firstfound - Search Engine Optimisation Company
news
Online shoppers could save your business!
The latest figures show that UK retailers will be hit the hardest in the run up to Christmas. Christmas sales volumes have fallen for the seventh month in a row in October. Customers are tightening their belts and it is predicted that this knock on affect is going to get worse in the coming months. There is one saving grace however. It is forecast that UK online shoppers will spend £13.16 billion in the final quarter of 2008. This is a 15% increase on the same period a year ago. Retailers and suppliers are under extreme pressure to keep their prices competitive. Researchers have suggested that the majority of online shopping will take place outside traditional shopping hours, either before 9am or after 6pm. It was said that "British shoppers will beat the crunch with Internet prices this Christmas, spending more than a billion pounds each week in the run-up"November 2008
Our Fund Raising Activities
FirstFound have recently nominated the Lancasterian School in Didsbury as their dedicated charity. You can read more about the school and why they are trying to raise £20,000 on our nominated charity page. The FirstFound staff have been fully behind the cause organising a number of events in order to raise funds and we have already raised in excess of £1,600.00 from a ‘dress-down’ day and donations. Events in the pipeline include a football tournament (which should sort the men from the boys!), a quiz night including a round of questions compiled by our very own MD, and various other individual projects.One of our managers, Matt Ferns, agreed to have his head shaved and was promised over £350.00 of pledges if he was brave enough to go through with it. Watch the video below to find out if he was a man or a mouse.............. A video of Matt Ferns getting his head shaved for charity.September 2008
Build Your Own Search Service
Yahoo opens up its index and search engine to any outside developers who want to incorporate Yahoo Search's content functionality into search engines on their own sites.BOSS (Build Your Own Search Service) could create a multitude of smaller search engines that in aggregate, could become the biggest player in the search market. This rather ambitious idea could generate them a goliath stream of revenue from offering the smaller search engines add-ons like the all important Search Ads. BOSS will also include Yahoo web news and image searches.The possibilities are endless for companies to start up their own search engines. I don't know about you but I find this a very exciting concept and in my experience if searching the Internet and trying to come to terms with how and why the search engine show me the results it does, this could revolutionise the whole web user usability experience.One page, one search, no restrictions. Could we see a Firstfound search engine in the near future? Watch this space!July 2008
Yahoo and Google agree online advertising deal
Yahoo has agreed a deal with Google which will see Yahoo use the search engine giant's advertising technology. Under the agreement, Google ads will appear alongside some Yahoo search results in the US and Canada. The announcement came after Yahoo said it had failed to persuade Microsoft to renew its bid to buy all of the internet company. Recent talks concluded after Yahoo rejected a Microsoft proposal to buy just its online search business. Yahoo said the agreement with Google could be worth up to $800m (£410m) in additional revenue every year. The partnership will initially last for three years, but could last up to 10 if Yahoo decides to renew. Google said the deal did not need regulatory approval but that it would delay its implementation by up to three and a half months to give the US Department of Justice a chance to review it. Microsoft sources told the BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones that the company was no longer interested in a full takeover because Yahoo had been "underperforming" and was losing some of its key staff. Yahoo's shares closed 10% lower at $23.52, while Microsoft finished 4.1% higher at $28.24.June 2008
Google to use page load time as a factor in quality scoring
Google will start incorporating landing page load time as a factor in its quality score for AdWords in mid-June, the search giant said in a blog post this month. Google's quality score influences an ad's position on Google and the Google network. It is also used to calculate a keyword's minimum bid. Google first announced in March that it would consider landing page load time when determining quality score and said implementation would be 'in about a month.' Advertisers with AdWords accounts can go to Google's keyword analysis page to review their load time evaluations. The firstfound AdWords Consultant team specialise in the development of high quality landing pages for their AdWords customers by including a free landing page with every new account that signs up.May 2008
Storm in a trademark over Google UK AdWords bidding
Plans by Google to deregulate the use of trademarks in UK AdWords accounts have been seen by some commentators as a charter for unscrupulous sites to undermine real brands. The changes proposed by Google are in line with AdWords accounts for US and Canadian businesses and will take effect from the 5th May 2008. Their reason is to enable advertisers to use more relevant keywords which may incorporate trademarks. Despite the increased competition, some critics have hit out over increased AdWords costs and less relevant ads taking preference. On the other hand, some are foreseeing significant increases in conversion rates. Google's AdWords results will be determined by several quality factors,including its PageRank algorithm.April 2008
All Change for the firstfound Website
Previous visitors to www.firstfound.co.uk will have no doubt noticed that we have a new website. "Over recent years firstfound has gone from strength to strength, with us being seen increasingly as a leading authority in search engine optimisation", commented firstfound's Managing Director, Chris Bellamy. "We wanted a new site which reflected the size of the organisation, and the depth of skills and abilities within the company. It is also a great resource for our clients, helping them understand the complexities of Pay Per Click and Website Performance on Search Engines." Chris wanted to make sure that all the firstfound team were involved in some way in the development of the new website, and the results are here for all to see with just about everyone in the company making an appearance in the photography which was specially commissioned for the site. "We're really pleased with the new website," said firstfound Project Manager, Sharon Kovacs, "it's a really fresh, positive and stands out from the crowd – exactly what firstfound is all about!"March 2008
Paid-For Links Punished In First Google Update Of 2008
The first Google Update of 2008 proved to be bad news for businesses and site owners whom have turned to paid-for links to boost their position on Google. Businesses who have sold paid-for links too have been hit hard by this. Instead, the recent update has focused on websites who have gained links organically, focusing on relevant links which have been gained freely. Sites which have used paid-for links have seen a drop in figures from Google’s Page Rank ratings. For instance, some sites have seen figures drop by four places. One such site has seen a drop from 10/10 to 6/10. This has been met with mixed opinion among website owners. Some have seen this as a ploy for Google to sell more Adwords accounts or as the death of Page Rank as a credible measure of website quality. For some, there has been little change. Page Rank is a type of rating system used by Google to determine the importance of each page, starting from 0 to 10. Sites with 0 out of 10 Page Rank are the least important, whereas sites with 10 out of 10 are most important.February 2008
telephone 0161 909 3400