What Is Schema Markup and Why It Matters for Local SEO
Schema markup won't fix a struggling website on its own, but it helps Google understand your business properly. Here's what it is and where to start.
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Our Blog
PPC and SEO insights, how-to guides, and digital marketing news from the IST Digital team.
Why a Slow Website Is Quietly Costing You Enquiries
A slow website doesn't just annoy visitors — it hurts your Google Ads Quality Score and your SEO rankings too. Here's what to check and why it matters.
Read moreWhy You Should Plan Your Christmas Google Ads Now
It's only August, but the businesses that do best out of Christmas start their Google Ads planning now, not in November. Here's why the timing matters.
Read moreGoogle AI Overviews: What Small Businesses Should Do
Google's AI Overviews are changing what search results look like. Here's what that actually means for small business owners, and where to focus your effort.
Read moreNegative Keywords: Stop Wasting Google Ads Budget
Negative keywords are one of the simplest ways to cut wasted Google Ads spend, yet most accounts we audit barely use them. Here's how to do it properly.
Read moreHow Much Should You Budget For Google Ads?
There's no universal answer, but there is a sensible way to work it out. Here's how to set a Google Ads budget based on your numbers, not guesswork.
Read moreWhy Email Marketing Still Works For Small Businesses
Written off as old-fashioned, but still one of the cheapest ways to bring past enquiries and customers back. Here's how to do email marketing properly.
Read moreHow To Know Which Marketing Is Bringing You Enquiries
Spending on Google Ads, SEO or both but not sure what's actually working? Here's how to set up honest tracking so you know where enquiries come from.
Read moreGoogle Business Profile Mistakes That Cost You Enquiries
Simple, practical fixes for the Google Business Profile mistakes that quietly cost South West small businesses enquiries — categories, photos, reviews and more.
Read moreHow SEO And Google Ads Work Better Together
SEO and Google Ads often get treated as rival budgets. Here's why the businesses getting the best results tend to run both, and how to make them work together.
Read moreWhy Your Website Is Half of Your Google Ads Campaign
Spending well on Google Ads but not getting enough enquiries? The landing page is often the real problem — here is what actually matters, and how to spot it.
Read moreHow Local Businesses Can Improve Their Online Presence
Practical, no-nonsense ways small businesses can improve their online presence — from Google Business Profile and reviews to local SEO and Google Ads.
Read moreSimple Website Changes That Can Get You More Enquiries
You don't need a rebuild or a bigger budget to get more enquiries from your website — just a handful of small, practical fixes. Here's where we'd start.
Read moreWhy A ROAS Strategy Decreases Impressions On Google Ads PMAX Campaigns
If you’re running a Performance Max (PMAX) campaign on Google Ads and you’ve recently introduced a target ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) bidding strategy, you’ve probably noticed something alarming: your impressions have dropped — potentially by as much as 40–50%.
Read moreCommon Mistakes to Avoid with Google Ads PMAX Campaigns
Performance Max (PMAX) campaigns have become one of the most talked-about tools in the Google Ads Pay Per Click ecosystem. By leveraging Google’s machine learning to serve ads across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Discover, Maps, and Shopping — all from a single campaign.
Read moreOur SEO Consultancy Process And Why It Works
We don’t just run an audit and walk away. Our SEO consultancy is designed to drive real-world results. Here’s how:
Read moreLooking For An SEO Consultancy In Cheltenham
If your website isn’t showing up for the searches that matter, you’re losing business — every single day.
Read moreWhy Gloucestershire Businesses Trust Us With Their Online Marketing
We know the Gloucester market. Whether you’re targeting homeowners in Quedgeley, SMEs around Barnwood or city-wide coverage, local online marketing takes nuance.
Read moreWhy Working With A PPC Agency Is The Smartest Move Your Business Can Make
Struggling to manage your paid search strategy in-house? You’re not alone.
Read moreVisitor And Customer Retention – How To Keep Them Coming Back To You
There once was a time when customer loyalty was a pretty standard thing, with Mr Jones always shopping in his local butchers for his sausages, never once even considering another butchers or even a supermarket to buy his bangers from. Roll forward to today, and if you ask many business owners abo…
Read moreImproving Your Conversion Rate Is More Important Than Getting More Traffic
In the world of SEO and PPC, there are far too many professionals and business owners that are simply stuck in the more is best mentality, where the need to double traffic and double users is the main aim, which is why so many business owners fail to see really solid results when it comes to the …
Read moreAre You Making These Mistakes With Your Adwords PPC Campaign?
If you are one of the millions of businesses using Google Ads but feel you are not getting the results you expected, then you are not alone, but quite often the lack of performance comes down to simple mistakes rather than the platform not being right for your company.
Read more9 Reasons Your Business Needs To Run A Pay Per Click Campaign
The notion of paying for traffic for some is a pretty normal thing, but for others, they have either stayed away from this due to financial concerns or lack of knowledge, but when it comes to delivering targeted and relevant traffic, if done correctly, a Pay Per Click campaign can be and should b…
Read moreHow An Adwords Campaign Can Help Get Your SEO Campaign Planned Correctly
Although Google Ads (PPC) and SEO are two separate online marketing methods, if you are running an SEO campaign, running an Google Ads campaign is a must, as the amount of data and analysis you can get from running a Pay Per Click campaign can dramatically influence the planning and direction of …
Read more7 Ways To Lose Money On Your Google Ads Pay Per Click Campaign
Running a Pay Per Click campaign can undoubtedly bring your business success, but it can also bring heartache if you do not get the basics right, as if you rush through a campaign or do not spend the time understanding how the system works then you are just on the road to wasting your marketing b…
Read moreHow To Take Your Pay Per Click Success And Implement It Into Your SEO Campaign
There is often an assumption that SEO and Pay Per Click are not connected when it comes to your online marketing efforts, but this thought is totally wrong, as the data you get from your PPC campaign can be a massive driver towards where you should be focusing your SEO efforts, which is why the p…
Read moreHow To Reduce And Remove Your Concerns When Outsourcing Your Pay Per Click
As a business owner you simply cannot do it all. No matter how much time you have in your day or how skilled you are at seemingly doing everything, there is just no way that you can handle every element of your business whilst continuing to run, manage and grow it effectively. When it comes to yo…
Read more7 Reasons Why Your Online Marketing Campaign Was Not A Success
Online marketing is something that if you have a website, you will want to get right. The days of having a site and the traffic just coming to you with no effort are well and truly over (if they were every really here for most of us) and it is now up to you to drive traffic and then also make sur…
Read moreGoogle Shopping Campaign – 6 Things To Do To Avoid Getting Your Products Rejected
Google Shopping campaigns are perfect for all ecommerce businesses and businesses with an online shop that sells products.
Read moreWhy Focusing On Conversions Over Cost Per Click Is So Important
Mention Pay Per Click or Google Ads and quite often you see the change in people’s faces, as those that have used it before will usually tell you how much money it cost and those that have never used it will have listened to those that have and their stories … about how much money it costs.
Read moreWhy Getting To Know Your Existing Customers Drives More Sales Than Chasing New Ones
Most small to medium sized businesses are guilty of getting caught up in the chase for new business and forgetting the current, with new customers seeming to be the thing they want, whilst maybe not realising that actually, selling extra services to your current customers is so much more easier, …
Read moreWhy Location Targeting In Google Ads Needs Serious Consideration For Your PPC Campaign
If you are new to Google Ads then you will probably be looking around and wondering just what everything means, and likewise if you are experienced and knowledgeable with PPC systems like this, it can still be a challenge to make sure you get everything perfectly in place to make sure your campai…
Read moreThe 7 Website Mistakes That Cost You Sales
Whether you are a local business with an online presence or a large e-commerce company relying on the Internet to deliver all of your visitors and sales, the quality of your website will dramatically impact on your bottom line performance, which is why making sure that you avoid the common websit…
Read moreWhat Can A Digital Marketing Company Do For Your Business?
As a business owner you probably want to or need to increase your sales, but when it comes to just how you do this or what advertising platform is going to be best for you, it can be a daunting and worrying decision that you feel you need to make, from SEO through to Email Marketing, knowing what…
Read moreWhy Google Ads Works For Local Businesses
As a local business, the need to attract the right customers is obviously very important, with so many possible platforms to advertise on it can be hard to allocate a good budget in the right areas, as every penny is important when it comes to getting a good level of return on investment.
Read moreWhy Remarketing Is A Must For Any Business With A Web Presence
If done correctly, remarketing (or retargeting) can be one of the most effective, rewarding and intelligent forms of online marketing, but the key to making it work is, as we say, getting it right, else you are going to end up with a wasted spend and a few unhappy customers to say the least.
Read moreHow To Make The Perfect Google Ads Landing Page
Too often, business and individuals get totally despondent with Adwords because in their view it hasn’t delivered the results that they expected, and although it’s generally easier to blame the system than look at their own mistakes or errors, the landing page is frequently the reason that the ca…
Read moreGoogle Ads And Keywords – Making Sure You Get This Right For Your PPC Campaign
Pay Per Click and Google Ads in particular can be a fantastic source of traffic, targeted visitors and of course enquiries and sales, but getting it spot on n terms of performance is not an easy job, as there are so many things you need to get right, and of course, so many things that you need to…
Read more6 Google Ads Reports You Really Need To Be Using For Your Business
Like any online marketing platform, setting up and getting going is one thing, but the main route to ongoing success is to continually learn, tweak and analyse, and Google Ads is no exception to this rule, as the main effort when it comes to making your campaign more successful relies on hard wor…
Read moreKey Questions To Ask Your PPC Management Agency
Handing over control of your Google Ads account or hiring a company to create you a new PPC campaign that will increase your business enquiries is something that for many, take a lot of research, hunting around and ultimately trust, as with so many agencies and companies now offering Pay Per Clic…
Read moreLocations And Google Ads – How Choosing The Right Areas Can Improve Your Conversion Rate
When it comes to getting success from your PPC and Google Ads campaign, you are probably only too aware that there are many, many factors that you need to get right to bring in those sales and enquiries, but when we focus on location as one of these factors, this element is key to making your cam…
Read moreNot Getting Google Ads Clicks? 5 Simple Ways To Get More PPC Traffic
Google Adwords can be a very effective way of increasing your sales and enquiries, but only if you spend the time getting your campaign to a level where it is working and providing a decent return on investment. Getting the right kind of clicks for your money is the main aim of the Google Ads gam…
Read moreNot Using Bing Ads For Your Pay Per Click? Here Is Why You Might Just Want To
When you mention PPC or Pay Per Click, most people always think of AdWords, which although quite obvious as to the reasons why, overlooks the power of Bing Ads, which in its own right is a powerful PPC platform for advertisers looking to connect with potential customers.
Read moreRemarketing With Google Ads And Why Your Business Needs It
It is often said that your average website visitor can take up to 7 or 8 associations with your business before they turn into a customer, which means that if you are not getting your company name, products or services back in front of them, you are losing new customers because you are not utilis…
Read moreTen Ways To Make Your Pay Per Click More Effective
Paying for traffic, or Pay Per Click as it is more commonly known, can be a very cost effective way of driving highly targeted visitors through to your website, which hopefully then converts into sales or enquiries. Of course, just getting a load of people onto your website does not guarantee you…
Read moreWhy Using A Google Partner To Manage Your Google Ads Could Improve Your Business
When it comes to running a company, the end result for most of us is to get more people to use our business and ultimately achieve more sales and increase profitability. When we want more sales through our website we look to the world of online marketing and try to work out where best our budget …
Read more5 Simple Ways To Cut Out Wasted Spend On Google Ads
If you have an active account with Google Ads then you will be spending money to make sure your advert and campaign is appearing to the most relevant audience and potential customers, but if you are not managing it correctly or you set it up in a rush and never looked at it again, you could be wa…
Read moreThe Importance Of Having A Diverse Marketing Strategy And Not Relying On Just One Thing
There are many things that worry me about the online business world, especially online, but one aspect that really worries me is the people that I see that just rely on Google to send them their sales, never thinking about other sources that they should also be investing their time in developing.…
Read moreWhy Reviews Are Fundamental For Gaining New Business And How To Get Them
Reviews are important, and whilst this blog needs a bit more information than just these opening words, the basics are that good reviews lead to more business, better business and long term business, as with so many competitors in most industries and services, choosing the right partner to work w…
Read moreWhy Video Marketing Seriously Works For Your Business
With so many online marketing platforms now available for businesses all over the UK, it can be hard to plan a budget and marketing campaign that uses the right platforms for your company. With more opportunities come more decisions, which is where many businesses come unstuck, as they often choo…
Read more5 Things You Need To Be Using Google Analytics For
If you know about or are aware of Google Analytics then you will probably already have a basic understanding of why it is important for your website and some of the features that go with it, but at the same time you might well be put off by the amount of things it reports and struggle to really u…
Read moreHow To Improve Your Adwords Quality Score And Why It Matters
Quality Score for Adwords is a score given to multiple levels of your pay per click account to assess how strong your campaign is, which is basically a quality factor assigned to you from Adwords that is an indication of the strength or quality of the campaign. Working on your quality score is so…
Read moreHow Poor Social Media Management Can Kill Your Business
Get it right and social media can be a massive asset for your business, but get it wrong, and disaster could be just one tweet away. Social media is one of those things that so many businesses either nail and perfect over time, or get it so wrong that they just turn their backs on it forever more…
Read more5 Common Mistakes With AdWords Display Advertising
Display Advertising with Google is something that if you get right, really can work, as it is pretty cheap and you can end up getting your adverts onto some pretty decent websites. But, if you get it wrong, it will simply eat your budget and deliver little to no results, which is why you simply m…
Read more5 Adwords Settings To Get Right Before Your Remarketing Campaign Goes Live
Remarketing should be a part of any Adwords campaign, as the results and conversions it can bring over time can be much more rewarding than many other forms of online marketing and advertising. And yet, so many people still fail to make use of this product, mainly through not knowing about it but…
Read moreHow Online Reviews Really Can Make Or Break A Business
Hearing positive feedback about your company, your products or services is something that every business owner should thrive on, but not only can it inflate your own feeling of greatness, positive reviews can also lead to repeat custom, increased business growth and of course, more income and pro…
Read moreWhy Defining Your Audience Is The Key To Online Marketing Success
When it comes to online marketing, the number of platforms, placements and opportunities out there can be overwhelming if you are just starting out on your marketing journey, which is why so many businesses often get it so badly wrong, all because they did not define their audience before they st…
Read moreJust What Can A Digital Marketing Company Do For Your Business?
When it comes to digital marketing, this one phrase covers so many services, as within the term digital marketing there are a wealth of things like SEO, PPC, Web Design and other forms of online marketing that can make it quite hard to choose the right company to partner with.
Read more10 Things You Need To Know Before Starting A Pay Per Click Campaign
As an online marketing platform, AdWords really can deliver fantastic results, but far too often businesses assume that it is like waving a magic, instant wand, where you spend a few pounds and the enquiries never end.
Read moreNot Using YouTube For Your Business? Time To Think Again
Most consumers that have grown up in the past few decades will be used to TV and Video advertising, in fact, from the early days of Kids TV through to the hundreds of channels we now have at our finger tips, we are used to being sold to on every commercial channel, and we have been used to this f…
Read moreWhat To Do If Your Conversions Suddenly Drop
Any business owner will testify how nervous and worried they can get if suddenly they notice a decrease in sales or conversions, and this is exactly the same for any business that runs with a website and a high-street shop or office, or solely relies on a website.
Read moreHow Events Like Brexit Can Affect Your Online Marketing Results
No matter whether you voted leave, remain or you sat this one out, major events like Brexit can have an impact on your online marketing results, whether negative or positive, and as such, cannot just be dismissed as not relevant to your business.
Read moreHow To Write A Brilliant AdWords Advert That Converts
Equally, if you get it wrong then the results can be limited, if any at all, so spending time getting your message spot on really is so worthwhile if you want to get the ultimate level of success from your campaign.
Read moreThe Advantages Of Using A PPC Management Company
Pay Per Click if done correctly can be a massive source of traffic, enquiries and sales, and with the right kind of campaign, can offer a seriously decent return on investment.
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