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Author archive: Gwiz

Basic SEO Guide – Keep It Simple

I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve been asked to look at the SEO of a website only to find the same thing, A client who has worked with a web designer to create a lovely looking website only to be disappointed that it isn’t showing in the search results for any…

Matt Cutts For A Day

The idea to be Matt Cutts for a day was the brainchild of SEO guru and all round decent guy Terry Simmonds, The idea was that a group of us change our Google profile photos and publish a post about being Matt Cutts for just one day. Who is Matt Cutts? Matt is the head…

Web Design & SEO in Liverpool

Gwiz offer Web Design and SEO services in Liverpool Merseyside. If you’re having a new website designed it’s important to find a web designer who understands search engine optimisation and can design a website that not only delivers a great customer experience but also can design the structure and content of the website to be…

Does My Business Need A Website?

A question that most business owners have asked themselves in the past is “does my business need a website?”. If you’d have asked yourself that question 15 years ago or even 5 years ago the answer would have been dependant on what type of business you were in. Today however, I genuinely cannot think of…

Facebook Graph Search – A New SEO Challenge

It was only a matter of time really, a flurry of privacy changes in December last year and now the announcement of a search engine powered by Facebook, integrated with Bing and named “Facebook Graph Search“. You may recall that I have wrote a few articles about ensuring that your website and your website SEO…

The Future Of SEO

This article was originally published in October 2012 and was revised in January 2013. 2012 was the annus horribilis for SEO professionals and website owners alike. No sooner had the Google Panda update drawn first blood, the Penguin update came along with an uppercut. Several more updates and refreshes throughout the year landed some blows and…

Facebook Privacy Changes

Facebook has announced some new privacy changes today. Most of the changes are pretty minor, users can now access a menu on each post giving the ability to limit visibility on each post that is made. In addition a new tool is available to control any tags on images posted by others. A new interface…

How To Get Higher On Google

This is the question that most website owners ask, “How do I get higher on Google” or “How do I get on page one of Google“. Ask any SEO expert worth his/ her salt and they will tell you the same thing, “Provide relevant and quality content”. It simply isn’t enough to just launch a…

What kind of website do I need?

It seems like everyone is all of a sudden “A Web Designer” everybody knows someone down at the pub or a friends brother who can put a website together in exchange for a few quid or a couple of pints. So what is the difference between different web designs? Why pay a web designer to…

SEO For Bing

In January 2012 I wrote an article entitled “Don’t Ignore Bing When Planning Your SEO“, I thought today may be a good time to revisit the topic. Experian Hitwise have just announced that the Google UK Market Share fell below 90% last month for the first time in 5 years. This represents a fall of…

YouTube and SEO

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, in the words of Michael Caine “Not a lot of people know that!” Is YouTube good for SEO? In a word yes and for several reasons, If uploaded correctly YouTube videos can provide a good link back to your site. In addition it’s always good…

Choosing a Web Designer

Choosing the right designer is critical to your online success. Lets look at the things to consider. Firstly, in selecting a shortlist of suitable web designers don’t pick one from the sponsored listings in Google, Why? Simply because these are paid listings, it tells you nothing of the skills that the web designer has in…

Cheap Web Design

I’m often approached by new start or smaller businesses who simply don’t have the budget to have a website designed for them. Very often these people resort to using one of the cheap website building tools sold by the cheap hosting companies or worse, they are with 1&1 or similar and have had terrible customer…

Why is my website not showing in Google?

“Why is my website not showing in Google” is a question that web designers and SEO consultants get asked all the time. You’re very lucky if your new website makes it to page one straight out of the box. It happens, but it’s rare. If you fancy doing a bit of DIY SEO then this…

Google Engage

Gwiz Web Design St Helens are pleased to announce that we are now members of the Google Engage programme. This initiative is run by Google to educate website owners to the benefits of Google Adwords through agencies who provide web design and SEO services to small and medium size businesses. Despite a large part of…

Honesty as a marketing tool in Web Design

Web design offers the creative licence to make the smallest business look like a multi national PLC. A good web designer can employ all manner of smoke and mirrors to give any client the image they want, but is this lack of honesty always the best practice? If pushed I’d say the most crucial elements…

One page websites or microsites

What is a Microsite? A Microsite is a small website usually focused on a particular product, service or geographical location. You may have seen car manufacturers use microsites to launch a new model. Usually its a flashy affair full of stunning graphics and snazzy sounds. You’ll also notice that its heavily linked from the main…

Cookie Law

You may have noticed a huge amount of annoying pop ups on websites that you have visited lately. This is due to the fact that the deadline for complying with the ICO cookie law in the UK was 25th May 2012. The law actually came into effect 12 months ago but the ICO granted a…

Google Venice Update – Local Search SEO

Google announced another algorithm update a few weeks ago under the code name Venice. The update is rumoured to include 40 algorithm changes not all of which affect local SEO but none the less that is the biggest news story to come out of the Venice release. You may have noticed that when you perform a…

Website SEO for Local Businesses

Website SEO is a must if your website targets a local area. Search Engine Optimisation is much easier on a local level for the simple reason that there is less competition. To give you an example, a search for “Website SEO” Brings up 440 million search results whereas a local search for “Website SEO Merseyside”…

Why does my business need a blog?

Why your business should blog. Over the past few years Blogging has grabbed the attention of marketing professionals around the world and has become an essential tool for businesses large and small. ‘What exactly is a blog?’ I hear you ask, well stick around and I’ll explain what a blog is, why your business should…

Contextual Links – What are they?

SEO specialists in the UK and the rest of the World went mad a few years ago on the importance of links. The more links you pointed into a website the higher up the Google results page you would go. For a while this was true but any SEO expert worth his salt knew that…

QR codes, What are they and can they help my website SEO?

QR codes it seems are a new technology, it may surprise you then to learn that they were invented 8 years ago by a company called Denso Wave in Japan which is a subsidiary of Toyota. It’s perhaps common knowledge that Toyota have been at the forefront of lean production since the early 1970s and QR codes…

Websites for Local Business

Websites for local business, something most business owners hadn’t considered before the recession hit. A local business without a website in todays world is like a telephone without a number. It’s sad in a way that progress has changed the way that people shop. Retail parks that stand where our industrial buildings once stood, have…

Free Website Design

Some companies offer free website design Yes they do, You’re in business I guess? What do the words “Free Website Design” say to you? Exactly! There’s a catch. And the catch just isn’t monetary either. So there are companies out there who will allow you to design your own website free of charge. Why? Simple…

The importance of ongoing SEO

SEO isn’t something that you do once and forget. The front page of Google™ has limited spaces available. Do a search for your most key search term and look at the sheer number of results. Everyone of those results belong to a company or organisation who all desire their website to be on page one…

Don’t ignore Bing when planning your website SEO

Microsoft for years have dominated world technology, to be fair it has rested on its laurels for the past few years as smaller and more innovative companies explored new ideas and advances. The market for computing needs changed rapidly with the introduction of smartphones and now iPads and similar tablets and yet Microsoft didn’t seem…

Website design – Less is more

Cast your mind back a few years, can you remember when pretty much every website design had a flash intro with a loading message. You’d have a little text link saying “skip”? Thankfully the web designers trend to flaunt technical prowess has now largely subsided as the big players (and the enlightened) realised that the…

Get Ready for Google +1

The dance will be changing again soon it would seem. Voting and ranking by end users does seem to be the way forward. Review sites such as Trip Advisor have enjoyed spectacular success mainly down to the reviews and ratings left by actual holiday makers.  Even Ebay are constantly making their sellers jump through hoops…

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