optimization

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SEO is Simple. It’s About Giving People What They Need.

posted by Search

We often read articles and attend seminars on the topic of SEO and how a marketer can best execute it. The problem is that many firms and people tend the feel that once they have the initial idea of SEO, nothing will change; it will not evolve or adapt. This is ultimately where they begin to lead clients, listeners and readers horribly astray. The latest such article was written for Financial Planning and delves very heavily into “keyword use.”

Sadly, the ideas stated in the above article have been ones that good SEOs have moved on from in the past couple of years. We’ve learned that there is no magic number for keywords, no golden ratio, nothing that says “if you use a keyword this percentage, you will have solid value in rankings.” One needs to look no further than Matt Cutts, head of Web spam at Google, in this video from 2011:



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SEO and Keyword-Rich URLs

posted by Search

Allow me to introduce you to Google’s EMD update from last October:

• Search Engine Land - Deconstructing The Google EMD Update
• SEOmoz - The Exact Match Domain Playbook: A Guide and Best Practices for EMDs
• Search Engine Roundtable - Google EMD Update: Exact Match Domains No Longer Rank As Well

Keyword-rich URLs just ain’t what they used to be.

EMD backstory

Google was tired of websites ranking well because their URL had a few keywords in it, but the site itself offered no real value. This used to be a big proponent of SEO. Well, Google eventually got so sick of it they made a MASSIVE update to handle it. Suddenly sites that had “Keyword URLs” dropped if they didn’t back them up with real content.
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It's time for spring cleaning with our April wallpaper

posted by Design

Winter hibernation is over! It's time to get to work refreshing your house…your garage…and your marketing! This month, your thunder::tech wallpaper offers more than just a scenic background-keep a helpful tip on your desktop all month long and keep your marketing in the front of your mind.

Download our April wallpaper to your desktop or mobile device.


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Is Responsive Design Bad for SEO?: Part 2

posted by Development

During the past couple days, an article has been circling around the thunder::tech office. This article, When Responsive Web Design is Bad for SEO by Bryson Meunier, has also caused a lot of discussion in the Web community. Here is the second installment of our response to the author’s final three points as to why people should favor optimization practices over responsive design. Read the first installment here.

3.) "When Responsive Layout Increases Load Time Significantly," stop everything and re-examine the entire site.

You'll find that the wrong stakeholders are making the wrong decisions for the wrong reasons. The amount of code to add responsive capabilities to a site is nominal at worst, but more often miniscule. A well-made responsive site can be a tiny fraction of the size of a somewhat-well-made mobile-only or desktop-only site with the same features.
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Is Responsive Design Bad for SEO?: Part 1

posted by Development

During the past couple days, an article has been circling around the thunder::tech office. This article, When Responsive Web Design is Bad for SEO by Bryson Meunier, has also caused a lot of discussion in the Web community. We at thunder::tech have been strong proponents for responsive Web design and found issue with some of Meunier’s points. Our User Experience team decided to respond to each of the five factors the author says to choose optimization practices over responsive design. This first installment includes the first two points:

1.) "When Desktop Website Does Not Contain Categories Mobile Searchers Are Looking For," the content is at fault.

The following quote from Adam Audette and George Michie is the underlying assumption here: "Mobile websites: Responsive design helps, but smartphone users have fundamentally different needs and only a site designed to meet those unique needs will produce the best outcome for the user and for the business," This assumption isn't always going to be wrong, but it's still jumping to a conclusion that's likely to disrupt the user experience rather than support it. The needs of desktop users can be time-and-location-specific and the needs of mobile users can be neither; they're just less likely to be so.

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