Keyword research has become a bit one dimensional. Everyone is chasing after the same market space – we all need to strive harder to find new keyword territory to inhabit.

In an increasingly competitive market place, it’s about time SEO took some lessons from branding in order for companies to fulfil their online marketing objectives. And that means differentiating yourself in order to better connect with the right customers.

Rather than just ‘going after the long tail’, you really need to utilise the brand you’re working with. Which words really reflect the company’s approach? Which words really connect with their target audience?

For example, say you’re working with a brand that values ‘fun’. Instead of simply looking at keywords related just to service/products they offer, or geographical areas on which they focus, why not add an extra ‘fun’ dimension to your keyword brainstorming.

Once you’ve got all your ideas down, then you can get down to the nitty gritty and analyse the search volumes in detail. The results may surprise you. As a consequence you might not only find a phrase with reasonable volume and little competition , but one that attracts visits with a high chance of conversion.

Brands and SEO have long fought against each other, with Social Media and ‘brand protection’ recently starting to build bridges between the two. Why not take your brand to the heart of your SEO strategy to get ahead?

I don’t know about you, but those Bing adverts on TV infuriate me. Every time I see them I wonder how much money was put into coming up with something that doesn’t make any sense – at both a product and a brand level.

It’s obviously a thinly veiled attack on Google. The premise is that Google gives you too many irrelevant results in cluttered SERPs – ‘tired of information overload?’

Except it doesn’t. Google may annoy people in many ways, but serving irrelevant results and overloading people with information probably isn’t one of them.

In fact, I am led to believe this was one of the main reasons why Google has achieved its huge success – an uncluttered style. OK, you could argue that it has lost its way, with results that have become cluttered with annoying snippets, such as news. This could be true, but the problem is that Bing offers exactly the same features!

The fundamental problem with this ad campaign (and the entire Bing venture!) is that there is no significant difference between Bing and Google. Nothing that the ordinary user would notice – even in the way they look. ‘Bing’ and ‘Google’ probably even sound like similarly strange words to the average person!

The lack of product difference means that even if the advert achieves its goal of making people try Bing, they will see it isn’t any better compared to Google and switch back. The result will be a lack of trust, which will be very difficult to regain.

A lack of a viable alternative search engine is probably far more of an annoyance to people than the false premise of over-loaded results pages. There is always a swell of opinion against perceived monopolies. Simply reminding people there’s an alternative could be a subtle but effective campaign (as long as they successfully differentiate themselves from their parent monopoly…!)

But no. Bing seem to have spent a lot of time and money getting it very wrong. The false nature of these adverts may even make some of those who were originally wavering rally behind Google.

And it has to be said, even if they had got the product right, the campaign strapline would still be poor:

‘The decision engine’.

The message this delivers to me is that Bing is a solution to a narrow cross-section of search queries.

People don’t necessarily use search engines to make decisions. They simply use them to find something – and a user finding what they were looking for is the successful outcome of the majority of searches.

Bing should broaden the scope. Choosing something like ‘the find engine’ as the strapline would make a less confusing statement about the increased quality of their results and algorithm.

Not that it matters though, as the increased quality isn’t there!

When building links I like to be creative and think laterally. I think this is vital for staying ahead of the crowd and producing fantastic results, possibly where others have failed. Here are two of my current tips:

1. Google can read acronyms

Have you noticed that Google can read acronyms? If you type ‘bins’ into Google.co.uk, a site called ‘Birmingham: It’s Not Shit’ ranks relatively highly. The title is highlighted, seemingly showing that Google reads ‘Birmingham: It’s Not Shit’ as an acronym for ‘bins’.

Therefore, it’s not just a fantastic statement, but also a juicy link to target for anyone focusing on the word ‘bins’. This is a great way to find relevant sites (in a lateral sense) that aren’t direct competitors.

2. Some keywords have double meanings

Another way to find fantastic non-competitor links is to expand your thoughts beyond the context of your industry/subject area. For example (and this isn’t the best example), say you are targeting the word ‘bucks’. This is the shortened term for the county of Buckinghamshire. If you type ‘bucks’ into Google, you will see that the word ‘buckinghamshire’ is highlighted – seemingly showing that Google recognises that the two terms are interchangeable.

Next time you target a keyword, search for other meanings it could have and try to incorporate them into your SEO strategy.

Do you have any lateral link building tips of your own?

It would appear my site has been put in Google’s sandbox.

This has not happened to me for a long time – but then I haven’t worked on a completely new site for a little while. The key with new sites is to take things very slowly at first, trying to catch peoples’ attention and thus naturally obtaining links.

This domain is around 4 months old, so obviously hasn’t gained much trust yet. Though I‘ve tried to take things slowly and catch some attention by posting thoughtful comments on blogs, I have run into some trouble. This is mainly because a few blogs have distributed the comment (and therefore the link) across the site’s pages, in the ‘recent comments’ section. This has meant that my site has gained a huge percentage of its links within the last couple of weeks.

I guess many would class this as a rookie mistake!

However, I have seen many sites get by despite this – I think the issue is more sensitive depending on the industry/subject the site represents. Obviously SEO-focused sites loom large on Google’s spam radar.

So how will I get out of the sandbox?

Well I’ve submitted a reconsideration request outlining the trouble I’ve run into and listing the main culprit for my massive acquisition of links. I’ve also stated that I will now focus on getting some more decent content on the site, cutting down on the comment marketing.

So that’s what I’m going to do. Gradually build my content and focus onsite rather than onsite. This is the strategy I recommend for every new site – I think I just got a little too involved in putting my points of view across on blogs across the web!

The conclusion: expect to see more posts on here soon!

A successful SEO campaign can no longer dance around the edges of an industry. Links from vaguely related sites isn’t going to cut it anymore. To really increase your rankings, plus improve the quality of traffic from referring sites, you have to get to the heart of an industry.

Engaging Offsite

This means finding communities where potential customers, and even adovates, have relevant conversations about your keywords or brand. For example, entering a conversation and answering a question in a manner that goes beyond expectations, with a link back to your site, gains you not only the benefit of the link but also the trust of a potential customer. And even a potential advocate – one that may build a few links for you in the future.

Creating Onsite

And don’t worry if there isn’t a heart for you to find. This could lead to an even better outcome – by creating one yourself. Becoming the hub of conversations or the authority site could prove even more vital in the long term and will rapidly increase your natural link acquisition. The key to doing this is not to give up: it will be hard work. If your content doesn’t generate interest the first time then try, try and try again. Keep promoting and have faith but don’t be afraid to tweak it either.

Once you’ve positioned yourself (or your client) at the heart of an industry, top rankings should come far more naturally.

As we near the end of 2009, I think this question is in the back of the mind of everybody in the search industry: what is Google going to do in 2010?

At present, next year looks more unpredictable than ever.

Google has ended 2009 with a flurry of new features – bewildering the majority of people in the know.

And with two possible paradigm shifts on the horizon (as Rand Fishkin discusses on SEOmoz) who knows what 2010 will bring?

I, for one, just hope that Google will remember the reasons why it is the most widely used search in the world before next year is over.

As Fishkin speculates, some of its new features seem to be released only to get there first or keep up with competitors.

This is not a philosophy that has gained them such a huge market share.

It wasn’t the first search engine around by a long shot, but it didn’t matter. It got to the top by being the best.

Let’s hope it realises this soon and 2010 will be a year of consolidation on Google’s part.

adelleda SEO has been launched to take a new approach to SEO, reflecting the new paradigm in Search Engine Optimisation. Gone are the days when businesses have to be persuaded to optimise their website; the majority know that this is vital for success.

Now is the time to to connect SEO with the rest of the marketing disciplines, showing businesses can hold more value and ROI than first thought. Success should no longer be measured only in terms of rankings, but also by other factors such as brand awareness and conversion rate.

adelleda SEO has been launched with this in mind.