Should business prepare for the effects of targeted negative SEO?

Should business prepare for the effects of targeted negative SEO?

After reading the different effects of Google updates to combat negative SEO, we found that
businesses were getting worried by negative SEO attacks.

Firstly what is Negative SEO, the definition of Negative SEO from SEO Metro is “a black hat technique that uses bad text links with negative connotations linking back to a competitor’s site, linking competitors to link farms and free-for-all sites, etc.”  It can also include hackers or malware that has infiltrated the site to change or shutdown the site. When these techniques are used it won’t help the sight been seen, causing it to be demoted by Google and SERP (Search Engines Results Page) been lowered.

People have now thought of using these techniques to purposely attempt at hitting competitors site with them and therefore effectively bringing the SERP of the site down. I have heard of cases where business have been targeted by these sorts of companies and have supposedly it has affected their SERP.  

How do you know that you are being attacked?

Well if your website is at page 1 one day for a certain keyword and it not there the next, there may be a chance it could be an attack of Negative SEO. But the best way is investigate what may be the cause of the issue. A way to do this would be looking at backlinks to check that the site isn’t being spammed out to every higga dickary directory site.

A way to check is to monitor your backlinks that can be done by using such SEO tools as :

• Google Webmaster Tools
• Open Site Explorer
• Majestic SEO
• Bing Webmaster Tools

Monitoring back links allows you to see where your site is being applied; you will mostly see sites that aren’t SEO friendly with low PR or no relevant to the business itself.  These type of link Google picks up and evaluates then judging if it relevant or not, if not it may affect the SERP of the site.

If you find your site down or incorrect data, it could be because of hacking or viruses that have infiltrated the site and therefore need to be taken care of quickly as possible as they could be damaging different areas of the site which will not help the SEO of the site.

Still if your competitors are trying to attack your website, that doesn’t mean that what they’ve doing will cause and problem or any judge able effect. It takes a lot of knowhow and therefore experience to create real negative SEO and therefore they would need to hire someone with that experience to attack.

By just entering the word Negative SEO sites can be found with the aim to strategically attack a customer’s competitor site.

At the end of the day should business be worried about a competitive company, hiring someone to attack competitor SEO?

If you find that someone is taking time and money into attacking your site it can be very damaging and may cause problem.  But looking at some cases people attacking each other though these companies isn’t very cost effective.

The best possible way to prevent and secure your site is to have a clean profile with a good history and having high quality links making it a lot harder to attack your SERP in the short term. The only issue that might be found with it is hard to gain good qualitly of links when you have started up a new website, plus having a site that has already entered itself in poor quailty links.

If you know that the site has been attacked by the negative SEO the best chance of you stopping the effects of it is to report it to Google, then they can check the site and see if the site has been getting attacked and will act accordingly.

For more information about Negative SEO, I would recommend that you look at:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/were-you-hit-by-negative-seo

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/negative-seo-myths-realities-and-precautions-whiteboard-friday

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2172844/Understanding-Negative-SEO-How-to-Defend-Your-Website

About Us:-
We are Red Cow Media an Online Marketing Agency based in Manchester, we specialise in Web Design, SEO, Social Media Marketing and more. Check out our website for more information by clicking here.

5 ways to enhance your online marketing

Firstly who are we? We are Red Cow Media an Online Marketing Agency that provides different services to increase the chance of an audience finding you and using your services. We have over 20 years’ experience in this field and seen how rapidly online marketing can change.  Here are ways in which you can enhance your online marketing:

Web Design

One fundamental way to enhance your online marketing is the attractiveness and professionalism of your website; in today’s internet-led world, your website is your main tool to reflect your company, making it a key way to improve your online marketing. A website should always suit the business, including enough detail of what it does, and should provide valid information related to the business, as well as being visually appealing.

The vast majority of consumers will now look to websites when looking for a service online, checking the website out first before investing their money. Consumers are also influenced by different aspects of the site, including:

• Loading Time
• Attractiveness
• Professionalism
• Quality and Quantity of Information

All these aspect should be taken into consideration when looking to enhance the chances of customers choosing your site over the hundreds of other competitors.

SEO

A massive problem with online marketing is that a business has a fantastic looking website, which they may have paid a large amount of money for, but no business coming from it. It essential to have customers going to your website and this can be done through SEO, or “Search Engine Optimisation”.

There are two different types of SEO, off page and on page optimisation, in a nutshell, it helps potential customers find your website and gets it in front of a wider audience.

The on page optimisation deals with what is on the website and in the website code, and what could be improved to help the search engines identify that your site is exactly what the customer is looking for in their search. Off page optimisation comes from quality link building, through a variety of techniques including content generation, articles and reciprocal linking to relevant sites.

Link Building

This is a huge part of the SEO process which needs to be an ongoing effort. It comes under off page optimisation and uses different techniques to help increase the chance of the customers finding your website.  Link building is like a voting system, every link accounts for one vote and this allows search engines to find which page are important and the most popular. 

Over time link building has changed with different algorithms, making it a fighting battle to keep up with the latest techniques in link building. What link building essentially does is create more interest in the site and increases its visibility, opening up doors to a wider audience.

Social Media

One commonly missed part of online marketing is social media, which allows the user to keep a connection with the customer and, again, be used for getting to a wider audience.  Social Media is accessible to anyone and can be customised, it now takes up a huge proportion of online presence and it is seen as a weakness to a business if they haven’t got a social presence. It also allows a business to engage with the target audience on a more personal, accessible level.

One of the main features with Social Media is that is can be seen or accessed almost anywhere, allowing people to see what the business is providing at any time and increasing the chance of the customer picking your company.

It is a myth that for successful Social Media Marketing you need to spend hours each week on the various different pages, it’s all about targeting the right people.

E Marketing

All businesses keep records, email addresses from current customers, old customers and potential customers. They are the easiest record of data to capture and can prove an essential tool in your online marketing arsenal. The most important way of using this data is through e-mail marketing.

Sending the right information at the right time cannot only improve visits to your site but also turn those potential clients into actual clients.

If you found this article interesting, you can check out “Make It, Find It,Share It” where we explain what we mean by the phrase and how it may help you. Alternatively, you can find more information about us on our website by clicking here.

Only 1% of SMEs use Social Media!

Only 1% of SMEs use Social Media!

According to a recent survey completed by TalkTalk Business, only 1% of SMEs in the UK utilise social media sites like Facebook and Twitter as new business tools.

Can this be true? Apparently so! I recently read an article in The Drum which highlighted this and, I have to say, I was more than a little surprised. Social Media platforms are most suited to SMEs in that they are free to use, and help to engage directly with their existing, as well as potential, customers. In 2011, Facebook surpassed even Google in terms of internet usage….yet most companies will invest in a website but not give social media a second thought, meaning they are only covering themselves in half of the online market space.

 

From reading many articles about the emergence of social media specifically as a business tool, I have gleaned that this is mainly down to a classic case of ‘fear of the unknown’. “What does it do?”, “how do we use it?” and “Where do we start?” are all questions we encounter on an almost daily basis. The answer to this is to have a clear cut strategy in place for your social media usage. As with most forms of marketing, you need to have a defined plan. This can be difficult when you don’t fully understand what you’re working with yet, so don’t be afraid to ask for a little advice or input – sometimes the best ideas for content etc come from customers themselves.

It is really important that you don’t overtly try to ‘sell’ your products and services to your online audience. We see far too many cases of repeated posts of “buy our new this” and “we sell that cheaper than such a body”….this is not the way to go. Obviously the ultimate aim is to generate more or repeated business from your social media usage, but this should be done in a more engaging way. Try instead to be informative about the products/services and become a bit of a guru of information within your specified area. Chat with people, ask questions and answer their questions. The idea is to engage with your audience in a way which will leave an impression, making you the first company they think of when they think of a certain product/service.

Another thing to consider is that social media is a long term investment. It won’t generate massive results over night, and it is not a ‘quick fix’, but don’t give up on it! Over time, it is an excellent way of attracting/gaining presence and retaining business and it WILL work if you do it properly and persevere with it.

Perhaps the most important aspect of your strategy, along with what to post, is where to post to. There are so many social media platforms in use, so it is important to gauge which ones will be best suited to the audience you are trying to target. For example, trying to endorse a video game is likely to have a lot of success on Facebook, but yield very little on LinkedIn. Gauging which outlets will have the greatest impact is all about analising where your customers are more likely to frequent.

I will end with a comment from Paul Lawton, MD of TalkTalk Business -
“Social media can prove invaluable as a new business tool and so it’s worrying to see that so few SMEs are embracing it. Its business benefits range from being able to engage and understand the needs of customers and prospects through to gaining insights into target markets and perceptions of your organisation or brand”.

For more information on Social Media and how it can be used to help your business, contact me at kelly@redcowmedia.co.uk

If you are interested in getting social media or any type of online marketing service, please visit our website at by clicking here.

What do we mean by Make it, Find It, Share it?

What do we mean by Make it, Find It, Share it?

When we say “Make It” we mean the design and the structure of a website. In today’s internet dominated world, this is first thing most customers will see as a reflection of your business. This means your website makes a massive impact on your customers and potential customers, as well as your business itself.

“Make it” also refers to the web development stage of the process. What we do is make the website to the specification agreed with the customer, bearing in mind what is needed to provide the best user experience for potential customers.

Now, it’s all very well and good having a snazzy, all singing all dancing website, but how useful would it be if none of your potential customers could see it? 

This is where “Find it” comes in; allowing the customer, who may be interested in the service to find it. This is done with Search Engine Optimisation to help your website reach a wider audience online. With every business being unique, all elements of the SEO process are included, but with the strategy tailored and custom planned to suit your business.

“Share It”, the last of the three but still incredibly important to your online presence, and increasingly so. The “Share It” element engages your existing and potential customers with your business. This is done via Social Media marketing, using various social media channels that help the customer interact with the services.

This helps expand the audience of your website and helps engage current and potential customers. What all Social Media services should have in order to enhance the ability to influence and engage, is a fully customised page design with valid and helpful information for the customer to see and share.

For more information about Red Cow Media, Click Here