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It sounds strange, but go with me on this.

An inherent lack of understanding of the correct use of apostrophes is responsible for the loss of countless hours by staff members hitting the apostrophe key on their keyboards far too many times. All of these unnecessary apostrophes could be saved up and shipped to countries with apostrophe shortages, such as America, where only four place names in the whole of the United States contain apostrophes due to the inhabitants’ lack of understanding them.

While this may seem like a small amount of time to me and you, the time adds up for the UK economy, and what it costs UK businesses. Plus, the physical time wasted on the keystrokes punching unnecessary apostrophes isn’t the only drain on UK businesses; there’s also the problem of employees deliberating over when their fingers should fall on the punctuation keys, agonising over what exactly is a possessive apostrophe and what the difference is between an apostrophe and a comma.

Many people who simply do not understand the usage of apostrophes are often aware that something should be used, that some form of punctuation is needed… but the rules for such usage are unknown to them.

For example, a former colleague of mine once told me of how, when he worked in a bar, he watched the landlady write out a specials board in chalk, completely free from any form of punctuation, before standing back, pondering for a while, and then adding random apostrophes, commas and semi-colons sporadically throughout the board. She knew not where these different types of punctuation should be used, only that some of them should be used somewhere.

It is this sort of time that errant apostrophes cost UK businesses. The thought process in the landlady’s mind must have waivered back and forth over whether to bother and, if she were to bother, where the punctuation should go, before eventually deciding to waste further time incorrectly editing her work.

Wayward apostrophes and inaccurate punctuation aren’t the exclusive domain of specials boards in pubs however, as every business suffers from apostrophe induced time wastage. The below screenshot comes from the website of a leading courier firm in the UK, where whoever wrote the copy, for whatever reason, decided that the word ‘starts’ needed an apostrophe before the letter s.

Wayward apostrophe on YODEL website

There is no excuse for this. It is wrong. Yet, even on a business website’s front page, errors such as this exist.

Is it any wonder that councillors in Birmingham decided, only last year, to ban the use of apostrophes in their road signs? They knew that too many hours were being lost by staff and sign writers deliberating over whether there should, or should not, be an apostrophe in a particular sign, so they just did away with them altogether.

Birmingham bans apostrophes

This particular action caused uproar with people who are able to use punctuation, such as John Richards, the Apostrophe Protection Society chairman. John seethed at the time, commenting:

“It is setting a very bad example because teachers all over Birmingham are teaching their children punctuation and then they see road signs with apostrophes removed. I think the council would be better advised to make sure the right apostrophes are in rather than removing them.

“It’s a bad example to children and teachers. It’s a simple rule and so many people get it wrong.”

John is, of course, correct. Removing apostrophes from our language isn’t the way forward. Instead, a higher standard of education would seem a more suited response. The use of punctuation is vital for the expression of our language, and plays an important part in communication and even search engine optimisation. If Google, which is nothing more than a collection of functions on a series of servers, can determine what is and what is not correct punctuation, then surely we, as human beings with infinitely more complex brain synapses, should also be able to know when and where to use apostrophes.

A better educated workforce that can use punctuation will be far more productive that one that doesn’t understand whether a simple plural should, or should not, feature an apostrophe.

A lot of sites miss the mark with keyword relevance, but you can boost the keywordiness of your pages in a number of simple ways:

*Stick to the subject. It’s no use sticking a ‘Wirral computers’ keyword into an article on politics. Google’s gurus have repeatedly said that keywords that stand out from content simply don’t work. Composing content that relates to your keywords boosts relevance by naturally placing related words all around your keywords.

*Play around with placement. Keywords don’t always have to be in the right order to catch Google’s notice. Play with the form your keywords can take.

*Brainstorm related words. Keywords are important in a technical SEO sense, but they need support. Brainstorming a list of expanded terms can make your SEO copywriting job easier, plus it boosts your keyword relevance.

Keyword placement can make it incredibly difficult to compose natural content. If you’re experiencing difficulties, or keep turning out content that is sub-par, sometimes the best thing you can do is stop trying so hard. A lot of content goes wrong when writers stress too much about jamming keywords in. If your keywords are relevant to your industry, you’ll find they naturally work their way in. Try writing first, then checking later.

It’s amazing what one little ‘s’ can do. It turns a computer into computers. It turns Apple into apples. It even turns the industry of SEO into a group of gossiping SEOs. More importantly for your search engine optimisation campaign, it can turn your keyword list from expansive to limited.

Plural keywords, or alternately the singular keywords, are an issue that not many site owners think about. The search engines seem so adaptive to user needs these days that it’s easy to assume that keywords don’t need to be exact matches. In some cases, they don’t need to be – you can safely separate words in a keyword string, or even mix them together. If you want to compete against top-ranking sites, however, it’s important to have everything in the best order possible, and that includes keeping your keywords open to singular searches.

Once the issue is recognised, there are a couple of other things to think about:

1. Should you exclude plurals completely?
2. If not, how do you work them onto your pages?

There are mixed thoughts in the industry about whether singular keywords can stand in for plurals. If you do decide to include both in your SEO keyword list, it’s going to need some fancy copywriting footwork to work them in naturally, but it can be done.

It’s important to remember that you’re not the only person who’s able to detect his presence. There are plenty of SEO jobs that cover the obvious with a little too much enthusiasm, and it can put internet users off:

*The article that tells your market what they already know. This is a classic, and millions of websites are guilty of it. Desperate for SEO content, a site owner will whip up a basic article and stick it on the site. This is fine if your audience needs to know the basics. It’s not fine if there are 3000 other articles out there explaining a ridiculously simple concept. Your readers already know that the sky is blue. Telling them will simply make them feel bored and patronised.

*The Twitter update of zero importance. Another common mistake, posting an ordinary observation on Twitter can also put your audience off. Your desperation to keep tweeting might lead you to post that you just went down the street and got a coffee, but chances are, nobody cares other than maybe your mother and that stalking ex you got rid of ages ago

*The oversell. Desperate to boost conversions? Telling people in 50 different areas of your page that you sell [insert product] won’t encourage them to buy. Subtlety works better

SEO

search engine optimisation

For example, take a common misadventure in the SERPs. Googling an SEO keyword the other day, my eye caught a misspelled ‘theirs’ in a page’s description. My first thought was, ‘I’m staying as far away from that site as possible.’ The reaction wasn’t entirely down to irritation that a site so sloppy about one of the more basic SEO jobs had made first page in the search engine results pages (although I admit that was part of it). A big part of it was the memory of being stung by sites with similarly low content quality.

I’m not alone in my reaction. Just about everyone’s had a bad experience with a low quality website. Inaccuracies have traditionally been the domain of spam sites. Visible mistakes, therefore, threaten your site’s reputation, and can affect your traffic. Just think about what you would choose, given the choice between an immaculate listing and one that has a few ‘basic mistaeks on’.

The time may well come when txt tlk rulz da net. That time, thank the gods, is not now. Grammar, spelling and punctuation are all fairly basic things in the scheme of things. Don’t let grammar gremlins ruin your site’s chance of success.

SEO

search engine optimisation

The steps to good content are remarkably similar to those between the intact box of chocolates and its forlorn, paper-filled shell. They can be taken just as unconsciously, if done well. Tempt your readers by addressing their keywords intelligently, then follow through with quality content. Each step along the way should put forward information that exactly meets the reader’s needs, and encourages them to read on. It’s a simple plan, but one that is essential for the success of your content.

1. Presentation. The initial impression a chocolate box presents makes a difference in its consumption. Make your content similarly alluring in the SERPs with a well-chosen blurb and link.

2. A rich outer coating. As those in SEO careers know, titles and headings are essential if you want to get content read. Presenting a promise is a good idea here.

3. Gooey, delicious centres. Follow through with articles of real substance, and you’ll keep your readers coming back for more.

This is advice you’ll hear again and again. The underlying message is that good SEO content needs planning and dedication. Without those qualities, you’re essentially offering a bag of hay to readers who have a chocolate craving.

YouTube

This has an immense effect on your search engine optimisation work. SEO relies heavily on content. Unfortunately, content relies heavily on the time to read. Time, as pointed out above, is something most internet users are not willing to give.

How to deal with this? Here are a few of the hard lessons learned by those in SEO careers:

*Bullet points are your friend. They set everything out in a neat and easy to digest format.

*Numbered lists are equally friendly. They serve a similar function. Just be careful of your choice of numbers – a list of four doesn’t tend to get nearly as much attention as a three- or five-point list.

*Catchy openings are essential. They’re what convince people to stay.

*Short sentences are like popcorn – it’s easy to go on to the next piece. In other words, decide what you need to say, and say it in as concise a fashion as possible.

*Short articles don’t ask too much of readers. They also make your content writing less time consuming.

It’s important to offer quality information to your readers for SEO, but equally as important to offer it in a manner they’ll appreciate. Remember the hyperactive nature of net activity.

The idea of reanimating a dead article may sound like a bad idea, but zombie content is actually a good thing. While dead content is just a weight on your site, undead content can be of help to your search engine optimisation plans. Don’t believe me? Here’s how.

Undead method 1: zombies

Everyone has a few old articles that didn’t get the attention they deserved. Because of their un-fresh state, they are less valuable to SEO. Sales work is something they can still perform, and they can be used to strengthen your new pages’ relevance to keywords.

Reanimate these pages by putting their links throughout text, at the bottom of new articles, and in a ‘You might also enjoy’ suggestion box. Before you can say ‘zombies are walking down Merseyside main street!’ you will have a much more hard-working site in general.

Undead method 2: vampires

Once you have your league of the walking dead, it’s time to get into the more exciting stuff. When you’ve spent hours on an article and it hasn’t had the SEO impact you desired, there is something you can do to bring it back to vibrant life. Simply rewrite it.

Revamping an article can be a simple matter of rewording it, and perhaps adding an update for readers who came across the first article. Linking back to the old version shows readers you care enough to revisit important topics, and helps your SEO.