Here we are in a brand new year with new opportunities and a time of reflection. In order to move forward it’s good to look back on the previous year to see all of the great things that have happened as a foundation to build on.
This is where our latest agency round up comes in. So much has happened throughout the last quarter that we want to share. So read ahead.
Office Refurbishment
As part of our ongoing office refurbishment at Colewood House we were finally able to fit our brand new kitchen! Gone are the old cabinets that needed a little TLC. We now have an updated and modern looking kitchen on both the first floor and top floor of the building.
The refurb didn’t stop there though. The office was also given a facelift with a fresh layer of paint that better follows our brand colours. The first floor has been totally redesigned with the inclusion of new glass separators and a new meeting room.
We also fitted the top floor out with new furniture. All desks have been replaced and we’ve created a nice little break out area which has already been used for meetings, chats and some naps (not really but the sofa is very comfortable.)
Networking
Members of the team, Olivia and Katie, attended the annual Festive Drinks networking event held by the North East England Chamber of Commerce in December. The event took place at the local Middlesbrough College in its Waterside Brasserie restaurant.
The event was open to all members of the Chamber and was an opportunity for our team to mix and mingle in a relaxed environment and partake in a few festive drinks and snacks.
Olivia, one of Colewod’s Business Development Executives, said: “ It was a lovely event. We met a few new faces including Matthew over at Knock Out Depression and Aiden from Cosmic Key. Both of them are doing great things within their industries.
“It was just a really chilled out and nice event to attend in the run up to Christmas. It’s always great to attend events like this because it not only means we’re able to cultivate new and existing relationships but we have the opportunity to enjoy some of the lovely facilities we have across the region.”
It’s Christmas!
The staff at Colewood Digital had a fun time over December celebrating the festive season. From decorating the office and eating our body weight in cakes to Christmas jumpers and quizzes, it was a great end to what has been a fantastic year.
It was also great for the directors and staff to celebrate Christmas and raise a glass to a successful 2022 at our Christmas party. As a whole, it is great to see the outstanding results we have achieved this year and we are extremely proud of the hard work of every individual here at Colewood. We enjoyed a memorable night filled with drinks, good food and individual awards for the staff within each department.
Brighton SEO
Our Head of Search Engine Optimisation, Jonny, visited Brighton in October to attend the world’s largest search conference, BrightonSEO.
If you don’t already know what Brighton SEO is, the conference was started in 2010 and since it’s first iteration has grown to be a biannual event that welcomes experts from around the world to discuss everything and anything related to Search Engine Optimisation.
At the conference he sat in on a number of seminars of leading names in the SEO industry and was able to pick up some nuggets of information to share with us back at Colewood HQ.
The highlights of his trip included an indepth look at how to properly use data to create strategies that work, tips on how to use probabilistic thinking when communicating with clients, the importance of accessibility and UX to create an inclusive web environment, how to incorporate machine learning in SERP analysis and a keynote by Google employees John Mueller and Lizzi Sassman.
Overall it was an eye opening experience and we look forward to attending the next event in April. Look out for that update in Q2’s roundup.
Glowing Reviews
We’re always aiming to build fantastic relationships with our clients, and over the course of the year it’s great to see some amazing testimonials from our clients.
It’s great to see our clients praising the team for the amazing job they’re doing running accounts. We understand that communication is key, so it’s great to see clients leaving amazing feedback on our Trustpilot. We’re looking forward to creating more amazing results in 2023.
Industry News
Google Updates
Throughout Q4 of 2022, Google released a number of updates to its algorithm which have had some effect on the industry. Especially in relation to SEO. The most prominent of these changes were to Google SpamBrain which looks at both spammy content and backlinks to websites with updates happening in October and December respectively.
SpamBrain is an artificial intelligence which utilises machine learning to identify and neutralise spammy content on websites. The primary focus of the December update was to detect purchased backlinks and identify domains that are created solely to be used to pass links to other sites.
This is why it is so important to follow link building best practices and only build natural quality links for your site.
Google also introduced a helpful content update in early December. This update looked to reward sites that feature content that offers a satisfying experience for users whilst simultaneously penalising sites that offer poor content.
Here’s to Q1 of 2023 and to continuing success and results for our clients!
