Tired of feeling invisible on the internet? Of all your competitors ranking on the first page of Google while you languish somewhere around page 100? Then maybe it's time to change how you approach your online marketing strategy. As that wise old saying goes, "How can you expect tomorrow to be any different, if you don't change what you do today?".

Call 0425 204 887 today, and as sure as the sun coming up in the east, your business will rank. With first page rankings guaranteed in the contract and thousands of first page rankings already obtained throughout Australia for businesses just like yours, it's the easiest phone call you'll ever have to make.

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Looking for SEO Sydney for your website? Then you've come to right place. Simply call 0425 204 887, today. The first page of Google is only one click away!

Now this is a lovely thing to wake up to on a Saturday morning. SEO North Sydney are #1 in Google search for the much sought after search term, 'SEO Sydney'!

There are only two ways to get on the first page of Google. One, you can pay for it (via Google Pay Per Click), or two, you can get there organically.

The only way to work out how much a click is actually worth, is to ask yourself how much would you have to pay for it (via Pay Per Click) if you weren't getting that click for free on the organic side of the search page? In the case of search terms like SEO and SEO Sydney (which are searches from one of the single most competitive spaces in Australia - because everyone competing for the first page is naturally an SEO expert), the answer to that question is: north of $36 and $38 PER CLICK'.

That's right. If you pay to be on the first page of an SEO or SEO Sydney search via Pay Per Click, every single time someone clicks on your ad it costs you nearly $40!

Anyone who's ever spoken to me in person or on the phone about SEO will have heard me say, "It's a lot easier to take the boat to where the fish are, than to get the fish to come to you". A metaphor that holds true in the Organic Search v PPC debate. Because while PPC is a strategy that can work for your business, Google themselves tell us that 90% of all traffic is organic, with only 10% of the search traffic generated from the PPC side of the page. So given this salient bit of information, if 90% of the people click on the organic search (rather than the paid ads), then logic dictates that getting on the organic side of the search is where 90% of your online marketing budget should go. QED.

And I don't know about you, but if I had to pay $40 every time someone clicked on me via a Google search, I'd go out of business quicker than you can say, "Elvis has left the building!". And besides, why would I want to pay for a click, when I can get an endless supply of free clicks on the organic side of Google's search, simply by implementing Google's Best Practice search methodology? 

Naturally the organic Google search results fluctuate. One day you're SERP (Search Engine Raking Position) #1, the next day you're SERP #3, the day that you're SERP #2, etc. The actual order ultimately isn't the thing that matters. What matters is that you're on the first page consistently (92% of people don't go past the first page of their Google search) and ideally find yourself in the top 3 (where 60.5% of the first page traffic goes). If you are, then the phone will ring and your business will grow.

Want to master SEO? Then book in yourself or your staff for some SEO Training Sydney today! Sydney's #1 SEO Trainer Brian M Logan shows you everything you need to get your company website on the first page of Google. SEO Training can be in-house (we come to you) or classroom based (you come to us).

Or you can always call us on 0425 204 887 if you want to leave your SEO Sydney requirements to the experts. Your website's 1st Page of Google results are guaranteed in writing in the contract.

Enjoy this free article? Great! Don't forget to Like it, Tweet it and LINK to it from your blog or website. Your sharing of the page with your friends is greatly appreciated! :)

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Looking for SEO Sydney for your website? Then you've come to right place. Simply call 0425 204 887, today. The first page of Google is only one click away!

Google has today announced that it is rolling out the Panda 4.0 update. While other SEO companies, who try to 'game' the system to get their clients better search results will be negatively impacted by this, SEO North Sydney clients, who are all run on a white hat content mapping strategy, will greatly benefit.

Bring it on I say, bring it on! This has the potential to be HUGE!

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Want to master SEO? Then book in yourself or your staff for some SEO Training Sydney today! Sydney's #1 SEO Trainer Brian M Logan shows you everything you need to get your company website on the first page of Google. SEO Training can be in-house (we come to you) or classroom based (you come to us).

Or you can always call us on 0425 204 887 if you want to leave your SEO Sydney requirements to the experts. Your website's 1st Page of Google results are guaranteed in writing in the contract.

Enjoy this free article? Great! Don't forget to Like it, Tweet it and LINK to it from your blog or website. Your sharing of the page with your friends is greatly appreciated! :)

There are five types of consumers when it comes to technology. 

1. Innovators.
2. Early Adopters.
3. Early Majority.
4. Late Majority.
5. Laggards.

This is classified as 'The Law of Diffusion of Innovation'. And if you don't know the term, that's okay. Because you'll certainly understand the concept.

Think about when Apple released the first iphone for example. There were those who queued up for 12 hours outside a store to buy the product, because they wanted to be the first people to have it. There were those who bought the product when it had been out a little while (but was still considered 'the hot new product to own'). Then there were the majority of people who bought iphones only when smartphones as a whole had gained a significant amount of market share, so they felt safe in the knowledge that the product worked as advertised. And finally there were those people who only ended up buying an iphone when their favourite mobile finally gave up the ghost and was no longer available.

But there comes a point, when the technology has been around long enough that someone not having it makes more of a statement about them than having it does.

Back in the 60s / 70s and 80s, newspaper advertising and DM (Direct Marketing) and DR (Direct Response) was the best way reach the most clients for the least amount of money. Then in the late 80s and early 90s, call centres came into their own. (Why have hundreds of salesmen on the road, when you could just have a team of people selling over the phone from one central office?) Then in the mid to late 90s, the internet started to become ubiquitous, and online search (through Yahoo, Alta Vista, Excite, Web Crawler and later Google) became de rigueur.

And as with all innovations, it took a long time to not only perfect the technology, but also to get people to trust it. I'm sure you remember a time when you'd happily search online, but God forbid you typed in your credit card into a website form for fear of someone making off with all your money! During these times there were the people who were all over the web and happily used search to find products or services (the Innovators and the Early Adopters). Then there were the (Early and Late) Majority who started trusting it, only because other people were trusting and using it. And lastly there were the Laggards. Those raised in an earlier era where going to the Yellow Pages or opening a newspaper was how you found a local product or service.

Fast forward to 2014 and we find ourselves living in a world where practically EVERYONE is searching for the products and services they want, online (via Google). And as 92% of all the people searching do not go past the first page of their Google search, it is now more important than at any time in history, to ensure your website appears on the first page of your relevant Google search. Because, as I always say, 'It is easier to take the boat to where the fish are, and drop a big, big net over the side. Than to try to get the fish to come to you'.

Where once the web and internet search was only used by those hip-cats who were ahead of the bell-curve. Now it is used by everyone. Young, middle aged and old alike. You, your children, your parents and your grandparents, all find what they want, online, via Google. It's just the way of the world now. And if everyone is searching for what you do and where you do it online, but can't find you on the first page. Then you might as well shut up shop and close the business. Because if you're not using the world's largest ever free lead funnel for your benefit, then you are officially a 'Laggard' in the technology stakes. And in an evolving business landscape, it is the Laggards who are the first to become extinct.

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Want to master SEO? Then book in yourself or your staff for some SEO Training Sydney today! Sydney's #1 SEO Trainer Brian M Logan shows you everything you need to get your company website on the first page of Google. SEO Training can be in-house (we come to you) or classroom based (you come to us).

Or you can always call us on 0425 204 887 if you want to leave your SEO Sydney requirements to the experts. Your website's 1st Page of Google results are guaranteed in writing in the contract.

Enjoy this free article? Great! Don't forget to Like it, Tweet it and LINK to it from your blog or website. Your sharing of the page with your friends is greatly appreciated! :)

Happy birthday internet, old buddy, old chum! We don't know what we'd do without you!

Yes, today (March 12, 2014) is officially the internet's 25th birthday. In honour of the occasion, Google's home page includes a cake with a “25″ candle on top to remind everyone.

The world wide web, as modern users may know, was founded on March 12, 1989 by (Sir) Tim Burners-Lee. But, though Burner-Lee is credited with 'founding the web', the internet itself can be traced back decades earlier. Right back to 1957 in fact with the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA - later DARPA). Historians love to credit the genesis of this auspicious organisation to President Dwight Eisenhower (who pushed for the creation of ARPA), with the inference being that the 5 star General launched ARPA because he had a burning desire to push the boundaries of scientific knowledge. When in fact the truth is far more mundane - and some might even say, devious. Because while (what came to be known as ARPA) had been bubbling on US university campuses for several years, it had not received any significant funding from Washington. Then, in October 1957, the unthinkable happened. Russia launched Sputnik, the world's first satellite. And suddenly, Bible bashing middle-America was confronted with the unsettling knowledge that those damn Ruskies could see EVERYTHING they were doing...from space!

Needless to say, a US President was never going to take this slap in the face, lying down. So Eisenhower pushed through ARPA (which of course was actually a part of the Department of Defense), and so the war for technological supremacy was cranked up a couple more notches.

The creation of ARPA led to a gentleman by the name of Ted Nelson creating Project Xanadu in 1960. And it was Nelson who coined the term ‘Hypertext’ in 1963. Hypertext is contained in hyperlinks (which are known today simply as ‘links’) and is the core component of HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) which is the language of the web as we know it.

Berners-Lee comes into the picture (historically speaking) around 1980 when he came up with the concept of the World Wide Web (as it would become) while working at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. During his research Berners-Lee wrote a rudimentary program for storing information using random associations. The program - named 'Enquire' - was only ever intended for his own personal use however, and was never actually published.

Fast forward to March 12, 1989 and Berners-Lee submitted a proposal to CERN seeking to build 'A web of notes with links between them'. And so...the web was born. And now, 25 years later, we all get to wish the Internet a very happy birthday indeed!

In Tim Berners-Lee's own words :

On the 25th birthday of the web, I ask you to join in - to help us imagine and build the future standards for the web, and to press for every country to develop a digital bill of rights to advance a free and open web for everyone. Learn more and speak up for the sort of web we really want with #web25.

Although most people (myself included) utilise the words 'Internet' and “World Wide Web” to mean the exact same thing, they're actually different. Not that it matters too much in the normal line of conversation you understand, but for those anal-retentive or finicky enough to care (and just so I don't get inundated by emails from nerdy undergrads with too much time on their hands and a 24/7 hard on for InternetFactsAreUs), The 'Internet' is a pan Galactic gargle blasting way of connecting a gazillion computers together via the standard Internet protocol TCP/IP suite, while the ‘World Wide Web’ is a system of Hyperlinked documents accessible via the internet. 

All the nerds happy now? Good. Then we can move on...

Let's sign off on this auspicious birthday by reminding ourselves of two very important points. One, without people like Sir Tim Burners-Lee, folks like me would have to get a real job! And as much as I like to think that I'd be a shoe-in for the role of Brad Pitt's on-set body double if I needed to find an alternate career path, I suspect that in reality I might have to look slightly further afield...

And two, let's take a moment to appreciate how RADICALLY DIFFERENT all our lives today would be without the internet as we know it. So different in fact as to be unrecognisable. With a quite staggering 6 billion web searches performed every day, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that for all of us, the internet and the world wide web have become as much a part of our daily lives, as breathing in an out.

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Want to master SEO? Then book in yourself or your staff for some SEO Training Sydney today! Sydney's #1 SEO Trainer Brian M Logan shows you everything you need to get your company website on the first page of Google. SEO Training can be in-house (we come to you) or classroom based (you come to us).

Or you can always call us on 0425 204 887 if you want to leave your SEO Sydney requirements to the experts. Your website's 1st Page of Google results are guaranteed in writing in the contract.

Enjoy this free article? Great! Don't forget to Like it, Tweet it and LINK to it from your blog or website. Your sharing of the page with your friends is greatly appreciated! :)

Every day I receive multiple phone calls from business owners throughout Australia who are searching for the Rosetta Stone that deciphers how to get on the first page of Google. Some business owners are willing to pay for this secret to search engine optimisation, and pay handsomely. While some simply want (nay, expect) me to divulge all I know over the phone as if I were a free public resource with nothing better to do with my time than download the 15+ years of study I've done in the field, without getting any remuneration in return. But be these callers genuine in-bound SEO leads for my company or be they the quintessential in-bound 'tyre kicker' (every industry gets them, even SEO!), they are all calling because they understand the innate impact a Google first page listing can have on their business.

Or do they?

If Google were Monopoly, then getting on the first page would be like landing on Mayfair or Park Lane, because it's far and away the most valuable real estate you can get and everyone wants it. You know this to be true as well as I do, because we all of us realise that only a tiny percentage of people (statistically speaking) will ever go past the first page of a Google search. But just how valuable is the first page of Google exactly? And is it really worth spending your hard earned money hiring SEO North Sydney to get your website there?

To answer that, let's agree that if you're not on page one of your relevant Google search, your website is practically invisible. Let's further agree that every day you're not on the first page of Google, your competitors (who no doubt are on page 1) get all the business that should be going to you. 

Now, given the above two points, let's close off the syllogism with the conclusion that, as the vast majority of all consumers in the 21st century search for what they want and where they want it, online (rather than in traditional media), it is very likely that the companies that are not on the first page will seriously lag behind their competitors until they learn to harness the power of the world's single largest lead generation tool (Google) to drive inbound enquiries.

Still with me? Good. Because I'm about to give you some statistics to back up the above statements and to make your eye-balls spin back in your head like slot machines. As it's not enough just to get on the first page of Google (though that's impressive - and a vital first step), it's WHERE on the first page you rank that's really important. And this is the ongoing challenge that SEO companies face when you hire them.

To explain why this is so vital, we first have to understand the well-worn axiom that all sales is a numbers game. Because when it comes to internet search, the more people who click on your website's listing in Google, the more people will end up calling you or buying whatever cool-aid you're selling. Beyond the obvious though, how many people click on your listing is important because one of the factors Google weighs when working out where your website ranks, is your click through rate. As a high organic click-through rate (CTR) is one of the best metrics for determining relevancy to the search string. And Google marries this relevancy with their ability to measure the quality of the content on the page your listing actually takes people to (via factors such as bounce rate, time on page, average session time, etc). And together with the machine learning SVM methodology employed via their Panda algorithm, Google takes all this information and gets a frighteningly accurate picture of just how good the content on your website actually is.

The beauty in all this is that the better your site's content, the higher your rankings in Google. The higher your rankings the better your click through rate. The better your click through rate the more relevant your content must be. The more relevant your content, the higher your click through rate. The better your click through rate the higher your rankings. QED. In many ways this becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy, and - if you're lucky enough to be deemed by Google as worthy - a self-perpetuating one.

US based search targeted advertising and research company 'Chitika' might get zero out of ten for their unfortunate choice of business names, but they get ten out of ten for their always excellent and wonderfully detailed SEO research. 

I first came across Chitika back in May 2010 when they did an insights study into the 'Value of Google Results Positioning', an eye-opening report into how important 1st page results were when advertising online. But in the fast paced world of the internet, data from 2010 is as relevant today as that acid wash denim jacket you've got stashed in the back of your wardrobe. Consequently in 2013 Chitika decided to update their research in the subject to quantify what each spot on a Google results page is actually worth in terms of organic traffic from Google, today.

To quantify their research, Chitika performed a taxonomy of tens of millions of online ad impressions in which the user was referred to a specified landing page via an organic Google search. From the referring Google URL, Chitika were able to determine the exact SERP (Search Engine Ranking Position) the query came from, and measure what percentage of Google traffic comes from each position in the search results page. The data range for this particular research was extracted between May 21st to May 27th, 2013.

Despite what your ex-girlfriend assured you in the bedroom (no doubt before she left you for a pro-football player named Tripod), size actually is important. Consequently to ensure the results of their 2013 research gave an accurate representation of Google 1st page results as a whole, Chitika went big and extracted their 2013 SEO data from approximately 300,000,000 U.S. and Canadian impressions, as measured by page views (rather than unique visitors).

Note: while these results didn't include Australian internet users, this 2013 study is by far the most in-depth I've come across, and it's not rocket science to work out that the data as expressed in this report will also hold true for Google.com.au as well as for Google.com.

The first thing that Chitika discovered from their 2013 SEO study was that, when measured as a percentile, the traffic for each SERP was actually very similar to their 2010 results, with 32% of clicks coming from the website in the first position in the Google search, compared to 17% for websites in the second position.

Think about that for a minute. Sales is a numbers game, and the more clicks you get, the more people buy. And this data categorically proves that the difference in traffic between being number one in a Google first page search and number two is almost 100%.

Yup, you read that correctly. Getting SERP one in Google gets you approximately twice the clicks as getting SERP two. And twice the clicks means twice the calls. Twice the calls means twice the sales. Twice the sales means double the profits. So if you're reading this and wondering whether or not to sign up for an SEO package with SEO North Sydney, start thinking about how much business you'd make if the visitors to your website doubled? How much business you'd make if your phone calls doubled. Because these are the margins available to whoever has the wherewithal to go after them.

But enough with the sales pitch. Let's stick to the research and let the facts do the talking. Further to this I've posted the Chitika SEO results below for your edification. But the other salient takeaway from this survey that's worth referencing is what we as business owners intuitively know anyway, and that is if you're not on the first page of your relevant Google search at all, then your website is practically invisible, because the first page of Google generates a whopping 92% of all traffic. And heaven forbid you're even further back than page 2, because traffic drops a further 78% between page 2 and 3, and another 58% between pages 3 and 4. Though by that stage there's probably only one person still searching anyway, so...

SEO RESEARCH - RESULTS OVERVIEW:

• #1 in a Google search gets 32% of all the clicks.
• #2 in a Google search gets 17% of all the clicks.
• #3 in a Google search gets 11% of all the clicks.
• 92 out of every 100 people who search on the internet do not go past the first page of their Google search.

CONTACT SEO NORTH SYDNEY TODAY!

Every day you delay is allowing your competitors to get all the business that should rightfully go to you...

Want to master SEO? Then book in yourself or your staff for some SEO Training Sydney today! Sydney's #1 SEO Trainer Brian M Logan shows you everything you need to get your company website on the first page of Google. SEO Training can be in-house (we come to you) or classroom based (you come to us).

Or you can always call us on 0425 204 887 if you want to leave your SEO Sydney requirements to the experts. Your website's 1st Page of Google results are guaranteed in writing in the contract.

Enjoy this free article? Great! Don't forget to Like it, Tweet it and LINK to it from your blog or website. Your sharing of the page with your friends is greatly appreciated! :)

If you were running a business in the 1980s and wanted to sell or maket a service or product, the vast majority of your (below the line) budget was spent on print. From overpriced double page spreads in your local newspaper to outragously expensive Yellow Pages ads, print was the advertising medium of choice.

I say ‘medium of choice’, when of course what I really mean is: ‘medium of NO choice’. Because back then print was the only option available for anyone looking to do a concerted below the line advertising campaign. Oh, sure, you could do letterbox drops, and send out brochures, and give away fridge magnets, and a dozen other low-key scattergun approaches to market your product or service. But they all pailed into insignificance next to the enormous reach and power of the printed word.

Fast forward thirty years and we discover that the ways a company connects with their customers (and would-be customers) has radically changed. Because, in the post internet / post Google world, print is about as relevant to a business as a woolly coat was to a mammoth after the last ice age came to an end. Sure the coats were tactile and made their eyes glaze over with memories of a simpler time. But deep down you’d have to figure that even the thickest skinned Mammuthus Primigenius knew that the world had changed forever, and that the coats were now only weighing them down and hampering their chances of survival.

That said, I am not going to tell you (as many of my SEO colleagues will) that ‘Print is Dead!’. Given I’m the Doyen of All Things Digital, you’d probably excuse me if I did jump on that particular bandwagon. But I won’t. Because - separate to my 10 years of SEO / web experience - I’ve also worked in print as a National Advertising Manager (Government News) and National Classified Manager (BT Weekly). So I know full well that if it’s done correctly (and used judiciously), print can – and should - still form a (small) part of a company’s overall marketing strategy.

However I’m also smart enough to appreciate that in an age where 98% of all people SEARCH FOR PRODUCTS OR SERVICES ONLINE (rather than in newspapers or magazines), working out where a company’s marketing budget needs to go if they’re looking to connect with the masses, isn’t rocket science. Because, unlike print, there are no tyre-kickers where a well optimised web strategy is concerned, as everybody that finds you online has searched for WHAT YOU DO and WHERE YOU DO IT…and they’ve SEARCHED NOW.

And leads / customers don’t come much hotter or more relevant than that.

Want to master SEO? Then call us on 0425 204 887 if you want to leave your SEO Sydney requirements to the experts. Your website's 1st Page of Google results are guaranteed in writing in the contract.

Enjoy this free article? Great! Don't forget to Like it, Tweet it and LINK to it from your blog or website. Your sharing of the page with your friends is greatly appreciated! :)

While still a ‘Job Description’ in its infancy, the requirement for a ‘On-Line Community Manager’ (who handles a company’s ‘On-Line Community Engagement’) no longer causes businesses to ask “What does an On-Line Community Manager do, and should I get one?” but rather “What makes a great On-Line Community Manager, and where can I find one?”.

However, as the role of ‘On-Line Community Manager’ has only existed in its present form in the last couple of years, the job description varies greatly from one organization to another. Below is a rough list of things you'll need to keep in mind to help ensure you hire the right person to successfully manage your on-line community engagement needs.

1. Your community must have a purpose, and this purpose can’t just be ‘so we make more money’. Rather it must exist to fill a need in the community you’re attempting to reach.
2. Use whichever tool or platform your members are most familiar with and most likely to use daily. In other words, don’t use something archaic like MySpace, just because you have fond memories of it. And by the same token, don’t use the latest shinny new web 2.0 platform, just because you want to feel ‘relevant’. As always, GO WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE.
3. Communities are about the people who populate them. So create lots and lots and LOTS of NEW, ORIGINAL CONTENT for them (and encourage them to comment on it, discuss it and share it with their friends). There is no other way to do it.
4. Build personal relationships with your community, and especially with your top web 2.0 contributors. Getting lots of ‘likes’ (etc) is driven by the quality and relevance of your content, and impacts greatly on their ability (and interest) in interacting with that content.
5. Encourage debate and do not be afraid to push the envelope with the content you post. Challenging / edgy topics get the most comments and likes and re-tweets, etc. So don’t become a prisoner to the PC brigade. Have an opinion.
6. Building an on-line community is a never ending process. So build it slowly and steadily and don’t expect to be the most popular kid on the block in only a few months. Anything on the web takes 6-12 months at least to gauge and chart growth. And community engagement (like trust) takes years.
7. Stop selling! There's nothing that'll stop people reading your blog or Twitter feed or Facebook page quicker than trying to sell them things EVERY TIME YOU POST. If you must push a product or service, try to keep it to 30% sales and 70% giving away or linking to information that is relevant to your audience. Keeping in mind that the information you post doesn't always have to be yours (though it's better if it is) because some of the best blog posts are ones that reference something somebody else has written elsewhere on the web, with you adding your 2 cents into the debate (based on your experience and expertise). But remember internet etiquette 101: if you use or reference someone else's content: always, always, ALWAYS link back to the source (thus sharing the Google love with those who deserve it). 
8. Give away free (relevant) information and content to your community at every opportunity to give them a reason to keep coming back. In the Small Business and SME space, People 'Like' /  'Share'  / Link To individual pieces of content, far more than they 'Like' / 'Share' or Link To a company or a brand. The more you give to your community (without asking for anything in return) the more inclined your community will be to come back or share what you've posted with their friends. 
9. Encourage members to recruit friends. The best way to grow an on-line community is by referrals. So create a referral strategy which rewards members who invite their friends and link to your content.
10. The web is a visual medium. And if, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’. Then rest assured that, 'A video is worth a thousand pictures'. So populate your website and web 2.0 platforms with lots of video content as well as relevant, SEO optimized written content. Ideally every page should have a video, as this helps engage your audience. These videos should be short (1-3 minutes tops) and stick to a single subject or topic. The people in your community are busy, so spoon-feed them bite sized chunks of content.

To quote Spiderman, ‘With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility’. So never use your admin powers unless absolutely necessary.  Nothing is guaranteed to make people check out  quicker than an overpowering web 2.0 Administrator who deletes content that he doesn’t agree with.

Want to master SEO? Then book in yourself or your staff for some SEO Training Sydney today! Sydney's #1 SEO Trainer Brian M Logan shows you everything you need to get your company website on the first page of Google. SEO Training can be in-house (we come to you) or classroom based (you come to us).


Or you can always call us on 0425 204 887 if you want to leave your SEO Sydney requirements to the experts. Your website's 1st Page of Google results are guaranteed in writing in the contract.

Enjoy this free article? Great! Don't forget to Like it, Tweet it and LINK to it from your blog or website. Your sharing of the page with your friends is greatly appreciated! :)

SEO, as defined by the industry, refers to the search results that appear on the left of your computer screen when you perform a Google search. These searches are ‘organic’ and are separate from paid or sponsored adverts.

There are two main facets to SEO: one is known as ON PAGE SEO and the other is known as OFF PAGE SEO. Both are complicated endeavours (though for different reasons). But as you can see in the SEO ICEBERG diagram I’ve put together above, the amount of effort that goes into getting your website optimized in a way Google will value, is only 25% of the total iceberg. With the vast majority of the SEO that matters happening AFTER the site itself is optimized. And, like on-page SEO, the off-page optimization is never ending, with its matrix by necessity getting bigger and more complicated over time.

Search Engine Marketing is an umbrella term that originally encompassed SEO, but is now associated and identified exclusively with PAID SEARCH. This can take the form of Google Pay Per Click advertising, Facebook advertising, Google adwords and adsense, banner ads, button ads or any other form of paid on-line advertising used to promote a product, service or website.

It’s important to note however that PAID LINKS (as opposed to PAID SEARCH) does not fall under SEM. Paid links are classified by Google as a Black Hat SEO technique and will result in a ‘Google Slap’ that will cause the website to be de-indexed from Google’s search results altogether. So never, ever do this. And if a so called ‘SEO Expert’ tells you otherwise (and there are many that still do) - hang up on them. Because the key, as always, to getting people to link to you (especially in the post Panda and Penguin Google world) is to AUTHOR GREAT ORIGINAL CONTENT that engages with your community and prompts them to ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ the content with their friends. But great content that exists in a vacuum won't get read. Which is where SMO comes in...

Utilizing an on-going social media strategy that connects with your audience via web 2.0 platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Google + etc) helps generate traffic to your website. But it does not traditionally help with your SEO, because - post web 2.0 - links from social media sites such as those mentioned above do not carry any ‘Google Juice’, so Google largely ignores them. 

Links from web 2.0 sites (which became classified by the industry as 'rel=”nofollow' links) take the user from site A to site B, but are not followed by the Google spider (and thus are not factored into your site’s organic page rankings). However, post Panda and Penguin (Google algorithmic updates that radically altered how search works) this landscape is changing. Links from these web 2.0 sites still do not carry any Google juice, but Google have now admitted that 'Social Markers' such as the amount of likes, re-tweets, etc, are being factored into their organic search results. Google is doing this because it now believes that people don’t just search any more, they search, socialize and share. And that a 'Social Marker' is another indicator of 'Quality Content'. In other words, thinks Google, why would someone 'like' or 'share' something if the content was rubbish? They wouldn't. Ergo the content they 'liked' or shared must be of value.

This factoring in of 'Social Markers' by Google is set to radically change search as we know it. Sure, the organic search landscape hasn’t changed all that dramatically yet for the end user, but trust me when I tell you that it is changing and that if you want to future-proof your business against the winds of change, you'd better get aggressive with an SMO strategy...and fast.

Allow me explain what I mean: in years gone by, Google followed a link from point A to point B, and classified it as ‘a link from website A to website B’. In other words, from one ‘entity’ (site) to another. But now, with the launch of Google + and their Authorship algorithm, Google are looking to follow a link from one PERSON to another. This is a very important and seismic shift in the way Google are looking to handle search. Done well, it will make your search results different to my search results because we each ‘trust’ authors (of web content), differently. Which means that, even if we’re sitting next to each other and type in the exact same Google search on identical computers, we will get slightly different first page search results.

That said, Google + can hardly be viewed as a success, so far. Sure, millions of people have signed up for Google +, but – unlike Facebook – only a small percentage of people actually use the site regularly. Whereas people spend more time on Facebook than they do on search, youtube and Google + put together. But given Google has spent untold millions on R&D to make these changes work, expect them to iron out the bugs sooner rather than later.

Want to master SEO? Then book in yourself or your staff for some SEO Training Sydney today! Sydney's #1 SEO Trainer Brian M Logan shows you everything you need to get your company website on the first page of Google. SEO Training can be in-house (we come to you) or classroom based (you come to us).

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