Search Engine Strategies UK - SES London post 1

Ses Conference London - Trafficfundi on the ROAD!

Well I apologise for the late BLOG as a spurt of late night sessions and late night "eating" has led me to deliver a very prolonged and slow first BLOG. Firstly, let me say that I'm a little disappointed that there aren't more South African companies at these sessions. I honestly think that South African SEO companies and online marketers need to pay more attention to these conferences cause this is where it's all AT!

Filled with whitehat and blackhat SEO companies, link builders, online marketers, AdWords specialists, social media agencies and more WHY WOULD YOU NOT come to one of these. Along with the fact that SEO in South Africa is on the up and growing at a rate of knots, we should be making our presence felt and putting our brains together to show the world we know what we're doing.

Anyway, enough about my ranting and raving, this is a short and brief post to show you all and introduce you all to the world of SES if you haven't heard about it already.

FOLLOW ME on @TrafficFundi on TWITTER to find out about latest news and up to the minute updates at the conference as well.

For more information check out the website SES London.

Check out the AGENDA at the SES conference, http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/london/agenda.php and if there is anything we can help you with in terms of feedback, updates or anything please feel free to comment on this post or send us a TWEET.

Google increases their security frontline!

Google has done it again, surprise us with a brand new update! But this time, their security detail got some new toys...

As you know, Google warns you if a website has malware or may pose a threat to you opening it. Now, Google have gone one step further. In a Google search, you will now get added messages telling you if a website has been compromised by a third party user, thus telling you that this site has been hacked.

Yes, you might think that this is pretty useless information, but you can always find out for yourself and see what happens when browsing a hacked site.

Should you come across a search result of a hacked site on Google, you will get a message telling you that this site is compromised, and if you follow the link, it will take you to Google's help Center, explaining in detail what this message means and how it can affect you as user.

So, all in all, good job and well done Google! We as users are ever thankful...

What's going on with Google.co.za South Africa's search results?

This month and last month have been a constant battle to understand what it is that Google are trying to achieve. With fluctuations in rankings, fluctuations in visual elements and just permanent updates on Google, I'm talking Google.co.za, I'm not quote sure what the SEARCH BEAST is up to...

This morning, I logged onto Google.co.za and I noticed that the search results are now highlighted in a BLUE box, giving us a SNAPSHOT of the website as you hover over a Magnifying lens to the right of the search result:



Google.co.za South Africa, starts displaying organic search listings with a difference.

 So, what is this search giant up to?
Why all the sudden changes and dramatic results updates. I thought that Google Caffeine was going to be this big ban roll out but it looks like it's taking a couple of months to start rolling everything out.

Something that's a little more disturbing is the varying organic search engine optimization results we're getting on "The Web" vs. "Pages from South Africa". A very generic search result for "insurance" will give you a good indication of what I mean:




Results for "insurance" search on Google.co.za (The Web)

 And then look at the results we got from "Pages from South Africa", is this reasonable? I mean surely a search in South Africa, is a Search in South Africa, why the heck is Google giving us conflicting search results?



Google.co.za search results for "insurance" (pages from South Africa)

 It seems as though Google don't know what they want. Google, we want the old Google back. Isn't there a saying that goes, "If it ain't broke, then don't fix it?".

The proof of Google is in the Traffic!

Well isn't it?

I've had a couple of emails from some online forums giving me stick about referring to the web / search and SEO as Google. In other words, do you want your website optimized for Google? Is what I asked a client...I was referring to South Africa in general BUT I was slammed and quickly...

WAS I THAT WRONG?

I'll give you some interesting facts about GOOGLE and website traffic in South Africa.

• 90% of the traffic coming to localised South African websites (GOOGLE)
• Bing was starting to generate some traffic, but they removed the localised search portion of their search, so South African sites are now mixed up with GLOBAL sites (ALTERNATIVE, GOOGLE)
• If we combine ALL of South Africa's search engines, directories and social media sites the combined traffic coming into your site is possibly 4%, if that... Meaning (THERE'S ONLY GOOGLE)
• 95% of the analytics software used in South Africa is Google Analytics
• I'd say and this is a guess, 60 - 70% of all online spend on PAID ADS is with (GOOGLE)

Which leads me back to my original saying: The proof of GOOGLE is in the TRAFFIC.
So if you're wanting your website optimized for GOOGLE - YOU know who to call!