The interface of Google Analytics has been the same for around four years now, but it has recently launched the new version of the service. This new version is designed to take account of the fact that the services offered by Analytics have dramatically expanded.

2011-07-04T13:51:21Z

general A Review Of The New Google Analytics The interface of Google Analytics has been the same for around four years now, but it has recently launched the new version of the service. This new version is designed to take account of the fact that the services offered by Analytics have dramatically expanded and the number of people using its services has also shot up, prompting the need for a bit of an overhaul. So, is the new version of Google Analytics any good? It certainly should be good. Google has said that many of the changes in the new version are the result of user feedback, so you would expect to see appropriate changes as a result. They have also said that the aim of the upgrade is to improve functionality and make it ‘easier and faster’ to get hold of what you are looking for. One of the main changes to Analytics is that it is now possible to have multiple dashboards (which was, incidentally, one of the things users requested). This means you could create one dashboard for your SEO info, another for your goals and so on. You also get more control about the features that display on these dashboards, which is useful. They also display more data, so you can view more information at a single glance. One downside is that there is no way to email the dashboard information to contacts, but generally the new dashboard options are a good addition to the old system. The dashboards also allow you to display different widgets, which is very useful for displaying important bits of data. So, if you want to know how many people have been visiting your sites, you can use the ‘visit’ widget and even break it down by country. There are also pie chart display options, if you prefer to see things more visually and you can compare dates to see how the impact of your activity has changed over time. Another good thing about the updated Google Analytics is the upgraded version of the ‘advanced segments’ too, which lets you analyse different aspects of your statistics. For instance, if you were looking at your ‘total visitors’ information, you could use the segments tool to break this down into details such as how many of them were from overseas and the actions of that particular segment of visitors. Generally, the update has also streamlined its processes and made it simpler to do things, just as Google promised it would. The navigation systems are little altered but they have still improved, which is useful as it means you won’t have to re-learn the entire system in order to do things. Another great feature is the ability to compare trends in search terms, traffic and other aspects. So, if you run a website selling different brands of product, you will be able to compare how many people were bought to your site by individual brands. You can also compare where most of your traffic growth is coming from (such as whether you are getting more visits from Android or iPhone users, mobile users or laptop/desktop users). There is also an option to view search terms in a cloud format, which is a nice feature but it can be confusing as it is hard to determine patterns from it. However, the ‘Reports’ feature has been made easier to understand. Visually, it’s crisper and cleaner, making it easier to pick out information. It’s also easier to switch between different graphics, which is certainly welcome. Plus, if you are an advanced user and want more detail about the accounts you’re working on, you can use the new ‘custom report’ feature. If you aren’t an expert, then this is unlikely to add much value to your Analytics experience, but the fact that you can get so much information so easily elsewhere means that you’ll still have plenty to work with. If, however, you want to drill down as far as you possibly can, you are sure to appreciate this custom feature. All of this has the effect of making the new version of Google Analytics more user friendly. As online marketing grows in importance and more people use it – including people who might not be particularly technically-minded – this is important as one drawback of Analytics used to be that it could be confusing to get your head round if you’d never used it before. For example, the new version makes it easier to switch between different options, accounts and reports, making the process simpler and also quicker, which is sure to appeal to beginners and advanced users alike. Overall, the new version of Google Analytics means that Google is set to stay in a dominant market position when it comes to the analysis of web data. The quality and breadth of information on offer is great and the fact that it is increasingly accessible for beginners means that many more people are sure to start using its services in the near future. There are still a few things that could be improved or ironed out, but for the most part this is a very impressive update from Google. 2011-07-04T13:51:29Z review of new google analytics <_id>review-of-new-google-analytics

A review of the new Google Analytics interface and reporting options.

live

A Review of the New Google Analytics

Since 2009, Google Adwords has offered an additional feature called Ad Sitelinks. The purpose of this is to allow you to include extra links in your Adwords ads that aren’t on your main landing page.

2011-07-04T13:40:44Z

pay-per-click Use of sitelinks in Adwords Ads Since 2009, Google Adwords has offered an additional feature called Ad Sitelinks. The purpose of this is to allow you to include extra links in your Adwords ads that aren’t on your main landing page. So, if you had an ad, you would naturally want to include a link to the relevant website or page on your website as this is how pay-per-click advertising works – the whole point is that people click on your ad when they see it and get taken to your chosen landing page as a result. Ad Sitelinks allows you to include multiple links so you could, for example, include one link in your main headline that took users to your homepage and then another in the description underneath that took users to a specific, relevant page on your site. This is all about getting as much information into a single ad as you can and maximising your Adwords PPC campaign. Recently, Adwords has added a new facet to its Ad Sitelinks feature. This recent addition is the option to have embedded links in your ads. The good thing about this is that it doesn’t add any extra lines of text to your ad. Google describe it like this: ‘text in your ad that exactly matches one or more of the sitelinks in your campaign will automatically be linked to that sitelink’s destination URL.’ This means that if the person reading your ad sees something interesting and want to know more about a specific part of your campaign, they will be able to click through onto the destination URL and get more targeted, relevant information than they would if they simply ended up on your main landing page. It means that web users can find targeted more information more easily and, if they are more confident that they will find what they are looking for, they are more likely to click onto your ad in the first place. This means that the new Ad Sitelinks features could potentially aid the success of your PPC campaigns and so they should definitely be taken seriously.   2011-07-04T13:49:26Z use of domains in adwords ads <_id>use-of-domains-in-adwords-ads

Use of sitelinks in Adwords ads is a clever way to ensure you ad is as targetd as possible whilst also increasing CTR.

live

Use of Domains in Adwords Ads

As part of their never-ending mission to perfect online search, Google recently released the Panda update.

2011-06-30T16:38:29Z

seo Understanding and surviving the Google Panda update As part of their never-ending mission to perfect online search, Google recently released the Panda update. This is something that SEO experts and website owners definitely need to take note of, as when it was rolled out in the US in March 2011, it had an impact on around 12% of searches. So, what exactly is the Panda update? It is essentially an algorithm update designed to improve web users’ search experiences. We’ve all been in a position where we’ve searched for a piece of information, only for the results that come up to be disappointing. Often, we end up directed to sites that seem to exist purely to promote keywords, that have low quality content or that seem to have simply copied content from elsewhere. It is these sorts of sites that Google is looking to target with the Panda update, so that good quality websites find it easier to do well in relevant search results, no matter how hard content farms or other low quality sites try to stay at the top of the list. On the whole, this update is a good thing for the vast majority of web users and websites alike. It means that good quality sites that take care with both their SEO and their content should find it easier to place highly in search results. It also means that web users will benefit from better quality results when they enter search terms, and that sites with shallow content will be weeded out. There are, though, a couple of little issues that arise from the Panda update. One is that websites are constantly evolving and so pages can sometimes seem as though they have shallow or low quality content, when in actual fact they simply aren’t finished yet. For instance, if you set up a discussion post on a website, that page is going to appear to be relatively empty until people actually start posting comments on it. This makes the page read as being low quality to the Google bots and it could end up affecting the standing of the entire website. One option here is to block pages until they have sufficient content that they’ll be able to pass Google’s tests. Another part of the solution is to simply pay more attention to the overall quality of content on websites. Of course, SEO is massively important and targeting keywords can make a big difference to your Google results, but now this alone isn’t enough. Google and the other search engines closely guard the algorithms they use to work out how highly websites rank, but it is common sense that those sites with well thought-out content that adds value to a user’s experience do better than sites that simply focus on keyword placement. One indicator here is how well a page’s content reads. Ideally, it should flow naturally and the sentence structures should be good, as it can be all too obvious when a post is designed around shoehorning in a single keyword. A good thing to ask yourself here is: will web users find this useful and easy to understand? If you can honestly answer ‘yes’, then you should be fine. Something else that will help websites bolster their rankings in the wake of the Google Panda update is to keep their content fresh. Update regularly to keep the site active and more relevant as this is often an important factor in search rankings. If you have advertising on your site, then make sure this adds value to the other content that is there – and is relevant to the other content, if at all possible – rather than taking over from the focus of the page and reducing its worth. There is strong evidence that Google is using site usability indicators such as clickthrough rate and bounce rate to judge thin content. This makes sense. if people dont like your landing page it might be because its not a good fit to what they actually searched for on Google. In theory if you website is written well, has informative useful content and is well explored once people get their Panda should be an issue for you. The volume of outcries from many people though suggest that it may not be quite that straightforward. Its worth noting that Panda has already gone through several updates and some sites are recovering. Its worth looking at your page analytics, identifying possibly weak pages and trying to improve them so that they are more useful to your site visitors.   2011-06-30T16:38:35Z understanding and surviving the panda update <_id>understanding-and-surviving-the-panda-update

The Panda update has hit many sites hard. Heres an explantion of the general principle behind Panda.

live

Understanding and surviving the Google Panda update

It probably won’t surprise you to know that the industry that uses Google Adwords and PPC campaigns the most is the FMCG industry (fast moving consumer goods) – in other words, shopping. At the start of 2011, retail accounted for 54% of all Adwords advertising.

2011-06-30T16:28:59Z

pay-per-click The top industries using Adwords It probably won’t surprise you to know that the industry that uses Google Adwords and PPC campaigns the most is the FMCG industry (fast moving consumer goods) – in other words, shopping. At the start of 2011, retail accounted for 54% of all Adwords advertising. That works out as more than 891,000 individual ads placed by companies relating to retail. Following behind them were search engines on 14% and the travel and accommodation sector, also on 14%. A few conclusions can be drawn from this. The data suggests that the industries most likely to use Adwords are those that get most of their business through the web and, in particular, search engines. They are more likely to be industries that will benefit from this sort of promotion, particularly in the retail industry where there is such a high turnover of products and, if they don’t sell, the industry doesn’t make any money. By contrast, ‘information resources’ accounted for only 2% of Adwords use, which suggests that firms in that industry are more likely to benefit from other forms of SEO, perhaps because their services are constant and not as fast-moving as other sectors. All of this goes to show that while online advertising is massively beneficial for companies, it also pays to know your sector so that you target the right kind of online advertising – this will ensure a good return on your money and target your campaigns to the right audience. After all, targeting the right audience is much more beneficial than targeting a large but generic one, so a little research into your most likely routes for advertising success are sure to pay off in the long run. 2011-06-30T16:29:04Z top industries using adwords <_id>top-industries-using-adwords

Ever wondered what markets heavily use Adwords and paid search? Unsurprisingly retail is the biggest player in PPC and perhaps SEM overall.

live

Top Industries Using Adwords

If you are going to have any success with your website, then you need to think about SEO. Optimising certain keywords can be hugely beneficial for companies looking to create an impact, but there are people out there who see the whole thing as expensive and something of a waste of time. Is it?

2011-06-30T16:26:21Z

seo Is outsourcing SEO expensive? Is Outsourcing SEO Expensive? If you are going to have any success with your website, then you need to think about SEO. Optimising certain keywords can be hugely beneficial for companies looking to create an impact, but there are a few people out there who see the whole thing as expensive and something of a waste of time. Is it? The short answer is no, as long as you hire the right company to do your SEO for you and do it all properly. Of course, bad SEO can end up being an expensive mistake but when it’s done well, the results can be great. Let’s have a look at why this is. Firstly, it’s important to remember that good SEO involves a long term strategy so while you might not get amazing results straight away, that doesn’t mean they won’t come further down the line. After all, if you are trying to make inroads on a keyword that is massively popular, it’s going to take some time to get what you want. Also, when you hire a good SEO company, you are paying for expertise. This obviously doesn’t come free, but the results you get from it should more than make up for the initial investment. Setting up a company’s online operations is a little bit like starting a business in the ‘real world’ – it requires time and investment, but with patience, dedication and proper, decent goals, the results will come. There are also ways you can minimise the amount you are spending on SEO so it is affordable for companies of all sizes. Obviously, if you are outsourcing the work then choosing a recommended company is a good tactic as you will get a good return for your money and so will most likely end up spending less than you would if you accidentally went with a ‘scam’ company. There are also free services such as Google Adwords and Analytics that can help you implement SEO strategies and achieve good results without having to spend a penny. It is important to remember, though, that working on SEO also requires an investment of time, so even if you use free resources to help you, you still need to put in the hours to achieve success. You will need to spend time promoting keywords, buying PPC ads and developing contacts in order to generate incoming links that can improve your search engine rankings. This is one reason that businesses of all sizes outsize their SEO work: the time it would take them to start to make an impact simply wouldn’t be worth it, whereas if they outsource it to experts, it frees them up to focus no other areas of the business, knowing that the SEO is taken care of. Paying for SEO also means you get to take advantage of all the latest techniques without having to know what they are yourself. The internet is constantly developing and evolving, and SEO experts keep up with all the current trends so that they can be implemented into your projects. Trying to do all of this yourself - particularly if your business doesn’t have a huge amount of resources or you aren’t especially technically-minded - is a big thing to ask. So overall, SEO isn’t expensive if it is done properly because you should get the results to make it worth it. It is, however, an investment and should be treated as such. Plus, as ecommerce and the internet in general grow in scope and importance, good SEO is becoming more important than ever. This means it is definitely worth giving serious consideration to what your company can do to enhance its SEO strategy. 2011-06-30T16:26:30Z is outsourcing seo expensive <_id>is-outsourcing-seo-expensive

Worried about how much SEO costs? Not sure if its worth it. Here we discuss the issues concerning SEO ousourcing.

live

Is outsourcing SEO expensive?

Everyone knows that keywords are an important part of search engine optimisation. Whether you are buying keywords for a PPC campaign or just generally looking to promote certain words or phrases on your site, it is definitely worth making sure you get the right ones.

2011-06-30T16:22:33Z

seo Choosing the best keywords for SEO Everyone knows that keywords are an important part of search engine optimisation. Whether you are buying keywords for a PPC campaign or just generally looking to promote certain words or phrases on your site, it is definitely worth making sure you get the right ones. If you choose the wrong keywords, your return on investment will end up being low and your campaigns will have little impact, no matter how hard you work. Get the right keywords, however, and you could have some great success. Here are some tips for choosing your SEO keywords. How ‘expensive’ is your keyword? One thing that you need to think about when choosing SEO keywords is how much it will cost you to have success with them. You will no doubt be aware that you have to purchase keywords for your PPC campaigns, but even when you are looking to optimise particular words on your website, you also need to know what it is going to take to get you to the top of the search engine rankings.  This might not necessarily be a monetary cost, but a cost in terms of effort. For instance, if you decided you wanted to get to the top of the Google rankings for the term ‘shoes’, it’s likely to be a pretty tall order. There are companies out there spending millions of dollars and employing whole teams of people to make sure they stay at the top. Achieving the success you want might involve building lots of different webpages and developing links with hundreds of blogs and other sites in order to generate incoming links. In short, it’s going to take resources that most companies don’t have. However, there might be another related keyword that you could get to the top of Google for – and have much more success with it as a result, which brings us on to the nest point… Think about the variations Keyword variation is really important and there are quite a few tools that you can use to work out what they are. For instance, Google Adwords will be able to give you keyword variations and common search terms as part of its free service and you can get even more comprehensive offerings if you go for a paid account with Adwords or another provider such as Wordtracker. Let’s take ‘healthy food’. If you were trying to optimise your site for that keyword, there would be lots of other words and phrases that could also prove beneficial to you as people don’t always search using the term you are interested in. They might search for ‘nutrition’ or ‘diet’ instead, or perhaps be more specific and search for terms such as ‘healthy food retailers in Sheffield city centre’. These all provide you with good keywords options, including some that you could potentially do really well with. Do your research This means that you need to do your research. As well as using online tools that give you keyword suggestions and information on people’s search terms, a bit of practical research could also help you. For example, if you have a good customer base, why not ask them what search terms they would use when they were looking for information about your business? They might come up with things you’ve never thought of and what they tell you could potentially be very valuable – after all, they’ve used your services. Remember the rest of your content Of course, it’s not just about individual keywords or phrases. If you are going to have success with your SEO, your chosen keywords need to be built into good, quality content. Increasingly, sites with low quality content are being shunted down the search engine rankings, so no matter how hard they work to optimise their keywords, if the quality of the content can’t match it, it won’t have the impact they desire. This means it is more important than ever that you pay close attention to the content you post online. Think carefully about the purpose of each webpage, blog post or comment you make to see where its value comes from, so it is about more than just SEO and promoting your keywords – you need to offer your users a good experience, too. Think long term Finally, when it comes to keyword optimisation and SEO, it helps to have a long term strategy. You might not be able to get the top spot on Google for ‘shoes’, but if you continue to write good quality content, build links and optimise your content wherever you can, your site will gradually become more respected and trusted, meaning the effort you put in now will pay off in the long run. SEO is somewhat different to PPC because, while pay-per-click campaigns are often well-suited to short, sharp marketing, SEO often involves playing the long game. Think about where you’re going, what you can do to get there and why you want to do it. As long as you have a clear keyword and general SEO strategy, there’s no reason you shouldn’t get great results. 2011-06-30T16:22:47Z choosing seo keywords <_id>choosing-seo-keywords

SEO is complicated, time consuming, subjective and difficult. However the biggest mistake people make is the most fundamental - which keywords to choose?

live

Choosing SEO Keywords

A lot has been written on how businesses can use PPC campaigns to drive up traffic to their site and, hopefully, increase their trade as a result.

2011-06-30T16:16:47Z

pay-per-click Charities and PPC Campaigns A lot has been written on how businesses can use PPC campaigns to drive up traffic to their site and, hopefully, increase their trade as a result. This is great and it offers companies lots of benefits, but what about charities? At a time when more emphasis is being placed on the role of charities but lots of them are facing funding difficulties, could PPC campaigns help them to increase their donations and other business? Well, yes, they can. Charity PPC campaigns work in much the same way as regular campaigns do, except that they obviously have to be tailored to that specific charity and a particular campaign. This means that the charity needs to think early on about exactly what it wants to do with its campaign. For instance, are they trying to increase their pool of regular donors? Are they focusing on a specific event, disaster or time-limited cause that they want to fund? Are they looking for people to sign up for their newsletter to increase awareness? Having a clear aim will enable the organisation to target their PPC ads more effectively. There are also a couple of good tools that charities can make use of to fund and implement their PPC campaigns. Once again, it’s Google to the rescue in the form of their Google Grant, and any registered charity looking to carry out a PPC campaign should definitely check it out. For those not in the know, the Google Grant is available to a range of registered charities and offers free Adwords services to them. This can be worth as much as around $10,000 per month of Google advertising, so it is definitely worth making use of if your charity is eligible. Of course, as it is a free service, you won’t have all the perks of a paid account but as with so many other Google services, you won’t be able to find a better free option anywhere else – something that is sure to appeal to charities looking to maximise the amount they spend on good causes while keeping their admin and advertising costs down. Having the free grants account also means you probably won’t even need a paid account as it simply wouldn’t be good value for money when compared with what’s already on offer. Charities can also set up a free Analytics account to keep track of their campaign and measure how well their objectives are going, which is important as voluntary organisations arguably need to be more careful than most when it comes to keeping track of their return on investment. Overall, PPC campaigns can be massively beneficial to charities, especially if you target your advertising really well and make the most of free services on offer. This will help to keep your marketing costs down while maximising the return you get and so, with a bit of luck, should lead to a very successful campaign that will not only be of benefit to you but also the people your organisation was set up to help in the first place. 2011-06-30T16:18:46Z charities and ppc <_id>charities-and-ppc

Charities and their marketing tend to be over dependent on old marketing methods. PPC really does allow them to achieve their goals and Google even offers grants.

live

Charities and PPC Campaigns

Many think the meta description might not be as important as it once was in terms of your search engine rankings, but it still plays a big part in persuading people to click through onto your website and therefore deserves attention. It also is once again directly affecting rankings.

2011-06-17T13:48:24Z

seo The Importance of Writing a Good Meta Description For those not in the know, the meta description for your webpage is the small piece of text that forms the bulk of your search result in search engines. It tells people what your site is about. This is crucial as otherwise they will have very little information to go on – particularly if they have never heard of your company before or are unfamiliar with you. So, a cupcake company might have a meta description along the lines of ‘We are the premier cupcake bakers in London. With over 10 years experience, we have more than 5000 satisfied customers.’ This will often be the first thing that people read about your website, so it needs to be catchy, concise and enticing. You want people to be intrigued by whatever it says and be persuaded to click onto your website. There are a few things you can do to maximise the impact of your meta description. For instance, think about it as you would an online ad. What would you write there if it was an ad for Adwords? What keywords would you include? Putting keywords there might not boost your search engine ranking, but they might strike a chord with the people reading what you have written and persuade them that yours is the site for them. Also keep your description brief: any more than 150 characters and you run the risk of your message being cut off. Think carefully about your core message and make sure it is condensed down into your meta description. Another tip is to write a different meta description for each page of your website so the content will always be relevant. Google admits that site useage data is now a small element of its ranking algorithm and many belive this will increase in importance as its much harder to manipulate, unlike content and links. This evaluation of site useage will likely include clickthrough rate (CTR) from search results. Google Webmaster Tools now shows CTR in its dashboard. This makes the meta description even more important and directly relevant to achieving higher rankings. it might have fallen out of favour somewhat, but meta data is just as important as the rest of your SEO. 2011-06-17T13:49:14Z the importance of a good meta description <_id>the-importance-of-a-good-meta-description

META DESCRIPTIONS ARE IMPORTANT - they effect CTR and therefore traffic volume. Find out more about good meta descriptions.

live

The Importance of Writing a Good Meta Description

Facebook & Twitter advertising is currently rubbish - thats some statement but one I believe holds true. Why cant these 2 online goliaths get it together and produce a real rival to Google Adwords?

2011-04-13T21:42:42Z

social-media Facebook Advertising | Twitter Advertising | Why Is Social Media Advertising So Rubbish? Ok heres the flaw in that argument - Facebook & Twitter arent ad platforms in the same way that Google aspires to be. Fair enough, why should they be? Having said that Facebook has an existing ppc ad model and Twitter is experimenting with sponsored tweets and more, so they are both appreciating and exploring the ad revenue model. Assuming, and we have to assume, that both these companies want to earn more money via ad revenue then why are their current offerings so goddam rubbish for businesses and SEO's like us? Facebook PPC ads suck right now (Apr 11). Expensive cpc's, no accurate conversion tracking, doesnt work with Google analytics etc etc. Twitter has 'sponsored tweets' which arent targeted at any great granular level and are available to very few advertisers. It all seems a bit un-innovative and 20th century compared to the old stalwart Adwords and the constant improvements to Google's ppc model that make paid Google Advertising such an innovative, useable and scalable income stream for small and large business alike.  If I was a Facebook or Twitter r&d/advertising employee heres what id be thinking: Googles content network which matches businesses ads to relevant website content is a beautiful, wide scale and targeted ad medium which produces phenomenal results for advertisers and Googles bootom line. Facebook/Twitter is the ultimate online content phenomena which masses of unique, original content posted every second - wouldnt it be great to display relevant ads next to real time posts/discussions for uber targeted advertising? For example im a company selling AA batteries - someone tweets how their batteries on their TV control just expired - they get served with my ad for AA batteries at that EXACT moment. Pretty hard core targeted advertising right?? Ok heres what I suspect the counter argument is - the big T & FB arent 'search' engines, people arent looking for stuff but a way to communicate with each other. If people search for 'AA batteries' on Google its fair enough to serve them an ad for AA batteries right? If someone is bitching about their TV control just expiring is it still fair game to serve them an ad???? Well ok I get that argument but cant T & FB introduce 'opt in' ad options for users in exchange for 'something; i.e. Facebook credits (for games) or something else. My point is if Facebook & Twitter continue to experiment with ad models why not do it properly and without disengaging their audience for the benefit of their own bottom line, advertisers, and lets face it their users - their users you say? Well yes we dont have an outcry about ads being served on Google, they after all help 'searchers' with alternative/targeted search results right? If you see fit to complain about your TV remote dying on Twitter wouldnt you appreciate information telling you where to get cheap replacement batteries? Twitter and Facebook, such incredible pioneers and innovators of how we live in the 21st century just seem unable (right now) to monetize their own system and profitize many millions of businesses who would sign up instantly for the kind of ad system ive just described and which Google seems to be the only business to operate so (very very very very) successfully.     2011-05-11T17:05:17Z facebook and twitter advertising is rubbish <_id>facebook-and-twitter-advertising-is-rubbish

Facebook and Twitter have Google scared but why cant they produce decent advertising opportunities?

live

Facebook & Twitter Advertising Is (Currently) Rubbish

GOOGLE CAMPAIGN BOOSTS GUEST HOUSE’S WEBSITE TRAFFIC BY 400%!

2011-03-31T16:38:05Z

google-local Google Local For Hotels | Google Place Results For Hotels An innovative accommodation provider is celebrating after harnessing the power of Google to treble their website traffic.  The Topos Guest House in St. Austell, Cornwall is in a prime location near tourist hotspots like the Eden Project.  But as a result they also have plenty of competition, so owner Greg Rasdall has had to think of ways to stay ahead of his rivals. One of those ways is the internet, and more specifically search engines like Google.  Through a collaboration with Devon consultancy Open Eye Marketing, they have been able to take advantage of services like Google Local. Google Local allows businesses to achieve first page positioning by securing popular search phrases. Greg Rasdall said: “Our website was getting 10 visits per day before we used Google Local to secure phrases like ‘b&b in Cornwall’ and ‘St. Austell b&b’. “Now we are getting tonnes of traffic!  It has got to the point where we are actually turning people away. “We always have good occupancy in the summer but it’s looking like we can really relax when it comes to our winter bookings now.” Andy Maclean is Managing Director of Open Eye Marketing, which handled the Topos Google Local campaign. He said “For hotels and other accommodation providers Google’s Local Business Results really represents massive potential in terms of dramatically increasing occupancy. “We all know Google is the place to look for business and holiday accommodation, and our service which guarantees first page positioning has benefitted our clients enormously!” Originally posted on Wednesday, 29 July 2009 19:26  2011-03-31T16:38:39Z google local for hotels and accommodation <_id>google-local-for-hotels-and-accommodation

Google Local/Places should be a key part of any hotel, b&b or other accommodation providers sales toolkit.

live

Google Local Is Awesome For Accommodation Providers