Every professional SEO in the world uses software tools of some sort, some more so than others. In fact, every different field of SEO has a wide variety of accompanying tools. Linkbuilders use tools, on-site specialists use tools, tools are essential for keyword research, reporting….you get the picture. Everyone here in the office agrees that having access to complete seo software enables us to do our jobs more effectively –statistics, reports and data all seoat the push of a button (or two)!

However one of the main issues that those in the SEO industry run into, with regards to software, is unreliability and inaccuracy. Everyone wants to save time and make their life easier with a good SEO tool, but not at the expense of getting the results that you or your clients require – you need to be able to trust those results.

RANK TRACKING

One important part of campaign/strategy feedback and reporting is tracking your ranks. Everyone reading this has probably heard how rankings aren’t everything, and truth be told we’ve all seen ranking increases accompanied by a paradoxical or seasonal drop in traffic from that keyword. While they may just be a part of the greater SEO puzzle, I still view them as one of the most important metrics, after ROI.

Out of all the SEO software and methods I’ve used to monitor rankings (and believe me it’s a long list), the only one I have come to trust to give me consistently reliable and accurate rankings is Advanced Web Ranking.

Current Rank Chart

One of the best features for me is how Advanced Web Ranking tracks not only your rankings, but any competitor’s rankings you choose too. In this regard, Advanced Web Ranking becomes not only a rankings monitor, but an important tool for getting campaign feedback, insight into algorithm changes, or just to get an idea of how well your strategy is working compared to your competitors. In some of our more competitive fields, it is essential to keep an eye on competitors and constantly learn from their mistakes if you want to stay ahead of the game.

What the overview looks like

One of the most versatile features of this software is the ability to check practically any search engine, for any country. It’s always nice to know that no matter what country your client/campaign is based in, you have a rank checker to run tests against the relevant search engine. You may not see yourself checking rankings in Google Poland, but you never know!

In addition there are various other features designed to help improve your campaign. For example you can filter for sites that have just jumped up into the top 10 – good to track so that you can check out what has worked for them, and adjust your strategy before it is too late.

Detailed Ranking Screenshot

The last feature of Advanced Web Rankings that I would like to share is the report generation. Every single other rank tracking software I have tried has fallen well below acceptable standards in this regards. AWR is the complete opposite though – the reporting options and customisation level are mind-boggling!

Even if you are less interested in advanced reporting and more interested in just getting an overview of what’s happening on page 1 of Google – it’s intuitive to get where you need to be within the software.

THE BOTTOM LINE

If you’re looking for concise and clear results, which don’t solely focus on over the top graphics and pie charts, but on actual data, then you will find AWR as useful as I have. Once you have this software configured with your clients’ keywords and competitors – it can be accessed whenever you need it.

Today Interflora, the self-professed ‘flower experts’ are delighted with a European court ruling that agreed their trade mark has indeed been infringed by Marks and Spencer, via a Pay Per Click advertisement on Google’s Adwords platform.

It is only Half Time though as a judgement is still outstanding on M&S liability, which the Interflora blog suggests is due sometime next year.  But this judgement raises an interesting debate and one that has ebbed and flowed throughout the relatively short lifetime of Search Engine Advertising.

In the UK, Google and Yahoo historically did not ‘protect the trade mark’ of their advertisers through the Paid Search channel but capitulated under brand pressure and eventually offered a manual opt in option.  The value of this protection was great as the cost of a click could be reduced from an average of say £0.20 to £0.03 or even less, across tens or even hundreds of thousands of clicks that large brands can attract in a month. So big savings were made when Google particularly offered this type of protection in 2004.

So when Google reversed its stance on May 5th 2008 to allow ‘free bidding’ on all keyword terms in the U.K. (it had already relaxed the ruling in the U.S.), there was an uproar from well-known brands as a plethora of companies seized on the opportunity to ‘steal’ customers from their larger competitors by buying keyword position on Google’s Paid Network alongside the more familiar brands.

There was much debate…  Read More…

Google users can now enjoy a new feature that allows them to see what the weather is doing anywhere on Earth.

Most people use Google Maps to simply look up destinations and perhaps get directions, but now users can check the weather in these places as well by selecting ‘weather’ from the drop-down menu in the top right corner.

There were already a handful of lesser-used extra features available, such as traffic, terrain, public transport and photos. Now for those embarking on just a short trip, it is possible to see whether they should pack sunglasses or an umbrella.

Read More…

In a month where Yahoo has sacked their chief executive, Google has announced yet another handy little change to its search results.

Previously, Adwords ads would only bring back one or two lines of sitelinks, or an embedded link to the full ad text, but now users can get a third line of links that provides them with even more options.

Read More…

We are delighted to welcome our latest addition to the Banc Media team, William Junger in the position of Sales Executive.

William has successfully passed a probationary period and joins us to support the Sales & Marketing efforts to help raise our profile and introduce new customers to our growing portfolio.

William commented:

“I am really excited about the opportunity to work with Martin and the team.  Having recently discovered SEO & PPC, I can see the potential of this product in the business marketing mix.

Banc Media has built up an envious client portfolio and collected an excellent array of testimonials and case studies that will provide me with the sales collateral I need to introduce new customers interested in Search Engine Marketing.”

You can contact William by email:  william@bancmedia.com or by phone on: 0845 459 0558.