Tag Archives: results
August Activity: Google Algorithm Changes and SERP Updates
August seems to be the month for shaking things up when it comes to Google search engine rankings. We have come to terms with the often chaotic realities of the Internet Marketing game and assume a comfortable position on the tips of our toes. On any given day weve got our helmets strapped on tight and eagerly await any curveballs that may come our way.
Thus far weve seen new adjustments happening on a daily basis. While there have been rumors spreading like wildfire, we received confirmation of change straight from the source earlier this month.
Google announced a new signal of ranking within their search algorithm in the hopes to “deliver legitimate, quality sources of content more easily.” Depending on the nature of your website and your SEO efforts thus far, these changes could be very beneficial. More often than not, they will have the opposite effect.
These updates are aimed to discourage copyright infringements and will target websites with a high number of valid removal notices. Google will utilize Digital Millennium Copyright Act “takedown” requests to determine the websites that have been repeatedly reported for such violations. When these piracy penalties were released the first site that came to many peoples minds was YouTube, which is the target of many DMCA requests. Those of you addicted to videos of cats or babies laughing have no fear! Google has explained YouTube will not be penalized based on these updates:
“Requests for products other than Google Search (e.g, requests directed at YouTube or Blogger) are not included.”
Now that you can sleep easy knowing that your favorite 90s music video compilations are safe, lets move on to another Awesome August Alteration! See what I did there? Who doesnt love a good alliteration every once and awhile?
News is circulating that Google has been testing a transition away from their traditional 10 listing display. Rather than displaying 10 results per search query, in some cases only 7 are being shown. For example, take a look at my search for “Overstock” earlier today (I like bargain shopping)
Dr. Peter Meyers at SEOmoz explains that while SERPS with less than 10 results arent necessarily a new thing, they have never been as frequent as the increase weve seen in August. Historic frequency ranges between 1-4% whereas now, about 20% of the search engine results pages on Google are showing only 7 listings.
While 20% may seem high, in retrospect its a very small portion of SERPs. Meyers continues on to describe the correlation between this “shrinkage” and the presence of “sitelinks” within listings. Essentially, 7 packs will be displayed if the word used in your search query matches your domain and displays sitelinks.
So, what does this mean for you and your website search engine ranking? The most obvious of challenges comes with the decrease in ranking opportunity. Keywords should be analyzed and adjusted accordingly to give your website the best chance of ranking during this turbulent time. Simply being aware of these changes is the first step in overcoming them. Check back for the play-by-play and rain delays. LocalResults will be keeping our ears close to the ground and our eyes peeled for fly balls!
Heres How Conversion Rate Optimisation Services Deliver Far Higher ROI than SEO
When you break it down, conversion rate optimisation services (CRO) simply optimise the various components on your website to generate higher sales and online profits. Now this is far different than SEO, PPC, Content Marketing or even social media marketing because CRO does not increase online sales by boosting traffic to your site.
Instead, CRO experts typically reduce marketing costs by eliminating non-converting keywords while optimising other on-site factors to boost sales which delivers a far greater return on investment than SEO and competing options. Specifically, conversion rate optimisation services tend to break projects down into 4 distinct phases:
Phase I: Website Review and Traffic Analysis
In this phase, conversion rate optimisation services will use heat mapping and other website traffic analysis tools to identify where visitors are getting confused or leaving your site before converting. This information will then be used to create an Optimisation Plan to fix the largest conversion problems first to help reduce implementation costs and maximise ROI.
Phase II: Optimise On-Site Factors
During the initial website review, the CRO service isolated all of the problems in your copywriting, website design, and website programming that are alienating visitors and preventing conversions. In this phase, CRO experts will fix all of the conversion problems in your various website components.
Phase III: Testing and Verification of CRO Results
To verify results and calculate overall ROI, conversion rate optimisation services will use split testing and carefully monitor Key Performance Metrics. The testing sample size required to verify results will depend upon the primary conversion goal (direct sale vs. qualified lead) and extent of revisions completed during optimisation. Ecommerce sites, for example, will have a large number of landing pages that will need to be monitored and each will require enough traffic to the page to verify results. Therefore, testing times can vary significantly when confirming CRO results.
Phase IV: Traffic Optimisation
With very few exceptions, conversion rate optimisation services will first optimise a site for conversions before moving on to optimising traffic sources. Logically and from an ROI perspective, this is the best course of action because you dont want to invest good money in new traffic and send it to a site that isnt converting. So once the on-site factors are optimised and tested, conversion rate optimisation experts will move to optimise your traffic sources. CRO experts will begin with your paid traffic sources and eliminate all non-converting keywords to reduce marketing costs and then move on to SEO, SMM, and other primary traffic channels.
For the typical website, it can take up to 2 months or longer for conversion rate optimisation services to complete the entire process. Larger, more complex websites can take even longer to optimise. But when complete, the results of CRO more than justify the time and expense. And since CRO experts both reduce marketing costs and make long-term changes to your website copywriting, programming and design that boost conversions long after the optimisation is complete, the ROI for conversion rate optimisation services tends to be more than double what you can generate from SEO, SMM, PPC, or competing options.
Heres How Conversion Rate Optimisation Services Deliver Far Higher ROI than SEO
When you break it down, conversion rate optimisation services (CRO) simply optimise the various components on your website to generate higher sales and online profits. Now this is far different than SEO, PPC, Content Marketing or even social media marketing because CRO does not increase online sales by boosting traffic to your site.
Instead, CRO experts typically reduce marketing costs by eliminating non-converting keywords while optimising other on-site factors to boost sales which delivers a far greater return on investment than SEO and competing options. Specifically, conversion rate optimisation services tend to break projects down into 4 distinct phases:
Phase I: Website Review and Traffic Analysis
In this phase, conversion rate optimisation services will use heat mapping and other website traffic analysis tools to identify where visitors are getting confused or leaving your site before converting. This information will then be used to create an Optimisation Plan to fix the largest conversion problems first to help reduce implementation costs and maximise ROI.
Phase II: Optimise On-Site Factors
During the initial website review, the CRO service isolated all of the problems in your copywriting, website design, and website programming that are alienating visitors and preventing conversions. In this phase, CRO experts will fix all of the conversion problems in your various website components.
Phase III: Testing and Verification of CRO Results
To verify results and calculate overall ROI, conversion rate optimisation services will use split testing and carefully monitor Key Performance Metrics. The testing sample size required to verify results will depend upon the primary conversion goal (direct sale vs. qualified lead) and extent of revisions completed during optimisation. Ecommerce sites, for example, will have a large number of landing pages that will need to be monitored and each will require enough traffic to the page to verify results. Therefore, testing times can vary significantly when confirming CRO results.
Phase IV: Traffic Optimisation
With very few exceptions, conversion rate optimisation services will first optimise a site for conversions before moving on to optimising traffic sources. Logically and from an ROI perspective, this is the best course of action because you dont want to invest good money in new traffic and send it to a site that isnt converting. So once the on-site factors are optimised and tested, conversion rate optimisation experts will move to optimise your traffic sources. CRO experts will begin with your paid traffic sources and eliminate all non-converting keywords to reduce marketing costs and then move on to SEO, SMM, and other primary traffic channels.
For the typical website, it can take up to 2 months or longer for conversion rate optimisation services to complete the entire process. Larger, more complex websites can take even longer to optimise. But when complete, the results of CRO more than justify the time and expense. And since CRO experts both reduce marketing costs and make long-term changes to your website copywriting, programming and design that boost conversions long after the optimisation is complete, the ROI for conversion rate optimisation services tends to be more than double what you can generate from SEO, SMM, PPC, or competing options.