local keywords and phrases  for your business. The depth and reach of the of service is dependent on your requirements but your level of visibility may be a lot higher than simply employing the Yellow pages or other local directory services.

LOCAL SEO Can  Be Effectively Deployed By National Businesses

Local search is the natural choice for small- to mid-sized business with a geographic focus. However, national advertisers looking to obtain a more custom localized approach to their online marketing can take advantage of unlimited opportunities offered by local marketing to gain a deeper market penetration.

Let our consultants create a locally targeted SEO search campaign that works for you. For a free marketing consultation please fill out our contact form or call 0844-870-9606  today.

Power your SEO with online PR

Ever wondered how to harbour the power the online press releases to generate online press coverage and powerful back links.

Nearly all major link building programmes will include online press releases as a powerful tenet of its operation. However, online press releases tend to be the least understood aspect of online marketing; this is so particularly among smaller business owners who do not understand the power of a well crafted press release in terms of generating press coverage and valuable back links.

The reason it is the least understood is because online press releases is one of the least practiced marketing tools.

What is a press release?

A press release is an announcement you make to a news organisation with the objective of drawing attention to an event within your business.

What are online press releases used for?

Online press releases are used for numerous reasons such as:

• New product/service launch
• Mergers & acquisitions news
• Earnings/profit reports
• New appointments made to the company
• Insightful research published by a company or organisation
• Any public announcement that may interest stakeholders.

What are the benefits of an online press release?

There are numerous benefits associated which can be directly derived from online PR.

Increased Online Visibility:

News distribution websites distribute your press release to their list of members, of which a huge base of journalists and bloggers. Your press release will also be deployed on the 1^st or 2^nd page of press release sites which is distributed by RSS feed to thousands of subscribers. This provides your press release with potentially huge coverage.

How Online Press Releases Help Search Engine Optimisation:

Press releases are a powerful tenet of search engine optimisation and are used by all experienced search engine marketers. The reason they do this is that online press release websites if used correctly can generate a huge amount of quality back links from authoritative trusted websites such as news papers, plus bloggers and social media websites increasing the relevance of your press releases and the web pages it points back to on your website.

Press releases are one of the most effective methods of generating valuable online back links to your website and getting you spoken about in Blogosphere and social networking websites. The consistency and quality of this approach can reduce your time to achieving the highest position SEO results, something which may have taken your competitors years to do.

Very Wide Distribution:

Journalists depend on RSS feeds from press release sites to find newsworthy news. This is a great indirect way of getting news in front of journalists.

Promote Yourself as an Industry Thinker and Expert Through Online Press Releases

Press releases can help you set yourself with expert status in your industry.

Credibility

Being reported on by newspapers, blogs and other sources indirectly creates a lot of credibility for your business.

Local & Regional Targeting

Online press releases can be targeted to the local news media in your region giving you the best chance gets noticed by journalists in your local area.

Targeting of press releases to specific topics or  themes increases the chance that industry Journalists signed up for alerts see your press release, and the press release is more likely to be read by readers in your target audience increasing the profile of your business.

If you are interested in the power of using online press releases as a powerful tenet of your internet marketing the contact us for more information.

Considered shopping comparison engines?

Do you already have an ecommerce website but don’t know how to develop your cmparison shopping feed?

If you are not selling on shopping engines you are missing out on a lucrative revenue channel! Are you interested in generating sales from the lucrative shopping comparison market? If so, read on! Shopping comparison engines are increasingly becoming a major revenue driver for ecommerce websites. Large ecommerce websites upload hundreds, if not, thousands of products to shopping comparison websites and clean up.

Why are Shopping Comparison Engines So Good?

Shopping comparison websites offer customers a very convenient and quick method of comparing products, features and prices across many different merchants. They also allow people who use these merchants the ability to rate their performance, helping other users make better decisions. Shopping comparison websites receive a huge amount of traffic by bring together buyers and sellers. Sellers can list many products and in most cases only pay when a motivated buyer clicks on their advert, whilst buyers get to compare products and merchants all in one place saving time and money.

Conversions rates from shopping comparison websites are through our experience are higher than many other channels, both online and offline, making shopping comparison websites are a great medium for acquiring new customers.

However, many ecommerce websites and retailers do not access this lucrative advertising medium. Seek4Commerce can help by advising you on your product database, shopping feed development and automating the submission of your feed to all the main shopping comparison websites. What this means is that you will not need to manually upload all your products individually to each shopping comparison website. A highly labour intensive activity even for the most efficient employees.

The key benefits are:

• Access to millions of motivated buyers.
• Increased brand awareness
• Only pay when a motivated buyers clicks on your listing
• Fast & accurate submission to shopping engines
• Save time by automating data collection
• Establish your business in a new revenue channel before your competitors
• Test a new business or product before go all out on a launch.

What are the key risks:

• Not doing it!
• Missing our on a potentially lucrative new market
• Letting your competitors establish themselves before you.
• Limited risk, budgets are set, and you can scale up or down as you see fit.
• No risk! Some of the most powerful shopping comparison engines are completely FREE. Yes FREE, there is no listing fee, no cost per click price or any price or cost whatsoever. All you need to do is list your items.

If you are interested in learning more please contact us for more information.

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