Good morning everybody. It’s a sprightly spring morning here in beautiful Glasgow city. It’s always a morning chock full of digital news that went under the radar over the weekend. Read more
All posts by Garyeoghan
Boyd Digital At Ayrshire Chamber
Today was a sunny day all over the country, and trying to put a sense of that spirit in looking at Google Analytics was Boyd Digital Director Grant Ruxton. Read more
Monday Mentions: 20th April (#Mobilegeddon Special)
So the new series of Silicon Valley started last week. While watching it, one of the characters refers to the oncoming “Datageddon” on the horizon. Another character then bands about that there are too many -geddons happening. As we’ve been blogging about previously, everyone is gearing up for Mobilegeddon tomorrow. To save you having to trawl through numerous timelines and feeds getting in a tizzy, here are the top tweets mentioning #Mobilegeddon. Read more
What is this big Google mobile update?
There’s a simple Google update on the horizon which is causing everyone in the SEO/ Digital Marketing world to freak the hell out. News articles, blog posts and forum comments akin to someone screaming ‘won’t someone please think of the children?!’ are popping up left, right and centre all over the web. Read more
April Fools’: Stop Your Site From Being A Joke
Chances are that today you’ll be sitting in the office and face a barrage of “hilarious” pranks on all your favourite sites in celebration of April Fools’ Day. One might do a funny news story. Another might launch a fake product. Google might even pretend they’re changing the world by launching a social network of their own. If there’s one thing you don’t want to be a joke though, its your website. So today, why not take heed of some of these jokes and make sure your site isn’t seen as one. Read more
Facebook Ads: Not Those Ones…This one.
Today is a weird day in Glasgow; the sun is out after days of sleet. And even though parts of the ground are still icy, I saw two guys in t shirts on the way to the subway. That wasn’t what made my journey to work weird though. This ad did… Read more
2015: The Year Of Mobile (As Every Year Should Be)
It’s the year of mobile. No seriously it is. We blogged in 2013 about Mobile SEO saying it was an important factor. We blogged in 2014 about Local SEO having a larger reliance on mobile. And now here we are in February 2015 and it seems that every other day a news site will take that not so bold step in saying that this is the year of mobile. But maybe it always has been? Read more
Monday Mentions: 23rd February
So Birdman won Best Picture at the Oscars a few hours ago. We’ll tell you what it won’t win: ranking number 1 for the term ‘Birdman’ (it sits at the bottom of the first page). Much like Michael Keaton losing his marbles, the site doesn’t have an XML sitemap or Robots.txt among a whole host of problems. But enough about movies having poorly optimised sites, let’s see what is going on the digital marketing world today. Read more
Instagram For Business: How Does It Work?
Instagram is a beautiful thing. It’s a fantastic looking app. It’s easy to navigate. It’s the best place to get Simpsons quotes on your phone every few hours. It’s a personal journal that requires a millisecond to look at and easily get the gist of someone’s day. It’s also still a relatively unexplored platform and something that many businesses are afraid of. Why are they afraid of it? Well for one thing, WHERE DO LINKS GO? Read more
Monday Mentions : 16th February
Monday morning drama in the office today as our office pup caused a fuse to trip and everyone’s computer to go KAPOOT. So while some of us hope and pray that file recovery is working properly (and some of us wisely conserve laptop battery), here’s what going on in the digital world over the last few days. Read more
Monday Mentions: 26th January
There are three types of people in any office. Those who channelled their inner 12 year old and stayed up to watch the Royal Rumble who now suffer from extreme fatigue, those who don’t know or care what one is, and those like me who are putting a severe no spoilers warning on anyone who so much as utters the words “royal” or “rumble” in conversation. Read more
Monday Mentions : 19th January
Happy Monday morning everybody. Hope you all had a good weekend and didn’t have to spend the first half hour of your morning commute in the driveway scraping ice off the wind shield. It’s colder than cold outside today and with a big freeze set to continue all week, it’s getting so cold that our poor fingers are having a hard time thumbing through our phones to provide a welcome distraction to the start of the day. You don’t have to suffer the same fate though. Read more
Monday Mentions: 12th January
It’s miserable outside today. Grey skies. Wind battering against the windows. Relentless rain. It’s fantastic inside Boyd Digital HQ though (apart from the fact we forgot to buy coffee this morning). We have soul music blaring through the speakers and the office pup is here. So what’s going on in the world of digital marketing this week? Read more
12 Rubbish Things You’ll Hear Back At Work Today
For many people, today is the first official day back in work. And with the first working day of the year comes one truth: you will get a lot of rubbish chat. Luckily in this office we don’t abide by the rules of boring chat when there is work to be done, puppies to be petted and quizzes to make sure we get 100{262b22605905d7bdadc9d0423a4a46028d1c16e5c2069f052c9de36584b442a6} in.
Now that it’s halfway through lunchtime and the first work day back, check to see how many of these hollow words you’ll have heard or been subjected too this morning. Read more
Spin The Black Circle: Why Vinyl Makes Digital Marketing Better
We have 3 copies of Thriller on vinyl here in the office. Some would say that is two too many. We’d say it’s never enough. It might sound a bit far-fetched to compare what we do as a company to having a good vinyl collection, but when you figure out the similarities that exist and the work needed to look after everything from your charity shop finds to the eBay gem you pray doesn’t come delivered in a few dozen pieces, being passionate about caring for your records is just like running a digital campaign for any company. Don’t believe me? Drop the needle on the start of Thriller, pop on your headphones and read on. Read more
SEO Advent Calendar 2014: Week 3
Welcome to Week 3 of the Boyd Digital SEO Advent Calendar. This week we’ll be looking at giving your own site a little bit of a check-up before you head home for Christmas. Read more
Monday Mentions: 15th December
That final rush to get all work out of the office door and delivered so you can get the festivities going is what most minds will be on this week. In between panicking over who needs what and making sure you don’t go over deadlines, it’s important to remember the most important part of the work day: reading tweets disguised as work.
Read more
SEO Advent Calendar 2014: Week 2
Turn up to 11: Christmas. The snows’s coming down. Christmas. I’m watching it fall…. Read more
Revving Engines & Honking Horns: Marketing Tips for Car Rental Companies
“Get out of my dreams, get in to my car”
Billy Ocean was never in charge of running a car rental service (we think) but he did have one hell of a tagline if he ever needed to. Read more
SEO Advent Calendar 2014: Week 1
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Everyone crank up the Michael Buble on the speaker system, pull on the most garish/comfy jumper you can find and get the mulled wine out. Read more
Monday Mentions: 1st December
The finest knitted jumpers of snowflakes, snowmen, reindeer and trees are on in the office this morning. A quickly found Xmas playlist from YouTube is currently blaring from the speakers and we’re all in a very festive mood this morning. Read more
Monday Mentions: 24th November
It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas here in Glasgow. It’s absolutely freezing this morning, the level of festively decorated treats is on the upswing and everyone is quick to huddle around their coffee mugs as soon as they get indoors. Read more
Monday Mentions: 17th November
Good Monday Morning from Las Vegas. It is just after 1:00am here in the desert and there isn’t a scarf or woolly hat in sight. We’re here at the Ungagged event learning what leading companies in the States are doing in the SEO world. Read more
Christmas Ads 2014: Which one is the best?
About this time last week there was suddenly an influx of penguins on my Facebook feed, well one. His name was Monty and every single instance of his name incited cries of ‘aww’ ‘so cute’ ‘can’t wait for Xmas’ etc. I took a quick look and saw that the domain montythepenguin.com was for sale. I said I’d buy it right then and there but got distracted and when I remembered a few hours later some lucky duck (or penguin) had snapped it up. Read more
Monday Mentions: 10th November
It’s officially scarf and hat season this morning in Glasgow, and with Christmas coffees, Greggs cookies, sandwiches and soups on offer, a strict diet of festive food is on the agenda for the foreseeable future. Read more
Monday Mentions : 3rd November
The first week of November aka “Fireworks making you jump out of your seat every few hours” week is in full swing. After a fun filled Halloween weekend and a comedown from the sugar overdose of unclaimed trick of treat goodies, all eyes on are the big names who are suddenly panicking about their back links and how Groupon is only catching on to what their audience might want.
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The Generation Game: Making Better Content
Google a phrase like ‘sharing content’, ‘make content be heard’, ‘share your voice’ etc. and you will be treated to wonderful stock images of children holding up megaphones, people shouting in fields without megaphones and lots of animated people holding up megaphones too. It’s what people like to envision every time they create and share content. The harsh reality though is that when you do create content, in most cases your megaphone will be a kazoo that will only be heard within a vacuum i.e. its won’t be very noticeable. Read more
Monday Mentions : 27th October
So we’re a week (and a little bit) removed from all this Penguin hullabaloo, and apart from having a serious craving for chocolate covered bourbon biscuits, the only way is up it seems for our sites. Read more
BDX Events: The Inaugural Web Wednesdays
Last night BDX, the content creation arm of Boyd Digital, held it’s first incarnation of Web Wednesdays. Read more
What the hell is a Google?
‘So I sort of help websites perform better online in order for them to increase revenue.’ It’s the boilerplate answer I commonly use whenever someone asks what exactly I do at my job. Read more
Monday Mentions: 20th October
The Monday morning blues are in full swing in the office today. After a cracking weekend of doing our best to beat UFC fighter Robert Whiteford at table tennis and watching Glasgow Warriors thrash Bath on Saturday, all eyes on now on checking to see if there has been any change from the Penguin update that rolled out late on Friday. Read more
Looking For Keywords In All The Wrong Places
Urban Cookie Collective once majestically said ‘I’ve got the key/I’ve got the secret/ I’ve got the key to another way/ Ah ah ah ah’. Now while that last beautifully crafted harmonic line might not be that relevant when we’re talking about keywords, the rest of the lyrics make for a great brief in describing how to better look for potential keywords. Read more
Monday Mentions: 13th October
Winter has most definitely come to town today. Plenty of folk around town suddenly decked out in scarves and gloves. We’re predicting a 125{262b22605905d7bdadc9d0423a4a46028d1c16e5c2069f052c9de36584b442a6} increase in the number of people gripping on to their mugs in the morning for a bit of warmth. If the weather stays this way, we’re keeping our eyes out for an increase in hot water bottle searches this month. Read more
What Is A Google Penalty?
If you run any type of site the phrase ‘We’ve been hit with a penalty’ is enough to make anyone break out in a cold sweat. Google penalties aren’t the be all and end all for all sites (in some rare cases they can be), so figuring out just what you did wrong and how to fix the problem can be a handful. What you need to do is fix the leak by knowing where the mains are. It could be as simple as turning a tap and telling Google ‘Look, we fixed it and cleaned the place up.We cool?’. It could be as drastic as needing the whole house refitted and praying no one notices just how badly your site messed up. Read more
The Values (and challenges) of International SEO
Today I was looking at a popular hotel site (I won’t say which one) to see if there was any reason why they wouldn’t be ranking for generic terms in non-domestic markets. The chain has a hotel in a very popular tourist location and has massive appeal worldwide. It was only when I had a look at the Metadata for the site that I noticed all their international landing pages which were in another language didn’t have any meta description. A quick glance over the text made it look as though the content was a quick Google Translate was carried out ,which is fine in itself considering the site is English, but not having the Meta description easily altered (or even present) was causing the site to miss out on a massive chunk of potential visitors. Read more
Monday Mentions: 6th October
Rain rain go away. No seriously. Go away. Today Glasgow is greyer than normal and not even a good dose of Fleetmac Wood (yes we’re spelling that right) is wiping away the fact that autumn has truly settled in. So while we all get ready to huddle around the heaters and the consumption of tea goes up 300{262b22605905d7bdadc9d0423a4a46028d1c16e5c2069f052c9de36584b442a6}, let’s see what goes on in the world of digital marketing Read more
Remote Control: Apps for working anywhere
‘I can’t make it in today, I’ve got X,Y & Z’
It’s a phrase that was once a death knell for productivity in the workplace. Here at Boyd Digital we absolutely hate the idea of not being productive. We’d rather chop our thumbs off than twiddle with them. That is why we’re always on the lookout to make our workflow as efficient as possible. Read more
Best Breakfast In Glasgow
The tent pole of the day. The only meal champions care about. The only time of day it’s acceptable to eat bacon and pancakes and not feel bad pouring syrup all over it. Breakfast is a glorious thing, but finding the perfect place to enjoy the most important meal of the day can be hard. Read more
What You Should Know About SEO: Part 2
So earlier this morning I told you 5 key things you should know about SEO but were too afraid to ask. Not knowing the general in’s and outs of structuring a site in such a way to make it as user friendly as possible doesn’t mean you have to be an internet genius, you just have to know what to look at. Read more
What You Should Know About SEO: Part 1
You’ve just redecorated the living room. You invite everyone round to have a look. They all say it’s great. One person though notices that the big expensive picture you have hanging up isn’t hanging straight, your sofa is facing the wrong way and a plug socket would be better set five inches to the left. Welcome to the mind of a digital marketer who has just come across your site for the first time. Read more
Going Loco Down in Google Local
It’s one of the biggest stumbling blocks people come across whenever we try to explain the difference in the types of results Google can provide you with: the difference between what an organic and local link is. Last week we mentioned a really good presentation we saw at Brighton SEO (you can look at that here) about how to make sure a localised result works in your favour, but unless you know exactly what one is, how can you understand how to optimise it? There’s one simple way to best explain a local result and it involves looking for pizza. Read more
Monday Mentions: 22nd September
Glasgow has been like a baked Alaska this past weekend: warm on the outside, cold on the inside. With all the Referendum hyperbole reaching its conclusion, our eyes are once again back on Twitter in search of every nugget out SEO news out there. Sifting through hundreds of automated ‘#seo #google’ tweets is enough to drive a person mad, but when a gold star tweet is found, well we just have to share it. Read more
URL Independence: Extractors We’ve Made For You
We’re spreading a bit of URL love this morning by giving anyone access to two very simple, yet very important tools we use. Read more
Brighton SEO: Slides Worth Reading
So we’ve had a few days to let the full effects of Brighton SEO digest. We had the chance to go to some great presentations and meet a lot of people all with a vested interest in making sure to keep on top of everything in the SEO world. Read more
Monday Mentions: 15th September.
We don’t know if you know this, but it’s a pretty big week here in Scotland. With Yes and No signs pretty much everywhere you look, the country will definitely be looking at one hell of a recycling job no matter which way the vote goes come Friday morning. Read more
Boyd Digital @ Brighton SEO: Top Tweets
It’s been quite a day so far at Brighton SEO. With a surprisingly lower number of plaid shirts than expected, we’ve been enjoying some of the talks going on and making sure we don’t find ourselves wearing that green ‘Keep Calm…’ T-shirt. Read more
Monday Mentions: 8th September
Kicking off the working week and hearing Paul Simon and Sting just announced a gig together in Glasgow is enough for us to go searching for the best songs by both (Englishman in New York & You Can Call Me Al respectively of course). If you disagree, then tweet us and let us know which you think arebetter. And while you’re at it, you should see what we’re reading about on Twitter this morning. Read more
Monday Mentions: 1st September
It’s full steam ahead here at Boyd Digital HQ as we get ready for the trip down to Brighton SEO next week and meet with some like minded folk to talk about search marketing and all thing SEO. We’re going to be hosting a little round table event of our own down there (you can get free tickets soon), and if you’re not going to be making the journey with us, Grant will be holding a Google Analytics Advanced event here in Glasgow in a few months time too, which you can grab tickets for here. Read more
Monday Mentions: 25th August
It’s a beast of a day here in Glasgow this morning. The sun is out. The clouds are (almost) non-present and the possibility of a rain free bank holiday does seem possible. Read more
The Mismatch of Exact Match Keywords
Google recently announced (August 14th, 2014) they will no longer be allowing advertisers to use exact match keywords to drive their PPC campaigns as of September. Read more
Monday Mentions: 18th August
The midpoint of the month for us working folk means the enviable slump as focus wains and thoughts turn out when its going to be the weekend again (only 4 days folks). With the first lunch of the week over and that need of a good cuppa to perk up and push through the res tof the day, keep up to date with what’s going on the world of SEO by having a quick breeze through these important tweets. Read more
The Don’ts and Don’ts of A Social Media Strategy
Don’t be misled by the title. Don’t go thinking this is going to be an entirely negative post. Don’t believe that this post will completely turn your social media strategy on its head. Most importantly, don’t ignore everything you’re about to read on this page. A social media strategy can often turn in to a big game of “Do’s and Don’ts”. Questions like ‘why don’t customers engage on our profiles?/ why don’t I get more visits from social sources? Why don’t I focus on social links to more?’ will drive you in a spiral of don’ts you’ll never get out of. Read more
Batten Down The Hatches: The Rise of HTTPS
Hot off the press yesterday, Google Webmaster Central blog put up this post all about HTTPS now being a legitimate ranking signal. For roughly 99{262b22605905d7bdadc9d0423a4a46028d1c16e5c2069f052c9de36584b442a6} of all queries, Google says that this won’t affect site rankings, but for the seemingly small 1{262b22605905d7bdadc9d0423a4a46028d1c16e5c2069f052c9de36584b442a6} it will make a difference. Read more
Monday Mentions: 28th July
It seems the sun has decided not to grace Glasgow with its presence today. No big deal for us though. Getting towards the end of the month means tying up the loose ends on any remaining work, strategizing for the month ahead and making sure we’re always kept up to date on what is happening in the land of digital marketing. Read more
Monday Mentions : 21st July
We’re preparing for Glasgow to just about reach lock down this week when the Commonwealth Games start. Hopefully it will be as sunny throughout the week as it is right now and we won’t be begrudging timetable changes in the rain. Read more
What you type makes all the difference: Modifying keywords
One thing we spend a lot of time analysing is keywords. And one way of being able to get content to a relevant customer base is to make sure you’re able to think like that customer. Read more
In The Sunshine: How Alcohol Brands Advertise Summer
We’re right in the middle of summer and with every glimpse of sun in the day, the inevitable texts and quick Whatsapps around half 4 for ‘a wee one at the beer garden’ or a ‘cheeky one after work’ are as inevitable as the expectation of rain tomorrow. Over the last few years, alcohol brands have been using the summer as their opportunity to flood the market with more ‘seasonal’ offerings. When in the past a trip to the bar in the summer involved making a decision on whether to have a pint of beer or pint of cider, now you have to make a life decision on which flavour out of a possible dozen fruity drinks is best suited to how you’re feeling today. Read more
Monday Mentions : 30th June
It’s a sunny day here in Glasgow. The sky is blue, we’re playing Bloc Party in the office and everyone is practising their serve for the upcoming Wiffledon Tournament Read more
5 Things We Found Out About @boyddigital
When a Channel4 show a few months ago claimed that Twitter was the best video game of all time, a lot of eyebrows were raised. Twitter isn’t really a game as such (unless you’re desperate to get as many followers as possible) as it is a tool. And when something is viewed as a tool for engagement, its always a good idea to take a look under the car bonnet and see how your engine is working. Read more
Monday Mentions: 23rd June
A cloudy Monday morning after a beautifully bright weekend? You cannot be serious! The start of Wimbledon today means two things for everyone across the country: a sudden rummage through closets and garages to find rackets that only get used for two blissful summer weeks, and an upsurge in the consumption of strawberries and cream. But how does the internet react to a bit of Murray Mania? Read more
Monday Mentions: June 16th
The world cup may be the talking point of the office for the requisute ‘What do you get up to over the weekend?’ catch up first thing (we want a can of disappearing spray!), but we’re always making sure the Monday morning catch up involves a good few reads while the kettle is boiling. Read more
Everyone’s Favourite Festival Performances
With Radio 1’s Big Weekend taking place across town at Glasgow Green this weekend, a discussion started in the office about just what the best festival performances of all time were. Now we have a widely varying taste when it comes to the type of music we all like, so instead of spending the day arguing over which Glastonbury head-liners were the best, or which of us has been to the best festival possible, a quick solution was proposed: everyone find their favourite festival performance ever and share it. Read more
It’s sunny outside… according to the internet
There’s a popular piece of vernacular in Glasgow that will purse through the lips of anyone when the sun is out:
‘Is it taps aff?’ Read more