annabelhodges.com

Girl Geek, Integrated Search, Website Optimisation and… Pandas?

annabelhodges.com

BrightonSEO – When is an SEO campaign not an SEO campaign?

September 3rd, 2010 · SEO, Social Media

After my lovely pal Chris googled my name last night and decided I must be a ‘professional’ due to its appearing across a range of Google searches (mostly with images of pandas associated with it) – I realised I should really at least try to make sure things like my own presentations are actually on my blog.

Professional? Moi?! Yeah I laughed too. (I’m a great discover panda memes though – you should hire me).  I apologise for not updating post Brighton SEO – I am a professional honest, I just spend all my time on projects (and panda research) instead of this here blog.

Anyway, here is my deck from BrightonSEO – it was a great afternoon and I would definitely recommend attendance to anyone interested in matters of the natural search persuasion. Big props to @rishil, @thetafferboy, @nicholastott, @samuelcrocker, @analyticsgirl@cedricwooding, @kevgibbo and all the other speakers.

When is an SEO Campaign Not an SEO Campaign

There are also some nice roundups to be found here:
Highlights from Brighton SEO on the Distilled blog
and last but not least

Oh and you can also see me on youtube here (thanks to Heather from  SBT Training):

You can see more of me (from about 54 minutes in) and the rest of the speakers here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8456234

→ No CommentsTags:brightonseo·SEO·speaking

BrightonSEO – Se you there?

July 21st, 2010 · Conferences, SEO

For those that are not yet on the guestlist – you should be. I’m speaking at BrightonSEO on Friday 23 July. There’s a whole bunch of awesome people speaking there in fact and all for the princely sum of £0.

Here’s the running order:

BrightonSEO 23rd July Agenda

Social Media Shenanigans

Kevin Gibbons – Director of Search, SEOptimise

20 Wordpress Plugins to Supercharge Your Blog

Cedric Wooding – Digital Producer at Jollywise Media

A Practical Guide to Managing a Facebook Advertising Campaign

Annabel Hodges – Head of Search & Analytics at Zone Content

When is an SEO Campaign not an SEO Campaign

The New Age Of Statistical and Data Driven SEO

Mark Cook – Director of Search Marketing, Further

Making Accurate Traffic Predictions

Rob Green – Senior Natural Search Analyst at iCrossing

Data Analysis for SEO

Nikki Rae – Head of Analytics & Insight at Fresh Egg

Custom Variables in Google Analytics

Giving Link Building the Creativity it Deserves

Sam Crocker - Lead SEO at Distilled

Using Competitions in SEO

Gary Preston – Strategy Director at Propellernet

Interesting & Inventive Link Development Ideas

Simon Dance - SEO Manager (UK) at Cheapflights

Linkbuilding & CRM

Eye Openers

Rishi Lakhani – Search Marketing Consultant

Actually Making SEO Happen

Zachary Colbert - Social Media Manager at Whitehat Media

Lev Manovich’s theory of Linking & Association

Nichola Stott – Owner at theMediaFlow

Challenging the Conventional Wisdom of Anchor Text

Moderated by Kelvin Newman, Creative Director SiteVisibility & Internet Marketing Podcast

For more information, head over to SiteVisibility

brightonseoPhoto

→ 2 CommentsTags:brightonseo

I write like…

July 15th, 2010 · Linkbait, SEO

I’m satisfied with that. My ridiculous discussions of Google Buns and Pandas vs Ulysses. No contest really.

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires. Analyze your writing!


A simple piece of linkbait by the guys at Mémoires, complete with neat anchor text link back to their site.  I’ve been seeing it all over social networks over the last few days – there’s a wannabe famous writer inside all of us.

Let’s be fair – if it’s going to massage my ego with comparisions to James Joyce, well I don’t mind them baiting me a little. Had they called me Marianne Keyes, I may have had some issues with their idea.

→ No CommentsTags:i write like·Linkbait

A Playlist to Try to Work and Mostly Get Distracted To

July 5th, 2010 · Music

Another quick Spotify Playlist here – I should have been working and I did this instead. Then I tried to work again. Then I added a few more songs again. Then I tried to work. Then I removed a few songs. Anyway you get the point. Here’s the playlist:

Owen Pallett – Lewis Takes Off His Shirt
Broken Social Scene – Anthems For a Seventeen Year-Old Girl
The National – Fake Empire
The Antlers – Bear
Jens Lekman – Pocketful of Money
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance – Hercules & Love Affair Remix
Fever Ray – If I Had A Heart – Fuck Buttons Remix
Pantha Du Prince – Stick To My Side
Wilco – Pot kettle black
TV on the Radio – Wolf Like Me
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – If You Leave
The Cure – Lullaby
Midlake – Anabel
Death Cab for Cutie – I Will Follow You into the Dark
Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
Beach House – Take Care

And there’s the url: WorkListenDistract

→ No CommentsTags:spotify playlists

Google Buns & Pop Biscuits – The Faraway Tree

June 25th, 2010 · Randomness

I was discussing my newly chopped bangs with my lovely colleague Allan which somehow led onto talks of Judy Blume (she had characters with bangs in her book and that always seemed so cool) which then somehow again led on to talks of Mallory Towers, Enid Blyton and so – of course – Pop Biscuits and GOOGLE BUNS.

magic faraway treePhoto credit

Yeah I’m an SEO and I’m really cheaply entertained by the name – so sue me. Anyway I really couldn’t remember why they were so special and what weird or wonderful thing each of these baked goodies did. I mean yes now we all know that Google comes from googol, 10 to the power of 100, thanks to the search engine but hell what’s that compared to the crazy deliciousness it really has its roots in thanks to Blyton in 1943?

A call out to twitter and some err yes googling later and my curiosity is sated. Though my desire to actually eat one of these amazing things is by no mean satisfied.

So – thanks to Karyn Fleeting for finding Google Buns for me here, they still sound as desirable as ever.

“Come on,” said Moon-Face. “Come and eat a Google Bun and see what you think of it.”

Soon they were all sitting on the broad branches outside Moon-Face’s house, eating Pop Biscuits and Google Buns. The buns were most peculiar. They each had a very large currant in the middle, and this was filled with sherbet. So when you got to the currant and bit it the sherbet frothed out and filled your mouth with fine bubbles that tasted delicious. The children got a real surprise when they bit their currants, and Moon-Face almost fell off the branch with laughing

Seriously, like seriously – I want to eat these so bad. Pop biscuits are also pretty cool though I think they pale in comparison (thanks to funtrivia):

Cake on the outside and honey in the middle. As soon as the children bit into a ‘pop biscuit’ it would explode and fill their mouths with a delicious honey. In the latest editions of the stories the word ‘biscuits’ has been changed to ‘cakes’.

the-magic-faraway-tree-3Photo credit

Other awesome things from The Faraway Tree that have absolutely no relation to search engines (but I will shoehorn some in) but are clearly inestimably cool are:

The Slippery Slip – A massive slide that ran all the way down the inside of the Faraway Tree and was the quickest route down. Maybe Google did take some inspiration from the book judging by some of the transportation methods in their offices:


Photo credit

Clouds that carried new lands at the top of the tree – There were new lands that came and went on clouds at the top of the tree, that the children visited – these includes Topsy-Turvy Land, the Land of Take-What-You-Want and the Land of Dame Slap. I like to think of this as Google who hold so much power with their offer of endless exciting goodies just round the corner. Some are awesome and great – Google Maps, Google Images and who knows Google TV one day- and some are terrible – hello Google Wave – but you never know what is coming next. Will Google shoot you to the top making all your dreams come true? Will it come crashing down on you and make you vanish in a nanogoogol second?

Ok that’s some major shoehorning. I’ll stop there.

Oh and just for kicks – ridiculous changes that have been made as stated by Wikipedia – just cos it’s funny like.

In modern reprints, the names of the children have been changed:
Jo is changed to Joe, because the character is a boy and this is the more commonly used spelling of the name for males;
Bessie is changed to Beth, because the former name is now less commonly used as a nickname for Elizabeth;
Fanny is changed to Frannie, because the former name is slang for vulva in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand (see Wiktionary entry) and “bottom” in the USA.
Cousin Dick, who appears in “The Magic Faraway Tree”, has been changed to “Rick” as “Dick” is American, Australian and British slang for penis.
In modern reprints, the character of Dame Slap has been re-named to Dame Snap and she no longer practises corporal punishment but instead reprimands her students by yelling at them very loudly.

→ 3 CommentsTags:enid blyton·faraway tree·Google·google buns