Continuing Saga of Search Engine Marketing: February 2007 Archive

Friday, February 23, 2007

You don't need a lot of "diggs" to get a link from Google. Every article submitted to Digg will generate at least one link, many times more, especially if it gets dugg. To gain the most of your article on Digg, you need to make the article appealing to people. Easier said then done right?

Well here are a few tips to help get your article "dugg":

Use a persuasive or catchy title
Create a top 10 list
Create how to's, must haves and other guides
Have company employees, friends and family digg your article (Remember: every digg is another potential link in Google)
Put the Digg chicklet on your article's page to encourage digging
Make the content interesting, appealing - A catchy title alone won't do it

Labels: Social Marketing

Written at 9:42 AM by Andrea Schultz.

0 comments

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Google Webmaster Tools New Link Feature

Earlier this month, Google released a new Link option within Google's Webmaster Tools. Google allows you to look up which websites are linking to your by using search commands like: link:www.domain.com, links: www.domain.com, plus other variations through the regular search. However, Google only allows you to see a sample of those back links.

The new Link option now provides you with a larger sample of those websites linking to you. Although you won't get to see all incoming links to your site, including those listed in Google's supplemental index, you will see a larger sample than if using the now outdated link commands. The Link option is only for your website, so you are not able to check out your competition's strategic linking programs. You will still need to use the above mentioned link commands for competitor analysis.

To use this new link option, you need to be a Google Webmaster user. Once you've verified your website, click on the My Sites screen and choose your domain. Then you will see the following tabs: Diagnostic, Statistics, Links and Sitemaps. The new Links tab allows you to see external and internal links for your website. External links are the links most people are concerned with. These are links coming from outside of your site. You can see what other sites are linking to you, whether it is the home page, or the interior pages. Internal links tell you how well your site is interlinked within itself.

The new Links tab definitely offers valuable information, plus Google also allows you to download the data into an Excel spreadsheet making management of the data much easier than before. So, why did Google decide to offer this new feature? Google spokespeople claim they decided to offer the option because of feedback from Webmasters. Google is more comfortable with the idea because the info is only going to specific site owners, rather than to everyone. Either way, I'm happy with the new tool!

Labels: Link Building, Organic SEO

Written at 10:33 AM by Andrea Schultz.

0 comments

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Google AdWords Quality Score Update

Inside AdWords: Quality Score updates

Google announced today that it is planning on updating its Google AdWords Quality Score. The new Quality Score update will give an even bigger advantage to well designed ads that create better response. If you have a high quality ad (according to Google) you will be rewarded with lower cost per clicks. If you have a low quality ad (again according to Google) you will pay a higher cost per click.

How Do I Know If I Have Poor Ads?

If your cost per click for any particular key word / phrase continues to increase
Your key word / phrase has recently been deactivated
Your ad rank continues to decrease

What do I do about it?

Google is implementing a new Quality Score column within the AdWords interface. This new column will label keywords within an AdGroup as Great, OK, or Poor quality. To see this column you will have to opt in by clicking the "Customize Columns" in one of your AdGroups.

Improving Your Ads

If you see that Google has labeled your ad as poor, your cost per click has been raised, or your key word / phrase has been deactivated or you are just not receiving a positive ROI, then you need to take several steps to optimize your campaigns.

Are you targeting the right keywords for your industry?
Are you targeting the right regions?
Do you have compelling ad copy?
Do you have a well designed landing page?

If you are having trouble getting a positive ROI with your Google AdWords campaign or you are confused about the updates to the Google Quality Score, contact a professional who can help you with PPC Management and Optimization.

Labels: PPC Advertising

Written at 11:30 AM by Justin.

0 comments

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

The New Yahoo Search Marketing and You!

You may have heard that Yahoo has launched its new pricing and search ranking algorithm system. But what does this mean to you?

Say goodbye to the days when you could choose a keyword and bid precisely to a certain ad position. Now Yahoo Search Marketing has incorporated a new ranking model that requires proper PPC Management and Optimization.

Will This Affect Me?

If you use Yahoo Search Marketing for Pay Per Click, it sure will. However the effect can be positive if you pair it with the proper techniques. The playing field has been somewhat leveled because you can now pay less for your ad position if you design good ads and target the right key phrases! Now, just because someone has a bigger budget than you does not mean their add will rank over you.

Determining Your Ad's Rank and Position

Bid amount and Ad Quality will now affect your position. This replaces old system where ads were ranked by bid alone.
This allows you to focus on ad quality opposed to getting into a bidding war with your biggest competitor.
Improve your ad and you will be rewarded with a higher Click Through Rate, in turn potentially lowering your cost per click.

How is Ad Quality Determined?

Historical Performance ? your click through rate taking into account your ad's position and relative to the competition.
Expected Performance ? determined by several relevance factors measured by Yahoo Search Marketing's ranking algorithms.

How Do I Make this Work for Me?

Now that the Yahoo Search Marketing Pay Per Click engine is modeled similarly to Google AdWords, advertisers have a better way to optimize their PPC campaigns. To see if you are getting the most out of your campaigns ask yourself the following questions.

Are you targeting the right keywords?

Are you targeting the right regions?

Do you have compelling ad copy?

Have you split tested ads to find the right message points?

Do you have a well designed landing page?

Are you measuring your success with conversion tracking?

If you did not answer "Yes" to all of these questions, seeking qualified professionals for PPC Management and Optimization is a good idea. These professionals can help you design and optimize a successful Pay Per Click campaign that will improve your ROI.

Labels: PPC Advertising

Written at 10:09 AM by Justin.

0 comments

Friday, February 9, 2007

SEO Considerations When Selecting an E-Commerce or Content Management System

Want to sell on the Web? You need e-commerce software.

Want to update your Web site's content without waiting for and paying extra to your Web developer? Then you want a Content Management System (CMS).

E-commerce and CMS systems can present problems to search engine indexing. Many create Web sites that look like Spam to search engines. As a result, search visibility lags or is limited.

What do you need to worry about to avoid looking like Spam when selecting such a system?

Many systems create multiple URLs for the same pages or pages that look the same to search engines. That sets of Spam filters and penalties at the search engines.

Navigation-driven URLs or systems that include path variables generate multiple URLs. Session IDs are even worse generating what looks like new URLs every time the search spider crawls your site.

How do you know the system you are considering is search engine friendly? After all, many e-commerce and CMS vendors with these problems claim their systems are search engine friendly, when they are not.

Ask the vendor for a list of Web sites built with their software. Then download XENU link checker at http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html. The software is free.

Install XENU and check each of the Web sites that the vendor provided. Does XENU finish the report, or does it go on and on? If XENU cannot finish crawling the sites, then the sites' software creates URL loops that will make your site look like Spam to search engines.

Even if XENU finishes crawling the sites, this may not mean the software will always build search engine friendly sites. But you will quickly eliminate the most problematic e-commerce or CMS software.

Labels: Organic SEO

Written at 3:46 PM by Larry.

0 comments

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Welcome

Welcome to the Continuing Saga of Search Engine Marketing Blog. Be sure to check back frequently for our take on the ever-changing strategies for search engine marketing.

Written at 3:51 PM by Andrea Schultz.

1 comments