For websites and blogs to receive organic traffic, search engine optimisation (SEO) is essential. Google is the primary search engine that SEOs concentrate on since it generates the majority of all web traffic, which is increasingly important in today’s digital environment. Google utilises complex algorithms to index, rank, and choose which pages to display when a user types in a particular word or phrase.
Understanding Google’s algorithms, their modifications, and how they affect SEO and websites will assist companies, organisations, and website owners use this knowledge to boost traffic and reach their target audience, so helping them achieve their goals — whether marketing- or otherwise-related.
Google’s algorithms are based on general algorithms, which are guidelines for how a problem should be handled in a finite number of steps and are used in computer science and other fields.
Google’s search engine result pages are ranked according to a set of guidelines known as algorithms. In this scenario, the issue that these algorithms address is how to order websites in accordance with various ranking criteria and guidelines.
When someone does a search on a search engine, they retrieve data from the pages on websites and blogs, attempt to comprehend them, and grasp what the user is looking for. They then rank the pages based on their quality, context, and relevancy.
The amount and quality of backlinks going to a page, the speed at which a website or page loads, the use of keywords in headings and text, user interaction, the authority of the website or page, readability, and many other variables are all taken into account by the search algorithm. Google’s search engines are said to use hundreds of parameters when deciding how to rank a page or website, according to experts.
Google is constantly working to provide users with fantastic search results while preventing users from abusing its systems. Because of this, the organisation continuously modifies and updates its algorithms. Although the corporation claims to deliver modest algorithm updates every day, the adjustments that are made every few months or years are well known.
Depending on how they are developed and optimised for SEO, these modifications may have either a beneficial or negative effect on rankings.
Because it would encourage abuse, Google doesn’t make its algorithms, how they operate, or the changes it makes to them public.
It is impossible to keep up with every adjustment Google makes to its algorithms. To have a better idea of what to focus on when performing SEO, core updates can be examined. Here are a handful of the recent Google algorithm updates that have had the biggest effects.
Although Google had already altered several of its algorithms before Panda, this is still one of the most significant modifications. The update targeted unethical SEO techniques including keyword stuffing and duplicate content. The goal was to rank web sites in search engine results based on the value of the material and how readers would interpret it.
Once marketers and companies understood how Panda will affect them moving forward, they had to move to informative and high-quality material, often editing what was already on their websites and blogs to get it to rank again.
Sensible keyword tactics are credited as being developed as a result of the Google Panda algorithm adjustment. The greatest strategy for marketers to rank their content highly on search engine result pages is to employ relevant keywords for their intended purpose rather than focusing on how many they use.
Even though it was intended to counter so-called “black hat” SEO techniques, this change would still have an effect on people who use term stuffing. Because marketers were aware that backlinks were a crucial ranking element, these techniques included spammy backlinks and link directories.
The Google Penguin upgrades heavily favoured high-quality content that contained only useful and pertinent hyperlinks.
This algorithm modification, which was made in 2013, was intended to guarantee that only pertinent and educational content would appear on the first pages of search results. It made sure users found the content they needed or wanted rather than extraneous pages that were well optimised.
Marketers had to begin producing content that matched the expectations of users by putting pertinent search terms and keyword variations in it.
Relevance and search intent were the main focuses of RankBrain. Informed and pertinent material that matches a user’s goal is what Google is trying to encourage with this upgrade. For instance, based on the other words in their search phrase, a person looking for dresses was more likely to encounter either instructional or purchasing content.
Google released its Search Quality Rater guidelines for the first time in 2013, with a focus on Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust in 2014. In 2022, Experience will be added to the algorithm modification.
According to Google, these rules are intended to identify high quality material that has been published by someone who is an authority and subject matter expert in their field, has strong trust signals, and has demonstrable hands-on knowledge of the subject matter.
For instance, a post published by someone who has been to the Bahamas is more likely to be ranked higher by Google than one written by someone who has never gone.
To ensure that their websites continue to rank in accordance with the Google algorithms that marketers are already aware of and that Google may release in the future, marketers and website owners should adhere to a few essential guidelines.
Google places a lot of importance on websites giving its users and visitors a fantastic experience, and they reward these sites with a high ranking. The best user experience on mobile can be achieved in a number of ways. The most obvious one is making sure the website runs quickly on every device a user uses to access it.
The numerous Google tools may be used by marketers to check for further possible problems, such as buttons that are too small for mobile visitors, a website that loads too many assets, images that are too large in terms of weight and dimensions, and much more.
The amount of individuals utilising voice search to get information or items is increasing as voice assistants and other devices become more and more popular. Using long-tail keywords that people are more likely to employ when speaking as opposed to typing is necessary for conversational search optimisation.
Because many individuals type like they speak and are therefore more likely to utilise them in their typed searches, using these long-tail keywords also helps a marketer’s or business’s overall SEO.
Marketing professionals and companies can lessen the effects of Google algorithm adjustments by acquiring useful backlinks because Google places a lot of importance on the quantity and quality of them. Moreover, the correct backlinks can raise a website’s authority, which raises its rank.
Businesses can either develop their own link building strategy or work with SEO specialists to find high-quality backlinks on their behalf. Businesses can then obtain the best SEO bundle for link building and other SEO requirements.
When a corporation is creating its own backlinks or has hired an SEO firm to do it for them, context and anchor texts are very important. The information surrounding the anchor or backlink, which is the text used for the link, provides context. Both should be closely related to the material on the website or page that the backlink is pointing to.
Google favours recent content over older content as well. The business does this because it wants to provide its users with the most recent information and search results.
A website’s content can gain a lot from updating, whether it has aged naturally over time or has dropped to the second or third page of search results. A fresh update ensures ranking improvement by supplying new data and facts.
Marketing professionals and business owners can address any SEO problems that can arise on their platforms by updating the content of a website. While freshness can boost ranks, it is the combined SEO work and plan that cause content to remain in the top places and be discovered in the first place.
Whether it’s one line of text or several, duplicate content gets removed by Google algorithms from websites. Utilising duplicate content tools, marketers, companies, and SEOs may determine whether websites have duplicate content. Anyone can use these tools to enter two or more URLs and determine whether there is duplicate content.
If so, the pertinent party needs to make sure the content is unique. It would be wise to update it at the same time with fresh data and details.
Marketers should conduct keyword research and apply relevant terms to the pages they wish to rank for. They should incorporate them into the content, headings, URL, opening and closing sentences. Using the same keyword repeatedly without any content is known as “keyword stuffing,” which helps a page rank. It is recommended to stay away from this because it is no longer effective and you will be reprimanded.
The ranking of pages and the search terms, keywords, and phrases they appear for are determined by Google algorithms, which are potent pieces of code. Every marketer should be aware of the most recent changes to the Google algorithm in order to position their content better and avoid being penalised or demoted on search engine result pages.
Anyone can write a blog, to help provide valuable information to readers about a particular topic. Or you could be writing guest content to drive valuable backlinks to a client’s website, with the goal of increasing their organic traffic for the target landing page. When you are writing guest post content, it’s important to structure the blog in a way Google can effectively crawl and index the content, to ensure it can be as visible as possible for readers in the SERPs.
Ideally, the guest post needs to be around 500 words (or more) in length. This not only allows for the blog to contain enough information to be valuable for the reader, but it also increases the likelihood of your guest post being accepted by publications and PR-friendly websites, which often have a minimum word count and guidelines.
The first step is choosing your blog title. Choosing a H1 helps Google to understand the page and know what the content is about, ensuring it shows up on correct search engine results pages. It’s also important to include your keyword, further ensuring that your content is picked up. Keyword research helps you to find keywords that you want to rank for, as well as an insight into what your target audience may be searching for.
As you write the first paragraph, ensure it includes snappy language that draws in the reader. Perhaps include some data if it’s relevant to your topic, which brings authority to your content. You can also add a hyperlink that is embedded into the text, with the correct anchor text and landing page.
You can also include a second paragraph, which breaks up the text, which is also good for SEO. End the content with a phrase that follows through to the rest of the content, such as “take a look at our top tips for great SEO”.
Keep on reading to learn more about how to structure guest post content.
The next step is to include an H2 title that links to the guest post topic. This helps to break up the text and can include a list of bullet points or a stand-alone paragraph. You can include a second link to a third party relevant website, as long as it has good authority.
For the rest of the piece, you can use H3s to structure the rest of your content, further breaking up the text. You can use as many of these as you like, with a minimum of 2. At the end of the piece, include a call to action directing your readers to a relevant website.
As well as the SEO benefit, it’s important to consider a few tips and tricks to ensure the guest post is picked up by relevant publications and is valuable for the reader. Some further tips include:
If you would like to learn more about guest posting and how it can benefit your offsite SEO strategy, get in touch with us today.
People can locate your website online thanks to search engine optimisation (SEO). By doing it correctly, you can make sure that your website appears prominently on search engine result pages when users enter queries containing the keyword(s) you’ve optimised it for. To perform SEO correctly, you need to comprehend a few essential concepts, with link building ranking as the most crucial one.
When a person clicks on a link, they are directed to another website. The website where the webpage is located may be the same or different. Links fall into two categories: internal links and external links. One of the first things anyone learning about SEO as a newbie should grasp is these types of links and how and when to use them.
There are primarily two sorts of links that connect different domains. Backlinks, also known as inbound links, come first, followed by outbound links. Outbound links are links on your website that connect to other domains or websites, whereas inbound links are links posted on other websites that point to your website.
The majority of debates in SEO centre on inbound or backlinks. The rationale is that they are a significant ranking element. Google has confirmed that, assuming other SEO best practises have been followed, having a large number of high-quality backlinks results in higher rankings.
We’ll cover all you need to know about outbound links in this post, including how to use them effectively and how they affect SEO.
There are do-follow and no-follow links for outbound links. You’ll be able to choose which to employ and when, once you comprehend their distinctions.
These are external links that provide the websites they point to PageRank. To help their respective search engines index and rank these websites, they direct search engine crawlers or spiders to other web pages on the internet.
SEOs conclude that these links convey PageRank to the linked pages by making your website a “bridge” between these crawlers and the linked domain.
No additional coding is needed because do-follow links are the default type formed when you create a link.
Some examples of places you would use do-follow links include:
In contrast to a do-follow link, a no-follow link does not send PageRank to the website it links to. These outbound links used to have no SEO advantages for either the connecting website or the website being linked to. Google’s perception of them, however, changed in March 2021.
According to Google, the algorithm has been modified to treat no-follow links as a suggestion for crawling and indexing rather than a directive, as it does with do-follow links. In this way, if Google’s algorithm determines that a no-follow link is valuable for ranking and indexing, it may still pass PageRank.
There are different types of no-follow links, including:
If the website or domain you are connecting to is reputable and trustworthy, and you want to transfer your PageRank to it, you should only employ do-follow links. For sponsored, compensated, dubious, and user-generated material or web sites, no-follow links should be used.
Create a no-follow link if you are unclear about the type to use. By doing this, Google will not penalise you if the website is suspect or ought to have been designated as a no-follow according to its policies.
Outbound links enable visitors to your website to explore information or content you believe is important for them to read or consume on other websites. You can link to other websites to provide readers with extra information, support claims and data, help users check the accuracy of material, and uncover other crucial resources, among other things.
For other types of marketing, such social media or affiliate marketing, outbound links are also crucial. In the first instance, they connect to your social media channels, enabling visibility and discoverability.
In the second instance, they direct visitors to websites where they can make purchases from companies and brands with whom they have collaborated. Such use cases make them a crucial component of your monetisation strategy.
It could seem counter-intuitive to employ outbound links to direct readers away from your website in addition to linking to your other resources, such your social media accounts and affiliate pages.
The one thing that many people overlook is the impact outbound links have on your SEO. In other words, not included them could significantly harm your SEO.
For your website and content to be more relevant, outbound links are essential. Outbound links act as a trail that search engine crawlers can follow to evaluate your content, determine the industry or niche you are in, and learn more specifics about your website and its contents.
These links can also aid search engines in comprehending the issues you are attempting to address, the information you are attempting to offer, your rivals, and related content.
When Google is aware of all of this, it will know which keywords, subjects, and search terms to rank your website and content for—even if it means ranking it alongside stuff that your rivals already rank for.
When used properly, outbound links have several benefits:
Backlinks are the most effective approach to raise authority, as is commonly believed, and this is accurate. Outbound links, however, are also a fantastic method for doing this. Metaphorically speaking, Google tends to arrange webpages according to who they are associated with. Google likes to give websites with authoritative outbound connections a higher authority rating, which improves their SEO position.
People adore companies that direct them to the resources they require at the appropriate time.
Finding high-quality and highly pertinent websites and material can be difficult for most people, especially while conducting research. If you can direct them in the proper direction, your reputation will grow and they will see you as an authority.
This is related to giving your customers a better user experience. A better user experience will encourage visitors to remember and return to your website in the future.
Because they now regard you as an authoritative source that provides them with the information they need, there is also a higher possibility that they may convert on a second or third visit.
Smart marketers and SEO specialists constantly evaluate their traffic sources to improve their tactics. You may be sure that their marketers and SEOs will take notice if you link to enough websites. When they do, they may go to your website, determine that it is beneficial to them and their audience, and then link to you.
This kind of organic link building is significantly more advantageous. One reason is that you are aware that the other website wants to link to you because you did not ask for the backlink. Second, because you two have an interest, you are more likely to attract quality visitors.
How do you pick the links to include on your website now that you are aware of what outbound links are and why they are crucial? There are a number of things to take into account, with relevancy maybe being the most crucial.
These are websites with audiences and content that are comparable to yours. For instance, linking to a beauty website does not help you much if your website is a tech one. In this case, the likelihood that the beauty website will connect to your tech website is far lower.
The second factor to take into account is semantic significance. The links you provide should be pertinent to the content of your page. The wording immediately around the outgoing link and the location to which it directs should be closely related.
Lastly, you should avoid pages that have:
Keep in mind that Google groups websites together, so you do not want yours to be among those that Google considers bad or unsuitable for ranking.
While the majority of SEOs and marketers place a strong emphasis on backlinks or inbound connections, outbound links also have a lot to offer. There are hyperlinks leading to other websites that are pertinent to the content to which the hyperlink is pointing and the readers of the information. Outbound links should therefore be a crucial component of your link-building strategy.
Optimising individual pages on your website can be an impactful tactic to bring targeted organic search traffic to your site. However, this does need to be aligned with a wider strategy of data-led keyword research, technical improvements and offsite SEO support. Once you have a solid foundation of technical optimisations and a robust keyword strategy in place, you can select individual important landing pages to optimise for highly relevant search queries.
But how do you go about optimising a page for search engines? Follow our checklist below to transform a lagging landing page into one of your top-performing pages for SEO.
If there is a coding or technical issue on your landing page which is preventing it from being indexed by Google, there is little point in optimising the content. We recommend a thorough technical review of your website before you begin optimising specific content pages – but at the very least, have a look at Google Search Console and check that the page you are looking at is being indexed by Google and receiving some impressions and clicks.
Each SEO landing page on your website should be targeting a single relevant primary keyword – this is a phrase or search query that people will be looking for via Google or other search engines. You may also want to target two or three secondary keywords, as well as variants or modified versions of your main keywords. Don’t try to hit every single possible keyword on every page; you will find it more effective to focus on a small number of search terms which are extremely relevant to the topic of the individual page.
The basic principle for optimising your page is to add the keywords you are targeting in a natural and easy-to-read way. Avoid “keyword-stuffing” where you repeat the same words and phrases over and over; not only will this put people off, it is frowned upon by Google and other search engines. Instead, look out for opportunities to naturally include variants of your relevant keywords here and there, while creating content that is helpful to your target audience.
Here is a checklist of places to include keywords on your page:
Remember, the main aim of any piece of content on your website is to provide helpful information to your readers; always prioritise useful and reliable information above keyword-stuffing!
Google’s EEAT guidelines lay out the kind of website content that the search engine considers to be good-quality. This boils down to content that demonstrates Expertise, Experience, Authority and Trustworthiness – so bear these items in mind when creating or updating pages on your website. Beyond checking whether you are including keywords in your content, ask yourself questions like:
Now that your page is beautifully optimised with compelling content that contains your keywords, you can indicate to search engines that this is an important item by pointing to it from other pages on your website. Identify a handful of other pages on the website that relate to the topic and add hyperlinks to your optimised landing page from these pages. When adding internal links, use descriptive anchor text that contains relevant keywords to give search engines further contextual information.
An important final step of the SEO content optimisation process is to let Google know that you have updated a page. Your new content should be found eventually anyway, but to speed things up and begin moving up through the rankings more quickly, you can use Google Search Console to request that the search engine re-indexes your page straight away.
Need help with optimising content on your website? Or perhaps you are stuck at steps one and two – and need to put your technical SEO foundation and keyword strategy in place? Varn can help. We are a friendly team of SEO specialists with many years of experience – get in touch with the SEO experts to find out more about how we can support your website.
Globalisation has done wonders for many businesses. The development of global technology and delivery solutions has resulted in many businesses being able to open their doors to a much wider range of consumers. And consumers have access to a much wider range of products and services . Lead times on global shipping and air-freight continue to decrease as new distribution channels are optimised around the world. If I order something from America to the UK, I can typically expect it to arrive within a week or two.
When using Ad Management software such as Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising, selecting global audiences is an easy step built into campaign creation. For Google Ads, the steps of exactly how to target foreign audiences can be found here.
Finding success through Google Ads in foreign locations is dependent on a number of factors. Sometimes, merely sticking your ad copy and keywords into Google Translate isn’t enough to replicate results in foreign markets. Even in other countries that speak the same language as you, you may find your ad success vary. If this is the case, don’t worry! Using this simple tool can help shed some light on why your ad copy isn’t as effective in other countries.
The further you spread from your hometown or country, the more differences you might see in peoples’ behaviours, cultures, wants, needs, art, music, work habits – the list goes on. Therefore, your ad copy should be reflective of the cultures and behaviours of your target audience, not on your own. In 1984, Geert Hofstede wrote a paper about cultural differences in other countries. Later, this has been developed into a handy online tool for analysing the differences between cultures. He categorised 6 dimensions of culture:
– Power Distance (the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally)
– Individualism (the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members)
– Masculinity (The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine))
– Uncertainty Avoidance (the way that a society deals with the fact that the future can never be known)
– Long Term Orientation (the degree to which society maintains the past and tradition, or looks to evolve to present challenges)
– Indulgence (the extent to which people try to control their desires and impulses, based on the way they were raised)
By understanding what impact these metrics have on a culture, we can start to apply them to our foreign ad campaigns. Let’s take a look at the differences between the United Kingdom, and the United States.
On the whole, the two look very similar across the 6 metrics. This is expected, as the United States and the UK share a lot of western culture influences, music tastes, films, and strong political connections.
But understanding the differences where they are present could mean the difference between a conversion or not. If you’re providing a service for example, we can have a look and see that the United States scores lower on long term orientation. This indicates that the USA has more of a focus on short-term results, more frequent performance reviews and this also drives individuals to strive for quick results within the workplace. You may therefore wish to update your ad copy to focus on these insights – What are the instant benefits of your product, what the value of return is, and how it makes them come out on top of the competition.
Let’s take a look at another – Germany.
Whilst the obvious difference here between the UK and Germany would be in language, translating ad copy should also reflect culture differences, not just language.
If we again look at the long term orientation score, we can see a stark difference between what the US scored and what Germany scored. Utilising the same ad copy in Germany as proposed in America, we would expect to see less success in Germany. This is because German culture is oriented around the success of the future. Therefore, Ad copy suggesting long term success, organic growth and consistency of results from a product or service would probably be seen as more attractive, trustworthy and better value than what may be interpreted as flash-in-the-pan short term success.
When looking at the uncertainty avoidance metric, we can see that Germany has a much higher score than the UK. As a culture, this means that the UK on the whole is much happier to wake up not knowing the specifics of what the day has to offer, happy to be more adaptive as new information is presented, and in work terms are happier to accept loosely detailed plans and information. Germany, however, prefers to be more detailed and insightful – be it in thinking, presenting or planning: the systematic overview has to be given in more detail. What does that mean for a business advertising through google ads into Germany? Ad copy should be more descriptive, outcomes of using a product or service should be clearly listed and prices transparent.
Even marginal changes in ad copy may greatly influence the success of campaigns targeting the world stage, or influence consumer perceptions of your products or services. By leveraging the differences within cultures, you may just push yourself ahead of your competition.
In a mere two years, I have held my own in an industry that I intermittently despise, all while nurturing my unwavering passion for design. Here are my insights on why these seemingly contradictory paths can converge harmoniously. This my addict’s story of the first two years in design and how I feel about the industry now I’ve seen it for what it really is, after only breaking into it at the age of 35.
Six years ago, I found myself hunched within the grimy confines of a crack house, waiting my turn to hack despair through a glass cylinder. The flickering lights of passing cars accentuated my swollen, bloated face. How did I end up there? And how did this utterly insane journey lead me to a life dedicated to design, devoid of addiction?
Fate, coupled with unwavering determination, slung me into an industry where previous creative encouragement was scarce. Neither school nor home fostered my fiercely creative spirit. Instead, it spilled chaotically throughout my youth, manifesting as mental indulgence and drunken scribbles on my bedroom walls. My life plummeted through multiple rock bottoms until I reached a precipice where I had to choose between death and taking control of my destiny. On the 27th of December, 2016, I made the decision to change my world.
The voyage ahead was wobbly as hell as I climbed aboard my makeshift raft of sobriety. My initial endeavours faltered, leaving me back on the same lonely island I had been stranded on for so many years. I had underestimated the enormity of the challenge I had undertaken. After another year of stumbling aimlessly, seeking solace in sporadic chugs of cocaine cider inertia, I reached my breaking point.
In a strangely desparate moment of internal creative intervention, I scraped together whatever funds I had and bought a cheap DSLR camera. Those funds should have been used for rent, but I am eternally grateful they weren’t. It was at this pivotal moment that my desolate landscape transformed from a blizzard into a serene lake. Darkness gave way to light, almost instantly, like a camera shutter on a blinding summer day. I had reached a point where I had nothing to lose (not that I had much before), and my mind, once clouded by substance abuse, became malleable and receptive to self-belief.
Lost and self-destructive, lacking paternal guidance and faith, I had frequently misused my rudder, burning it as firewood instead of allowing it to steer me towards my intended destination. But now, I had found my calling from within. Months passed, and my adoration for creative freedom blossomed. I taught myself Photoshop, which propelled me towards a design degree in Bristol, seemingly by chance, all while running across the Somerset levels with my camera in tow — it was a truly wonderful time in my existence.
Im going to be honest, my journey has been partially fuelled by spite towards the pretentiousness and banality that permeate marketing and advertising agencies and the art world as a whole — the very places that appear to be the epicentre of cool and the ultimate destination for most designers. Through my varied experiences — some positive, some mediocre, and some downright horrendous — I can confidently proclaim that these agencies are destined for obsolescence, and I am here for it.
To elaborate, these establishments squander valuable resources, fail to adapt to new leadership, undervalue their own talent, lack genuine connections, and suffocate creativity with excessive micro-management. Designers within such agencies often find themselves stagnating, rarely exploring new avenues of design thinking beyond the confines of their workplace. This stagnation is a massive problem, as designers and creatives become consumed by busyness and chaos and at the end of the long workday, they fling open the office doors with glee and proceed to the pub, where they aim to obliterate the last remaining brain cells of the day in a flurry of ice-cold frothy pints, and i don’t blame them. All of this is done in an attempt to ease the stress caused by the mind-numbing work they had to endure.
The real stinger though, all of these issues could have been avoided if the head honchos had taken the initiative to establish well-defined processes. With such processes in place, high-quality work could be delivered on time and with minimal stress whilst simultaneously reissuing creative licence back to these now fatigued artists and creators.
I don’t revel in the potential loss of jobs as these agencies and studios evaporate. Rather, I firmly believe that the truly exceptional individuals will always thrive, and it is in this context that agencies seem unsustainable. As we venture into a future that values quality over quantity, our focus shifts towards forging connections through the craftsmanship of dedicated designers operating on a smaller scale. Just look at Studio Sutherland, a two-person studio that recently picked up three pencils from D&AD. Whether you agree or not, such meaningless achievements do seem to indicate a shifting landscape.
Throughout my design journey, I have encountered disheartening aspects within the marketing and advertising industry. Despite their outward facade, the inner workings and top-tier decision-makers are plagued by constant changes of mind, shifting goalposts, and a seemingly odd pleasure derived from endless revisions. The attitude of “it’s your job, so do it” resonates deeply within these agencies and the corporations they serve, gradually eroding one’s passion for the very thing that brings liberation — an insidious paradox, a catch 1.618 if you will.
It’s quite remarkable how in some agencies, it feels like you have numerous bosses all chiming in with solutions to design problems. However, while it’s true that there can be multiple creative routes to solving these issues, the process of reaching the desired outcome should be clear and defined, rather than a barrage of “insights” coming over your shoulder from anyone and everyone in the office. I’m not suggesting that good ideas only come from creatives; quite the contrary, I believe that everyone on the planet is inherently creative and has unique ways of solving problems. However, once a clear direction has emerged, it should be you, as the creative professional, who guides the process, rather than the very people who hired you to be creative. This approach is undermining and counterintuitive, yet it seems to be prevalent in most agencies I’ve worked for. It’s no wonder then that the irony lies in the fact that while graphic communication on the surface may appear polished, the complete lack thereof behind the scenes leaves the final projects hanging at 75% of their true potential. This is a disheartening reality, not only for us designers but, more importantly, for the clients we serve.
There also exists a frustrating hypocrisy within agencies that proclaim their commitment to equality and fostering positive change while subtly exuding an invisible mist of pressure to work late and produce. As someone who has grafted on construction sites and endured some frankly awful office jobs, the enchantment of design remains ever-present in my mind. I still perceive myself as a tradesman, alongside many of my peers, constructing bold and captivating designs that provide joy while prioritising functionality and effective communication.
In my design journey, I have experienced some lovely moments within advertising agencies. However, as time went on, the glossy veneer began to fade, revealing a different reality that led me to choose a different path. While I cherish the connections I have forged and the talented individuals I have worked alongside, it all ultimately circles back to the same underlying issue — the pervasive air of arrogance and the relentless pressure to proclaim one’s greatness, which ironically undermines the very essence of creativity.
The enchantment of marketing agencies and design studios, with their reputation for being at the forefront of trends and innovation, is marred by a sense of exclusivity and cliquishness. This prevailing attitude breeds an atmosphere of self-congratulation, where being “cool” takes precedence over the authentic pursuit of creativity and genuine connection.
In reality, the pull of working on FMCG campaigns or catering to worldwide brands loses its lustre. The intrinsic appeal that initially captivated me and many others gives way to a sense of disillusionment. The truth is that the coolness factor is a façade, obscuring the reality of the creative process and the individuals who steer the ship.
I have come to the realisation that true creativity thrives beyond the boundaries of what is considered “cool” or popular. It resides in the realm of authenticity, originality, and the courage to challenge the status quo. As I part ways with the confines of marketing agencies and their superficial sheen, I embrace a different approach — one that is rooted in genuine connection, meaningful impact, and the pursuit of artistic integrity.
In this new chapter of my journey, I am guided by the knowledge that the path to true fulfilment in design lies not in the corridors of hip Bristol marketing agencies. Instead, it rests in forging genuine connections, embracing humility, and being true to oneself. So, while marketing agencies and their cool cliques continue to boast their self-proclaimed importance, I find solace in seeking a different kind of cool — the coolness that stems from genuine passion, creative freedom, and the courage to follow my own path.
Furthermore, within many agencies, a lot of individuals either forget their origins or emerge directly from the sheltered cocoon of university, where inflated self-importance festers. The primary beneficiaries of this delusion are the business-minded individuals at the top. Stripped of the embellishments, they are simply men and women driven by self-interest, despite their attempts to convince us all otherwise.
To make it clear — I bear no grudges or neither have any ill will toward this reality. In fact, I strive to secure a prosperous livelihood, for myself and for my loved ones. However, the fundamental distinction lies in the fact that my success will come at my own expense, not at the cost of others.
Design should embody a spirit of genuine collaboration, fostering an environment where creativity flourishes, ideas are nurtured, and true innovation takes root. The future of design lies in the hands of those who value craftsmanship, meaningful connections, and the pursuit of excellence over profit.
As I reflect upon my transformative journey from addiction to design, I am fuelled by an unwavering determination to forge my own way, unburdened by the constraints of pretentious marketing agencies and the fading relevance of traditional advertising. The industry is shifting, embracing a future where personal connections, authentic relationships, and the pursuit of artistic integrity take precedence over corporate agendas.
I am but a humble tradesman, armed with the tools of creativity and driven by the desire to build a world where design transcends the superficial and leaves a lasting impact. So, let the factories churn out their cookie-cutter campaigns, for I am resolved in my quest of craftsmanship, pure expression, and the freedom to shape a design landscape that resonates with the very core of my being.
My work for Turf Games 2023 — Things happen when you keep turning up for yourself.Having started the process in 2021, they join around 70 other companies in the region who are committed to making business a force for good.
B Corp Certification is holistic, not exclusively focused on a single social or environmental issue. To achieve certification, a company must:
saintnicks achieved a score of 88.9, but as with any company to gain the certification, they acknowledge that this is just the beginning of a commitment to do even more.
“We’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done to become B Corp Certified, but we’re just getting started. We’re committed to continually reviewing our standards across the board, to not only maintain our efforts, but improve them.” said company Director, Chris Price.
“We’re very proud to be working with some brilliant clients, who are also committed to making positive changes to their business, so it’s a journey we’re going on together.” Price added.
Read more about the journey to becoming B Corp Certified on the saintnicks website.
To receive a successful return from your link-building efforts, it’s important to ensure effective outreach lists are created targeting the correct publications and bloggers for the client. Without an effective outreach list, you may not receive the number of high-quality backlinks you hoped for. Websites with higher quality backlinks from authoritative sites are also likely to rank better, therefore it’s important the outreach lists are created to deliver on increasing the number of offsite links.
Here at Varn, we use a range of tactics to ensure outreach lists created for our clients are successful in increasing the number of backlinks, so when outreach is performed clients see an increase in rankings for relevant landing pages.
An outreach list is defined as a list of contacts that can be journalists, publications, influencers, independent bloggers, and magazines. It’s one of the first steps when conducting outreach because the list will include prospects you wish to work with. This can include hosting content about a PR campaign, product reviews, and guest posting. It’s vital to also bear in mind the target audience for the publication as well as its domain authority, and trust/citation flow.
Here at Varn, we use a software called Buzzstream to help us search the web using appropriate keyword search phrases. Not only does the software allow us to search the web for PR-friendly publications to reach out to, but it also gives us the ability to reach out to our lists and send automatic follow ups.
Buzzstream also helps us to select sites that have a good domain authority (DA), a search engine ranking score that predicts how likely a site is likely to appear on SERPs. In most cases, we set a filter at 20 and above. If the website’s domain authority is on the lower side, the intention is that over time the domain authority of this site will grow organically.
Here are a few key considerations to take into account when creating effective outreach lists for digital PR.
It’s important to consider your client’s target audience when putting together your outreach lists. Of course, strong links from good quality websites bring the SEO benefit, however the traffic may not be relevant to your client, and the publication may not post your content at all.
For example, if your client is in the watersports industry, targeting watersport bloggers and publications will not only increase the likelihood of a reply, it will drive relevant traffic back to your client’s site which can build brand awareness as well as a higher conversion rate.
This is a really important step when building your outreach lists because if you are asking bloggers to review products, you need to ensure they are open to receiving items in exchange for a review.
The obvious way of doing this is to browse their site yourself to see if they receive gifted products, however, there are other ways you can narrow down your search in Google, as well as outreach software like Buzzstream.
You can search for an exact match by putting a keyword in quotation marks. An example could include: Lifestyle Blogger [‘PR friendly’]
The screenshot below shows two keyword search phrases on Buzzstream, and how you can narrow down your web search:
If you are creating an outreach list for guest posting, it’s important to ensure the targeted websites accept guest content. Some websites have specific guidelines to follow also.
Building warm prospects increases the likelihood of your content being posted, and you can add them to outreach lists for future clients. For example, bloggers will be open to review multiple client products over time. If a blogger decides your campaign isn’t suited to their blog audience, they may know a blogger who will be a good fit and give you their contact details. This helps increase the quality of content being posted to relevant sites.
If you would like more advice on creating effective outreach lists for Digital PR, get in touch with a member of the Varn team today.
Global leaders in procurement and supply chain management, Efficio are the largest independent consultancy in the world. With this sole focus for more than 20 years, their specialist consultants are equipped with the expertise and technology to dig deeper, innovate faster, and deliver greater efficiencies for clients.
Talisman Sparro has played a critical role in Efficio Consulting’s repositioning and rebrand programme, delivering an impact that has helped the company stand out as the only remaining independent, specialist consultancy in the procurement and supply chain consultancy marketplace. With Efficio’s unique approach to delivering sustained client success at the core, Talisman Sparro has helped to shape a comprehensive strategy that has driven internal engagement and reflected Efficio’s ambitious growth plans.
The “Partners in Progress” brand platform developed has resonated with both clients and employees, driving engagement and building a strong internal culture. The rebranding programme delivered has overhauled Efficio’s branding, messaging, and positioning to be more contemporary, modern, and appealing to a broader audience.
Our support included:
Google Search Console is a valuable tool for understanding your website’s performance on Google Search. At Varn, we use it almost daily for a variety of search-related tasks for our clients; take a look at some easy ways to use Search Console for SEO to get started with the tool. Recently, Google introduced a new feature called Bulk Data Export, which allows users to export their Search Console data into BigQuery. This enables you to access historical data and combine it with other data sources, to perform advanced analysis and gain deeper insights into your website’s performance and search traffic. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of Search Console Bulk Data Export and how it can enhance your SEO strategy.
The introduction of Search Console’s Bulk Data Export feature has opened up new possibilities for in-depth analysis. By exporting data from Search Console to BigQuery, we can leverage the capabilities of this powerful tool to uncover trends, patterns, and correlations that may go unnoticed in the standard Search Console reports. This enhanced analysis can provide a more comprehensive understanding of website performance and inform actionable SEO strategies.
The process of setting up bulk data exports is straightforward and user-friendly. However, there are a few too many steps to include in this blog, so visit the full setup instructions from Google for more detail. You will need to open your Google Cloud Console on your desired project. Enable BigQuery by accessing APIs & Services and selecting the relevant options. Next, you can grant permission to Search Console to export data to your project through the Admin section. Finally, in Search Console, navigate to Settings and locate the Bulk Data Export option for your property.
Once the data export is successfully set up, you can begin extracting valuable insights from your Search Console data within BigQuery. With the ability to run complex queries on large datasets, you can identify trends, evaluate performance over time, compare different data sources, and gain a deeper understanding of your website’s visibility and search traffic. These insights can guide strategic decisions to optimise your SEO efforts and drive organic growth.
While the Bulk Data Export feature is free, it’s important to note that there are costs associated with storing and manipulating data within BigQuery.
The introduction of Search Console Bulk Data Export brings a wealth of possibilities for advanced analysis and insights. By integrating Google Search Console with BigQuery, we can unlock the potential of their data and gain a deeper understanding of a website’s performance on Google Search. Embrace the power of Bulk Data Export and harness its capabilities to propel your website’s success on the search engine results page.
Need some help with BiqQuery, Google Search Console, or understanding how to turn raw data into actionable insights that will feed into a powerful SEO strategy? Talk to the team at Varn for friendly, expert advice.
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