Conference and events are being cancelled left, right and centre – which is why we wanted to give you the opportunity to be inspired, keep your mind sharp and continue to learn and grow.

Verve Search are delighted to announce that we are hosting a FREE online outREACH Workshop.

Spend the morning with the Verve Search team and learn actionable tips and techniques that will enhance your creative content and link-building strategy, specifically;

• How to come up with award winning campaign ideas
• Building creative-content
• Tips to help you refine your outreach strategy
• Understanding what results really matter and how to measure success

It is more important now, more than ever, that brands have a strong online presence and with everyone looking online to make any purchases, remaining at the top of SERPs is vital. So, if you would like to participate in this half day event, sign up today!

We will be hosting two events designed to specifically support different audiences.

Duration: approx 3 hours

Duration: approx 3 hours

Want to understand the real value of the links you’re building?
Here at Verve Search, for the past five years, we’ve been developing a proprietary metric to do just that. Up to now, we’ve kept it exclusively for our clients, but, in the interests of transparency, and for the benefit of the industry as a whole, in the back end of last year we took the decision to build a free to use, public version.

After a whole bunch of work, we’re delighted to say it’s live and ready for you to play with.

For those of you who just want to get their mitts on it, it’s right here.

For those who want to learn more about how it was developed, read on!

Why did we build the LinkScore tool?

A single metric might not always tell the full story!

We’d always felt that there was probably little point (from a rankings perspective) in having a link on an amazingly authoritative domain if it’s no-followed and in a language that neither you nor your customers speak. Yet, if you use a single metric to determine the authority of a link you may find that you’d be treating those links as if they were of equal value.

As such, rather than use a single metric, our tool blends more than 10 different on and off-site metrics, in order to assign a value to a link.

We needed an international metric…
We found that many SEO tools that assign link metrics are primarily focussed on English-speaking audiences. So, whilst their metrics might work well in primarily English-speaking countries, that might not always be the case in countries where English is not the native language. Therefore, we built the LinkScore to provide scores that give equal value to equivalent authoritative sites in each country – meaning quality links in one country are assigned an appropriate value.

We wanted a tool which could evolve & keep pace with the industry!
Each of the different variables added into the LinkScore were chosen based on our own testing and benchmarking. Where we’re using third party metrics we felt it was important that we weren’t tied to one particular database, and as a result we’ve been able to choose multiple best-in-class metrics that get us as close as possible to measuring the true ranking value of a link. Over the years the LinkScore tool has continually evolved alongside this fast-paced industry.

What does the LinkScore tool do?
It allows you to measure a link’s ability to influence rankings. It also allows links to be compared with each other, and groups of links to be compared periodically. Please note, we built this as an SEO tool, and as such, the tool does not take into account the value a link might provide in terms of PR, branding or any other type of marketing.

When you run a link through the tool a score between 0-500 will be returned. This scale is not logarithmic, however some of the variables used to calculate the score are.

Semantically relevant, followed, in-content links in unique content on authoritative domains yield the highest scores. Example sites which would yield high scores include the BBC and the New York Times.

How are scores calculated?

We could tell you, but we’d have to kill you! Kidding 🙂

We keep the exact metrics, and how they are combined, a closely guarded secret. This is to stop people gaming the algorithm, because it is updated annually and because we think the accuracy of the final scores speaks more to the quality of the LinkScore than any particular one of its metrics.

What do I need to do to use the tool?
You’ll need to input your Majestic, Dandelion and SEMRush API credentials and you’re good to go. Why? Well, the LinkScore uses metrics from each of these providers as part of its algorithm. To prevent abuse of the tool, we require users to use their own API accounts rather than providing free access to our own. Rest assured, your API credentials are stored locally on your computer; we do not keep a copy of your API credentials, nor do we use them for any purpose other than analysing the links you add to the LinkScore tool.

How much does the LinkScore tool cost?
Except to the extent that it uses your third-party API credits, the LinkScore tool is free to use. Rate limiting may, however, be put in place to maintain the experience for all users.

Do we store your data?
Definitely not! We do not store your API credentials, the links that you run through the LinkScore tool, or the score output. However, we do run Google Analytics and so store a number of different metrics related to your visit including, but not limited to your location, browser, time on site and pages visited.

Got more questions? Check out our FAQ, or contact us.

And if you do play with the tool, do let us know what you think.

We are super excited to announce that Verve Search has just been acquired by Omnicom Media Group.

Holy smokes, how did that happen?

Well, it started like this:

In January 2009 I founded Verve Search, because I felt so passionate about SEO and how it should be done. I wanted to create an agency that people really wanted to be part of.

The first year it was just me, Sam and Nick, the three musketeers (that never actually stuck, I just kept saying it!). I also managed to fit in having a baby in year 2 of business, then by year 3 we really started to grow.

The following years brought significant changes to Google’s algorithms, which was a challenge, but the real challenge; was people. Learning how to motivate people, how to inspire and most of all how to help people work better together. That has been the biggest learning experience.

We have achieved some truly amazing results in the past few years, including winning 16 awards in the space of 2 years, and winning ‘Best SEO Agency’ three years running.

We have spoken at loads of conferences:

We even started our very own OutReach Conference:

Just in the past 12 months alone we have launched over 70 campaigns for our clients, generating thousands of links and coverage in the printed press, radio and even TV, in 7 different countries.

The future vision

We are very passionate about what we do, and have ambitious goals for the future. Our vision is to be ‘THE destination for digital pioneers’.

We could have continued as we were, growing steadily, and probably achieved our vision, eventually. But in 2015 we decided to look at other ways we could reach our goals, in other words we decided to ‘look for a bigger boat’.

This was no easy task, as anyone that has sold a business would testify, finding the right ‘spouse’ is no easy feat.

It was really important to us to find a ‘home’ that cared as much about innovation and people as we do. But most importantly, it was vital to find a cultural fit. After meeting with several companies, it was quite clear that the right match for us was Omnicom Media Group.

We are so excited about this new chapter for Verve Search, as we get to continue doing the great work we are already known for, whilst allowing us to accelerate growth and continue innovating.

Do, or do not, there is no try!

Lisa

Official Press Release:

Omnicom Media Group acquires leading independent SEO and Content Marketing agency, Verve Search.

Omnicom Media Group announces that it has acquired Verve Search Ltd (“Verve”) which is a UK-based international SEO and Creative Content Marketing agency. Named ‘Large SEO agency of the year’ (The European Search Awards 2017), Verve’s specialist team spans 14 nationalities and provides services in 15 languages.

Founded in 2009 by CEO Lisa Myers, Verve’s success has been driven by client-first results, talent, innovation and accountability. This combination has attracted clients such as Expedia, GoCompare and MADE –  and has led to the development of proprietary assets, such as the Verve ‘Link Score Tool’, which enables links to be evaluated and ranked by relative authority.

Colin Gottlieb, CEO Omnicom Media Group EMEA said, “A successful acquisition enhances an enterprise across three critical areas, capabilities, clients and culture. Verve Search hits the mark on all three measures, and will be another valuable specialist resource to drive business results for our clients.”

Verve Search will continue to operate under its brand name as a unit within Omnicom Media Group.

Commenting on the move to Omnicom Media Group, Verve Search CEO, Lisa Myers said: “Verve Search has gone from strength to strength, following our vision to be “the destination for digital pioneers’. Omnicom is a great fit for Verve, in terms of both culture and vision. We are passionate about innovation and creativity, and becoming part of the Omnicom family will allow us to grow further.  This new chapter is going to be very exciting and we can’t wait to get started.”

ENDS

About Omnicom Media Group
Omnicom Media Group (OMG) is the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC), the leading global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company, providing services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries. Omnicom Media Group includes the full service networks OMD, PHD and Hearts & Science; the Annalect global data and analytics platform; the OMG global programmatic buying platform; global performance marketing agency Resolution Media; as well as a number of specialty media communications companies.

For further information please contact Androula Shapanis – [email protected]
Tel – +44 2079083511

It’s official, we’re the best Large SEO Agency in Europe!!
(It’s not bragging if it’s true!.)

On Thursday 27^th April, eight members of the Verve Search team (plus two of our lovely clients from Expedia and Gocompare) flew from London to Krakow to attend the 6th Annual European Search Awards 2017. As usual it was a glitzy and glamorous affair, with lots of polish vodka with some pretty stiff competition to match.  We were honoured to be nominated a total of nine times.

What makes us the best SEO agency in Europe?

• We launched 50 creative campaigns in the last 12 months, generating over 1,780 high authority links from the biggest authority sites in the world including; BBC, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, New York Times and many more.
• Additional offline coverage including; ITV 8 o’clock News, The Observer print coverage and even tweet by NASA.
• Average of 40% increase in organic visibility YoY for our clients.

What makes an award winning agency is the people that work here and our fantastic clients. We genuinely feel like an extension of our clients teams and vice versa.

Our vision is to be “THE destination for digital pioneers”, we work hard to make that a reality. The talent, dedication, drive and most of all the mindset, is what sets us apart. We make shit happen!

Whilst part of team Verve were in Poland, the remaining ‘Ververs’ were at our local pub in Surbiton, following the action on Tweet Deck.  We could feel the love and support from 1,021 miles away.

We are very PROUD to have received this prestigious award and dedicate it to the everyone in the Verve Team and our amazing clients. Thank YOU!

It’s been a great week. Scrap that, it’s been a FANTASTIC WEEK!
On Tuesday night we WON 4 awards at the Digital Impact Awards:

Our campaign “Accent Map” for Expedia UK WON two Gold in the categories: Best use of SEO in the Corporate Sector AND Best use of Digital in Travel & Leisure.

Our campaign “Billionaires’ League” for GoCompare.com won Silver in the category Best use of SEO in the Corporate Sector and Bronze in the category Best use of Digital in Finance.

Then the next day the UK Search Awards 2016 shortlist was announced and we got a whopping 10 Nominations in 8 categories:

Best Use of Search in Finance – “Billionaires League” for Gocompare.com

Best Use Search in Travel & Leisure – “Historic London” AND “Accent Map” both for Expedia UK

Best Use of PR in a Search Campaign – “Billionaires’ League” for Gocompare.com AND “Historic London” for Expedia UK

Best SEO Campaign – Entire Gocompare.com account

Best Use of Content Marketing – “Accent Map” for Expedia UK

Innovation Campaign – Virtual Tour of Malmo Castle for Expedia Sweden

Young Search Professional – Alex Cassidy 

AND…… lastly Best Large SEO Agency!!

I’m absolutely delighted to announce that the fabulous Hannah Smith will be joining the Verve Search team as our new Head of Creative.

Hannah joins Verve Search this August after a 6 month sabbatical, during which she pursued her passion in writing. Previous to her sabbatical, Hannah worked at Distilled for 6 years, of which the last 2 years were spent in the content and creative team.  She joins with a wealth of experience in SEO and content marketing, as well as a solid background in creating award-winning campaigns. Hannah is also a regular speaker at Digital Marketing conferences worldwide, and is well known in the industry for her straight-talking style and reams of energy; making her the perfect fit for Verve.

In the past couple of years Verve Search has seen an incredible growth, during which we have become especially well known for our innovative and creative campaigns. In the last 12 months we have won 10 awards for our work (hey, it’s not bragging if it’s true!). We are totally dedicated and adamant about maintaining the high quality of our creative as we grow – to do this we wanted to hire an experienced and passionate creative to head up the creative team.

I have personally known and admired Hannah for years, she approaches everything she does with enthusiasm, passion and verve! Her creativity and mindset is exactly what we need for the next chapter of growth, she will be a great addition to our senior management team. I’m delighted to welcome Hannah to the team and can’t wait to see what we can do together!