In November, Google announced  an update to their page ranking system known as “Google Freshness”   which gives added credibility to online content that is timely, up to date and  relevant. It is  Google’s Caffeine technology that is powering “Fresh” and this means that a  well-written, well-timed blog will be more likely to feature prominently in
search engine results, which in turn can drive traffic and unique visitors to a  website

The new changes are an extension of last year’s implementation of Google’s Caffeine technology, which was designed to bring more recent results  for specific types of searches. The introduction of “Google Fresh” which was  announced last month, will improve this further, making Google searches even  more current.

Amit Sinhal from Google says “Building upon the momentum from Caffeine,  we are making a significant improvement to our ranking algorithm that impacts  roughly 35 percent of searches and better determines when to give you more  up-to-date relevant results for these varying degrees of freshness. Amit Singhal  lists recent events, hot topics, recurring events, or topics with frequently updated information as the types of searches that will benefit from the new Google freshness update.  By creating unique, fresh content, brands and  businesses can now have a greater chance of appearing in search engines for  relevant terms..

The  recent update by Google also explained that Caffeine prioritises  recently published content over static or outdated content for specific  searches, which means that a relevant and well timed blog on a trending topic will now be more likely to appear in top page search results than an average web page would.

Since Google Caffeine and Google Freshness not only benefit new website pages but new
content as well, existing pages should be updated as often as possible. For example a product description can be re-written or adding some extra content could be of real benefit. Customer reviews and testimonials of products and services will also be considered as fresh content and can assist with search  engine rankings.

The introduction Google Fresh now means that well written, well-timed and regularly  updated blogs, news services, and social media updates are more valuable than ever before.

Google Fresh tips from the team at Conception:

• Blog Frequently:Due to the recent introduction of Google Fresh, blogging frequently is crucial, especially if you are blogging about a relevant and current topic.
• Make sure blog content is relevant, interesting and key word rich:
  Google Fresh will enhance the blog’s potential to reach new readers; therefore it is vital that the blog is well written and engaging, and provides added value to the website. In turn new users will be more likely to stay on the site and get in contact.
• Social Media: Social media updates are now more valuable than ever. Ensure that tweets and facebook posts are posted regularly, and the content is relevant and informative.
• Up to date website content: Ensure that the content on your website is up to date. Include news articles, customer testimonials, case studies and reviews to ensure content is kept modern and fresh and has the best possible chance of being included in search results.

For more information on “Google Fresh”, or how we can help you rank highly on search engines, please call us on 0161 875 2480.

Only 13% of web owners said they were confident that their websites were error-free. Major issues discovered include inconsistent branding, 55%, spelling mistakes, 46%, poor usability, 39%, and accessibility compliance errors, 38%.

It was estimated that 18% of their turnover could be at stake over the issue of poor online customer experiences. For example, a company with a £10 million turnover and a 20% profit margin would be risking around £1,800,000 in lost turnover and £360,000 in profit.

In addition the research highlighted that almost three quarters of companies had yet to adopt a pro active approach to website quality management. Even with the growth of digital awareneness amongst business owners, over a fifth of large companies, 22%, rely on manual quality assurance processes to validate their web properties, 28.5% on disconnected toolsets (e.g. spellcheckers, link checkers and accessibility checkers), 23% on platform-specific functionality in their Content Management System (CMS), and 5% did not monitor their websites at all.

The usability, look and content of a website are all factors that attract potential customers and retain their attention, therefore it is critically important that a website is user friendly, visually appealing, modern, and corporate. It is also crucial to ensure that websites are frequently updated in order to eliminate any errors.

Conception can offer a free web quality review to companies considering their web strategy.  Please contact our web team at info@theconception.co.uk or give us a call on 0161 875 2480.

21/11/2011

We need to see true incentives to the private sector to employ young people or to help re-skill more experienced workers.  Whilst the government has reduced government spending and cut public sector jobs, it has also cut support to small and medium sized businesses.  Pressure on the private sector is increasing whilst the support to SMEs is diminishing.  We can help SMEs via funded initiatives such as Leadership and Management programme, Manufacturing Advisory Service and Lancaster University’s Innovation for Growth Programme.  We look forward to helping more companies and to seeing further initiatives developed to offer SMEs tangible support to achieve business growth.

The first day took place last Wednesday and we’re following this up with a day’s consultancy for each company and then a further half day workshop.  It is great to get these companies together.  The sharing of ideas and common issues is so useful and fruitful.  We just want to see companies address one burning issue and move this forward to implement change to deliver growth.

Simple and effective!

We look forward to you adding them to your point-of-call and getting your feedback, Tweets and status updates!

“We used Conception to create a new logo and website for our business as we understand that you need a strong online presence to succeed in today’s market. Our old website was looking flat and didn’t have all functionality that we required.  We weren’t sure exactly what we wanted but Conception were fantastic and generated lots of ideas, and we now have a modern and fresh new website- and we are really pleased with the increased amount of traffic to the site. Conception now also manages our social network marketing for us. We would highly recommend their services to any business that is considering a new online marketing campaign.”

Clive Mabbut, Full of Beans

Please see the Full of Beans website here.

Please view the Sport and Playbase website here.

Producing a monthly e-newsletter and targeted telemarketing campaign to increase communication with contacts and raise awareness of equipment and services.