News

• FAQ pages 'could boost SEO'

  March 6th, 2009: 4:20pm

  Businesses may benefit from expanding their FAQ website content to capitalise on the trend of consumers entering longer search queries into search engines, it has been suggested.
  
  Writing on the Ask.com blog, Keith Hogan, technology vice-president at the search engine, cited recent research by Hitwise suggesting that more web users are inputting search queries that are five words or more in length.
  ... read full details »

• Google focus on brands 'only a minor update'

  March 6th, 2009: 4:20pm

  Google's recent shift towards emphasising big brands in search results is not a significant update to its algorithm, according to engineer at the search engine Matt Cutts.
  
  In a YouTube video, Mr Cutts explained that Google's recent changes came about because it wanted to focus on "trust, authority, reputation, PageRank [and] high quality" when returning search results to users.
  
  He stressed that Google is not so much focusing on the biggest brands as attempting to determine the most trusted and highest quality web pages.
  
  "It's not that we try to always return brands. We try to return whatever we think the best results are for users," Mr Cutts stated.
  
  The video was released after Aaron Wall of SEO Book published a blog post detailing recent changes in search rankings for big brands when popular product terms were entered, including queries for airline tickets, auto insurance, boots and diets, among others.... read full details »

• Sponsored blogs 'should use nofollow tags'

  March 6th, 2009: 4:19pm

  Sponsored blog posts should make use of 'nofollow' link tags until Google clarifies its stance on how to define paid links.
  
  This is according to Sean Corcoran of Forrester Research, who explained in a blog post that a recent report from his company advocating the use of appropriately disclosed "sponsored conversations" in online marketing campaigns had caused much discussion within the industry.
  
  He emphasised that he agreed with Google's position on not allowing paid posts to pass PageRank onto other sites, but queried how the search engine goes about defining what constitutes a paid link.
  
  "Is it any type of sponsorship within the editorial stream? Is it strictly a cash transaction? What about those who receive product samples?" he asked, going on to add: "At one point, can they determine compensation was exchanged or are they just guessing?"
  
  Mr Corcoran's original report called on marketers to harness sponsored conversations as a way of entering the online discussion space.
  
  To do this well, businesses should ensure they get to know the bloggers they want to work with, he suggested.... read full details »

• Report: Facebook top for branded searches

  March 4th, 2009: 4:12pm

  Facebook was the most popular branded search query in the UK during 2008, according to new figures from Hitwise.
  
  The social networking website was followed by brands such as Bebo, YouTube, eBay and Argos in the rankings, Hitwise said as it announced its UK Online Performance Awards.
  
  Other brands in the top ten were found to include MySpace, Amazon, the BBC, Yahoo! and Autotrader.
  
  Looking at particular website categories, the Met Office came out on top in the central government category in terms of website traffic.
  
  Robin Goad, research director at Hitwise, remarked: "Internet traffic to government websites increased by 13.3 per cent between February 2008 and February 2009. I would expect this trend to continue during 2009."
  
  The BBC topped the food and beverage - lifestyle and reference category, while Next was found to be the most popular shopping site in the UK.
  
  About 90 per cent of all UK web searches are associated with brands, according to Hitwise.... read full details »