Rebecca from SEOmoz has posted her SES London Comic Strip over on the blog. Go check it out!

It includes a cameo role from Lisa at SEO blog UK and it had me laughing out loud throughout.

Pure Genius!

In response to a post on the SEO UK blog about one of my favourite firefox extensions, I thought I would put together a list of all of the SEO Firefox extensions which I could not live without.

There are various tools which I use on a daily basis which aid me with my SEO duties. All of the tools are free and can be set up as add-ons within Mozilla Firefox. They work fantastically well when looking at sites and giving advice, when you need statistics which are easily at hand and on the fly.

SEO Quake - https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/3036/

I couldn’t live without this tool, there is so much to it. It provides on the fly SEO parameters which enable you to investigate many factors of a website. When searching within Google, MSN and Yahoo it will add extremely useful information under each result immediately showing you the PR (PageRank) indexed pages and number of inbound links. There is so much more to this tool, visit the SEO Quake website for more information.

SEO for Firefox - http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/seo-for-firefox.html

For even more extensive information within the search results, SEO books firefox tool provides everything you need to find out why a site is ranking so well. It’s easy to switch off and on (just click the logo at the bottom of your browser). I use this tool everyday when looking at competitors which I want to target.

Webmaster Toolbar - https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/60/

Switch off java script, styles, images.. swtich off everything! This is a great tool for testing how crawlable your site is. Switch off your java script menus and try navigating around your website, if you can’t, you need to change your navigation. Great tool!

Groowe Search Toolbar - https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/534/

This is great for searching in general. If you are like me and need to make hundreds of searches everyday, this tool will put a search toolbar in your firefox browser which with a simple click will show you results from all of the major search engines. If I need to view rankings for a site, I can type the keywords in once, and then search multiple search engines very quickly.

SEO Open - https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/570/

This provides some basic tools to gain important SEO statistics about the site you are visiting. I like the ease of use with this tool, if you are on a page which you want to analyse, just right click and select one of the parameters to test.

SEO Links - http://www.webmasterbrain.com/seo-tools/firefox-extensions/seo-links/

Hover over any link and immediately see ranking and popularity data for the URL. This is the easiest and quickest way to get important data about any link on your page.

HTML Validator - https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/249/

If your code isn’t nice and clean, you may have problems getting your pages in the search engine index . This tool will show you where the errors are and what line you can find them on. Make sure all your pages are getting a nice green tick! It’s a nice feeling when they do…

Search Status - https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/321/

A nice easy tool which basically shows you the Google PR and Alexa popularity score of every page you visit. A keyword density analyser, no follow highlighter and related links functions are also included.

Customise Google - http://www.customizegoogle.com/

A great tool, not just for SEO but for searching in general. This will add links at the top of your SERP’s which will quickly take you to other search engine results. You can also do some clever things when looking for images. But the most useful SEO function is the suggest tool which pop up while you type to show you popular terms and the amount of competing websites.

Let me know of any other extensions which help you with your SEOing. There are lots of non SEO add-ons which I utilise but these are definitely my favourite SEO Firefox extensions.

If you haven’t already listened to this show then make sure you check out this week’s podcast about the SES conference last week. Strikepoint is presented by Dave Naylor and Mikkel deMib Svendsen and is a thoroughly enjoyable radio show dedicated to SEO discussion and issues.

Running weekly on a Tuesday at 8pm GMT and hosted on WebmasterRadio.fm, the show is always made up of excellent content and expert insight. Mikel does a great job in trying to keep some sort of structure to the show but with Dave on air it doesn’t always work out that way.

I have included the podcast on this page but you can also download the show and also listen to other great shows over at WebmasterRadio.fm.

The second day of the conference started brightly, with a decent hotel breakfast and a cab ride with Dennis Mortensen from Index Tools, nice to meet you Dennis! Followed by a mad rush to the conference hall to make sure I got a seat for Matt Cutts’ keynote conversation, something I had been really looking forward to…

For those of you who are not aware; Matt Cutts is a leading software engineer at Google, he is Head of the Webspam team and writes a well known blog about Google and SEO. It was good to see him make the trip over from the States to meet the UK crowd and being such an open and interesting guy, I was looking forward to hearing what he had to say. The interview/conversation was conducted by Chris Sherman.

Here are some of the highlights…

The conversation started with Matt explaining how he ended up working for Google. He explained that he and his wife eloped to try and work for Google, he took classes in library and information science and after writing a letter, they employed him in 2000.

As he’s Head of the Spam team, Matt was asked where to draw the line with spam. He explained that “measuring how happy users are is important.” He went on to say that off topic spam, he used an example of typing in your name and getting porn, “isn’t in anybody’s interest.”

Matt was asked to clarify current algorithm updates at Google. He explained that in the old days there would be a monthly update, which was referred to as the Google Dance. In 2003 they started to make incremental changes, but now Google has “Everflux” where an index update happens everyday. The algorithm takes a lot longer to update, but there are updates taking place on a daily basis to either the index or algorithms.

When asked whether he could say anything about undetectable spam, Matt explained that there was once a guy who claimed that his “super duper” cloaking technique would never be detected. He found that his “super duper” cloaking had page names like “doorway-page-alta-vista” - Matt explained: “even my Mum could have detected that!”

Matt also said that he receives emails form people saying; “try our link buying program”. He said he replies by asking “can you show me some examples of your work?” They write back and supply him with a whole list of the websites which you can buy links from… Absolute classic!

Matt even said that Google receives email spam claiming “We can increase the visibility of Google.com within Google!”

Chris asked Matt if he could give one piece of advice to those who are new to SEO, something they can go home to try out… it probably won’t come as much of a surprise that he told them to all go and try out Google Webmaster Central - plug, plug!

Matt made the announcement that Google Webmaster Tools was coming out of Beta, a Valentines gift, he explained! He picked out Vanessa Fox in the audience and thanked her for all her great work. He asked those who have tried the service to raise their hands. He told those who hadn’t to go and try it out! - Quel surprise!

Chris asked Matt where he saw Google in the next 3-5 years? He answered: “personalisation and localisation”. He also plugged a few more Google services by telling the audience that they can store their data at Google. He claimed that a business could start up and run perfectly well by using all of Google’s free services within 5-10 days.

Chris thanked Matt for his time, Matt thanked Chris for the having him and the audience started to applause…

So, a fairly interesting keynote, glad I made it along. I found the information about index and algorithm changes fairly useful but I can’t say anything came as a big surprise. All the of Google plugging got a bit much towards the end - but I won’t be too hypocritical, as I use all of the tools which were mentioned and happen to be a fan of them all.

It was great to see a few top Google employees over in the UK for the three days. It proves how Google is now really embracing our industry, working with us not against us (black hats not included of course) and providing us all with great tools in order for us to do our ethical SEO more effectively.

Matt came across as a really nice guy, I have been reading his blog for many years and it was good to see him speaking in person ..I didn’t get a chance to meet him after the session as he was absolutely mobbed. Maybe next time…

Next up: Successful Site Architecture

Last week I attended Search Engine Strategies for the second year running. Taking place at the ExCel in the Docklands area of London. Apart from being in the middle of nowhere (try popping out for a late bite to eat while in Docklands, not recommended) it was a fairly impressive venue. The exhibition seemed a lot smaller this year, but I was told that there was a 100% increase in seminar delegates. I think we’re back at the BDC in Islington next year, which is a much better venue in my opinion.

There was some great content again this year, a lot of the same renowned speakers and presenters and always something new to discuss. Here is a brief overview of some of the useful seminars which I attended…

Day 1

Search Engine Friendly Design

This session was presented by Shari Thurow, Webmaster at GrantasticDesigns.com. Shari really knows her stuff, and coming from a programming and design background, she packed her presentation with a lot of great information. Shari is the author of the major selling SEO book Search Engine Visibility. This session was Part 1 of a two part session which corresponds with the Successful Site Architecture seminar on Day 2.

The session was mainly suited for beginners, but it was useful for more advanced SEO’s to refresh their knowledge of some of the basics of page structure and internal link structure.

Shari explained that there are 5 basic rules to follow when designing your website, every successful site should be:

• :: Easy to read
• :: Easy to navigate
• :: Easy to find
• :: Consistent in layout and design
• :: Quick to download

Shari discussed the importance of designing for the users as well as the search engines, by making sure that your site visitors know exactly what page they have landed on when they arrive at your site. It is important to use descriptive, keyworded headers and call to actions as well as including compelling content around the subject matter. Image maps should always be backed up with the inclusion of plain text links on the page. You should be able to navigate around your site by clicking links and not using JavaScript or flash menus. If you have to use java menus, make sure there are plain text links to support users who do not have .js enabled.

All sites should have cross links including hierarchical vertical links and related horizontal links…

Breadcrumb trails are great tool for navigation and search engine spiders. Usability studies show that many people like the simplicity of breadcrumbs. You can also keyword your trails to help the search engine spiders find your content.

When using a tabbed navigation menu always highlight the menu item on the page you have landed on. This also helps the user to understand which section of your site they are viewing.

In conclusion, your website should be designed for both the human users and the crawlers; therefore your pages should be easy to read, navigate and find and be consistent in layout and design. By including keyword rich text, sound site and page architecture and continually building inbound links to internal pages your site should not only successfully rank in the search engines but be usable and profitable.

Organic Listings Forum

A highly enjoyable session this one… always good for a few laughs, especially with Dave and Mikel on the panel. Rather than fit the usual seminar format of presentations and questions, this session was a forum based discussion. The panel was made up of three of my favourite SEO celebrities; David Naylor, Mikel DeMib Svendson and Rand Fishkin. Rand being the only white hat on the panel, which caused some amusing discussion.

Does SEO matter?

In response to the recent Jason Calacanis comment about how SEO is bullshit and content will always win in the end. The panel was asked if good content will always get you good rankings …obviously there was a resounding NO! Queue Dave Naylor; using a few chosen words about Calacanis, which I won’t repeat just incase there are any child SEO’s reading this. The general consensus was that all good website’s should concentrate on design and optimisation, which is obviously basic stuff. The panel agreed that SEO is your PR (Public Relations) tool and PPC is similar to the traditional marketing campaign. Both are still extremely important for any site that wishes to generate good traffic and excellent conversions.

Who benefits from the turf wars between SEO’s and the Search Engines?

It was discussed that the algorithms are changed to improve the results that the user receives. At times the changes are made because of the quality in results from spammers and black hat SEO’s. If you are using white hat techniques when optimising your website it can only benefit you; every change to the algorithms means someone’s position is lost and is there to be gained by ethical SEO.

Does the Google Dance still exist?

The original monthly changes to the Google index which would cause the results to fluctuate and de fluctuate is referred to as the Google Dance. Google now updates their index on a daily basis, making subtle changes to the index. Therefore the big shifts are no longer seen. Its now much more of a daily shuffle.

The future of Search

There were plenty of great things discussed, notably where search is headed and whether the inclusion of personalised search is going to have a major effect on the industry. The general consensus was no, it can only aid SEO as users are continually shown varying results when using Google. The major prediction for the future was that Yahoo and MSN will be forced to join forces in a major deal…very interesting!

More to come…

I have been putting this off for a long time now…

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy reading blogs. I read them everyday - even setting aside a couple of hours at the end of each week to open up my favourite rss reader to get fully up to date with the world of SEO.The thing is; I rarely post comments on blogs. Almost Ninja-esque; I arrive unnoticed, get what I came for, and sneak out the back door without leaving a trace.

That all changed a couple of weeks ago…

I started to post a few comments here and there on my favourite SEO blog and suddenly realised that it was about time I gave something back and stopped taking advantage of the blogging community. Plus, I also got to meet Lisa and Rand at SES last week, which probably wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t got off my big non-commenting arse and gave something back.

So here goes… welcome world to my blog devoted to Search Engine Optimisation, the wonderful city of Brighton & Hove and anything else I might have the inclination to rant about.