It has been a year since Google, Yahoo! and Bing jointly announced the canonical tag but only last week did it emerge that Yahoo! and Bing were going to start supporting it.

Last month we asked the question and now it would appear that the results of Yahoo! and Bing’s...

As Jet2.com extends their bases and number of routes they have also enjoyed a greater share of...

Last week the US Department of Justice and European Commission sanctioned Yahoo!’s...

It’s true you can now go anywhere you want at the swipe of your finger after Google Earth became available on Android 2.1. It also exemplifies the closing gap between what you can do on a desktop and what you can do on your phone.

Google have once again managed to create a, err, buzz about their latest product...

In some ways Twitter is like a popularity contest but unlike Facebook you have to earn your followers. As you may or may not be aware, on Facebook, if you request someone as a friend and they accept, or vice-versa, you will immediately follow each other’s profile. It isn’t quite the same on Twitter!

If I had a pound for every blog post I have read about how to make the most of Twitter, I’d be able to retire. Yet for all the collective wisdom out there prescribing best practice lists, there are very few guides on how to understand Twitter. This got me thinking, are companies failing to make the most of the social network because they simply don’t understand it?

We’re not trying to flirt with conspiracy enthusiasts with this assertion, merely questioning the influence that Google is having on a rapidly changing social-driven Internet.

Marketing agency, Latitude, this week went into administration before being bought out in a “pre-pack” deal led by its management and Vitruvian, their private equity agency.

If 2010 is the year that mobile presence emerges with just as much clout as SEO and SMO then the expected launch of the Nexus One, the first Google-branded phone, on January 5 will ensure that the year starts with a bang.

There is a consensus that Google might have been a little hasty in rolling out real-time search and this could lead to its impact declining in 2010.

In part two of, the 12 Rules of SMO, we continue our look at some of the key factors that you should consider when approaching an SMO campaign. Part one focussed on planning your strategy and ensuring your content is clear and offers value to visitors. These last six festive offerings will hopefully also add some value to your SMO campaign.

Okay, so this isn’t a definitive guide or Holy Grail of Social Media Optimisation (SMO) best practice. Instead, think of it as a timely look at some of the key things you should consider for an SMO campaign this Christmas and into the New Year.

Hot on the heels of Google’s announcement to roll-out personalised search to everyone with an Internet connection, they delivered their second wave of innovations – real-time search results. This will usher in the brave new world of SMO and SEO search results.

Has the future of SEO been irrevocably altered to the detriment of its potential use in Google? This kind of question has been slowly infiltrating search forums this week following Google’s personalised search announcement on Friday (04/12/09).

Traditionally the golden rule of writing content for your site or your blog was to be niche – one narrow vertical. However, going horizontal could be the new vertical for some.

The must attend conference in the world of search is once again returning to the UK in 2010. Search Marketing Expo (SMX) is a two day conference featuring sessions led by industry experts on SEO, PPC, organic search, mobile search and many more.

In what has been billed as the “biggest change” to the Internet “since it was invented 40 years ago”, net regulator Icann has invited countries to apply for “internationalised domain names” in the non-Latin characters.

Leading search marketing specialist, home james, has been appointed by Leeds University Business School to raise the profile of the school, following on from the re-launch of the new Business School brand.

With Google Caffeine expected to give the world’s leading search engine a shot of speed and accuracy in the New Year it appears that speed could become a feature of SEO rankings!

Good Social Media Optimisation (SMO) should be about personalised content and meaningful interaction.

The net of opportunities for mobile advertising looks set to grow after Google bought AdMob, one of the leading mobile advert companies.

We all know that online ad spend has recently outstripped TV for the first time but where’s it all going?Before I answer that, here are some of the stats.

Over the past couple of weeks Google have conducted some studies with major international brands, Heineken and Levi’s, to investigate the value of paid for search to branding. The findings of both studies returned positive results that indicate paid for search can considerably boost brand awareness as well as increasing sales.

Increase your standout in an ever-competitive PPC landscape

Social Media Optimisation (SMO) is the new buzz topic in the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) field and companies considering a campaign utilising this shouldn’t stop at just using Twitter and Facebook.

The advent of social media marketing through Facebook and Twitter has cast a lifeline to many small businesses trying to stay afloat in the turbulent recession waters.

Targeting social media, and in particular twitter, has fast become this season’s must-have accessory.  Evidence of this can be found across the social networks which now play host to a graveyard of corporate Facebook & twitter pages, pages that were once in vogue, left to fallow.  Why is this happening?

Almost a year earlier than forecasted, online advertising spend has superseded television expenditure in the UK with paid-for search leading the way. This is the key finding of a study by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The second installment of our new series of blog posts from home james  - the most important stories in search and SEO for the last month, all in one easy to digest post. This month - August 2009.

Today, home james was unveiled as a RAR Recommended Agency and joined the elite few on its register.

Well, it’s been a long time coming, but the expected deal between Yahoo & Microsoft has finally been announced – with one aim, being more effective at taking on Google.

Presenting the most important stories in search and SEO for the last month, all in one easy to digest post.

Search is not just about keeping up with algorithms, it’s about keeping up with customers. The customer is, after all, the most important part of the process. Provide customers with what they want, and serve it to them in a fresh and engaging way, and you gain loyalty, trust and authority.

So, unless you’ve been hiding under a mighty big rock of late, you’ll no doubt have heard about Google Streetview. There’s a lot in the media at present about the privacy issue (yawn) – but this post IS NOT about that, so you can continue reading without getting bored!

What is universal search? It’s the diverse means of displaying results in the SERPs to give individuals greater choice over the style of listing they choose.

There’s been a lot said of late about the future of search, and two common themes have appeared time and time again. We’ve already talked about semantic search (and its effect on PPC), and now seems an apt time to talk about personalisation.

Search is one of the most important ways that users find their way around web sites.

Google Site Search now features up to date search results following a recent upgrade to this service.

Google Site Search is a popular choice for web sites which do not already have a search facility.  It allows webmasters to quickly and easily set up a Google powered search engine specifically for their site.

There’s a recession looming, in case you didn’t know, it’s changing how we think and hitwise have been sharing some of their insights with us.

Fast moving search terms for September include Hadron Collider, HBoS, Sarah Palin, Sex on Fire, Elbow, Ryder Cup & Google Chrome, amongst others.

Interestingly, the rate of growth in the Social Networking & Forums category has slowed quite a bit, whilst blogs & personal websites have seen a decrease in popularity year on year – this could be our last post!

Yesterday, Google announced it would open up its paid search platform for gambling related terms in the UK!

If this floats your boat, you’re probably in the industry and, therefore, this is a seismic u-turn of notable proportions.

If it doesn’t, it’s probably just another piece of online twoddle, it’s likely to be jargon-riddled and mean very little to the common man.

Google have entered the world of web browsers with one of their latest releases, Google Chrome.

Chrome is a web browser that, on the face of it, seems to be in line with most other browsers.

It's currently in Beta stage so there are certain things it still doesn't do for example, still no Google toolbar!

There are things it does above and beyond all other web browsers though.

Following our recent post ‘Fannie Mae Get Help, But Will the Crunch Affect Online’, it seems marketing folk are making the shift to online in readiness for what may be a more difficult year ahead.

It’s staggering to see how many PPC campaigns are still being managed through automated software and are set on position-based, automated bid strategies.

We see this every day when analysing the competition and tracking competitors’ positions.

This approach can reduce the efficiency of a campaign and, as a result, it’s important for campaign managers to take greater control of their bid strategies if they want to increase the returns.

If you believe the hype we’re 24 hours from doomsday, not Tulsa!

Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, AIG Financial, FTSE’s up, FTSE’s down, Lehman Smehman; how’s my website performing?

It was reported in this week's Marketing that PPC managers are locked & loaded, following Google's abolition of brand protection on keyword bidding in April this year, but are yet to draw their weapons.