Tuesday 8 October 2013

Google Penguin refresh end to great Summer

Google - lets have a party
Here we are again. I remember the Google Penguin fan-fare last year in April, it was nerve wracking.

At the time, nobody seemed to understand what to do - we were all ambling round waiting for the dust to settle so we could settle down and analyse the data.

It was funny; a lot of so called marketing experts from a few bigger digital agencies (no names) waffled and squirmed about the algorithm. The truth was, nobody really knew - it was all waffle.

I've been involved in search marketing now since 2006; not a long space of time compared to some industry giants that frequent Moz and Search Engine Land. However, I do come from an English teaching background and worked in information retrieval for several years as a library assistant so I picked up lots of positive habits working inside a real search engine...!

Once again, a Penguin algorithm change rolled out last weekend. Matt Cutts made some flippant comment on Twitter a few months ago about it going to be a 'great summer' - no it wasn't. Not for SEO's working with demanding clients and expectations.

Often with these things it takes a degree of learned skills and also instinct to spot changes to a website as a result of an algorithm change. We've come a long way since last year. We now know a great deal thanks to the research being done.

But being bombarded with Google algorithms doesn't make it a 'great summer', or year for that matter. Google isn't getting better at providing great search results. It's making it harder for the legit SEO and easier for the gamers.

However, time will how far this recent Hummingbird impacts the SERPS, and for that matter SME's up and down the UK.

Friday 16 November 2012

Surrey - The Seven Sisters - Pirbright Pain

The Seven Sisters... words of terror to anyone that knows them. And it, Pirbright.

Pain, suffering but physical perfection
Typical. Such a word conveys goodness, light, safety. No. Pirbright. It's a deception. At the time of walking, no RUNNING over them many many times, not only I but more or less everyone felt like dying. 7 hills. Why are they given a female personification? The pain in your chest and legs was like nothing I had ever felt. I was only 20, if I did it now, I would die a horrible death.
Physical fitness is wonderful, the sensation of accomplishment it creates is unrivaled. Never I have felt such joy and exultation at achieving physical perfection. The pain and suffering was worth it.

At the time instructors and trainers behaved like animals; you felt like they hated you and hated weakness. It was about power and humiliation, to make you appear soft and insignificant. Only when you crossed the finishing line did you understand the trainers were for you, on your side; they wanted you to succeed and win. At the time it was absolute chaos - the noise and scream were ceaseless. I was fortunate that in my own pain I could tolerate it because I have practiced before I journeyed here. By the time of Pirbright and the Seven Sisters, I was fitter than I had been. Running then over those hellish hills, I passed the occasional body writhing on the ground in pain - there was a moment during the first attempt when I wanted to give up, I hated it. I saw someone crying in pain; they looked ridiculous in their suffering. I forces myself that I wouldn't demean myself and pride was more powerful than pain. I went on and completed it. The end result was even more pride at the achievement and those that had fail were pushed to an even greater extreme to achieve what I and others had.

There are no platitudes spared; the instructors were merciless. They had to be. Not everyone is self-motivated. Some are more equal than others.
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Friday 9 November 2012

Astonishing Experiences

Hard Labour for 3 months
It wasn't me - but the choice was an inevitable one. I resigned myself to the fact that I deserved my fate and if this was it, then so be it.
It made me a tougher and more resilient individual and by God I needed to be. The first few weeks were an utter nightmare - in all truth, I started to question why I was there and why I decided to do this. I expect many do question their motives for joining this insane institution.
I really wanted to go back to the peaceful life and my books but I knew deep down that I would stagnate back home, and nothing much would happen. People and friends had moved on so why go back home?
I accepted where I was and decided to remain there. I did for more than 3 years.
But to my surprise, once I got through the initial months of training and was posted to my regiment 8 months later, life became good and full of surprises.
The first 3 months were atrocious - whatever hard labour must have been like in Victorian times, I was in it. 3 months hard labour. My offence? Ignorance. After that, I left the prison and got, amazingly, weekends off for the first time in what felt like years.
I found myself on nights out in Soho, Bracknell, Camberley, places I thought I'd never visit. I then ended up driving across the Yorkshire Moors for 2 months. At the time I hated it and loathed myself but in hindsight the first 8 months were an utter peak and trough of astonishing experiences. Had I known then what I know now 20 years later I would have savoured every moment...

Monday 15 October 2012

On a Train to an Uncertain Future

To Pirbright
 
I was in a train,
Going to a very uncertain future.
Outside I could see the rain,
In a land that looked stranger.
 
All the peculiar thoughts in my head,
Amounted to a great deal of dread.
Looking around at the other faces,
I realised we must all be nutcases.
 
I ask myself why I’ve chosen this fate.
What’ll be gained from this confusion?
All I can do is learn and tolerate,
The lonely and naive path I’ve chosen.
 
I’ve never really travelled away from my county,
But I felt my adventure could rival Dante.
I stepped from the train and into strange country,
Knowing I was about to loose my liberty with the wave of a hand…
 
August 1994
 
 
What had I done? Well, being trapped in the recession I was in at that time, jumping on that train to what felt like oblivion, it all seemed like the right thing to do. What else was there? Back home friends had gone or moved away or grown ever distant. There were no jobs, no prospects, no education. Only fags, boardgames, books, mulled wine and nothing much else.
I remember vividly waiting on the platform full of of feeling of trepidation that I was not as fearful as I should have been of the unknown. I was very ignorant of anything outside my own sphere.