As avid readers of this blog will already know, I’m a pretty big fan of social media… but just lately I’ve started to get a bit annoyed. Don’t panic; I’m not going to get into another rant about how much I dislike Facebook… however I am going to have a bit of a rant about something else that’s really bugging me at the moment. I don’t know about you but it feels to me like all the social networks are blurring into one.

Now, I should probably point out at this stage that I don’t actually mean that they’re blurring into one mega platform – they all have their own pros and cons and are useful in their own way – what I mean is that they’re all starting to look and feel the same. Due to the timing of the blog, you might think this blog post comes after Google+’s revamp last week… but we’ve been commenting on this shift for a while at Bubble HQ – it’s just that the aforementioned restyle prompted me into action.

Not sure what I’m talking about? Let me take you a few examples! First up, hashtags. As Anna discussed in her blog last Friday, Facebook has now fully integrated Twitter’s iconic hashtag into its user interface – and following the update last week, Google+ is now fully hashtag compatible too. Now, there’s nothing wrong with using hashtags on a social network – they’re great for finding additional information on one topic – but is there really nothing else the clever clogs at Facebook and Google+ could have come up with? I don’t know – to me using hashtags on anything but Twitter just feels a bit… well, wrong – and unnecessary.

Now, I know a lot of you probably won’t agree with that last comment so I’ll move swiftly on to the thing that’s really got me wound up; the design. Once upon a time, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and even YouTube all had their own identities and original style and look – but fast forward to 2013 and that’s all changed. Look at any of your social media profiles and what do you see? A massive cover photo on your profile page, multiple columns of updates (excluding Twitter) and massive images.

What else? Well most of them now have large amounts of white space, search bars at the top, hidden menus on the left hand side, messaging functions on the bottom right, admin menus on the top right and select images/videos that stretch across the whole screen. See – I told you I was onto something here!

Now, there’s no denying these design similarities are great in terms of user experience but I can’t help but feel a bit sad about the way everything’s merging into one these days. Why? Because it seems like each social network has lost its identity a bit. Think about it; a few years ago when every platform looked completely different, it was easy to identify each network and its major selling points – but that’s all changed now.

These days hashtags are no longer exclusive to Twitter, large images are no longer just the domain of Pinterest and ‘chat’ isn’t just available in Facebook. Everything looks and feels the same… which means social networks are essentially losing what made them special in the first place – their individual identity.

In fact, there are only a couple of networks that seem to be holding firm in their design principles – and I think that’s probably because they can’t be classed as ‘traditional’ social networks. I’m talking about Pinterest and the hot topic of the moment – Tumblr. Whether they’ll bow down to social convention (sorry!) in the future remains to be seen… but now that Yahoo’s on the case, I think it might be more of a case of ‘when’ not ‘if’ when it comes to Tumblr…

I’m really keen to get your thoughts on this one. Have you noticed the lines being blurred between your favourite social networks? Leave us a comment below or tweet us – @BubbleJobs.

The post Social Networks: Spot The Difference? appeared first on Bubble Jobs Blog | Bubble Jobs.

Here at Bubble, we know getting feedback on any type of job application can be tough, especially when it comes to recruiters. Yes, you know they’re busy people but you’d still like to get some kind of insight into just why your application keeps ending up in the rubbish bin. I mean, you can’t be doing anything that wrong, can you?

Well, here at Bubble we like to use our position within the industry to get your important questions answered – and this week we’ve been quizzing our recruiter contacts on the top five things applicants can do that would make them ditch their application. Huge thanks to Standout Transformations, Holly Reed and Jim Roach for all their help with this blog.

1. Applying For Jobs In A Different Location: Now, there’s nothing wrong with this as such but we’ve been told recruiters hate it when you apply for jobs in a different location and then make no reference to it in your cover letter or CV. By failing to make any reference to it at all, recruiters are left in doubt as to whether you’re aware of the location and you’d be willing to relocate or whether you just haven’t noticed the location at all. If you’re ready, willing and able to relocate, state it clearly in your cover letter and also in the profile at the top of your CV.

2. Applying For A Job With The Wrong Salary: It really annoys recruiters when you apply for jobs within a certain salary range but then state in your cover letter or on your CV that you want a job that pays at least £10,000 more than that particular role. You need to be honest with yourself – if the job doesn’t meet your minimum salary requirements, you probably shouldn’t apply. If you take on a job that you’re not financially comfortable with, there’s a strong chance you’ll be forced to move on before too long and take on a job that pays you what you want – so you can see why recruiters are reluctant to take your application further in this instance.

3. Objective Statement With A Narrow Focus: This one’s all to do with tailoring your CV for each application. It’s no good having the phrase “seeking a full time opportunity” in the profile on your CV and then applying for a part time role. Recruiters notice details so don’t be lazy and use one CV for every application!

4. Poor Formatting/Spelling: Yes, this one might seem pretty obvious but poor formatting, spelling and typos are all killer mistakes that can get your application dismissed by a recruiter, especially when you claim to have great communication skills and strong attention to detail on your CV. Similarly, a CV that’s too long and wordy is also a recruiter pet-hate!

5. Contradicting Yourself On Multiple Applications: If you’re applying for jobs with recruiters, chances are you’ll apply for more than one job that they’re advertising – but be careful! Yes, it’s important to tailor your application and CV for each application but you need to be careful you don’t contradict yourself. It’s no good applying for role X and saying you’re “dedicated to a career in project management”, and then applying for job Y and saying “although you enjoy project management, you really want to pursue a career in SEO”. When you apply for jobs advertised by recruiters, all your details and applications get saved in an applicant tracking system so recruiters can pull up your account at any time. This means it’s important to carefully consider every application and cover letter you send in – taking a ‘shotgun approach’ is really not going to work!

The post 5 Reasons Recruiters Are Ignoring Your Job Application appeared first on Bubble Jobs Blog | Bubble Jobs.

Sunday morning is upon us again which means it’s time to take a look at what’s been causing a bit of a stir on our jobs board over the last seven days. This week, as you’ve probably already guessed, it’s time to shine a light on our latest PPC Manager jobs.

Like the sound of any of the jobs mentioned below? Just click on the links to find out more and apply – or alternatively visit our PPC jobs page for a full run down of what’s available.

First up this week, Step Ahead Recruitment are searching for a PPC Account Manager to join a a successful financial lead generation company based in London. Working with a small but driven and hard working team of experts, the successful candidate will be responsible for researching and refining a robust PPC and paid search marketing strategy, implementing strategies to achieve client KPI targets and managing and optimising the PPC and paid search platforms. Other responsibilities include maintaining and monitoring performance bidding using Marin and Google’s in-house tools and assisting in new business opportunities. Sound good? To apply for this role you’ll need to have significant PPC experience working with large accounts and budgets, be skilled with Microsoft Excel and be fully GAP qualified (Google Analytics IQ would definitely be a bonus!).

Next up, our friends at Targeted Media are searching for two talented PPC Account Managers to join their office in Sheffield (just off Junction 30 of the M1). The successful candidate will work with a range of clients (from local-based businesses to multinational clients with five figure budgets) and will be responsible for creating and managing online marketing strategies for paid search companies. Want to work for a company that have grown from just a Google Adwords specialist company to full digital marketing agency in just a few years? To stand out for this role you’ll need to be an established PPC pro and have a good understanding of PPC best practice. You’ll also have demonstrable knowledge or experience with things like client relationship management and analytical data interpretation and you’ll have the drive to find the right solution for every client.

Next up, PFJ are searching for a PPC Manager to join a leading multichannel fashion retailer in London. Joining an existing eCommerce team of 80 members, the successful candidate will be responsible for both the strategical and operational aspects of the brand’s SEM operations. Responsible for owning, developing and managing search engine marketing activities to cost effectively generate quality traffic and sustainable sales, the right candidate will help to plan and manage the growth of accounts to ensure visibility across all product categories and develop and will manage international, mobile and content network campaigns. Interested? Candidates for this role will need to have solid hands-on SEM campaign management experience across the key search engines, solid experience of bid management tools (preferably Kenshoo), strong commercial accumen and strong campaign management skills.

Last but not least, Lipton Fleming are searching for a PPC Director to join a worldwide well respected Top 10 media agency in Central London. The successful candidate will take ownership and lead the client relationship from a search perspective and ensure the agency delivers best in class search marketing services on a daily basis. Key responsibilities include assisting in developing client and internal understanding of search and helping to grow client investment in search. Developing search strategies for clients, managing the reconciliation process and negotiating and dealing with bigger issues with media owners are also part of this role. Like the idea of joining a rapidly growing media agency in the heart of London? The ideal candidate will be of graduate calibre (ideally within an IT, analytical, marketing or business degree), have an extensive knowledge in all areas of search marketing and strong management and leadership skills.

The post Bubble Wrap-Up: Top 5 PPC Manager Jobs appeared first on Bubble Jobs Blog | Bubble Jobs.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or you’ve been away from home for the last week or so, you’ll have already heard that the next Penguin update is officially on its way and Google have a whole host of changes planned that might/will affect the SEO industry in 2013.

I covered everything Matt Cutts mentioned in his webmaster video on Tuesday so I’m not going to go through all that again. Instead, I thought I’d take a look at how you as an individual site owner might be affected by what I’ve chosen to call Google’s upcoming “Summer of Love”. OK, I know it’s actually going to be pretty painful for some SEOs – but hey, you can’t blame me for trying to look on the bright side!

Now, you might not think these changes are going to have any effect on your business whatsoever because you employ an agency to handle all your SEO and online marketing – but you might want to think again! In fact, you might want to start asking some very serious questions to work out whether your business is currently riding high in the SERPs for all the right reasons or whether you need to prepare yourself for a very sudden fall from grace.

Without further ado then, let’s take a look at what Google has in store for the SEO industry over the next couple of months.

1. Penguin 2.0: The original killer link spam update is back to shake things up… and this time it’s going to be bigger and better than ever before. Matt Cutts said this week they’re “relatively close” to rolling it out and said he expects it to be one of the most talked about algorithm updates of the year. Think the first one was bad? I have a feeling you ‘ain’t seen nothin’ yet’! Eek!

Should You Be Worried? It depends. If you’ve been collecting links like they’re going out of fashion over the last six months or so using less than conspicuous methods, then yes – you definitely need to panic! In the past, Penguin has tackled things like directory spam, article spinning and keyword heavy anchor text links – so we should expect to see more of the same with the new update – but I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg (sorry!). Google’s already told us that we should forget about link building and concentrate on content instead – so I think this next update is going to seriously start tackling some of the more obvious link building techniques like link selling and buying, reciprocal linking, link networks (they’ve started on this this week) and any links that are deemed to be irrelevant.

If you’ve mostly been playing by the rules and only really indulged in some of the more grey-black hat techniques once or twice, I wouldn’t worry too much but if you’ve really been gaming the system and building links left, right and centre from any site that says ‘yes’, you might want to prepare yourself for the worst!

2. Advertorials/Native Advertising: Following the Interflora episode, it’s no surprise Google’s looking to crack down on advertorials that violate their quality guidelines and pass Page Rank.

Should You Be Worried?: If you’ve been publishing shed-loads of advertorials on your site without declaring them to be paid content, then yes, you should definitely be worried. Seriously – the Interflora debacle was a warning! Why didn’t you listen? Similarly, if you’ve been using sponsored advertorials to link build and pass Page Rank, you might want to clean up your act.

3. Clean Up Spam Queries: While they’ve previously looked the other way when it came to tackling queries where spam is prevalent in the SERPs like ‘payday loans’ and pornography keywords, Google have said they’re now working on two new changes to clean up the SERPs when dealing with queries like this.

Should You Be Worried?: It depends on your industry – and what you’ve been doing to secure your SERPs. If you’re working in an industry like payday loans and you’ve been using spammy techniques, you know for sure a change is coming – they pretty much spelt it out to you – however, it’s hard to say what other industries could be hit. If you’re part of a dodgy affiliate network that’s currently dominating the SERPs in a competitve industry, there’s a pretty strong chance you’ll be affected.

4. Reward Authority Sites In Niche Industries: It’s the news all hard working online businesses that invest heavily in authorative content have been waiting for – Google’s going to start rewarding authority sites in niche industries! Hurrah!!

Should You Be Worried?: Unless you’ve been failing to produce great content and you’ve been living off your history alone, probably not.

5. More Sophisticated Link Analysis: This one’s a little cryptic but Google’s currently working a new system which allows it to carry out more sophisticated link analysis on certain sites.

Should You Be Worried?: Maybe – if you’ve been sneakily collecting links using a spammy method Google has yet to identify! This new system means Google’s going to be better able to analyse all of your links so if you’ve suddenly amassed a solid 500 new links a day from a certain date, you might have something to worry about. Remember, Google wants natural links – so anything it identifies as ‘unnatural’ could potentially be a target in the future!

6. Limit ‘Cluster’ Results: Google are currently working on a technique to limit cluster results (different pages from the same domain) to one page of the SERPs.

Should You Be Worried?: Not really – this is just really going to affect how SERPs look in the future. If you’ve been enjoying cluster results across multiple SERP pages for a while, this update is obviously going to affect you – however it’s aimed at giving users a better experience so there’s not really much you can do about this!

Passed with flying colours? Then roll on the changes! Identified a couple of potential issues? It might be time to rethink your strategy and clean up your act now… before it’s too late!

The post Should You Be Worried About Google’s Upcoming Summer Of Love? appeared first on Bubble Jobs Blog | Bubble Jobs.

Before I begin today’s post, I hasten to warn you I’m about a month late with my musings on the proposed use of hashtags on Facebook but bear with me as I try to leave you with something well researched and a bit more entertaining than the regurgitated social spiel you perused four weeks ago!

So to give you my two cents on the matter, we’ll go over the basics…

What’s the point of hashtagging on Facey-b?
It goes without saying that Zuck & his Palo Alto based nerds are introducing hashtags in an attempt to yield higher dividends for their shareholders. They’ve seen the success of Twitter’s adoption and they want IN on the action.

How will they work?
The idea behind the introduction of hashtags to Facebook is much the same as it is on Twitter. A person could include a hashtag with a post which, when clicked on, would link users to a page where other posts and discussions based on the same theme would appear. The hashtag symbol would in effect represent a way into group conversations on a particular topic. The advantage thus being that Facebook would provide a better platform for participation in ‘real-time’ events – be it events from cliff-hanging national television to local sporting moments. This paves the way for new advertising opportunities. $$$. Facebook business pages and advertisers could target their associated products and services to an engaged audience and take advantage of the real-time spikes in interest – as businesses do on Twitter via sponsored tweets.

But why now?
Further to this real-time conversation debate, the inclusion of hashtags on Facebook is also likely to relate to the authorisation of the recently launched Facebook GraphSearch. For those who can’t remember what this is, in simplified terms it’s a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY advanced search bar that dives through data from your Facebook history as well as those within your wider network. The GraphSearch essentially bases its results on you and your network’s Facebook ‘likes’. However, these ‘likes’ have been widely criticised as flawed for finding true and usable search results. The thing is, research suggests that users tend to like a lot of things they see on Facebook because they feel a social obligation to do so. It’s very easy to click a button and like a post – the user might not actually have any real interest in the subject matter at all. Therefore, the introduction of hashtags hopes to see users expressing more of a commitment to something, making the GraphSearch results more accurate.

What do we think?
Here at Bubble, Amy & I are quite frankly getting a bit bored of the Social Media sites imitating each other’s features. Without going into this too much as I know Amy wants to have this rant properly next week, it seems ridiculous that they all want to look and work in the same way. Only yesterday did we see Google + change its userface to mimic the look of the Facebook timeline. Why? Perhaps Google thinks it’s more user friendly. But in reality, we as the consumers don’t want platforms that are the same. Why would we want duplicates?

Furthermore, Amy’s already made the bold step and told us how she ended her six year love affair with Facebook and I admit, I’m feeling inclined to do the same. With that in mind, do we think the introduction of hashtags will make the slightest bit of difference to a population that have (in general) started to move away from the platform anyway?

I’m skeptical but I’d love to know what your thoughts are…? Do you think this hashtag malarkey might revamp and transform Facebook, giving Marky and his colleagues fatter wallets? Or do you think Facey-b’s healthier days are drawing to an end? As ever please leave a comment below or tweet me directly @BubbleJobs!

The post Facebook Hashtags: The Facts appeared first on Bubble Jobs Blog | Bubble Jobs.

Before the advent of the internet and social media, cover letters were an integral part of the job application process. Effective cover letters helped employers to learn more about you as a candidate and a person and work out whether you were a good fit for their organisation – after all, apart from your CV, they had nothing else to really go off.

Fast forward to 2013 and things look very different. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, blogs – you name it, you’ve left your digital footprint all over the web so when the time comes to apply for a new vacancy,  employers now have more information about you at their fingertips than ever before.

Our current obsession with social media means we’re now at a bit of a crossroads as far as cover letters and job applications go. Think about it; if employers have easy access to your online persona, are cover letters actually still needed or are they now a thing of the past?

Well… just like anything else in the recruitment industry, unfortunately there’s no ‘one size fits all’ answer. We’ve been discussing it in the Bubble HQ today and even we can’t agree an answer – it all seems to come down what the job is and who’s advertising the job.

We’ll take the job itself first. In our opinion, the more ‘social’ a job is, the more important a cover letter is for your application. Think about it; if you’re applying for a public-facing job (whether it’s a receptionist or social media manager), your personality and people skills are going to be pretty important so a cover letter is essential for portraying these to potential employers.

On the other hand, if an employer is looking for a more ‘technical’ employee like a PHP developer, they’re not really going to be too fussed about their people skills or how outgoing they are – they just want to know they’ve got the PHP, HTML and CSS skills needed for the role. In this instance, they can find all this information from the CV so a cover letter isn’t essential – unless you have extra information you think they should be aware of and you don’t want to put it in your cover email.

As a general rule of thumb, the more technical a job, the less necessary a cover letter is – and vice versa. Applying for a job that sits in the middle like an SEO or PPC job? If in doubt, send in a cover letter – after all, it could push your application from the ‘no’ to the ‘yes’ pile.

Now we’ve got jobs covered, it’s time to assess who is doing the recruiting – and this is the factor that will probably influence your decision the most. Small to medium-sized businesses (Bubble included) LOVE cover letters. Why? Because they only have small teams – they want to know that anyone they take on can fit in with their existing team and it’s pretty hard to work that out from a CV alone.

Don’t believe me? Sorry but it’s true – my cover letter helped me to bag my job at Bubble and Anna’s tale of being stuck up a mountain in Canada in her cover letter definitely made her application stand out from the pack! With applications like these, your cover letter is almost as important as your CV so don’t even think about not sending one in.

OK, so we know that for the majority of direct brands and agencies, a cover letter is essential – but what about if the job is being advertised by a recruiter? Well, here’s where it gets a bit interesting. Here at Bubble, the majority of our team come from a recruitment background and they said that when they’ve recruited in the past, they’ve tended to put cover letters to one side. Why? Because they didn’t have the time to read them.

Recruiters are often hard-pressed for time and need to be able to quickly assess whether a candidate is suitable for the vacancy – and 9 times out of 10, they can do this from a CV. That’s not to say this is the rule for all recruiters (particularly if they’re pretty small and work in a tight niche), however I think it’s the case more often than not so if you notice a job is being advertised by a recruiter, I’d probably advise you not to bother with a cover letter.

See – I told you there wasn’t really a simple answer for this question! To sum up, I’d say you just need to use your common sense. If an employer harps on about how great their team is and how they’re looking for a friendly individual to make a difference to their business, I’d say a cover letter is a must, however if an ad is straight down the line – this is the job and this is what we need – I’d be less inclined to push you to send in a cover letter. At the end of the day, from the role, advert and employer you should be able to get a pretty good impression of what they’re looking for from a candidate so, if they don’t specify that they want a cover letter, it’s up to you to use your initiative.

To put it bluntly, a cover letter is probably never going to harm your chances of securing the vacancy because it shows you have taken the time out to write the cover letter in the first place so you must be committed to the job. Ultimately, it all comes down to how you feel about the role, what you think the employer would like you to do and whether you think your CV can successfully convince an employer you’re the right fit for the role or whether you need to back it up with more information in the form of a cover letter.

We’re keen to hear your thoughts on this one. Do you think cover letters are worth the effort? Job seekers, employers – let us know what you think!

The post Are Cover Letters Still Essential For Every Job Application? appeared first on Bubble Jobs Blog | Bubble Jobs.

As a recruiter, things don’t always go to plan and, let’s not beat around the bush here, life’s not fair. You know you’re good at your job and you know you’re using the right platforms to advertise your jobs… but for some reason, you’re just not getting the right candidates applying – and it’s starting to ruin your reputation.

You keep telling your clients that it’s just the state of the current market and there’s a current skills shortage in that industry – and while you think that’s partly true, you know there is still talent out there at the moment (your rivals can find them!) but for some reason they’re not just not biting when it comes to your job ad.

You can’t help but feel like you’re missing something – and you are, it’s your job adverts! Yes, those ads you spend all of five minutes creating are the reason you’re missing out on the best candidates and the reason your recruitment ship is springing leaks left, right and centre.

When it comes to tracking down a new job, in 9 out of 10 cases, candidates have a pretty extensive choice of vacancies they could apply for – so it’s no wonder they choose to ignore your brief advert that’s littered with spelling mistakes and formatting issues and choose to go for the all-singing, all-dancing advert of your competitor instead.

Now, we can’t drill this into you enough – job adverts are one of the most important parts of your job as a recruiter – and they deserve more time and respect than you’re probably giving to them right now! They’re what attracts a candidate to the role in the first place and what convinces them to put themselves forward for the vacancy.

In effect, they’re the window display for the entire store. Think about it; would you be more likely to stop and look at a window display that’s got flashing lights, crazy props and bright colours or one that’s well… beige? You know it’s the former – and it’s no different with job adverts!

As a jobs board, here at Bubble we know which job adverts perform well and which well… leave a lot to be desired – and it’s always the job adverts that have been carefully written and include as much detail as possible that attract the most candidates. Why? Because they make the role sound compelling, make the company sound attractive and let the candidate know exactly what they’re letting themselves in for.

Just like any other advert, the aim of a job advert is to drive a call to action – in this case, applying for the vacancy – so it’s no wonder the job adverts that have been hastily put together and include next to no detail fail in their mission. With a job advert, you need to leave the candidate in no doubt that this is the perfect job for them – so you need to include as much detail as you can.

Yes, salary, location and job title are essential – but they’re really just the cherry on top! I know in most cases you won’t want to give the name of your client away but you have to give candidates something! What type of business is it? What makes them different? How successful are they? What are their future plans? These are all key questions that are answered in the most successful job adverts.

It’s your job to do whatever it takes to find the best candidates so don’t be afraid to question a client’s choice of job title. If they’re choosing to call the role something really obscure like “Customer Navigation Expert” when it’s essentially a “Head Of UX” role, tell them you think they’re making a major mistake and you think it’s going to affect the number and quality of applications they receive! OK, obscure job titles can be great for piquing interest but at the end of the day, you want applications, not just views so you need to choose the title that’s going to give you the most ROI.

Last but not least, the most successful adverts demonstrate some kind of personality. To really engage with candidates you need to create a job advert that has got character, a “voice” and, most importantly, doesn’t sound like it has been written by a robot! The advert should flow well, have a great structure and make sense – OK, I know you’re not looking to win any writing awards any time soon but great writing is still essential for any job advert.

The best way to check if a job advert is good enough? Read it and ask yourself, would I apply for this if this is all I had to go off? If the answer is ‘no’, it’s time for a redraft!

To sum up, I know you’re under lots of pressure to attract the right candidates and you’re usually juggling lots of vacancies at one time so you don’t have much spare time to do anything, let alone write job adverts but even spending 15 minutes rejigging a job advert is better than nothing. Think about it; would you rather give a bit of time now to get better ROI later or save time now and then have to deal with less than brilliant applications at a later date? I know which one I’d rather go for…!

The post Great Candidates Ignoring Your Job Advert? Who Can Blame Them?! appeared first on Bubble Jobs Blog | Bubble Jobs.

It’s the news the majority of SEOs have been waiting for… the next Penguin update (which is apparently going to bbiiiggggg!) is going to be rolled out by the end of this month. Time. To. Panic!

The announcement came from Matt Cutts himself on Twitter at the end of last week on the back of speculation that a major update was currently taking place across the pond. Mr Cutts announced that last week’s update wasn’t connected to a Penguin update, but did confirm they “expect to roll out Penguin 2.0 (next generation of Penguin) sometime in the next few weeks though”.

Now, as an industry we knew another major Penguin update was on its way but we now have it straight from the horse’s mouth that we’ll more than likely have felt the full force of the next update before the month is out.

But that’s not all! In a surprising move, Google released a video yesterday which highlighted a couple of things that Google are working on right now that could affect SEO in 2013.

Now, needless to say Google hasn’t always been forthcoming with information like this in the past so the release has raised more than a few eyebrows in the industry. I’ve embedded said video below so I’m not going to go through everything that was discussed in detail, however I will briefly touch upon the points covered.

1. They’re “relatively close” to rolling out Penguin 2.0 and it will go “deeper” and make more of an impact than last year’s Penguin 1.0 (no surprise there – at At SMX West in March, Matt Cutts announced that they were working on a ‘significant’ update - and one which he feels could be the most talked about algorithm update of the year).

2. They’re working to target advertorials and native advertising that violate their quality guidelines (again, no surprise – I mentioned how advertorials might be next on the hit list in a previous blog).

3. They’re working on two changes to tackle queries like “payday loans” where spam is prevalent.

4. They’re working to target yet more link spam.

5. They’re in the early stages of rolling out a new system for more sophisticated link analysis.

6. They’re looking to improve communication with webmasters (so that’s why they released the video!) and provider more information for webmasters who have had their site hacked.

7. They’re working to reward authority sites in niche industries.

8. They’re working on a system so the SERPs will only ever show one cluster of results from one domain.

Wow! So by the looks of it, SEOs are going to have a pretty interesting summer ahead of them, particularly if they’ve been indulging in less than white hat techniques.

Putting Penguin 2.0 and this video to one side for a minute, at the start of the blog I mentioned that there had been a lot of chatter about a potential update hitting a large number of American sites, along with other sites across the world – so what was all that about? Is it going to hit the UK too? Well it’s pretty likely that it will hit the UK at some point but at the moment it’s pretty hard to tell what it could be… Saying that though, if we go with the majority of reports it looks like it could have been some kind of Venice update.

Never heard of it? Venice updates are all to do with local searches and organic results. In simple terms, it’s Google’s attempt to make local searches more relevant – Google looks at your location and then tries to serve up the best, most relevant results. Now, while Penguin and Panda are always in the headlines, the Venice updates have received less attention simply because they affect less sites – they only really affect sites which have a location bias and which are targeting location-specific keywords.

So did we see a Venice update last week? Maybe (Google have yet to announce anything)… but there’s a lot of chatter that many blogs have been hit, a large number of sites have seen half their pages de-indexed and a lot of single one word keyword SERP results have been majorly shaken up – so it’s hard to say whether it was a Venice update or Google just decided to tweak a large number of its algorithms in a short space of time.

So there you go; Penguin 2.0 is going to be with us in a few weeks, another Venice update might be on the way too and we’ve got a summer of SEO tweaks ahead of us.

Are you pleased to finally be within touching distance of Penguin or are you dreading it? Similarly, are you glad Google’s started to be more transparent with its information? Let us know!

The post SEOs Hold Tight: Penguin 2.0 To Hit This Month & More Changes To Come appeared first on Bubble Jobs Blog | Bubble Jobs.

Picture the scene. You’ve finally found a new job, the interview’s gone great and you’ve been offered the job subject to your references. You don’t want to panic, but you’ve had a few run-ins with your current boss in the past and now you’re concerned they might give you a bad reference which could jeopardise your chances of successfully bagging this new job… but hang on a minute, can an employer really give you a bad reference? I thought they weren’t allowed? Just what are the rules?

Well, as you can imagine, the subject of references is a pretty tricky one and it’s easy to get lost in all the legal jargon that goes with it these days – so being the good citizens that we are here at Bubble, we thought we’d do our best to try and clear things up and answer the major questions.

1. Does An Employer Have To Give You A Reference?

First up, every employer has a duty to take reasonable care to ensure the reference they give is true, accurate fair and not misleading in any way – this means they have to be clear and concise with the reference they give and should have the evidence to back it up. Now, while the reference that they give has to be true, they don’t actually have to give you a reference at all – it’s completely up to them.

2. Can An Employer Give You A Bad Reference?

Legally speaking, an employer can give you a bad reference as long as they can substantiate it – but in most cases, they choose not to. Why? Because to put it bluntly, they’re potentially opening themselves up to a whole world of pain. Should an ex-employer give an employee a bad reference, the employee could choose to sue the employer for damages if they don’t get the job or suffered a financial loss as a result – and in extreme cases, can even bring an action for defamation and discrimination.

Of course, there are some employers who will still choose to give you a bad reference – and there’s not really much you can do about this (unless you choose to go down the whole suing route) but 9 times out of 10, employers choose to cover their own backs by either choosing to give no reference at all (yes, they have the right to do that) or by simply providing an employer with the bare facts eg. your job title, your start and finish dates, salary and sickness record.

3. What Type Of Reference Can An Employer Give?

In most cases, an employer can choose to give you one of two different types of references (three if you count not giving one at all!). Like I mentioned in the last paragraph, they can choose to give you a bare facts reference. This is one of the most common types of references around at the moment. Why? Because although it doesn’t tell the new employer that much about you, it does list key facts which can’t be disputed.

Next, an employer may choose to give you a full reference. This will include all the information given on a bare facts reference but will also include a list of key responsibilities, an assessment of your performance and your personal qualities. Now, it goes without saying that this is the riskiest type of reference that employers can give so needless to say they need to be extremely careful about what they say. Similarly, while employers can list any negative behaviour or performance on this reference, they should also list any positive points too in the interest of balance.

4. Do You Have A Right To See Your Reference?

There’s nothing to stop you requesting to see your reference, however under the Data Protection Act 1998 an employer has no legal obligation to disclose it to you.

5. What Can You Do If An Employer Gives You A Bad Reference?

If an employer gives you a bad reference, there are legal options open to you, however we’d always advise you to think twice. Why? Because apart from being costly, taking legal action can be extremely time-consuming. Similarly, you need to seriously consider how misleading this reference actually is – can you seriously dispute any of the claims or are they actually true? Remember; if an employer can substantiate their comments (ie. prove them to be true), you have no case and you’re back to square one.

The post Can An Ex-Employer Give You A Bad Reference? appeared first on Bubble Jobs Blog | Bubble Jobs.

We don’t know how it has happened but somehow Sunday has rolled around again which means it’s time for the latest Bubble Wrap-Up.

This week we’ve decided to shine the spotlight on web developer jobs. Don’t forget though, these are just a small selection of the amazing web development vacancies we’ve got up for grabs on Bubble right now – don’t forget to visit the jobs board to see what else is available!

First up this week, our friends at Fashion Strikes are searching for two Lead Web Developers to join their up and coming team in South West London. Responsible for overseeing the development of their fashion social media/live events site, the successful candidates will lead the development of an innovative product with a new market position and huge potential global expansion. In addition to working in an exciting, dynamic environment, the successful candidates will also receive co-founder status and an equity share of the business – not bad eh?! To be in the running for these roles, you’ll need to be an experienced PHP developer with knowledge of expertise gained over several years, have a good working knowledge of HTML, JavaScript, jQuery and CSS and have experience building highly scalable and robust software architecture.

Next in line, McCann Manchester (the UK’s largest and most successful integrated marketing communications agency) are searching for a new .NET Developer – midweight to join their Digital Team in Prestbury. Working with some of the most creative minds in the industry, the successful candidate will work on challenging and cutting edge projects and will have day to day responsibility for programming design and development decisions on their own projects whilst contributing ideas to other projects. Sound good? To be shortlisted for this role, you’ll need to be an expert in all things ASP.NET, C#, SQL Server and XML, have experience in a previous .NET role and have previous agency experience. Other essentials include a university degree or equivalent with formal computing/programming qualifications, great communication skills and a thorough knowledge of development environments, in particular Visual Studio.

In third place this week, e-Recruiter are searching for a Web/Front-end Developer to join a well funded and profitable company based in London. Working for a tactical imaginative agency, the successful candidate will be responsible for developing and maintaining their clients’ websites and applications. Fancy working with some fantastic clients and working for an agency that really cares about the work they produce? The successful candidate will have experience working in a front-end role (preferably 2-3 years), have a strong working knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery and a keen eye for detail. Although not essential, good experience with JavaScript coding and a real passion for technology will also win you extra brownie points.

In fourth place this week, IC Creative are searching for a Front End Developer to join one of the world’s fast growing and most exciting technology companies in the East of England. Working with some of the biggest and best semiconductor, consumer electronics, multimedia and app content developers, this role is extremely varied and rewarding. Sound good? To stand a chase of bagging this job you’ll need to have experience in concept creation and have the ability to interpret brand guidelines, wireframes, creative briefs and technical specs. You’ll also also need to have proven design ability, advanced skills with Adobe CS and a thorough knowledge of CSS, PHP and at least one JavaScript framework. Desirable skills include knowledge of HTML5, knowledge of responsive web design and experience with at least one CMS.

Last but not least, OPM Response are searching for an Online NoSQL Developer to join an esteemed developer in Horsham, West Sussex. Responsible for owning certain aspects of the online offering, including architecture, interface design and implementation and testing, the successful candidate will help to create development breakdown and schedule in collaboration with producers and leads, drive test plans and offer implementation solutions for design-led requirements. Sound like your cup of tea? You’ll need to have experience in the Erlang language and C++, a knowledge of working with relational SQL data and high performance NoSQL stores and a strong interest in video games and their inner workings.

The post Bubble Wrap-Up: Top 5 Web Developer Jobs appeared first on Bubble Jobs Blog | Bubble Jobs.