The winner of the alternative Christmas track is finally revealed

Chris Norton says: Thats a good question. I don't think you need to worry Bryony as you would have needed to have been doing submissions to sites but I don't think you have been so you don't have anything to worry about. The people that should worry are companies that have been using slightly dodgy practices to get results.

May 2012 in Google Penguin and what it means for public relations companies

Bryony says: Regarding cleaning up your backlinks etc - I'm not an expert so I don't know if this is relevant - but what happens to bloggers? When I look at my blog stats and see where external referrers are, they are spammy websites. How do I stop that?!

May 2012 in Google Penguin and what it means for public relations companies

Chris Norton says: Hi Adam, thanks for the comment a nice bit of information on the anchor text as I think some people can use it too much. It's just good to see that Google is taking a more common sense approach to how it ranks people rather than simply looking at their keywords and directory references.

May 2012 in Google Penguin and what it means for public relations companies

Adam Samuel says: I agree with you Chris the landscape has changed for SEO's with this update. I see SEO as just a small part of an overall strategy these days, its becoming more important who you are and how you influence than just some links. On the link point, I think anchor text has an influence on this update. The more commercial anchors phrases you have in your profile the more harm it could do. Need to keep your brand more visible when linking to your website.

May 2012 in Google Penguin and what it means for public relations companies

Bryony says: Thanks for this post, I really enjoyed it. It's funny that you wrote it at this time as I've recently been offered a placement through the use of social media. It really is worth getting your name out there before 2nd year (if you're at university) to gain at least a small relationship or some form of recognition from future employers. Before the placement application process I read religiously on advice in the interviews, what to say in your cover letter and how to plan for assessment days. However, one thing that I thought was a bit odd was using social media, i.e. Twitter and LinkedIn. It was actually my LinkedIn account that got me the interview for the placement where I'm working now - I added the MD of a PR agency and within a few days he emailed me saying he remembered an email I sent him a few months ago, and asked if I would like to meet him for an interview. Obviously, not all job procedures go that way (in fact the majority don't), but it's definately a stepping ladder for ease of communication and networking before a vital time. Always look on Twitter also, as companies are always posting various internship/ work experience opportunities on their pages. If you do an advanced search on: "PR internship, 500miles around England" that should be fine. I was offered a very exciting work experience opportunity with a TV Production company after I'd tweeted them about it. Another piece of advice I would give is to send any work experience items you have got (i.e. press releases, event photos, website content, blog posts) with your application or first interview - this can give you a great advantage above the rest of the competition in the initial stages to prove that you have got relevant experience.

May 2012 in PR Jobs and using social media to get them