Yearly Archives: 2011
How hackers exploit search trends to drive traffic to malicious sites
This bank holiday weekend, there were a couple of major stories in the news. On Friday, people all over the world celebrated the royal wedding, then, on Monday, we were told Osama Bin Laden had been killed.
Both events, despite their stark contrasts, had strange parallels. Both sparked outpourings of national pride and flag-waving, and both were seized upon by cybercriminals using ‘SEO poisoning’ tactics to manipulate search results and spread malware.
So what is SEO poisoning exactly?
SEO poisoning refers to a range of techniques used by hackers to get malicious content to appear above legitimate sites in search engine results. In some cases, SEO poisoning is used to generate visits to a specially-built malicious site, but legitimate sites can also be compromised through ‘cross site scripting’ (XSS) – a tool that lets hackers insert client-side script into web pages viewed by other users.
The most common objective of SEO poisoning is to spread ‘scareware’ – users get a message warning them their computer is infected, and are prompted to download a bogus anti-virus program which is in fact a malicious package.
Because of the amount of traffic associated with ‘trending’ news stories, search terms related to those stories have become a favoured target for those behind SEO poisoning attacks. The attacks are usually recognised by search engines quite quickly, but hackers can simply move on to the next big news story, using automated systems to keep an eye on the most popular search terms.
IT Pro Portal reported that Osama Bin Laden’s death “sparked a series of phishing and malware attacks mounted by hackers” and the Naked Security blog reported that many of the image results for searches on the royal wedding were located “within malicious SEO pages” which, if users click through to them, “redirect to a rogue web site.”
What does all this mean for users?
Users should be aware that there’s a chance they’ll come across an SEO poisoning attack if they’re searching a topic that’s recently had intense news coverage. Sites that aren’t well known should be approached with caution, and sites that fill the screen with pop-ups should be avoided completely. Similarly, users should be vigilant about which sites they allow to run dynamic content such as JavaScript or Flash. Anyone using the Internet should have anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed, and operating systems should always be kept up to date. In general, if a site looks dodgy, it probably is!
What does this mean for your organisation?
In order to protect your company website and avoid becoming a vehicle for SEO attacks, it’s vital that web servers are monitored and secured. Whilst some attacks will redirect visitors from your site to a malicious one, there is also a risk that hackers will insert irrelevant keywords or meta data into pages on your site, giving the impression that you are the ones engaged in ‘black-hat’ (unethical) SEO practices. That could lead to Google and other major search engines imposing penalties (downgrading your page rank, for instance).
What does this mean for the future of search?
There is a growing sense that black-hat SEO has become so advanced that the search engines are themselves being undermined. Ultimately, search engines will only continue to prosper as long as they are seen by users as trustworthy organisers of information. That means they will continue finding more sophisticated ways to root-out and penalise the black-hat techniques used by cybercriminals and unscrupulous businesses.
3D Wallpaper Pro for iPad and iPad 2!
We’re thrilled to have launched 3D Wallpaper Pro for iPad. Developed by Tecmark for iNetwallpaper.com Ltd, the application offers 8 distinctive, high resolution wallpapers for iPad and iPad 2 apps, with the ability to purchase more through in app purchasing.
Without a doubt the finest looking wallpapers we’ve seen, all designed by Kevin Wolstenholme of iNetwallpaper.com.
You can download the application for £1.79 here!
Being Rewarded for Original Content
We’re forever banging on about original content and the recent Panda update seemed to confirm its importance as part of a sustainable SEO campaign.
It’s not just about ‘unique’ content. It’s about original ideas. Simply rewording somebody else’s article or blog post doesn’t really cut it. One of the ways in which we’ve been encouraging clients to create original content is by sharing some data or research and we decided to practice what we preach.
In February, we put together a research paper on UK mobile internet usage statistics. We published this on our blog on March 6th and, without doing any link building, saw the post indexed and ranking for a number of related keywords very, very quickly:
In fact, it turns out we are ranking very well for a whole host of related keywords. Let’s take a look at the Analytics from the date the post went live (6th March) to the end of yesterday (26th April).
The Stats
The blog post has enjoyed, in the 7 weeks since it has been live, 1,131 views, the vast majority of which are from search. Not bad for a blog post that we did little to promote! But what’s most interesting for us is the sheer quantity of keywords that are referring traffic from search directly to that blog post – 412 so far to be specific.
Here’s just a sample of the referring keywords:
And for those of you interested in what the rest were, here’s a spreadsheet with all 412 – just because we’re generous like that.
Now, for us who go on and on and on about the value of content in driving traffic through search, this is a nice little case study. No, we’re not talking millions and millions of views – but by the same token nor did we do anything explicitly to promote the post.
Time
Producing something like this is time consuming. Granted. But it’s proven worthwhile. Google ranks us incredibly highly for all manner of searches relating to UK mobile internet stats and that is generating traffic and even a few natural links.
Ranking for Your Brand Terms – Yes, it’s Essential!
We all know that the old adage, “build it and they will come,” really is a load of waffle when it comes to getting traffic to your website. Perhaps it would be more suitable to suggest build it, market it a lot, build a presence in the search engines, get yourself engaged in social media, keep your content fresh, say something different and give people a reason to share it with their friends and then they will come – if you do it particularly well.
But they might not come directly.
Even after someone finds your website, visits it and decides they will return, they might not return “directly.” Even if they know of you, there’s a decent chance they’ll return via a search for your brand term, rather than by typing your web address into their browser’s address bar.
Here’s some traffic source data from our site(taking data from 1st April 2010 – 31st March 2011) where:-
- Referral traffic is traffic to the site as the result of clicking a link to our site on another website.
- Direct traffic is those typing our web address into their browser (or using a bookmark stored in their browser) and coming directly to the site.
- Brand organic relates to people searching anything specifically related to “Tecmark,” into Google and visiting the site that way.
- Non-brand organic is traffic that came as the result of someone searching a keyword in a search engine that does not contain our brand name, for example, “SEO Manchester,” “ipad developer london,” or “app developers.”
- Over the 12 month period we took data from, 22% of the Tecmark traffic came direct – i.e. people typing our web address into their browser’s address bar.
- 23% came as the result of “brand organic.” That is to say they found us in a search engine by typing one of our brand terms in, e.g. “Tecmark,” or “Tecmark.co.uk.”
We invariably see a similar pattern across client sites as well.
Essentially, more of the people who were looking for us online went to a search engine to find us than came straight to us.
There are likely to be all manner of reasons for this. Some people may not remember or know the domain name off the top of their head. Others might be looking for some specific information about us and want the search engines to present the relevant page or another website that might have that information. But let’s not also forget that we’ve become very accustomed to letting Google and the other search engines do the legwork for us. I’m guilty of searching a brand in Google even when I know the domain, just to save me the “hassle,” of typing the web address in!
Which Brand Terms do People Search?
There were all manner of Tecmark related brand terms that referred search traffic over the 12 month period analysed. Some of the more common ones include:-
- Tecmark
- Tecmark Manchester
- Tecmark.co.uk
- Tecmark Systems Ltd
- Tecmark Apps
- Tecmark UK
- Tecmark SEO
There are also commonly searches for various names alongside “Tecmark.” Again, we see similar patterns across all the websites we deal with.
Ranking for Your Brand Terms
If someone types anything to do with your brand into Google, you want the first website they see to be yours. What you don’t want is for other sites, whatever they are, to be outranking you.
If you manufacture goods that are then sold by other retailers, you may find people competing with you on brand searches. You may find other companies across the world with the same or a similar name outranking you on some searches too. You could find other companies with a similar name “competing” with your search terms or you might find yourself up against forums, directories or blogs.
If you have a comprehensive SEO campaign in place, you will generally find your obtain rankings for your brand terms efficiently. But it’s worth keeping an eye on traffic to your site from your brand terms and keeping an eye on rankings, particularly for your secondary brand terms.
By not ensuring your presence for your company name and similar searches, you could be losing potential clients who are already looking for you, to your competitors.
We Love Panda
We posted a while back on Google’s February 2011 algorithm update. Known as ‘Panda,’ the update rolled out in the US in February, followed by the UK and the rest of the English speaking world just a couple of nights ago. This April 2011 rollout has given Google 2 months to incorporate some feedback as well and essentially tweak the algorithm further.
Google rolls out hundreds of algorithm updates in a year but only ever announces the biggest. Panda had already affected rankings and search visibility on 12% of websites in the USA and a similar impact was anticipated in the UK.
Any major update, no matter how prepared you know you are for it, leads to bated breath. So yesterday, we spent some time running in depth checks on a lot of our clients and were thrilled to find a host of improvements across many. We haven’t been stung by Panda and it has, in fact, been a great thing for us.
What’s it About?
Well, we discussed a bit of this in a bit of detail in our previous post on the topic, but to sum it up it’s essentially about content. It’s a clichéd and overused statement and but the old “content is King,” adage is one that Google really wants to make us believe with this change. The algorithm punishes not only duplicate content, but just generally low quality (perhaps even ‘unoriginal’) content.
Why I Love Panda
I’ll be honest. My relationship with Google is love-hate at times. There are things the search giant does that really get my goat (like Google Instant, which slows my browser down and is impossible to turn off in Firefox). But I love Panda. Undoubtedly, that’s the work geek within me appreciating a bit of recognition for webmasters I know put a lot of time and/or money into creating unique quality and keeping their site fresh. But in addition to that, as a search engine user (and not just a SEO) I want to see high quality sites delivered. I don’t want to have to sift through twenty rubbish results before finding something decent irrespective of what I’m searching. Now, this update by no means eradicates spam. But what it does do is rewards high quality content thus incentivising people to create more organic, natural and thought out content – essentially to start catering to their human audience in their content and not to over-focus on the search bots!
The Winners and the Losers
Yes, we love it. But in any update there are winners and losers and some big name websites have featured on the lists. This post on Searchmetrics is a great summary detailing those hardest hit and those who benefitted the most in the update.
Ridiculous trousers optional with Puttluck, the groundbreaking new golf game from Tecmark
Puttluck is the first ever golf app to use the iPhone 4’s gyroscope. Tecmark has spent over a year developing the game for Steve McGuinness – a PGA professional golfer and co-founder of Mobile Golf Games Ltd.
The game features Wii-style motion controls that utilise the iPhone’s built-in gyroscope and is powered by an advanced physics engine.
Puttluck is controlled by swinging your iPhone, imitating the motion and technique used with a real putter. With 9 real holes from the world’s best courses, Puttluck will test your ability to judge the lie of the green and the amount of power required, as well as your ability to execute the putt you just visualised in your head.
The game’s features include arcade and tournament modes, spanning 9 genuine holes from some of the world’s top courses. Players can access live leaderboards and participate in competitions through the Puttluck website.
Leading golf accessories supplier Black Widow are sponsoring the game from its launch. They will be contributing prizes worth £500 for Puttluck competitions. Competitions will run in tandem with major golf tournaments, starting with The Masters 2011 which began today.
You can download Puttluck from the App Store for just £0.59.
Tecmark Shortlisted in How-Do Awards
We’ve been shortlisted!
Tecmark has been shortlisted for the upcoming How-Do Awards, in the ‘SEO and PPC Agency,’ category.
The category is one of 16, with other categories awarding magazines, radio programmes, newspapers and social media agencies amongst others.
The winners of the awards in all 16 categories, will be announced at the ceremony on 26th May 2011. We’ll certainly be there!
Tecmark launches Good Shot for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch
Developed in partnership with game designer Sanjay Purswani, Good Shot is the latest mobile game from Tecmark.
Inspired by the legendary NES game Duck Hunt (1984), Good Shot is a 2D shooter just as visceral as its 8-bit predecessor. Combining polished graphics with an amusing storyline and a reassuringly direct touch-screen interface, it’s definitely not as easy as it looks, but all the more rewarding as a result.
Good Shot is based around a story mode which puts you in control of a bumbling, pie-obsessed hillbilly who still lives with his long-suffering ‘Ma’. She needs ducks for her notorious home-baked pies, so you load up your 12-gauge and head on out. Along the way, you meet the local flirt, and slaughter some flying pigs in a rather inspired dream sequence. Waddle we think of next?!
There are two difficulty settings in the story mode, and you unlock arcade versions of each level as you progress through the game. Be warned, the arcade mode will suck you in!
You can have a quack at the game for free by downloading Good Shot Lite, or buy the full version from the App Store for just 59p. For screenshots and more, visit www.goodshotgame.com.
What is a Website Conversion Rate?
…and more to the point, why does it matter?
So, congratulations. You got to number one in Google for your prized keyword and you’re getting thousands and thousands of visitors a month.
SEO job done, surely? The team can pick up, pack up, pat themselves on the back and go home, right?
Wrong.
The rankings is just the beginning. What really matters is what these thousands and thousands of new website visitors do once they arrive on your website. And that’s where your conversion rate comes into play.
What’s a Website Conversion?
That depends on your website.
What do you want your website’s visitors to do?
Conversions are essentially actions you want traffic to your site to take on your website and commonly include:
- Website registrations
- Purchases
- Enquiry submissions
- Brochure downloads
- Quote requests
Before you even embark upon a SEO campaign, you should have a clear idea in your head of what you want people do to once they are on your site and the site itself should be optimised to encourage those conversions.
Conversion Rates
Your conversion rate is essentially the percentage of visitors who “convert,” and carry out your nominated conversion actions.
Conversion rates vary based on:
- What you consider a conversion
- Your industry
- How easy your site is to navigate
- How trustworthy your website
- Your calls to action
- The keywords delivering the traffic
Why It Matters
What use is a load of traffic that turns up at your website, has a quick nosey around and then disappears elsewhere to buy services or products from your competitors? Not much.
Chasing rankings blindly is pointless. Everything in SEO should be geared towards ROI, which means getting your users to convert to sales or leads. Chasing rankings for poor converting, irrelevant or unsearched keywords isn’t going to help you to generate more leads or sales. By the same token, achieving rankings for great keywords and then sending that traffic to a website that confuses users will deliver equally poor results.
Monitoring Conversions
You can monitor conversions through the free (and incredibly awesome) Google Analytics. There’s comprehensive e-commerce tracking as well a host of other goal types you can monitor. Analytics can tell you not only how many conversions you received in any given month, but which keywords and traffic sources that delivered those conversions.