JM Spate Web Analytics

Efficient SEO is all about experimentation. Knowing that your campaign is working is great, but it’s a long way from the full picture.

A friendly, helpful log

No two websites are the same and operate in exactly the same enviroment, so it’s only natural that their rankings and traffic patterns will respond in different ways. The trick is to know what works for your site, and how to get the maximum SEO value out of the minimum amount of effort.

The first step towards finding out what works and what doesn’t is to keep a log of changes. Adding some new text content to a particular section? Note it down. Rearranging some categories? Note that too. Even if all you do is update some graphics or add a few new products, make sure the change log gets updated.

When experimenting, keep in mind that the full effect of your changes can take a while to filter through. The user experience might change immediately but unless Google and the other search engines scrape your site quite frequently, rankings probably won’t leap up or down overnight. As a rule of thumb, the less frequently you make changes, the longer it will be before Google notices new alterations.

Matching up a few months of changelog with a few months of monitoring or analytics data is often extremely informative. Of course there will be external influences affecting traffic levels and behaviour, but the timelines almost always have a few interesting tidbits to share.

Our new and improved PDF Media Kit landed today, complete with recommendations from some new clients and a lot more info about the services on offer.

Thanks to is due to Tom B Fowler print and design for good service as always.

As an alternative to Facebook, I’m not really blown away by Google+, but like all social media sites, it’s only a communication system. It’s the quality of the content that counts the most. All those nifty widgets are great but they won’t work unless people use them to say something valuable. Despite the rapid growth- user numbers are estimated at 20 million- Google+ has a long way to go before it challenges Facebook as the number one social network.

Of course, there is more to Google+ than just another social hub. Behind the scenes it’s all about the socialisation of search. The way people find information online is changing, getting more social.

As social resources grow, they become databases of opinions, reviews, and chatter. Services like Twitter provide access to information generated by real people, without the need for a traditional search engine. Increasingly, people are turning to social media to find information. Why ask Google when you can find and ask real people you actually trust?

By bringing search and social media closer together with things like the +1 button, Google are following the trend. It’s a smart move. As for how well it will work, only time will tell!