An area I have yet to explore is the whole concept of negative SEO. This has become a hot topic, especially from the perspective of engaging in spammy activity against competitor websites. Essentially, the philosophy behind Penguin is to punish over-optimisation. From an off-page perspective it would be very easy to create a whole bunch of poor inbound links that could attract a Google penalty. It would be highly unethical and there is speculation that if Google applied a penalty based on this type of activity, that the damaged website may well be in a position to launch legal proceedings against originating websites or even Google. This area is likely to develop very rapidly especially in the black hat and crap hat SEO communities.

The Google Penguin update opens opportunities for  forensic SEO. If any website owner feels that their rankings have fallen since the update went live, they should check out their compliance with Google’s webmaster guidelines.

The answer is likely to depend on the sorts of SEO tactics you have used. As a guide if you adhere to the following rules you should be ok:

1. Generate links from reputable sources
2. Generate links from topic related websites and pages
3. Avoid anything that smells of automation
4. Avoid anything that sounds too good to be true – e.g. 1,000 links for $50 or “Guaranteed rankings”
5. Do not buy or rent links
6. Avoid keyword stuffing – That is keyword use that looks unnatural or repetitive

I have one site I control that appears to have lost some rankings. However, the site is new has retained some of its more valuable rankings and could well be suffering from a sandbox effect. Secondly, I have been fed one request to remove links from a third party website that has received a Google email requesting that they sort out some unnatural links. In this particular case I believe my client had picked up a link via a link exchange scheme.

Google updates its algorithm on a periodic basis. Over time these updates are gradually eliminating the more questionable SEO practices. In the past 18 months I have witnessed agressive marketing of ever poorer quality links. In essence, if you avoid spammy SEO you should be ok. If, however, you suspect your website is vulnerable, check out your backlinks for links that should not be there. If you get stuck you are welcome to contact us regarding our forensic SEO service.

The half day workshops run in the Autumn of 2012 and each session serves as an introduction to a different aspect of digital marketing. Each individual workshop is dedicated to a specific area of online marketing.

1. Search Engine Optimisation
2. Pay Per Click Advertising
3. Social Media
4. Web Analytics

In each case workshop participants will be given the theory and practical examples of how they can use each marketing discipline to make immediate improvements to their business performance.

Simply Clicks has recently completed workshops for the chamber on SEO and PPC. The workshop on web analytics is a new introduction to the chamber’s workshop list. Details will be provided on how to book a place once these are available.

Google’s income in the UK amounted to $1.15 billion (£735 million), equal to 10.8% of total revenue and 19.9% of Google’s Non-US revenues.

Despite the upbeat figures, Google reports that average cost per click fell 12%. I suspect that this is more a function of dilution caused by penetration of new markets and new market categories rather than a decline in like for like CPC rates in mature markets such as the UK and the US. As yet I cannot find any reference to the share of business that is attributed to the Google Adwords pay per click programme.

On an annualised basis, Q2 2011 to Q1 2012, Google’s revenues now amount to $39.98 billion. I estimate the UK’s share if this amounts to $4.3 billion or £2.75 billion.

For more information go to the Google investor centre.

Simply Contract Beds is the first foray by Yorkshire bed retailer Beds on Legs into the B2B contract beds market category for hotels, student accommodation and other large scale commercial organisations.

Beds on Legs has been a client of Simply Clicks since 2004 and has, until now, focused exclusively on business to consumer online retailing. Beds on Legs also trade using the Simply Kids Beds and Simply Mattress websites.

Adventure Base operate from Chamonix in France within the shadow of Mont Blanc. Their top ski chalet destinations are located in the French Alps at Chamonix, Morzine and Meribel. A core aspect of the travel marketing project is to extend the seasonality of the business by adding summer mountain-based leisure activities such as mountain biking, trail running and walking holidays.

Simply Kids Beds - More than 25% of sales via mobile devices

The majority of the revenue has been source via organic search. Emphasising the value of mobile SEO.  So far during March, the average iPad organic search visitor has spent £4.38. A figure much than any other mobile device and 67% higher than for visitors using laptop and desktop devices. Transaction value is 8% higher than for all devices.

The performance of the website must be seen in the context of the website’s young adult age profile. The website targets parents with young children. This consumer group has a higher propensity to both own and use  for e-commerce smartphones and other mobile devices such as iPads. At the same time conversion figures must be seen in the light of the website’s high bounce rate for mobiles. At 47%, the bounce rate is higher than for static devices.

Simply Clicks has managed the SEO and PPC activity of Simply Kids Beds since its inception.

The issues that came up in the Q&A included mobile, the share of effort that should be given to paid versus organic search and whether you should bid on competitor terms.

Last year I had an afternoon session on the final day.Then I was followed by Hilary Devey of TV’s Dragon’s Den fame. This year I had a morning slot on the first day, immediately following Global Travel Group managing director Dave Clayton. Other speakers included Travel 2 managing director Andy Freeth and Apprentice judge Karren Brady.

Hidden amongst the 40 enhancements are references to a further Panda update – Panda 3.3.

In addition, Google provides what appears to be a deliberately vague reference to a change in the way it evaluates the quality of inbound links. This seems to imply a change in the way Google measures topic relevance.

Many of the improvements appear to related to improving the performance of Google local search.