Today Google announced an update to their webmaster tools guidelines. It’s been a while since they last updated their guidelines, which had become a little dated after a turbulent year with so many significant algorithm updates.

One important addition has been rich snippets.

What are rich snippets?

Rich snippets are designed to provide searchers with additional information on a site’s content prior to clicking through to it. An example that people will be familiar with is the star review snippet.

This allows searchers to form an opinion on the quality of a site before they even click through to the site.

Other rich snippets include

• music (listing songs, track durations),
• people (name, job titles, photo, Steve Jobs),
• products (pricing, ratings, availability),
• business organisations (name, telephone, website),
• recipes (name, reviews, photos)
• events (date, type, location, tickets, photos, Foo Fighters)
• consumer software such as mobile phone apps.

What are the benefits of rich snippets?

From the examples above, it’s pretty clear what the benefits are of well implemented rich snippets. If you can stand out from your competitors when that set of search results pops up, then you’re likely to experience increased click through rates.

Rich snippets are also a great way to position your brand by creating a sense of authority in the search results. When Google puts so much more emphasis on your listing over and above the competition searchers are more comfortable in clicking through to your site. The additional exposure and space that your listing takes up is also a great platform for getting your message across to prospective customers.

Rich snippets and social media

Rich snippets can also be used to distribute your social media content. Video mark up and Facebook share are recognised by Google and can be attached to your videos to encourage interaction. Marking up your video can also help Google show videos uploaded to YouTube in the search results.

As traditional link building moves more to a content centred approach there has been considerable interest in the author tag, an element of the people rich snippet. When interconnected with a blog and Google+ profile, Google can show details of an author alongside the content they have published in the search results. This can have a profound effect on personal brands as well as increase click through rates and social following.

For more information about the new Google rich snippet guidelines visit the Webmaster Central Blog.

It has emerged that Google has announced updates to its search ranking systems. From now on, websites who are gaining a false start on competitors by using pirated content are likely to be penalised. 

Google’s Amit Singhai said: 

"We will begin taking into account a new signal in our rankings: the number of valid copyright removal notices we receive for any given site. Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in our results.” 

But what does this mean for you? 

The good news is that if your site is chock-full of cracking content that’s yours and yours alone, then you’ve nothing to worry about. In fact, these updates could help your rankings if your competitors use content that infringes copyright law. 

But now more than ever, it’s clear that if you’re going to be ranking well in Google, you need to be featuring content that’s definitely yours. Make sure that your website uses copy, pictures and videos that are purely yours or used with permission. 

Help! I’ve been slapped by the updates and it’s not my fault! 

Fear not. Nice Mr Singhai will allow you to state your case, and any unjust removals will be reinstated:

“We’ll continue to provide ‘counter-notice‘ tools so that those who believe their content has been wrongly removed can get it reinstated. We’ll also continue to be transparent about copyright removals.”

Phew. 

If you are worried that your content may have been copied, or that the person who wrote it may have ‘lifted’ it from elsewhere, then one handy tool for checking duplication from Copyscape can be found here.

Would you like to make your business more visible on Google? Does your website need original, compelling content? Find out how we can help by contacting us today on 029 2076 6467 and have a chat with our friendly SEO and copywriting teams.

There was a worrying article on the online business resource Forbes last week, entitled “Why Companies Waste 71% of Internet Leads”.

The full article is here and the main stats from their 5-year study of over 10,000 businesses are:

• Average lead response time is 46 hours and 53 minutes
• Sales reps give up after 1.3 call attempts
• Just 27% of leads are ever contacted

These findings are astounding. We know how competitive and expensive it can be in some markets to generate sales enquiries. If the average business is treating their prospective customers in this way, many will soon find themselves in a precarious position.

The article examines how the implementation of new processes and technologies can potentially improve results by up to 341%. We would like to add some of our own thoughts on additional methods of making the most of your internet leads...

1. Auto respond

Consider putting an auto-responder in place, which will send an email to individuals who have completed an online enquiry form. Something along the lines of: “Thanks for your enquiry; we will be in touch shortly. If in the meantime you have any questions then please call...” This will help to keep the prospect warm. The message can also include details about latest offers, company news, a link to your FAQ page, etc. to better inform the individual about your offering and prompt them to take certain actions. Auto-responders can also be set up that periodically send through information, such as a weekly bulletin or a monthly newsletter, until the prospect is ready to buy.

2. Use your Analytics data

In Google Analytics (and many other website data systems) you can track enquiries by setting up Goals, and if you are a PPC advertiser then you can put Conversion Code in place. This data can tell you which keywords and adverts lead to a sale, as well as the pages that an enquirer visited on your website. If you look in the Network sub-section within the Technology section of the Audience tab, you can see the IP addresses of visitors. Combining all of this data will give you knowledge on the information your enquirer was searching for and the page that prompted their enquiry, allowing you to make a more informed sales call.

3. Nurture your leads

If you provide professional services or sell to businesses, it is highly likely that enquirers are not ready to buy straight away. It is important a system is put in place to keep these parties interested while they consider their purchase. Develop some ‘keep in touch’ campaigns that allow you to communicate regularly with enquirers and help you direct them further down the sales path. Such campaigns can include emails, telephone calls and physical items like newsletters, postcards, letters and brochures, which include a mixture of sales offers, industry news and company information. The most important thing is to keep your offering in the forefront of their minds. 

4. Use your social assets

Get closer to your prospects by following them on social sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Here you can learn about their interests and the way they like to work, helping you to develop your relationship. Taking the time to involve yourself in the occasional conversation, the odd re-tweet of one of their messages and interacting in the groups they favour, as this will show you care. This could make all the difference in whether they sign up with you or a competitor. Be careful not to overdo it though, as there can be a fine line between helpful supporter and internet stalker.

5. Use a sales database

CRM (customer relationship management) software allows you to keep on top of enquiries. Building up a database of all sales leads, grouping them up by industry or interest, assigning tasks to each one, tracking progress and much more can be easily achieved in one of the many CRM packages available. With CRM systems available for free and even those that are very popular costing just a few pounds a month, you have no excuse to continue organising your sales activity on Post-It notes and print-outs. This is especially important if you have a team of sales professionals, as the reporting can tell you who is looking after their leads and where improvements need to be made.

No matter how savvy and on-the-button your Google AdWords consultant may be, if your website isn’t up to scratch, all that hard pay per click (PPC) work will be for nothing when the visitors your PPC campaign brought to your website disappear without a trace.

In fact, if your website isn’t going to convert PPC visitors into buyers, the time, money and energy you and your Google AdWords consultant/agency/team have ploughed into a great PPC campaign may be for nothing...

Of course, not every visit is going to convert into sales, but there are literally hundreds of ways that you can boost your conversion rates. In this post we’ll be looking at just three of the most fundamental changes you should consider if you’re hoping to become a conversion champion and squeeze every last drop out of your PPC!

(A quick note: Although this article covers website conversions from a PPC/AdWords angle - after all, you don't want to have to pay for traffic that doesn’t convert! - a lot of this could equally apply to traffic arriving to your site from non-paid search, too!)

Clarity
The first and most important thing you need to learn and never forget is that human beings are fickle and impatient creatures. The sheer accessibility of information on the Internet - at the click of the button - only makes matters worse. Visitors are not going to hang around if you do not give them strong, clear messages about who are you, what you do and what you’re selling, so be clear and don’t overcomplicate!

Keep your homepage short, sweet and to the point. Include strong images which show visitors that they have come to the right place for what they’re looking for but absolutely do not overcomplicate matters. However, if a better page is available as a landing page then make sure it’s the landing page!

By ensuring that your visitors know exactly what they’re looking at you’ll keep the ones you want and lose those you don’t.

Keep track of stats
Your Google AdWords person should be keeping their beady eye on your data in order to constantly improve your campaign and boost traffic, but these stats can also help you tweak your website into conversion perfection. Data from enquiry forms and shopping baskets will tell you which PPC ads brought visitors to your site and which ones converted into sales.

As an example, imagine you’re selling your clairvoyance service through your website (although if you can actually see the future, you’re probably not going to need a consultant’s help)! One of the keywords your campaign is targeting is “cheap clairvoyance service” but unlike your other keywords, that particular keyword just isn’t converting into sales, yet it is bringing in tonnes of traffic and your service really is cheap.

In all likelihood, your website isn’t making it clear enough just how cheap your service is. Highlight the key sales points that lure in visitors and you’ll turn even more visitors into customers.

Hand-holding
Visitors might be fickle, but they also need an awful lot of attention. Make sure you provide clear, helpful guidance to walk them through the sales journey on your website and you’ll find that your conversion rates soar. Make contact information easy to see and easily accessible, so they don’t end up leaving frustrated if they can’t find your phone number...

At Liberty Marketing, our PPC and Google AdWords consultants are experienced online marketing experts, who can advise you on how to boost your conversion rates whilst bringing you all the traffic you need to make your business a success on the Internet. Fill out an enquiry form today or get in touch on 029 2076 6467 or at info@libertymarketing.co.uk to learn more!

Earlier in the year, Gareth was approached by an online publisher to write a book on Pay Per Click advertising. Bookboon publishes short textbooks for students, professionals and business owners to download from their site.

They mentioned that there is a demand for easy to understand books in the world of online marketing and they wanted a title on Pay Per Click and Google AdWords. They needed a new book where the advice would fall somewhere between an introduction to the topic and a step-by-step guide for those new to search engine advertising.

A few month and 15000 words later, Gareth had written the book. Chris, who heads up the Liberty Pay Per Click team (and knows Google AdWords and Analytics inside and out), contributed on some chapters and made sure the book was up-to-date following the numerous AdWords changes.

If you want to learn about Pay Per Click advertising, in particular Google AdWords and Facebook Ads, then you can download your copy of How Google Changed Advertising and How to Master AdWords here.

Social network ad spend has been rising steadily over the last few years with marketers extending their online pay per click and banner advertising beyond the seach engines to include the social networks as well. It is estimated that during 2011 marketers in the US alone will spend £3.08 billion on social network advertising. eMarketer predicts that US ad spend will be up 55% on 2010 when marketers spent $1.99 billion, and that worldwide social network spend will be up 71.6% in 2011 to $5.97billion.



Facebook, by far the largest social network, is clearly having the greatest impact on this growth through a year-on-year increase in Facebook advertising. Facebook therefore contributes up to 65% of the 2011 prediciton. eMarketer predicts that advertising spend on facebook will hit $2.19 billion in the US alone in 2011 and over $4 billion worldwide. That's more than double the total spent in 2010!


So as we move further into 2011 social networks are poised to absorb an even greater percentage of all online spending making them difficult to ignore for any business serious about their online marketing. We will be watching eagerly to see what developments Facebook has planned for the forthcoming year.

Whether you are a fan of Google's new Instant search or not, if you are running a PPC campaign then this post will be of interest to you.

There appears to be a glitch in Instant search that could be costing top spot advertisers dearly. Whilst Instant search is turned on, if a search returns Adwords ads above the organic SERPs and you hit enter twice in the search field you will automatically open the number 1 Adwords result. This costs whoever is in the top spot, but the user won't have made the choice to click the ad, so what will they do? Click back, because they were expecting a Google search results screen.

This will have a detrimental effect on top position bounce rates and could be wasting a great deal of advertiser's budgets.

Currently running in Beta test mode, Google are testing video extensions that will be shown with their Adwords ads.

The plan is to have an "expandable plus-box" directly beneath the normal PPC text ad in which video extensions will play. Users will be able to watch the video before deciding whether or not to click-through. This sounds interesting for users, but the current cost of this service for advertisers is less appealing.

Once viewers reach the 10 second mark the advertiser will be charged the same maximum cost per click as if their ad had been clicked, regardless of whether it is clicked. So will this lead to a flurry of 10 second ads or are the search results becoming more and more cluttered, as with Google Preview?

Google has suggested that video extensions could be of particular use for product demonstrations, previews and trailers.

At present, there are no plans to roll this service out in the UK.

Google has now launched “Instant Previews”, which provides a preview of the organic search results without a searcher having to click through to the site itself. These previews appear on the right hand side of the Google search results screen when you click the little magnifying glass icon next to the search results.

This new addition comes hot on the heels of Google's launch of Google Instant. Unlike Google Instant search, Google Instant Preview is by default turned off, the magnifying glass must be clicked to activate this new feature. The preview istself is a graphic overview of a search result that highlights those sections which are most applicable to the search term used making it easier to see whether a site is worth visiting or not.

Google Preview will start showing up from today, 9th November 2010 and should be available in 40 languages and to all users within a couple of days. Google claims that during the testing of Google Instant Preview, those using Instant Preview stated that they were about 5% more likely to be satisfied with the results they clicked. This new visual comparison seems set to change the way visitors evaluate websites and choose whether or not to visit them.

At this point Google Preview doesn't extend to Google Ads, even though every Google Ad ends up at a web page. Google has thought about the option, but isn’t including it in the initial launch. Although incredibly fast and powerful, Google Preview still finds including sites created in Flash difficult with the majority of flash sites not yet being turned into a preview. Unlike Google Instant, which shuts off when your web connection slows, Google Instant Previews is available even on poor internet connections.

With Microsoft Advertising adCenter now providing all paid search results for Yahoo! Search and Bing in the US, and Bing supplying the organic search results for Yahoo! Search, they have just announced that this will be rolled out in select markets across europe and the UK in early 2011.

The european transition will begin with the UK, France and Ireland with all of europe expected to be completed by early 2012.

Current advice is to continue using adCenter as normal but to expect further information regarding the pending changes approximately 3 months prior to any changes taking place.