SEO basics can help, but great content — and telling people — is what really counts October 18, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentGreat post on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) by Derek Powazek (who ought to know): "If someone charges you for SEO, you have been conned. […] The problem with SEO is that the good advice is obvious, the rest doesn’t work, and it’s poisoning the web.
[…] the One True Way to get a lot of traffic on the web. It’s pretty simple, and I’m going to give it to you here, for free: Make something great. Tell people about it. Do it again.
That’s it. Make something you believe in. Make it beautiful, confident, and real. Sweat every detail. If it’s not getting traffic, maybe it wasn’t good enough. Try again.
Then tell people about it. Start with your friends. Send them a personal note – not an automated blast from a spam cannon. Post it to your Twitter feed, email list, personal blog.
[…] It’ll take time. A lot of time. But it works. And it’s the only thing that does."
Cervical cancer vaccine, online news, Google and SEO October 2, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : Journalism, linking, science, SEO , add a commentSEO expert Malcolm Coles kicked off an interesting experiment yesterday, to shift the emphasis in Google’s search results away from “negative and inaccurate information” (eg some news stories) linking a girl’s death to the cervical cancer vaccine and towards NHS pages about the vaccine.
More by Malcolm here about the tendency of some news stories to suggest (or make) a connection between the death and the vaccine.
He has been encouraging bloggers and others to publish web links, with relevant linked text, to influence Google’s search results, such as cervical cancer jab, cervical cancer vaccine, and cervical cancer vaccine Q&A.
So far, the NHS seems to have bought ‘sponsored links’ against some search key words, but I don’t see any of the NHS sites in the first page of Google’s search results for “cervical cancer jab”, which continues to be dominated by news stories.
French town of Eu seeks search engine optimisation (SEO)? February 27, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : Online , add a commentA great story explains the problem:
Anybody entering the word “Eu” in a search engine is likely to get a number of results, but most will be a reference to the past participle of the French verb avoir (to have), not to the pretty market town in Normandy.
The search also brings up pages related to the European Union.
Accordingly, the small town, which boasts a number of attractions, including an impressive château and gardens, is being bypassed.
It goes on to quote the mayor, who advocates changing the town’s name rather than paying search engines such as Google to boost its ranking. SEO probably wouldn’t work just for “Eu” — but “town of Eu” now comes up trumps. Helped, no doubt, by the story in the Telegraph (and elsewhere).
Comment Central – Times Online – WBLG: Cristiano Ronaldo and Paris Hilton to sing Elvis songs on Celebrity Big Brother January 15, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentDaniel Finkelstein gets to grips with SEO: ??"Recently I posted on an deeply unnecessary BBC programme. The post was headed "Lindsay Lohan, the porn star and the BBC." A fellow blogger accused me of "Google whoring". I had to look up this phrase on the internet."
How to: write for the web (part 2) — Journalism.co.uk October 20, 2008
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentChristian Dunn, digital editor of NWN Media (N Wales and Chester), offers some solid advice on writing for the web, including the following reminders about headlines online:
"Firstly, don't use puns, metaphors or wordplay. Use your keywords in the title instead – in may not be as exciting, but it works.
Secondly, keep headlines short: evidence suggests that Google pays greatest attention to the first 60 characters of any headline and many RSS feeds cut the headline off after this too.
Google likes place names and people search for places a lot online. Google News will find it easier to pick the stories up, categorise and send out as news alerts if there is a clear location.
Finally, make sure you try different phrases to see what gets a response on your site."
Why UK Blog Networks Are Really Failing October 9, 2008
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentFailing to break stories are among the weaknesses of (professional/commercial) blog networks in the UK — Shiny Media and others — according to SEO and online marketing exec Patrick Altoft:
"For years I’ve wondered why the people running UK blog networks just don’t seem to “get it” when it comes to online publishing.[…] UK bloggers need to ask themselves when was the last time they broke a news story that was a world exclusive? […]
UK blogs need to break exclusive stories and create a social media culture so ensure that the stories are spread around the world as fast as possible."