Archive for the ‘Search Engine Watch Articles’ Category

Search Engine Stats for August 2009 – Bing Update

Monday, September 28th, 2009

The results are in for August regarding search engine use – where are people going for their Internet searches?

Well, Google remains king with nearly 2/3 of all Internet searches in August – growing 2.6% over July.

But the biggest increase came from Microsoft’s Bing – the number of queries from users in the U.S. grew by 22%! But they still place third behind Yahoo! and Google, accounting for 1 in 10 Internet search queries in the United States last month.

Yahoo! saw its search volume drop by 4.2% in August but it still comes in at #2 with around 16% of all Internet search queries in August in the U.S.

It’s not surprising to see Bing grow like it is – they have been marketing their new search engine pretty aggressively lately. New TV ads can be seen traversing the airwaves touting the usability of this new search engine product.

Of course, they’re not going to surpass Google anytime soon, no matter how much advertising they do. Google is much more established in the search engine optimization field and the population in general. Bing will have to demonstrate how their search engine offers more value than Google if they ever hope to be the big dog in the search engine field.

Besides, yesterday was Google’s 11th birthday! If you were searching on Google yesterday, you probably noticed that the letter L in their name was replaced by two ones…causing some confusion, people saw this as a “LL” but it was merely recognition of their 11th birthday.

Happy Birthday Google!

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5 Necessary Skills to be an Effective Link Builder

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Successful search engine optimization professionals and link builders possess certain skills that make them good at their craft. When a company or SEO firm is looking to hire an in-house link builder, they often find difficulty in narrowing down the right person with the right skills.

Not every online marketer will excel at the five skills outlined below – the important thing is they can grasp it and over time build on their skills.

Here are 5 skills every SEO marketer and link builder needs to possess in order to be successful.

1. Knowledge of a variety of topics

Especially true for SEO companies, a general knowledge and understanding of a broad range of topics is required. The ability to pivot to different topics during the course of a work day is crucial to being a successful web copywriter and link builder.

Even if there’s only one topic or industry, someone with knowledge of a broad set of industries will spot online marketing opportunities that others will miss.

2. Creativity

Link building and online marketing can be difficult so a creative mind is necessary to be sure all avenues are being explored. Rather than someone getting bored sending hundreds of marketing emails daily, hire someone with initiative and creativity to create custom tools, content and widgets.

If it’s their own creations, they will be much more engaged in marketing those creations online.

3. Task-oriented behavior

While someone may be very creative, they may not be so disciplined at seeing an initiative through to the end. Online marketing for truly remarkable ideas may never end – the effort may revolve around seeking out new marketing channels to reach as many people as possible. Companies should always be on the lookout for things that can produce long lasting results.

4. Attention to detail

Link building and SEO work requires a special attention to detail – you don’t want someone who gets great links and uses the wrong anchor text or someone who doesn’t keep track of who they contact and repeatedly emails the same people, possibly opening themselves and your firm up to accusations of spamming.

5. Ability to multi-task

Many companies amazingly think that link building simply involves sending out thousands of emails a day but in reality, it’s much more than that. Good link building requires good online public relations. A good link builder needs to be able to manage different kind of mediums at once – email, social media, telephone and websites.

Not everyone will have perfect skills in all of these. Someone may be very creative but not quite so good at managing a project. But a basic understanding of all 5 of these qualities is a must.

Read this Search Engine Watch article for more insights into what makes a good SEO marketer and link builder.

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Top 10 Search Terms Covering 10 Categories – August 2009

Friday, September 18th, 2009

Well it’s been quite awhile since we’ve reported top 10 search terms – June 16th in fact. Don’t know if data just hadn’t been compiled by Hitwise or not posted on Search Engine Watch.

Either way, we now have keyword data for August…these lists can be quite useful in finding keywords to integrate into your web copy to help build search engine rankings.

Categories Hitwise publishes data for are the same – IT and Internet, Automotive Manufacturers, Movies, Net Communities and Chat, Food and Beverage Brands and Manufacturers, Pharmaceutical and Medical Products, Blogs and Personal Websites, Broadcast Media, Shopping Rewards and Directories and finally, Travel Destinations and Accommodations.

The term “cash for clunkers” continued its rise in August, accounting for 2.36% of searches in the automotive category. In the social media area, Facebook continued its climb while MySpace continued to fall, which may explain the decline in traffic to their site. Since the Cash for Clunkers program is over, I imagine that term will drop off the list for September.

Hitwise collects keyword data by analyzing how 25 million Internet users across the globe interact with over 1 million websites in 160 industries. Data is collected anonymously through partnerships with different Internet service providers in accordance with all local, state, federal and international privacy laws.

We apologize for the delay in posting this data. Keyword data for July can be found at Hitwise as well. Check back with the search engine optimization blog regularly for important announcements like this and up-to-date tips on how to optimize your site for the search engines.

We publish posts each Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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Marketing Lessons from Legendary Pitchman Billy Mays

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

Needless to say, I was quite shocked when I learned of the untimely death of hit TV pitchman Billy Mays.

Anyone who is a regular viewer of cable TV undoubtedly knows of his legendary “Hi Billy Mays here…” and the compelling prose and presentation. Even if you didn’t buy the product, you came away with a strong first impression.

It’s easy to mock Mays; Lord knows I was replaying that legendary intro in my head when I heard he had passed. But Mays has sold countless buckets of OxiClean and other products that made him and the products’ inventors a lot of money in $14.99 and $19.99 increments.

There are many lessons we can learn from Billy Mays to build effective search campaigns that build your brand and drives action.

Branding

Almost in a Pavlovian sense, you immediately knew what was coming once Mays’ commercial hit the airwaves. Everything moves together to say “something useful and cheap is on its way!”

In a similar fashion, be sure your search presence matches your branding efforts in language, tone and content. Always include your brand name in both meta tags and PPC ads and evaluate whether you should include visual elements like “official site” to indicate to visitors your site as the source of your brand.

Solve a Problem

While we can’t remove a fruit juice stain from a white shirt like Billy can, search engine marketing allows you to target potential customers closely. It’s easier to match customers through PPC ads linking to highly targeted landing pages.

And even though you do not have control over page selection for a given keyword in organic search, content can be developed and organized in a way to deliver highly segmented keyword searchers to the exact page they need.

Show Value for Their Click

Another reason offers from Mays were so compelling was that he usually didn’t pitch anything that cost more than $20 and included a buy one get one free or offer for an additional item at no charge.

Not every product out there can fit into that mold but you should clearly indicate the advantage – quality, durability, cost, etc. – your product has over others.

Use a Call to Action

Last and certainly not least is to include a call to action in your PPC ads and website content. Once you have their attention, draw them to take the next step by visiting your site further or clicking a “buy”, “join” or “get” link.

Read this Search Engine Watch article for a more in-depth look at the legacy of Billy Mays and how methods he used to sell millions of products over the airwaves are applicable to both PPC and SEO.

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Posted in Online Marketing, Search Engine Watch Articles, Writing for search engines | 1 Comment »

You Can’t Get Universal Truth from a Single Landing Page Test

Friday, July 10th, 2009

It’s sometimes hard to resist the temptation and good feelings that come from when you discover something that works tremendously well for a landing page. It’s easy to think it could be applied to every website you ever work on.

But the truth is, the Internet and by extension the world is a very complex place. So mass generalizing the latest popular search engine optimization technique is a bad idea. You simply cannot derive universal truths from a single landing page’s test results.

Any “learnings” from a single landing page are likely to be uncertain at best.

Why? It’s because of what science dubs as “false causality”, meaning “correlation does not imply causation.”

This phrase is referring to a common error people make, no matter if they’re thinking about a science experiment or a webpage. That is, they assume that since two effects are related or occur together, one causes the other. However, this assumption fails to recognize the fact there could be a third variable, or confounding variable, that causes the other two.

In landing page optimization, it’s dangerous to rationalize results after the test. Rather than focusing on elements of design that had nothing to do with improving performance, try to come up with diverse and interesting ideas for each landing page test you do. Be forward thinking and do not simply accept the most apparent analytic answer.

Read in more detail this concept along with some real world examples from this Search Engine Watch article from Tim Ash.

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Selling SEO Services over PPC Ad Campaigns

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Convincing potential clients or managers of the advantages of organic search has over pay-per-click ad campaigns is quite the challenge – here at SEO Advantage, we’re always trying to get potential clients to migrate from PPC to SEO because of the long-term benefits it holds over PPC.

But to a marketing manager at a large corporation, PPC is quite attractive because it’s the most familiar to them…and there’s a clear connection between money spent and results. Ads can be set up and implemented quickly. Marketers and budget managers can easily calculate ROI and see clear profits within a few days at most.

It’s difficult to sell SEO against PPC since initial results may not show for six months. If a professional search engine marketer is being honest, they cannot possibly pinpoint exactly when you will begin seeing the fruits of your investment nor will they be able to tell you precisely what the impact will be.

Search engines also can change their algorithms during this timeframe, obscuring the impact of an SEO campaign.

But there are many reasons why SEO is better – 75% of all search traffic is driven by SEO, versus only 25% for PPC so potential opportunities are three times greater with SEO. And according to this heat map image by Rand Fish, searchers focus more top search results anyway. (some argue being in the top spot of search results carries a high degree of brand value as well)

Courtesy of Rand Fish at SEOMoz

Courtesy of Rand Fish at SEOMoz

PPC ad campaigns are also getting more competitive…current studies conclude PPC profits are shrinking and may be gone altogether in some industries.

Since SEO builds on itself, traffic continues to grow if you keep doing the right things. As traffic continues to grow from the original baseline, a company may see a doubling or tripling of their investment.

Read this Search Engine Watch article for more insights on why SEO is better than PPC and some of the barriers of convincing potential clients or marketing managers at your company of the benefits of investing in SEO.

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Use Multiple Data Sets when Researching Keywords for SEO Copywriting

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Researching keywords is the first and most vital thing to do when optimizing your site for the search engines. It used to be so simple…easily assemble a keyword basket that did the job from the now defunct Overture Keyword Tool.

But in the age of data overload, there are multiple tools that are a part of any SEOs radar include WordTracker, Keyword Discovery and Google AdWords. And there are even niche keyword tools, even ones that track social media marketing as well.

A savvy SEO today for instance can take top keyword data from SpyFu, copy it into WordTracker Lateral Thesaurus and AdWords External Keyword tool, then sort the data to find where the low cost-per-click average intersects with higher search frequency…keywords fitting this profile then become a valuable component of a SEO campaign.

This Search Engine Watch article includes a checklist for using multiple datasets for keyword research. These different tools and datasets are best used in creative combinations, the article says.

The important point is to think beyond traditional frequency-based keyword research when building baskets…consider data from WordTracker’s Thesarus and Buzz Pocket Mining. Evaluate conversion metrics, search analytics and achievable SEO to get the best keyword data.

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Top 10 Search Terms in 10 Categories for May, 2009

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

We reported here on May 1st the top 10 search terms in 10 separate categories for March. Search Engine Watch has posted this data from Hitwise for May.

These lists, released monthly, can help you find useful keyword phrases that can integrate well into your content, bringing higher search engine rankings.

Categories in May’s survey are the same as March’s. They are: IT and Internet, automotive manufacturers, movies, net communities and chat, food and beverage brands and manufacturers, pharmaceutical and medical products, blogs and personal websites, broadcast media, shopping rewards and directories and travel destinations and accommodations.

Keyword data is collected by Hitwise by monitoring how 25 million users around the world (10 million in the U.S.) interact with over 1 million websites in 160 industries. Data is anonymous and obtained through partnerships with internet service providers in accordance with all local, state, federal and international privacy laws.

Check back again with the search engine optimization blog regularly for important announcements like this and stay up-to-date with the tips you need to know to optimize your site for the search engines. We should have data for June by the middle of next month.

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Google Announces Surprise Change on NoFollow Links

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Web Spam team, made a surprise announcement today regarding the nofollow attribute for links according to a Search Engine Watch article.

Nofollow links were originally developed by Google in ‘05 to fight spamming on blogs. By 2007, they developed into a powerful tool for professional SEO’s who use them in a practice called PageRank sculpting, which diverts PageRank to more important pages on a site.

Rather than having link juice going to a static “contact us” or “about us” page, it can be going to pages that yield conversions.

But according to Cutts, who made the bombshell announcement at the SMX Advanced conference in Seattle, nofollow may not continue to work like SEOs think. Danny Sullivan explains it well, simply speaking:

“If you have $10 in authority to spend on those ten links, and you block 5 of them, the other 5 aren’t going to get $2 each. They’re still getting $1. It’s just that the other $5 you thought you were saving is now going to waste.”

See this forum thread at Sphinn and blog post from Rusty Brick for more insights.

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Update on Microsoft’s New Search Engine

Monday, June 1st, 2009

On May 20th, we reported here in the search engine optimization blog an announcement that Microsoft would soon be unveiling a new search platform. It was to be called Kumo and be on display at a digital tech conference that took place last week – that’s what we thought was going to happen anyway.

At the conference, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made an announcement – the Kumo name has been replaced with Bing, a totally rebranded search engine. MSN Live Search will be phased out with this change, which has consistently been far behind Google and Yahoo! in terms of search numbers.

A commentary at Search Engine News does not interpret this move to be smart on Microsoft’s part. Basically, professional SEOs shouldn’t take these developments too seriously. Microsoft has strayed away from the user-driven solutions that have worked well for them, like Office and their acquisition of Hotmail in the 1990’s.

According to a discussion thread at Webmaster World, Bing is supposed to go live this Wednesday, June 3rd.

We’ll continue to monitor Bing and report here any useful functions that can help optimize your website and yield conversions.

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Take Advantage of Local Search Opportunities

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Today’s interactive landscape brings many opportunities to market a business online – local search engine optimization is one way to market online at minimum cost. And the fact Google is showing more local results without someone entering a town in a search query only serves to drive that local SEO cannot be ignored.

That’s the conclusion of an article at Search Engine Watch.

For a local business of any size, local SEO starts with keyword research and identifying the terms your customers use to find you, including any geographical terms – these keywords can include “New York City coffee shops”, “Greenwich Village coffee shops” – you get the idea.

With a solid understanding of keyword phrases, you can begin developing individual pages for all your locations. Keywords should be included in the URL, meta tags, title tags, heading and above all, content.

Another step is to take advantage of local online opportunities. Be sure you’re listed in Google Maps and Yahoo Local and you even might consider social media outlets like Facebook and Squidoo to boost your local online profile.

Times have certainly changed since the days of print, radio and TV advertising – and for once, things have changed in favor of small businesses.

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New & Improved Google Suggest – Faster is Better

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

After some extensive testing, Google today announced more features to Google Suggest that will make searches go faster. These new features were added after extensive comment by individual users and online marketers and will be gradually rolled out – but should all be available soon.

“Suggestions on the results page” is the first such addition. Before, Google only gave suggestions on searches originating from their homepage. Now, searches from a results page will provide suggestions that relate to the current results page.

Google estimates that 1/4 of all internet searches are simply monthly repeats…personalized suggestions can help you remember that query that worked so well before. Sign in to your Google account and enable the Web History feature to make it work.

If you’re starting to type in a search and Google thinks you are looking for a specific site, it will be listed where you can click on it and go straight there.

Finally, in addition to navigational suggestions, Google will also include sponsored ads if they detect the most relevant results in a search query may include an ad.

A couple other changes: Google will no longer include the result count in the suggestion box and the text of suggestions will be in bold to help searchers more quickly scan the list.

Check out this forum discussion at WebmasterWorld to see what the pros think about these changes.

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Re-Directing Organic Traffic to Targeted Landing Pages

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Find an interesting discussion at Search Engine World involving targeted landing pages – a questioner is trying to improve their conversion rate for a “speed dating” service website.

His site appears #1 in Google rankings for the keyword “speed dating” – but he also offers other services and is concerned when someone clicks on his site directly from Google search, they quickly leave because they can’t find what they want – in the thread, he’s looking for any issues he should consider before setting up re-directs to targeted landing pages if certain terms are contained in the referring URL.

While this may sound like a plausible solution, the problem lies more in the site’s architecture according to various replies from some of the best minds in the search engine optimization world.

One tip is to never rely 100% on keywords as a “lead qualifier” – in terms of conversions, messaging and site design are more important. The goal of search engine optimization (SEO) is to drive traffic to a site – getting someone to buy is more tethered to those other important characteristics.

If you’re considering targeted landing pages along these lines, beware of the consequences it could have with Google. A SEW forums editor also commented in this thread that Google could see that as a form of cloaking.

See the thread here.

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Top 5 Ways to Increase Search Engine Rankings without SEO

Monday, May 11th, 2009

Check out this article at Search Engine Watch discussing non-SEO ways to get high search engine rankings…I know it’s a little old but there are some great tips that are useful nonetheless.

First is usability – foremost authority on website usability Dr. Jakob Nielsen writes “site design must be aimed with simplicity above all else, with as few distractions as possible and with very clear information architecture and matching navigation tools.” Simple architecture alone makes it easier for search engines to spyder the site – which will be appreciated and rewarded.

Next, collaborate offline and online marketing efforts – ensure the message being delivered through offline marketing channels is making its way into the site’s visible copy. Super Bowl ads provide a great opportunity to see if companies are doing this.

Third, incorporate traditional PR efforts into the SEO plan. It is becoming pretty apparent the optimized press releases are a great way to build search engine rankings…many SEO firms are hiring old-school PR professionals to help with this.

Next, seek out and participate in online communities that are related to your industry – the travel industry for example has literally thousands of blogs and other social networking venues. You can also get great feedback for products and services through user-generated content.

And finally, keep content fresh…continuously adding new and appealing content to your site will build rankings and help keep them there.

When thinking beyond search engine optimization specifically, keep these factors in mind to build high rankings and keep them there

Read the article here.

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New Search Engine Marketing and Social Media Performance Standards Proposed

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Webtrends is currently proposing The Digital Marketing Maturity Model (DM3) to help organizations accurately assess the effectiveness of their online marketing activities according to this blog post at Search Engine Watch.

2009 may well be a turn-key year in respect to how businesses advertise their products and services. A study by the Chief Marketing Officer Council found that spending on social media and search engine optimization will exceed traditional media by 50% this year.

The DM3 model aims looks at 6 core areas in assessing online marketing efforts across all online channels – which include measurement strategy, analytics resources and domain expertise, data integration and visualization, data analysis and insight, adoption and governance and ongoing optimization.

Each of these areas is scored on a 1 to 4, low to high scale.

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Top 10 Search Terms in 10 Categories for March 2009

Friday, May 1st, 2009

Provided by Hitwise and posted on Search Engine World are statistics for the ten most popular search terms in ten different, broadly defined industries for March, 2009.

This can be a great help in finding keyword search terms that can integrate well into your content…and bring high search engine rankings as well.

The categories included in March’s survey are: IT and Internet, Automotive Manufacturers, Movies, Net Communities & Chat, Food & Beverage Brands & Manufacturers, Pharmaceutical & Medical Products, Blogs & Personal Websites, Broadcast Media, Shopping Rewards & Directories and Travel Destinations & Accommodations.

Hitwise monitors 25 million Internet users, 10 million of which are in the U.S., and how they interact with over 1 million websites representing 160 different industries. Usage information is collected through ISP data partnerships in accordance with all local and international privacy laws.

Check out the statistics here.

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Inbound Link Building Tips from Google With Discussion at Search Engine Watch

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Inbound links to your website come from external websites linking back to you – they are extremely valuable in most cases (i.e. merit-based and voluntary) as it signals to search engines your site is important to others – inbound links are an important component to search engine optimization.

Relevant and quality inbound links boost your PageRank in Google…these links come to sites that have compelling content or offer some unique service.

Most inbound links enhance search engine rankings but if one is from a spammy sort of site, it won’t be recognized by Google. Let’s say you have three inbound links to your site but one is from a spam site…Google will only recognize two of them.

Google has a brief but very informative article on building inbound links to your website – the first and most important step being the continual addition of unique and interesting content. Start a blog of your own and usefully participate in related blogs across the Internet, teach new ideas or offer some great and unique product or service.

After reading the article, check out this SEO discussion at Search Engine Watch for more insights from the pros on inbound links and how they can accelerate your search engine rankings.

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Help Forum at Google, a Great Place to Find Answers

Monday, April 6th, 2009

In need of some answers to specific questions regarding your site’s rankings in Google – well, check out their Webmaster Help Forum to find answers.

Simply post a question under your Google login and it will be answered directly by someone at Google along with other professionals in the SEO field – be sure to include your site’s URL so they know where to look and what you’re talking about.

The forum is also a useful place to get information on finding malware in your website – you can even request a malware review for your site from Google’s Webmaster service.

Check out the forum today and get an answer to your most pressing questions!

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