Search Engine Optimization

Starting in April 2015 Google wanted your website to be more mobile friendly and if it wasn’t they started penalizing non-mobile friendly websites, on their search engine, when visitors searched from a mobile device. (Google article here) “The search engine already promotes sites that work well on mobile devices over ones that don’t, a change introduced in April 2015”. In typical Google fashion, they are signalling that they will be taking mobile search even further…very soon. Google will be switching from a desktop focussed index to a mobile-first index. “Google is fully splitting its search index into two distinct versions: a rapidly updated …

Sharing information on social media networks and blogging have become increasingly popular in recent years.  In the past we have talked about Social Media Communication and Online Marketing, but in this post we’ll talk about the reasons to add a blog to your website. 4 reasons to add a blog to your website: It’s a way of keeping your audience aware of news and changes in your industry. You have lots of knowledge to share and sharing your knowledge in a blog can help position you as an expert in your field. This will add to your credibility and encourage customers to do …

The iPhone launched in 2007. Since then it’s incredible how quickly mobile phones have become a part of our lives. So what’s next?  In the last year, technology related to speech recognition has had major breakthroughs. The accuracy keeps getting better and it will only improve. And as it does, more people will stop typing and simply ask their smart phones questions.   Apple just released a new Apple TV with voice search. Others will follow. Speak recognition technology in automobiles will improve as well. We will become more comfortable speaking than typing. Trends show it’s growing.    As a …

Have you ever seen those home makeover shows?  The ones that take a dated house and transform it? The lesson they teach is that you don’t need to build a home from scratch to improve your surroundings. Before Sometimes, all a website needs is a bit of a facelift to breathe new life in to it. A client had a simple website that was over 5 years old and showing its age. And, knowing Google will start to penalize rankings for websites that aren’t mobile friendly, it was a great time for a quick website renovation! After A mobile-friendly (responsive) …

One of the biggest changes in the last few years has been the increase in the use of mobile device use. Your google analytics can show you how much traffic is coming to your website through mobile device searches! Google wants everyones website to be “mobile friendly”.  How much? They say if your website is not mobile friendly, starting April they will penalize your website on their search engine when people visit your website from a mobile device.  So, although your website can be seen on mobile devices, it may not mobile friendly in Google’s definition. So if search engine …

Do you have Google’s Webmaster Tools installed on your website? If you do and if your current website isn’t mobile friendly, Google is starting to send out notices with the words Fix mobile usability issues found on… suggesting you fix the issues. The notice will go something like this: “Google systems have tested 57 pages from your site and found that 100% of them have critical mobile usability errors. The errors on these 57 pages severely affect how mobile users are able to experience your website. These pages will not be seen as mobile-friendly by Google Search, and will therefore …

“Newsletter marketing is so 10 years ago”, said a client recently. But is it really? Newsletters may not be the newest or coolest networking media, but they still prove to be a successful communication tool.  Why are they still successful? You are targeting users who have given you permission to contact them. Even though you may be out of sight, your newsletters will help keep your brand at the top of your subscriber’s mind. We all need a reminder from people and companies we want to hear from. The reason you have permission to contact your users is because they …

SEO has changed in the last 2 years. Google’s algorithms have changed. Social media has changed. What has not changed is the selling of solutions that used to work, but no longer do. People are still flogging them. Take guaranteeing a first page result on Google. I know you don’t want to hear this (everyone wants to be on the first page), but it’s a bogus promise. If 2 different people are signed into Google and each searches for exactly the same thing, their results will differ. Google serves up the results they think each user is looking for. So, …

The people that used black hat SEO (and the clients that paid them) must be so upset. Great article from Google.