Gerard
Introduction to AI in Google Local Search A local search uses Google to find businesses, services, or products within a specific geographic area. Local search results are geared toward showing users nearby options that meet their search criteria, and these results are often displayed in a “Local Pack” or “Map Pack” at the top of search results, especially on mobile devices. Google’s shift towards AI-powered search algorithms Google has been under pressure to integrate AI into its search results. Competitors such as Microsoft’s Copilot, Perplexity.ai and the newly announced SearchGPT have been drivers for Google to fine-tune and make their…
Read MoreOver the past two years, much has been discussed about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLM) and their impact on information retrieval. AI has many benefits and will significantly impact our lives in the foreseeable future. What is also of concern is AI’s impact on businesses’ Google search and search engine optimisation (SEO) practices. In this article, I’d like to share my thoughts on how AI will impact search engine information retrieval and SEO based on what I’ve experienced with Google Gemini. Of course, the situation will be constantly changing. Despite Chat GPT being commercially available since the…
Read MoreHaving recently consulted on, and implemented a multi country site for a client, I thought it was a good opportunity to share what has been learned on this project. Previous multi-country rollouts I have worked on have been relatively straightforward, either utilising a separate domain name (and website) for each country, or a subdomain. They have also been relatively small sites, with only ~100 pages that need Hreflang tags applied. This new project was also the first WordPress sub-folder setup I have been involved with. Why use subfolders? In this international expansion scenario, the client already had one relatively powerful…
Read MoreOne of the most frequently asked questions in digital marketing is about content marketing and how it differs from Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). There’s often a lack of understanding of the difference between SEO and content marketing, so without further delay, let’s get down to discussing content marketing Vs SEO! What is content marketing? Perhaps it’s prudent to start by explaining what content marketing isn’t. Content marketing isn’t about your brand, products or services. Now that is cleared up, I will explain what content marketing is about. Content marketing is primarily about your audience, and what…
Read MoreSearch engine optimisation is the process of improving the visibility and relevance of a website or a web page in the organic results of a search engine. SEO involves various aspects, such as keyword research, content creation, link building, technical optimisation, user experience, and analytics. SEO is constantly evolving as search engines update their algorithms and user behaviour changes and I expect this evolution to continue with an even higher velocity over the next several years. Artificial Intelligence is the branch of computer science that aims to create machines or systems that can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence,…
Read MoreA question we are often asked: What is the difference between a blog and a service (or landing) page? From a technical website (and search engine) perspective, the pages are essentially very similar. There is, however, a significant difference from a user experience and search engine optimisation perspective. There are three major elements to this, that will be discussed in this blog: Search Intent Style of writing Page design Exploring Service Pages Service pages are pages on a website that demonstrate what your business does. These pages typically describe the services you offer in the context of your business and…
Read MoreHistorically, creating SEO reports that focus on rankings and their fluctuations has been the gold standard for SEO consultants and agencies. This article will explain a number of reasons why these metrics alone are practically useless, and how to address search performance in a more meaningful way. What are “SEO rankings” and how are they gathered? SEO Rankings display the keywords that your SEO campaign is targeting, and their relative position in Google’s search results, ie Positions #1-10 are on the first page of Google, #11-20 on the second page of Google etc. How are Rankings gathered? A rank checker…
Read MoreAs an SEO professional, it’s always a balancing act, to work with clients that have sufficient budget to be able to afford your services and will likely see a return on investment (ROI) for their business by working with you. Nothing feels worse than rejecting a client due to insufficient budget to invest in a SEO campaign. As SEO requires a considerable investment to realise gains, it also requires a medium or high life time value of a client. Ie cafes or hairdressers don’t typically make good candidates for SEO clients! This brings me to the often challenging scenario of…
Read MoreSEO is a time-consuming activity, and the unfortunate reality is, there isn’t an unlimited amount of time to spend on SEO, even though, there’s virtually an unlimited amount of SEO tasks to be performed on a website. This means businesses and SEO professionals need to focus on those areas where they get the largest return on investments By making use of the various enterprise-grade SEO tools available, you can leverage the awesomeness of automation and cut down on manual SEO tasks, but that only goes so far. SEO changes constantly. To keep up with all the changes requires hours of…
Read MoreThere has been much discussion around Google threatening to exit the Australian market due to the Australian Government’s proposed media bargaining code. Although I believe this is extremely unlikely to occur, it’s made consumers and business owners alike look for alternatives to Google. Microsoft’s Bing has stepped up to assure the government that it’s well-positioned to fill the void and like it or not, Google’s threat to leave has backfired, with the government digging their heels in. No matter the outcome, Google’s threat will leave a legacy for years to come. Australia is one of the most Google-centric markets in…
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