Friday was a fantastic day at BrightonSEO – the Leadspring team were out in force and we have plenty to digest after a number of fantastic talks. Without going into too much detail, and mixing in my own opinions on the state and direction of SEO, here’s my top take-away themes from Friday’s conference:

Importance of brand

Google have been working for some time to try and get a handle on a company’s brand strength. It’s not an easy thing to ascertain in the online world, but the EMD (Exact Match Domain) update was just one example of Google taking steps to devalue sites which demonstrate a weak or nonexistent brand. There’s an argument to say that if your brand is strong enough, you’ll get a certain amount of immunity from updates affecting weaker sites. In fact, Lexi Mills alluded to this in her presentation, suggesting that if users didn’t see, for example, Interflora on the first page for relevant searches they’d just think that Google was serving poor results. Strengthening and building your brand via more traditional marketing methods (both online and offline) will be hugely beneficial for your business anyway and will ultimately reduce reliance on organic search.

Disavowal is now (almost) the norm

We’ve come across a fair few sites in the past year which have been badly hit by the Penguin update, and disavowal has been discussed and indeed implemented in some cases, but generally we’ve considered it a last resort. Having heard the Ex-Googler discussion panel at BrightonSEO, though, it seems that use of the Disavow tool has shot up considerably within the last few months, so much so that it’s become the norm to use it on any site that has been hit, regardless of whether the webmaster has received the ‘unnatural links’ warning.

Another tip from the discussion panel: when disavowing links, you might as well disavow whole domains using the ‘domain:’ instruction in the txt file. Webmaster Tools only shows a sample of your backlinks, so using it as a basis for your disavow document is unreliable; you’ll inevitably miss some links.

Big content is the future

This is nothing new, really, but was highlighted in a great talk by Hannah Smith of Distilled. If you and your client are willing to take the gamble of investing in ‘bigger’ content (defined by Hannah as taking 40 hours or more to produce, before outreach even starts), this can pay dividends – with a return on investment (if return is defined by high value links) far greater than is commonly achieved with ‘smaller’ content such as infographics and articles. The best content is that which solves someone’s problem and which is more comprehensive than anything else currently out there. Hannah stressed that great content doesn’t just build links to itself – you will still need to work incredibly hard on outreach to get the benefit of that time investment.

Lexi Mills, who once again added insight from the world of PR (which is becoming an increasingly important consideration for SEOs as the lines between the fields are further blurred), expanded on Hannah’s presentation with more tips on content creation and outreach. Great content, she says, brings the user into the story – a great example is the BBC’s tool which allows you to determine which number birth you were amongst the World’s population.

Local search – you don’t even need a website

A bold statement from David Whatley – he asserts that a website is not necessarily your first priority if you want to do well in local search. A good start is to audit your business’ presence across local directories – check for consistency and accuracy of key details. In particular, you should look to ensue your ‘NAP’ details (name, address, phone number) are consistent across all sites. Make sure you make use of all the words offered to you when describing your business, and also ensue you have copies of your logo in a range of sizes (to avoid squished, squeezed or blurry logos).

This only scratches the surface of the topics talked about at BrightonSEO, no doubt we’ll post more insight in the coming weeks.

Image credit: @KunleTCampbell (Twitter)

The UK housing market is predicted to be sluggish throughout 2013. But while this may spell doom and gloom for estate agents, those businesses that support DIY and home improvements could be in clover – as long as they promote themselves effectively and embrace online marketing.

It seems the property world is still feeling the pinch of the recession, with homeowners who aspire to owning a bigger property held back by lack of funds. A popular option for homeowners who aren’t seeing the value of their property move in the right direction just now, is to enhance  what they have in readiness for better times.

Many families need more space, or simply want to change the look and feel of their house or flat. And this amounts to millions of loft conversions, extensions and decorating projects taking place around the country. The hunt is on for skilled tradespeople – scaffolders, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, interior designers, carpet fitters, plasterers, painters and decorators – who will help transform homes and satisfy those unable to move.

Demand for specialist skills

It certainly makes sense to dress up assets, and with TV shows and magazine articles awash with ideas on how to shabby chic furniture, improve insulation, update bedrooms, and make better use of outside space, there’s a huge appetite to crack on with all manner of home improvement projects. Extensions, renovations and loft conversions are more likely to get the go-head today as planning permission has been relaxed by the government, in recognition of the benefits of a booming home improvement market.

Statistics show that while DIY is a popular hobby, increasing numbers of British consumers are opting to get the job done properly by professionals – avoiding expensive and potentially dangerous mishaps. So small businesses offering the ability to provide the latest kitchen fittings, install solar heating, landscape gardens, pave driveways and sand wooden floors, are poised to do very well.

Small jobs need tackling too. A recent survey commissioned by retail chain Homebase has revealed that there are some 131 million ‘little DIY jobs’ that need doing in homes across the UK – all good news for specialist tradespeople in touch with their local market. 

Can home improvers find you?

To tap into this mini-boom in home improvement it’s essential for specialist service providers to have a strong, well-communicated online presence. With nearly 80% of consumers now using the internet to find local businesses, small firms risk losing out if they haven’t got to grips with online marketing and the latest social media channels.

If you haven’t already, now is a very good time to get your business online and in front of this home-improvement-hungry audience. It’s a golden opportunity no-one can afford to miss.