With the loss of 25 million data records by HM Revenue & Customs towards the end of 2007, there are increasing calls from the UK Information Commissioner (ICO) for a tightening of our data protection laws. With continued growth in online these issues are extremely important to anyone working in marketing & communications. Security scares […]

1. Remember a sitemap has a dual purpose At Coast Digital we’ve always advocated the use of website sitemaps. As a sitemap.html/.xml file has historically been the best way to inform search engine robots of all – or at least, the most important – web pages on a site. Placing a sitemap link in the […]

Ask has taken a step ahead of Google with its new search privacy tool – AskEraser – which allows users to instantly delete their search history from Ask’s servers. This is a refreshing move from Ask as concern continues to grow about the amount of data harvested by the other big players in the search […]

Early last week I was reading an article in Marketing Week and was delighted to see the breadth of organisations embracing the power of social networks, in particular the Government. The Department for Work and Pensions is the latest organisation to welcome social networking. They will be trialing a new site on WordPress.com with the […]

In this day and age you can’t go 5 minutes without spam creeping into your inbox! Luckily for us at Coast Digital we use top-of-the line spam filters which catch 90% of these emails before they get too close. But unfortunately this also means we have to fight even harder to ensure delivery of email […]

With Google continuing to dominate the UK paid search market, it’s interesting to reflect on how their position is bolstered by the availability of online training on AdWords and pay per click. Since 2004 Google have supported their AdWords product with free online training. Many search agencies and individuals use Google’s online training to become […]

In recent months Google AdWords have made considerable improvements to make sure you do the best you can with your ads to achieve a Quality Score. Clearer notices, guidelines and pointers all now feature prominently at Ad Group level. These recommendations shouldn’t be ignored. You should make every effort to develop your Quality Score if […]

As search marketing specialists we regularly come across potential clients who are interested in search engine optimisation (SEO) services. Many of these have already invested heavily in ‘all-singing-all-dancing’ websites, and then as almost an afterthought consider looking into search marketing. As a result we’re often faced with websites that look great but just aren’t search […]

If I speak about “optimisation” people naturally assume I am talking about the practice of search engine optimisation, or “SEO” as it’s otherwise known. But optimisation should mean a whole lot more than just SEO. When considering the optimisation of your website you need to consider not only how search engines will see it but […]

A website is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to your company. There are thousands of potential customers searching for your products and services every day; the only trouble is if you’re not in first page of the search results, only a small handful will ever find your website. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) […]