It has been a long couple of days. Preparing and presenting a three hour workshop on search engine optimisation for Connecting Somerset - a council funded initiative to help local business owners make the most of ICT. The problem with my workshop is the way the web changes so fast, and search engine algorithms, even faster. What is best practice one minute, becomes a no-no the next. Inevitably, this means I have to modify my presentation and the associated handout every time I deliver it.
It was a real shame that some of the confirmed delegates didn’t turn up. This information is extremely valuable for business owners, and I know of no other forum where you can get it for free (well, almost free - there’s a nominal fee to cover lunch and venue hire). Once again, I had plenty of positive feedback and thanks from the delegates, who appeared for the most part to be very happy with the new things they had learned.
As we move forward, search engine optimisation will become much more closely linked with social media, and this a theme we started to develop today, and one that we will be developing further with a selection of new products from HigherSites.
If any of the delegates do find my blog, I’d welcome some feedback here - just use the comments facility below. If you haven’t attended a workshop yet, get your name to me to be put on the list. You don’t necessarily have to be a Somerset-based business to benefit.
Now, I am hugely tired, and I am going to bed!
#1 by Anita Dakowski at June 18th, 2009
Dear David Hurst,
Sadly, I could not find the detail for todays course and only found it once it was actually in progress. I am really upset about this as I really wanted to do this in particular. Are you going to do this again? Sorry for both of us.
Please send me details if you think you might or can. Meanwhile both my husband and I are going to pay great attention to the forthcoming courses.
Best regards Anita Dakowski. IMMORTILE LTD.
#2 by David Hurst at June 19th, 2009
Anita,
I’ve passed your details to Matt Ballard at Connecting Somerset. He will notify you in advance of the next workshop. Look forward to seeing you there!
Regards,
David
#3 by Tim Nash at June 20th, 2009
“The problem with my workshop is the way the web changes so fast, and search engine algorithms, even faster. What is best practice one minute, becomes a no-no the next.”
I am interested in this comment. As far as I was aware, the basic principles of SEO have been, and still remain the same- crawlabilty, keyword relevance, inbound anchor text links. Although I agree algorithms are constantly updating, i feel it is somewhat of a myth, that seo practices change with it. Are you able to give examples of practices that have recently changed from “best practice” to “no-no”? To me this sounds like practices that you shouldnt have been using in the first place.
#4 by David Hurst at June 22nd, 2009
“To me this sounds like practices that you shouldnt have been using in the first place.”
That’s a pretty quick assumption to jump to based on a one liner Tim, particularly when the one liner in question is an hyperbole designed to emphasize a point. However, there are a number of things that have changed with SEO over the years. Here are just a few:
Once upon a time, it was essential to use META Keywords tags. Now though, none of the major search engines even looks at them.
Previously, it was sensible to gauge an SEO campaign around Google PageRank, but since January 2008 PageRank has simply become part of a larger set of algorithms. Now, basing an SEO campaign around PageRank would be a wasted effort.
It used to be possible to gain ranking benefit from reciprocal and paid for inbound links, hence it was prudent to spend SEO time around building these links. Many companies used software tools to do so, and for a time these were successful, but times and algorithms have again changed, and this would be a foolish strategy now. Paid links should only be purchased on their own merit - i.e. the amount of traffic the link can directly generate - not for some perceived search engine benefit.
In the past, you could seriously weight your content with keywords, but the Google algorithm is increasingly legislating against this and is becoming extremely clever at detecting content that has been optimised for search engines as opposed to content that has simply been written for human visitors.
The key principles you suggest may well be constants, but these are hardly the boundaries of an SEO campaign. The landscape of search is changing. Social media is on a massive increase, and it stands to reason that this will increasingly be factored into search results. Further, we must always remember that Google makes no money from companies’ SEO budgets - they want business customers to use the PPC model - so it is in their interest to make their algorithms more accurate and less able to be manipulated.
SEO is not dead - far from it. However, my point was simply that this sector of the market moves so quickly that I have to spend large amounts of time re-writing bits of my workshop each time I deliver it to make sure I am always giving out correct information.
Google themselves state that they update their algorithms as often as 10 times per week, and these changes do occasionally impact sites we work on, resulting in changes in working practices in general and for specific websites. When Google stopped giving ranking benefit to reciprocal links, link building practices had to change. So, no, it’s not a myth that SEO practices change with algorithms.
Thanks for stopping by.
David
#5 by Marco de Alberdi at July 23rd, 2009
This is the second time I have been to one of your workshops as I also went to the one at Haynes Motor museum. I thought both workshops were really good and made something rather techy and a bit arcane very understandable for a not very techy type like me. So I have got a lot to think about and a very useful starting point. Thank you for doing such a great job!
#6 by David Hurst at July 23rd, 2009
Thanks Marco.
#7 by Ian at August 14th, 2009
Hi David,
We met earlier this week at a meeting. You’ll no doubt remember the vacuum cleaner test you took part in…
I would be interested in attending the next workshop, as it does sound interesting…
Would you also be so kind to answer the following questions below.
- Aprox. What is the nominal workshop fee?
- How often are the workshops done?
- It is always in Somerset, or do you do one in Devon as well?
- How long does the workshop last, what are the start/finish times?
- It is more of a lecture, or practicing hands on tech tips?
- Have you posted any notes/summary of any previous workshop on the web so i can have a look at what typically goes on?
Sorry about all the questions,
Thanks in advance
Ian
#8 by David Hurst at August 14th, 2009
Ian,
Yes I remember!
The workshops via Connecting Somerset are held in Somerset. There are also workshops for Business Link in Devon and Cornwall, but I don’t have any planned dates at the minute. We are also going to start doing them in Bristol. The fees will vary depending on who’s running the course, but for Connecting Somerset it’s £20, which includes lunch.
We run the workshops as often as we have enough people waiting in a given area (about a dozen or so).
The CS workshop is about 3 hours and is delivered lecture/theatre style. We are developing an ITQ accredited course with a leading training provider, but that’s not ready yet.
I can send you a handout, but of course we will be presenting some proposals for you guys next week, and if that goes ahead you will be able to nab me for one-on-one training anyway.
Kind regards,
David