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New to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)? The term “SEO keywords” is sure to be among the first concepts you encounter. Knowing what keywords do, choosing the right ones to use, and sticking to your keyword strategy will help you to improve your website’s rankings in search engine results. It’s quite a complex area, but this introduction to SEO keywords will help you to get started. 

Although old-fashioned marketing methods like print advertising still have their place, most businesses are finding that they get far more bang for their marketing buck by applying online marketing techniques. An SEO marketing strategy can pay off in a big way, but if you’re new to all of this, or even if you already have some idea of it, you may have a few questions. What is an SEO marketing strategy, and what should it consist of? Let’s get started!

SEO, meaning “Search Engine Optimisation” is a term that everyone who has a website should familiarise themselves with. But how does it work? Here are the basics. Search engines have a job to do. When people enter a query, they must offer relevant results. There may be hundreds or even thousands of results for a single search, so search engines attempt to rank them according to how useful they’ll be. 

If you’ve ever worked in SEO, it’s likely there have been many instances where you’ve felt at the mercy of Google. You’re sure that you’ve done everything right, you’ve gone through Google’s guidelines with a fine toothcomb, and yet it’s almost as if Google takes some kind of sadistic pleasure in confining your website to the darkest corners of its search results.   Let us start by clarifying something: Google wants you to succeed, providing that you put in the work. This can be seen in how it makes the inner workings of it

“Crawl budget” is one of those bits of jargon that most SEO specialists throw at their clients to either make a point about what content should be placed on the site – or used to reaffirm their expertise to justify a retainer renewal during an annual status review!    Either way, a discussion about crawl budget can easily become overly technical or grossly over-simplified, with the results that business owners end up misunderstanding the concept or not knowing why or how it should be applied.    In this article, we’re gi

Depending on the size of your website, the type of SEO audit, and whether you choose a professional or DIY site audit, your costs can range from the cost of the resources you allocate to the project to several thousand pounds. At Yellowball, we keep the costs of an SEO audit as reasonable as possible for our clients because we know how essential this service is to the overall success of your paid SEO services and strategy. In this article, we’ll look at the different types of SEO audit services, what the audits involve, why they matter, and h

Content is a crucial aspect of any SEO strategy and has been for quite some time, and it would be remiss to talk about content without addressing thin content. Ever since the Panda Update, the purpose of content has been providing an enriching and informative user experience rather than simply appeasing search engines. As will be explored throughout this article, content does not exist simply as a vehicle for keywords or a means to fill up space – to bulk up a website and make it look substantial. As we always say: bigger is not better…

The key to driving relevant organic traffic is understanding ‘search intent’. This means getting to grips with exactly what kind of problem the user is trying to solve. As well as this, brands must account for the ways the search engine landscape is changing. Ben Gomes, SVP of search engineering at Google, outlined in 2018 that there would be three fundamental shifts to the way we interact with search engines: From answers to journeys - problem solving is now about providing an experience, rather than simply answering a question. As

In an ideal world companies wouldn’t have to worry about link building. Perfect search engines with perfect algorithms would precisely rank content for every imaginable search. These infallibly indexed web pages would gain links naturally from other websites and we’d all sleep better at night knowing that link earning was taking care of everything.   Unfortunately, this image of search utopia is not currently how things work (well, for the vast majority of websites anyway). As everyone in the SEO world is all too familiar, not all webs

It’s a well-worn trope. You step onto the underground and everyone is staring at their phones, transfixed. Phone screens are demanding our attention more than ever and Google knows it.In response, the search engine giant will begin to  prioritise mobile-first indexing for all sites from September this year, meaning that the mobile version of your site will be more important than ever. This appears to be one of the final steps for Google switching entirely to a mobile-first index.What’s this got to do with content? Well, if you hav

The spread of Covid-19, a previously unseen Coronavirus has had a global effect. Europe’s largest regional airline has already collapsed, the FTSE 100 had its largest single day drop since the 2008 financial crisis and Italy is currently in complete lockdown. It’s dominating the news...and probably conversations with your colleagues, friends & family alike.Recently, Trump’s seemingly pointless impeachment trial and subsequent acquittal reminded us once again of fake news and misinformation. The companies that own our digital lives

Last week we saw a strong and often adverse reaction from the SEO community with regards to a video published by Google themselves on 26th February. The video was titled “Tips for hiring an SEO specialist”. It all centres around their 3rd tip: to get a free technical audit before making your decision and was highlighted by Danny Sullivan on Twitter.Our initial reaction was somewhat similar to others. Full audits take a considerable amount of time and as such, any free audit is likely to be automated and of no real value. Then we started

Page speed is a hot topic for SEO in 2020. The speed of a webpage (or a whole site, for that matter) plays a significant role in conversion rates. In fact, 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load, and a 1-second delay in a page’s response reduces conversions by 7%. And page speed’s role is only going to increase. So, shaving a few milliseconds here and there off of your load time can have profound effects on your business. One method for improving page speed is lazy-loading.  What is lazy-loading? Lazy-load

In 2020, SEO is vital to businesses looking to reach their audience online. Thinking about investing in SEO? Get the ball rolling by asking yourself these questions:Is your website your main source of revenue?  Do you offer something unique within a crowded market?  Are you trying to increase visits to your brick-and-mortar store?  Are you struggling to get results using ‘traditional’ marketing channels?If the answer to any of the above is yes, you’ve got a real chance of succeeding with SEO, providing you do i

This position has been filled. Keep an eye out for opportunities on our Careers page. Yellowball are looking for a talented Content Writer to join our fast growing team. An ideal applicant would be a university graduate with exceptional writing skills and a keen interest in digital marketing. Preferably you will have experience in a similar role, agency or in-house and at least a top-line knowledge of marketing practices.  Key Skills & Requirements:Proven ability to produce high quality and engaging copy Capacity to adapt to a r

Google’s Webmasters have announced that pages using  data-vocabulary.org as their structured data schema will no longer be able to get Rich Snippets in SERPS as of 6th April 2020. This is due to a shift of focus to  schema.org, which it considers to be the principal structured data standard for developers.  What is a structured data schema?   In simple terms, a structured data schema is essentially a labelling system for a page’s content. Labelling the different elements of a page’s content helps Google Search to crawl and

In the past week (Jan 22nd to be precise), Google confirmed that they have rolled out an update which prevents a website from gaining the featured snippet and a more traditional organic listing on the first page. This feels in line with their update last June which aimed to provide more domain diversity within relevant search results by restricting domains to two links on a single results page.Danny Sullivan announced on Twitter that featured snippets count as one of the 10 organic listing on the first page and that a website’s listing wo

This blog is the second in a three-part series about outdated SEO tactics that you should avoid. Here, we’ll focus on content and other aspects of on-site SEO. You can read part one here, which details some common misconceptions about keyword research that people still abide, and part three will look at old link building tactics. Get ready to un-learn some archaic SEO!  In our previous edition of Archaic SEO, we looked at some outdated concepts and tactics that still plague the use of keywords. Hopefully (if we are doing our jobs well

  This blog is the first in a three-part series about outdated SEO tactics that should be avoided. Here, we’ll focus on the use of keywords. Part two looks at outdated concepts in the world of content, while part three concerns link building. Get ready to un-learn some archaic SEO! In the world of SEO, applying outdated tactics or operating on the basis of disproven concepts could potentially be damaging, if not fatal for the online presence of a business. Google are constantly fighting against sneaky strategies that

According to Google Trends, for almost a decade the term ‘content marketing’ has continually increased in popularity. This correlates strongly with the continued growth of social media over the past few years, but this trend is also present for terms such as ‘SEO content’. It is apparent then that there is increased interest in the topic and most probably, more content being produced.

If you think this sounds a little random, it is. The idea was sparked by a random conversation with a complete stranger in the depths of Soho. After explaining what Yellowball did, the person in question asked whether her Reddit presence would be beneficial to SEO. Some questioning and a quick Google was followed by a, “I’m actually going to have to look into that because on the face of it I would say no…..but Reddit is huge so there may be something in it”.I originally wanted this article to be purely related to the potential SEO b

If there is any topic that’s going to put fire in the bellies of SEOs far and wide, it’s Black Hat Vs. White Hat SEO. Whether you’re a seasoned SEO or just starting, the importance of understanding the implications and techniques of either approach cannot be overstated. We’re going to take a look at the differences between White Hat and Black Hat SEO, the techniques you’ll want to adopt and the ones you’ll want to drop like a hot potato. With the additional help of our handy blog and glossary, you’ll be soaring to the dizzying hei

Google has a whopping 82% share of the market for search engine usage in the UK. This does, however, raise the interesting question as to what motivates the other 18% of people to use other search engines. While Google is extremely effective as a search engine, the emergence of competitors speaks to some of the criticisms of Google, and while Bing is Google’s nearest competitor, it lags behind on a mere 12%. Nevertheless, it is important to understand the reasons that more and more users are switching to different providers, no doubt somethin

Every company, regardless of their industry or size, will need to perform a site audit on its website at least once in it's lifetime. You'd be amazed how quickly websites become dated and fall out of pace with the latest best practices in website design, user experience and search performance. A site audit helps to ensure that your site is working at its optimum.Different digital marketing agencies have different ideas of how frequently you should be undertaking a site audit. Really, it varies from site to site. For smaller websites (up to

The nofollow rel attribute has been used by Google for nearly 15 years, pretty much in the same capacity throughout. Applying “nofollow” to a link has historically been an instruction to Google that whilst the link can be followed by the user, it shouldn’t be seen as an endorsement. Therefore, it shouldn’t contribute any ranking factors to the destination site of the link. This was implemented to prevent comment spam but was also used at a later date to avoid being penalised for link schemes by way of sponsored posts.As of 10th Sept

App Store Optimization Guide: How To Do ASO? It’s not an understatement to say that Apple App Store and Google Play are two of the most important marketplaces in the world. There are around 1.83 million apps on the Apple App Store and over 2 million apps on Google Play Store with 5.11 billion mobile users in the world using these apps. Not only are apps on the increase in terms of number and users, they are also quickly increasing into a highly profitable revenue source. In 2018, the global mobile app revenues amounted to over $365 billion U

What is the right to be forgotten?  The right to be forgotten is defined by the Independent Commissioners Office as follows:  “Under Article 17 of the GDPR individuals have the right to have personal data erased. This is also known as the ‘right to be forgotten’. The right is not absolute and only applies in certain circumstances.” - ICO Under Article 17, individuals can make “a request for erasure” verbally or in writing for sensitive information about themselves to be removed from any site and from the SERPs entirely. The rig

As SEOs, it’s our goal to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to improve your website’s rankings and get it seen by the right people at the right time. It’s also our responsibility to make sure that we’re doing so in the most ethical and effective ways possible. This means abiding by the guidelines set out by Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. The basic principles outlined in these guidelines are: Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines. Don't deceive your users. Avoid tricks intended to improve sear

Video marketing has been increasing in popularity ever since YouTube started to rise to fame. Optimising your YouTube channel and videos as part of your digital marketing strategy is key to ensuring the success and ROI of these marketing tools. However, knowing where to begin is not always easy. If you use our simple guide to YouTube Optimisation, you’ll be shooting to the dizzying heights of the YouTube search pages in no time! Conduct Keyword ResearchBefore doing anything else, the top priority for YouTube SEO is keyword research. Ther

QUESTIONS How much experience do you have? Determining how much experience your new SEO agency has is a key factor in deciding whether or not to hire them. Whilst everyone has to start somewhere if the person/team running your SEO has minimal experience in SEO, previous employment or otherwise, it simply does not bode well for the success of your campaign. How do you measure the success of a campaign? Any SEO agency worth their salt should have appropriate and effective KPIs in place to ensure that your campaign is on the right track. For e

Before you get too deep into this article, we advise you to first read our post on whether featured snippets are worth it for SEO, if you haven’t already. It sets the scene for the items we’ll be covering here, providing some background before we get into the more juicy ‘how-tos’ of this post. We’ll be expanding on how to identify the correct snippets to go after, as well as providing some tips on how to structure your content in order to get yourself featured. Why should you target featured snippets? Over the last 10 years, Google

What is this new button? Google has added a new feature - the “Request a Quote” button. This button enables searchers to directly request a quote for your services, directly from the SERPs. It’s there to be more seamless, reduce friction between users searching for your business, and answers the no.1 question - “What will cost?”. So, what does this button mean for your SEO, and how do you get it? How do I get Google’s request a quote button? The only way to get the feature is to turn on the messaging feature in Google My Business

There has been great outcry from industries that are seemingly under attack from the Big G. The search engine is constantly improving their service for searchers, offering flight comparison, job boards, books and more. This is all well and good for the users that make up 3.5 billion searches a day. However, it can be detrimental for platforms that have built their businesses on providing this service. But are Google really stealing traffic from publishers?As we discussed in our post on featured snippets, Google claim to be conscious of thei

Once upon a time, SEO was solely focussed on getting to that number one position for high value search terms. The SERPs were linear and the goal was clear. To an extent this is still the case. Ranking at the top of the SERPs for your most prominent keywords can be incredibly lucrative. However, the SERPs are continually growing in complexity. Our analytics capabilities are getting stronger and stronger. Even the way in which we use search engines has changed dramatically. Remember this clip from College Humor? Notice anything different? We now

Maybe you have one website and all your content is in English, but you’ve realised that you have a lot of customers visiting your site from China. Or maybe you are expanding your services beyond your native country’s borders, and want to target English-speakers worldwide, and not just in England or America. When you are looking to implement SEO for a multi-language website, you’ll need to look into language targeting. Language targeting is when you market your services or products towards users across the globe who all speak the same

You’ve made the decision. You’ve started looking beyond your own borders and want to start selling your service or products to customers abroad as well as domestically. But how do you get your website ready for international expansion, and how do you make sure it’s SEO optimised for targeting users in multiple countries? When it comes to implementing country-specific SEO, country targeting is the best option available to you.Country targeting is when you market your services and products specifically towards audiences in more than one

Expanding into new markets is a thrilling time for any business, but it can also be a risky one. You’re moving up in the world, moving into new, uncharted markets (at least by you) and are eager to make the most out of the exciting opportunities that they offer. However, there’s also the risk that it won’t pan out. When you decide that you want go international with your website, it’s an all or nothing scenario. You can’t dip your toe in the water when it comes to making changes to your website to best target your new audiences. Y

Investing the time, energy and resources into a beautiful website without also investing in SEO, is like buying a new car and not buying petrol. It’ll sit on your driveway looking pretty, but it’s not going to get you anywhere. However, entering the world of SEO, how it works, and trying to make a decision about the best route forward for you and your business can seem like a mind-boggling task. We’ve taken stock of what’s out there and the different SEO solutions that are available. We’ve put together a comprehensive, transparent pro

Sometimes SEO can feel like an exclusive member’s club that only the most esteemed of marketers are invited to. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, SEO is not a dark art – though many agencies will try to mask it as such. Instead of hiding in an SEO ivory tower, we thought it was about time that we sat down and explained in simple terms. “SEO is a non-interruptive form of marketing” – Alice Logan, SEO Executive How does SEO Work? Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising your website in order to im

Let’s get one thing straight. The Yoast SEO plug-in is one of, if not the most popular SEO plugin for Wordpress websites. It’s been around since 2008. It has over 5 million installations and at the time of writing, a 4.9 out of 5 rating from over 26,000 reviews on Wordpress.org.It’s really useful. We use it at Yellowball on a lot of our clients’ websites. The plugin allows webmasters to update meta data with consummate ease. We’d highly recommend using it!However, there are some common misconceptions around Yoast’s SEO and r

You may have had your feathers ruffled by the news that Moz have been making some developmental amends to the metric they’re most renowned for in the SEO world: Domain Authority. The changes are set to roll out today (5th March 2019). And while they shouldn’t necessarily be anything to worry about, you definitely want to make yourself – and any clients of yours – aware of the changes.We’ve much to be grateful to Moz for and the intention of this move is to ensure (further) that we’re getting the most out of the data they provid

We are looking for a talented, hands-on marketing manager to help create, shape and lead campaigns on behalf of our expanding London agency. As Yellowball’s marketing manager, you will be responsible for creating and delivering marketing strategies for the company, organising events and working closely with our internal SEO team.Who are we?Yellowball is a digital marketing agency specialising in website design and SEO (search engine optimisation). We work with businesses who are committed to their digital marketing and our clients ran

The concept of performance based SEO campaigns is simple. Formerly known as ‘Pay for Rankings’ campaigns, they’re based upon the agency being paid only as and when they deliver results (or a substantial amount of monthly fees withheld until results are produced). Awesome! If agencies are so confident in their SEO abilities, surely they would be happy to put their money where their mouths are?On the surface of it, yes. It looks great and believe me, as an agency, if we could make it work it would make our lives a hell of a lot easier w

Role: UX Web Digital Designer Start date: ImmediateLocation: London & remote with flexible part/full-time optionsWho are we?Yellowball are a London-based multi award-winning digital marketing agency. We’re experts in web design, SEO, paid search and design, partnering with clients of every shape and size across the UK and internationally. With passion, creativity and razor-sharp commercial focus wired into everything we do, we’re trusted by organisations everywhere to deliver real impact and results. We’re lookin

Yellowball are looking for a seriously talented and experienced SEO Account Manager to join our fast-growing team. Who are we? Yellowball is a multi award-winning digital marketing agency specialising in web, SEO, PPC, video and design, partnering with brands and businesses of every shape and size across the UK. With passion, creativity and razor-sharp commercial focus wired into everything we do, we're trusted by organisations everywhere to deliver real impact and results.We love what we do and deliver a great, ROI-focussed service. As a

Yellowball are looking for a seriously talented SEO Executive with a few years experience to join our fast-growing team. Who are we? Yellowball is a digital marketing agency specialising in website design and search engine optimisation. We work with businesses who are committed to their digital marketing from funded scale ups through to more established organisations and brands.We love what we do and deliver a great, ROI focussed service. As an agency we are growing quickly both in terms of headcount and the types of clients that we engag

div class="description">Yellowball are looking for a seriously talented Digital Marketing Executive with impeccable content writing skills and a strong interest in SEO to join our fast-growing team.Who are we?Yellowball is a digital marketing agency specialising in website design and search engine optimisation. We work with businesses who are committed to their digital marketing from funded scale ups through to more established organisations and brands.We love what we do and deliver a great, ROI focussed service. As an agency we

Reviewing our SEO predictions of 2018 At the end of each year, it’s become somewhat of a tradition for agencies to compile their SEO predictions for the following year. Back in January, we thought we’d look ahead as well! However, not many of these websites actually look into how accurate their predictions turned out to be. Considering the year is now coming to end, we thought it would be a good idea to see how well our SEO predictions played out throughout 2018. Continued rise of AI 2018 saw Google make some serious advancements in art

Yellowball are looking for a talented Business Developer to join our fast growing digital marketing agency and to help drive the business forward. Who are we? Yellowball is a digital marketing agency working with market-leading brands across all areas of the marketing mix throughout London and the UK including leading Independent Schools, Governments, Software as a Service Platforms, Funded Scale Ups and many more . Our core services include:Website Design Search Engine Optimisation Branding and Graphic DesignWho are we lookin

Google’s quality rater guidelines PDF was made available to the public in 2015. It outlines the ways in which Google’s team of quality raters judge onsite content. These raters don’t have any direct impact on your rankings, mind you, but they are the people who advise Google as to what future algorithm updates should be targeting in regards to poor content.The last major revisions to the document were made a year ago, but on the 20th of July 2018, the quality rater guidelines were updated once more. Taking aim primarily at what makes

Since its inception SEO has been plagued with a tarnished reputation. A long history of manipulative behaviour by more than just a few in the industry and a number of high profile Google updates have, in the past, highlighted the constant struggle against low quality spammy work.Almost in conjunction with professional cycling, the years between 2011 and 2015 appeared to constitute a concerted effort by the ‘powers that be’, or more accurately the power that is (Google) to clean up the industry. Unfortunately, it’s safe to say that cyc

This week saw Google receive a record fine of or €4.34 billion, or $5 billion, from the EU commission due to violation of anti-trust (*read ‘monopoly’) laws. Headed up by the tenacious EU Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, this follows a fine last year of €2.42 billion due to prioritisation of Google Shopping. Whichever way you look at it, that’s a lot of money. With a reported $103 billion in cash reserves on the face of it, Google’s parent company Alphabet can afford the fines. However, it does bring up some interesting speculation

Understanding how SEO works is meaningless if you do not also understand if it’s working. Marketers and businesses should always pay close attention to the effects of their SEO work in order to perfect their approach and drive valuable results. This is where metrics come in. Yes, they may seem boring at first, kind of like Times New Roman or Morrissey fans. But trust us, SEO reporting metrics are your friends. They help us understand the impact of our efforts. But how exactly should you go about effectively measuring the success of an SEO cam

Being the savvy marketers that we are, Yellowball have partnered with SMX London, one of the world’s largest search marketing events, to bring you tickets at a 15% discount for SMX London on 22nd and 23rd May 2018!Get yourself to etc venues on Bishopsgate (near Liverpool Street Station) and listen to industry leaders, panel discussions, see what’s new in the market and who knows, maybe have a chat with your peers and competitors. Organised by Search Engine Land, SMX London is a big event within the search marketing world, and our 15% di

Here at Yellowball, we like to think of ourselves as people who always welcome progression, whether in the SEO industry, the design space, or in the volatile realm of social media – after all, it is our job to stay on top of these things. Change usually comes hand-in-hand with opportunity and potential. It brings the chance to develop new approaches, grow your skills, improve your understanding, and question your own assumptions. That’s the idea anyway…Those who operate in the big bad world of SEO may have noticed a recent change of s

In a recent Whiteboard Friday, Rand Fishkin spoke about the way writing content for SEO has changed over the years. When search engine optimisation first began, it was something of a wild west; today’s Black Hat tactics were the norm back in the early 2000s. The SEO tactics used two decades ago on platforms like Netscape have, unsurprisingly, changed dramatically. However, the techniques used by SEO experts even 5 to 10 years ago, when the landscape of the web was a lot more familiar, are still used and are most often entirely outdated today.

It’s both the exasperation and the thrill of working in SEO: the rules of the game are constantly in a state of flux. New advancements in technology, major updates from Google and changes in the habits and trends of consumers are all factors which contribute to the work of SEOs.  It’s a perpetually evolving industry and part of an SEO’s job is to remain firmly afloat of any new updates and changes which could affect a digital marketing strategy. With this in mind, we thought it would be helpful to compile our top predictions for SEO in 2

At its core, SEO is the practice of increasing a website’s ability to rank at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) for a set of target keywords, also known as ‘search terms’. In turn, this results in increased traffic to a website from search engines.There are no underhand tricks, it does not involve arcane magic or entry into a cult. Sure, granular details can get a little heavy, especially on the technical side, but we believe the core theories of search engine optimisation are easy to understand. If you only remember

It happens all the time. You have a task that you know is going to involve something reasonably arduous. The difficulty can manifest itself in multiple forms whether that be some hard work, an investment of time or money or even just require a devotion of brain power. Your tasks may not even be that arduous, there might just be a lot of them.Whatever the reason is, the entirety of the task appears too daunting to even start. Too much to do, too complex, too little time, costs too much….all seemingly viable reasons.We see this all the

So you want to learn about this thing called ‘Search Engine Optimisation’... We know, it’s daunting, it’s confusing, there’s so much to learn, and there’s all sorts of SEO specific terminology. Luckily for you, we live in the age of the internet: almost anything can be self-taught using the wealth of free resources available online. But with so much available on the web, how do you even get started without getting headaches from the information overload?We’ve done some of the legwork for you by pooling together a handy list of

The layman would be forgiven for thinking that marketing was all celebrity endorsements and outrageous give away competitions. Sure there are areas of the marketing industry that capitalise on stratospheric budgets, but for those of us that aren’t on first name terms with messers Dicaprio and Pitt, we have to choose the most effective marketing channel for our clients’ needs.Disclaimer: many of us at Yellowball have devoted a lot of time to becoming experts in the world of search engine optimisation so we hold our hands up...we are prob

By its very nature, search engine optimisation is about increasing your website’s ability to rank for given search terms, which in turn should result in more conversions from the search engine results pages (SERPs). No wonder then that for a long time the primary focus of SEO campaigns has been on getting people to rank higher for their ‘target keywords’. The problem is that a blinkered focus on keyword rankings, especially if it is on a handful of ‘money keywords’ is a not a true measure of success. It can also lead you into some fun

Does Google take into account how people interact with your site when deciding to rank your website in their search results? A subject somewhat shrouded in mystery and confusing literature - leaving people unsure as to whether user and usage data is a ranking factor for SEO. Regardless of whether you read the evidence we have gathered below, along with some more speculative theories...improving user experience and flow through your website should be important to you regardless of whether or not it has an effect on SEO. Concentrating on the user

Touted as the largest change to Google’s homepage for the past two decades, Google’s new homepage feed has been rolled out to mobile users in the US, with a worldwide rollout imminent (we already have it in the UK). This is likely to then encompass Google’s homepage on desktops as well. The long and the short of it is that under the search bar Google have added a customisable feed to their app, providing quick access to your most favoured content.What exactly does it do?Do we see this taking off?Is it another attempt by Google

The confusing world of undefined metrics The SEO world has traditionally been thought of as the darker corners of the marketing ecosystem, full of hard ‘dark arts’ and terminology. Sure it takes a little time to get your head around all of the various factors involved and the terminology can be overwhelming but at Yellowball we love to provide clarity on the subject. So here we are again, this time looking at the overarching SEO metrics available to you. Which ones are important, which ones are redundant and should you pay attention to the

Impressions, clicks, CTR, queries, position, bounce rate, time on page. These are just a few examples of the overarching data that you can derive from Google Analytics and Google’s Search Console (formerly known as Webmaster Tools). It can all get rather confusing, especially when they all have their own merits for understanding the success of an SEO campaign. We wanted to deep dive into how you can improve your website’s appearance in search, therefore improving click-through rates from search engine results pages. High CTR = More Traffic

In part one of this post, we discussed the importance of link-building and two of the most popular techniques to get you started. In part two we will share some further techniques for you to work on perfecting. From approaching the process with a PR mindset to fixing broken links, we will cover all of the most important bases. With our suggestions, advice and a fair bit of time on your hands, you’ll be a link-building whizz in no time! Put on your PR hat There is a considerable crossover between link-building and a digital form of PR. After

Link-building is one of the most infamous aspects of SEO and can be a bit of a minefield if you don’t know where to start. Often the most challenging aspect of an SEO campaign, generating high quality links can be time-consuming and frustrating. Despite the struggles, building a strong backlink profile is one of the most influential ways of climbing up the search engine results pages (SERPs) so trust that if you invest the time properly it will provide results.To use an analogy, think of the web as a giant map, on which all the place name

SEO is often defined as increasing a website’s rankings on search engines, hence the name ‘search engine optimisation’. Some go further and look at the increased visibility a website gets through search engines via an SEO campaign but even this is somewhat misleading. The majority or businesses will employ an SEO agency to deliver a return on their investment via increased sales. Therefore, the main objective of SEO is an increase conversions via search traffic. The key point is that keyword rankings are purely an indicator, they should n

In early March rumours started flying around about an unconfirmed update to the Google algorithm. The update has been lovingly named ‘Fred’ (why not) and has sparked much debate and speculation amongst SEOs. Why? Well, because no one really knows what it is that Fred does. Fear not though - we wouldn’t be writing a blog post if we had no helpful information to share. We have done our research, gathered the intelligence and written this post to explain what Fred could mean for you. What does Fred do? Annoyingly, Google has refused to con

The old adage of ‘you get what you pay for’ rings true for the majority of industries and SEO is certainly no different. There are a multitude of companies and lone wolves offering cheap SEO services with grand promises of first page rankings and fast. In reality, the only way to achieve such a promise is by employing suspect black-hat techniques, which can land you in big trouble with the Overlord Google. With cheap SEO your risk profile for penalties and ultimately ending up in a worse position than when you started increases substantiall

You may have noticed (well, we hope you have!) that we recently launched our shiny new website. We are absolutely delighted with the result and the response it has gained so far. Nevertheless, it has not been without its stresses and it is easy to underestimate the scale of such a task.The launch of a website is far more intricate than a beautiful new look and cool new features - there are a whole myriad of elements and issues to consider. As SEO experts, we also understand the importance of transferring any previous ranking authority over

We’re looking for a talented and hungry business development manager to join Yellowball, our fast growing marketing agency. We’ve been around for 4 years and are an agency that prides itself on our ability to deliver exceptional work, on time and within budget. We work across a number of disciplines including website design and development, digital marketing campaigns and printed collateral as well as being trusted marketing advisors for our clients. In addition to this, we are not sector specific, meaning that you will be working with busi

We often talk about the importance of using Google Analytics to track the success of your website and to delve into useful statistics. Measuring popular statistics like pageviews, bounce rate, session duration, popular content and demographics are all essential metrics to be noting but let’s face it, everyone and their dog knows about these statistics and how to access them. Whilst still valuable, they are merely indicative of the overall success of your site and may not translate directly into business success. Goal Conversions A lower bounc

For anyone who runs a website, Google Analytics is a vital tool that helps you measure, learn and grow. Data from Google Analytics helps business owners and marketers make key decisions and improve their return on investment based on the behaviour of traffic on their website, yet the vast majority of small to medium sized business are being plagued with spam on their Google Analytics. You may not even be aware of the problem, but you should be. Spam will skew your statistics and inaccurate analytics could be preventing you from making sound bus

For those working in the world of search engine optimisation, we hear it all the time: “I would love to be able to target neighbouring areas or these locations”. Business owners naturally want to spread their net as wide as possible but this can be a little tricky, especially when you don’t have a physical office in these locations. Enter local landing pages. You may be aware of local landing pages but you may not be aware of how beneficial they can be in boosting location-specific SEO, nor might you be aware of the potential pitfalls ass

A step by step guide to analysing your backlink profiles and cleaning up any spam The end of 2015 was supposed to be a time when the SEO world saw a much awaited update to Google’s notorious Penguin. Originally released into the wild in April 2012 to tackle the issue of linkspam, we have not seen a proper update to this part of Google’s search algorithm since October 2014 when they rolled out Penguin 3.0 over a number of months. The Penguin update can be especially frustrating for those who are penalised (lovingly referred to by many as a

Another year has brought with it another array of Google updates and another 12 months of clamor from SEO professionals and enthusiasts alike. Google's feared updates tend to attract more air time than any other news in regards to search engine optimisation but there has been an interesting shift in regards to article focus on many of the more well known search specific websites. We have looked at the headline acts for SEO in 2015 including a race to be mobile ready, the introduction of machine learning via Rankbrain, the continued war against

We are big fans of new creative ideas and theory, but on the other hand theory is still only theory until proven. That is why we decided to run three A/B tests on new adoptions in email marketing utilising emojis in subject lines, gifs and content type. We didn’t want to attempt to discuss all of them in one post so this will be a three part series. First up the vogue subject of emojis. If you have read any of our other blog posts on emojis (part one and part two) you will have seen that 2015 has been a big year for our funny little digital

We live in a world where high street brands have moved online and marketing is often focussed on digital engagement, a world where assigning budget to printed collateral is spoken about in hushed voices. For good reasons businesses are seemingly more concerned with their website’s user and usage data or social engagement than their print marketing. Digital efforts are easier to track, more fluid and offer far more data upon which a business can then tailor their campaign. In 2015 print is viewed by many as an archaic and inefficient practice.

Google have announced (seemingly via Bloomberg) an addition to their Hummingbird search algorithm, called RankBrain. They say that it is a form of AI or machine learning that has been tested in their search algorithm for the past few months to help with answering never before seen queries, with what appears to be very pleasing results. There isn’t a huge amount of information out there on RankBrain and Google are playing their cards very close to their chest, so much so that they have not even commented on the update on their Webmaster Centra

I’ve spoken to many companies on this topic over the years, and it is the ones that have gained a clear understanding of how, why and where to collect data on their customers and prospects, that have become highly successful. The general opinion is that no lead-generating marketing campaign can be successful without high quality data. So, I thought I’d share with you what I felt seemed to be a consensus amongst all these data conscious businesses.Let’s start off with the how...All businesses should use a CRM (client relationship

There are an incredible amount of potential businesses just waiting to be started, with more emerging daily thanks to new technology and the internet. In fact 13.5% of all purchases were conducted on the internet in 2010, according to BCG, and this is projected to rise to 23% by 2016. So with that in mind and so many new start up businesses coming through the woodwork there’s never been a better time to start a business. Yet despite the vast quantity of possibilities, there are a few essential steps you need to take before starting a business

Business networking is an incredibly valuable way to expand your knowledge, learn from the success of others, attain new clients and tell others about who you are and what you do. I’ve been to over 200 networking events in the past - it enables people to put a face to a name and adds a physical touch to your business, something which is becoming more and more difficult in today’s digital age!Here at Yellowball we recommend businesses utilising networking as a way to gain new clients and to build a sustainable business. Here are some top

September always represents an exciting time for Yellowball. The start of a new academic year is a fresh start for a number of our key education clients and an opportunity to get our creative hats on.  The last 12 months have been incredibly rewarding for Yellowball and a period in which we have continued to deliver projects, campaigns and ideas for our clients in the education sector (here is some of our work). If you are reading this, the likelihood is that you have received one our brand in hand packages, seen a social media advert, rece

Google are being very bold at the moment. The company does not seem satisfied with their stock valuation in the hundreds of billions and its vice like grip on the majority of search traffic across the western world. Instead, it would appear that Larry Page, Sergey Brin and the rest of the management feel like Google has outgrown its original iteration and that steps must be taken to ensure that future growth of this veritable global behemoth. This has led to their unveiling of a revamped logo for their search engine - the largest change since

Living in this new age of technology we suffer from an information overload on a daily basis. Reports have stated that we are exposed to 34GB of information (equivalent to ~100,500 words) a day outside of work, how are we meant to successfully process all of this information. As well as this, businesses are fighting for the viewers time; on average, 55% of people that click on a web page will spend less than 15 seconds looking at it. Those first couple seconds are vital to gaining the attention of the user. This is where your branding comes int

Digital, mobile and web design evolves at a frighteningly fast pace. Continuing our recent series on UX design, we’ve hand-picked some of the best and most effective UX trends and principles we’ve  deployed with Yellowball clients so far in 2015.Personalised user experiences10, or even 5 years ago, most websites were still a one-way experience. A user would log on and be spoon-fed the content that the business or organisation felt was relevant and appropriate. Then, along came the explosion of social, and with it, the concept of a

At Yellowball we have seen direct results from the email marketing campaigns that we have managed for ourselves and for our clients. Email still represents a platform on which we spend a considerable amount of time, especially during working hours.  Combine this with smartphones and email marketing can be an incredibly effective strategy. Here are our top 6 tips to running a successful campaign:1. Utilise the gatekeeperLet’s face it, opening emails that are obviously sent out en masse is not particularly high on our daily ‘to do’

There are around 24 hours to go now until Google’s ‘Mobile Friendly’ update to their search algorithm. When this was announced on February 26th 2015 webmasters and SEOs alike took notice as this has been labelled as the most significant change to their algorithm since the Hummingbird update in 2013. In fact, Google’s Zineb Ait Behajji said recently that this will have a wider impact than both the Panda update in 2011 and the infamous Penguin update in 2012. So where does that leave us?The writing has been on the wall for a while…

Search Engine Optimisation can be a tricky business at the best of times. With over 200 factors to take into account it is all too easy to get distracted and miss out a few crucial first steps. The result? You can spend weeks, if not months, working on your site only to gain no more visibility on the search engines than you did previously. Fear not though, not only will a lot of your efforts be beneficial in the long run (except for the in the case of the last point in this article), but we at Yellowball have put together a list of easy-to-make