Why Are Google And Yelp Fighting Over Local Search?
It seems that Google Places has moved in on Yelp’s turf. And Yelp isn’t happy about it.
Specifically, Google’s strong moves into local with their new Places push seem to be going right at Yelp’s core. Sure’s it’s potentially about more than just local venue reviews, but that’s a huge part of it. And that’s what Yelp is all about.
So, Google and Yelp had a deal. Then Yelp pulled out of it. It seems that Google thinks it doesn’t need a deal after all. Perhaps that is why they introduced Google Places. Perhaps Google feels it can do local reviews better than Yelp. But it’s using Yelp content to draw in searchers. Is it sending traffic back to Yelp?
I can’t imagine that Yelp isn’t getting any new traffic from Google Places. It may not be as much new traffic as they’d like to get, but Google has far more users than Yelp has and not everyone who searches for local businesses knows about Yelp. That equates to a good thing. So I’m not sure what this is about really.
Is it just me or is Yelp over reacting? Perhaps they just need to focus on quality search engine optimization.
Google Places Optimization
A few weeks ago Google rolled out a new beta within its Local Business product, which it changed to the name of Google Places. They began allowing select cities to offer Tags on their Google Places listing. Now, Tags has been rolled out to all 50 U.S. states.
Tags can be used when your local business has a video, offers coupons, wants to showcase a restaurant menu, feature photos, or just highlight its website. In essence, it’s another way to remain competitive. There’s just one catch.
These Tags aren’t being used to affect search engine rankings.
So why do them then? Well, you should use Tags on your Google Places listings to make them stand out more. Your Tags will allow you to present your Google Places listing in a unique way and showcase features of your business website or online presence that will make your business stand out from the competition. There’s really no better optimization than that.
Has Search Engine Marketing Changed?
You bet it has. In fact, it changes in a major way about every two or three years. The most recent change has been with Google’s update Caffeine.
Caffeine has made some significant changes to the search engine marketing game. In fact, some of those changes may yet to be manifested. But one thing is more clear: The competition is a lot stiffer.
Since Google is now indexing more web pages than ever and they are getting indexed faster than ever, you can say that the Web just moved into hyperdrive. Create a web page and it gets into the index within a couple of hours. But will it rank?
Universal search has been around for a couple of years now, but now that we have Caffeine it just got a bit more robust. Google is returning images, videos, blogs, news, real-time information and whatever it can find for just about any search query now. and it’s happening lightening fast. Which means that if you perform a search now for a specific keyword phrase then perform the same search two hours from now, you may very well see different results.
They won’t be drastically different. But they could be significantly different. Maybe that video that was in the No. 3 position dropped down to No. 9 and was replaced by a press release while positions 1 and 2 and 4 moved around, putting 4 on top, 1 at 2 and 2 at 4.
These kinds of changes have been going on for some time now, but not at the same speed. And I think that search engine marketing is about to become a different game altogether. The next couple of years should be super exciting for Internet marketers.
Google Caffeine Hits The Supermarket Line
Finally, Google has announced the complete rollout of Caffeine, its next generation of search. If you’ll remember, Google announced the beta version of Caffeine last year.
So what does this mean, really?
The most significant thing, in my opinion, is that it means a faster Web. It also means that more of the Web is getting indexed. Those two things are pretty significant.
You can also say that Google is able to catch the spam more quickly. But in terms of what it means to you, the individual webmaster, what does it mean?
Here’s what it means in a nutshell:
- You need to focus on real time information (don’t remain static)
- Make sure you don’t look like an idiot because if you do then it will show as soon as you publish – there’s no taking it back
- Try to make your content relevant in as multidimensional a way as possible without watering it down
- Go vertical – news, video, images – any way you can
Just because Google has given us Caffeine doesn’t mean it has given up on universal search and personalized search. They’re incorporated. In fact, every major algorithmic, ranking and indexing change Google has incorporated in the last few years has been rolled into Google Caffeine. That makes Caffeine a pretty special product. But search engine optimization hasn’t really changed at the core. You just have to be smarter about it.
How’s Your Long Tail Hanging?
Google has confirmed rumors that a recent algorithm change has taken place, and that’s a rare event. Not the algorithm change; that happens all the time. But Google confirming reports of an algorithm change rarely happens. Nevertheless, Google is pretty specific about who is affected by this change.
Here’s what I find interesting about the news:
Based on Matt’s comment, this change impacts “long tail” traffic, which generally is from longer queries that few people search for individually, but in aggregate can provide a large percentage of traffic.
In other words, there are some sites out there that are going to do better with their long tail keywords and other sites that won’t do as well. So here’s the question: Which are you?
You should know by now if you’ve seen a rise or a drop in your long tail search rankings. If you see no effect then your site probably hasn’t been affected at all. But if you’ve seen a rise in long tail keyword rankings then Google has helped you; if you’ve seen a fall in similar long tail keyword rankings then Google socked it to you. But don’t take it personally.
These types of algorithm changes are about one thing: Providing searchers with the best web pages for their search queries. If Google made this change then it’s because they believed that the search results were dominated by a certain class of webmaster to the detriment of others. I think this change means that top-notch SEO is not always necessary, but knowing how to do it will improve your changes at getting good rankings.
How E-books Could Become An SEO Tool
Google is starting a new service called Google Editions where it will publish and sell e-books. Consider this:
Anyway, Jessica E. Vascellaro and Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg reported afterward that Google will try to establish deals with publishers, and then, “Google says its new service . . . will allow users to buy digital copies of books they discover through its book-search service.” Which should put Google into competition with Amazon and Apple.
If Google is going to compete with Amazon then it will have to do so on equal terms. That means it will have to offer previews and sample chapters for free in order to sell books. Publishers will do everything they can to ensure that their books are found in the search engines and through social media outlets. What ways could they do that?
Well, one obvious way is through SEO content. Imagine a book introduction being written with the search engine algorithms in mind, anticipating its use as the free preview. I think this is something that Google could actually promote and condone in order to court publishers at co-marketers in its digital e-book sales outlet.
What about you? Do you think this scenario is feasible?
One Google Tool That Is Perfect For Reputation Management
No reputation management campaign is complete without Google, particularly Google Profiles.
So what is Google Profiles? In a word, it’s your hub on the Google index. Whenever someone Google’s your name they’ll be presented with your profile at the bottom of the search results for your name – along with the profiles of anyone who shares your name. So why is it such a great tool? It isn’t just because it shows up on the SERP for your personal name.
There’s more to Google Profiles than simply listing your name and showing your latest passport photo. You can also include the links to all the places online where you can be found. You can link to your Facebook profile, YouTube channel, your Twitter feed, all of your websites and any place else online where you are likely to be found. If it’s important and it’s about you then you can link to it. That’s what makes Google Profiles such a great reputation management tool.
If you aren’t using Google Profiles right now for reputation management then I highly recommend that you do.
Will Facebook Ads Rival Google Ads?
A WebProNews article asks if Google AdSense will be in trouble if Facebook starts offering advertising opportunities. It’s a good question.
Two days ago we asked if Twitter was offering a new SEM model. We might just as well ask the same question of Facebook.
The difference between Facebook and Twitter, of course, is traffic. Facebook is only about 50 times the size of Twitter in terms of traffic. It is now the most trafficked website on the Internet. And it’s gathering information about its members that Google would kill for.
Every time you Like something on Facebook you are indicating your interests. Every time you comment on something or share something on Facebook you are indicating an interest. That’s much more valuable information to advertisers than a string of keywords you entered into a search query. And it’s something that I think Google knows as well.
If Facebook did roll out an ad network based on user interests, would you advertise through it?
Google Local Changes Name To Google Places
Yesterday Google announced that it was changing the name of Google Local to Google Places. If you’re interested in why Google doesn’t have a unique domain name – yet – for Google Places, you can read about that at Search Marketing Standard. It’s a good read.
But whether you think Google screwed up or hit a home run, this is an important step for all of us, especially local business. Google says that one in five searches are local so if you have a local business then you need to claim your business at Google Places. Don’t wait.
Here are some of the new features Google has added to Google Places:
- Claim your own service area and hide your address
- For select cities, you can add tags to your listing for $25
- Add photos
- Get custom QR codes
- Join the Favorite Places program
- Add real-time updates
- Track your progress with your own personalized dashboard
Seriously, this looks like a good deal to me. Could Google have rolled it out in a more strategic manner? Yes. But that they’ve done this and done it now says a lot about how serious Google is about local search marketing. I chalk it up as a plus.
Search Engine Marketers Now Need To Consider Site Speed
Does your website load slowly? If so then you need to figure out how to get it to load faster because Google has now made page load speed a ranking factor.
This is very significant. If you do any pay per click advertising then page load speed has already been a factor for your quality score. But yesterday Google announced that site speed will now be considered as a ranking factor.
This actually makes a lot of sense. Users don’t like to land on a page and have to wait for it to load. It could mean the difference between them staying on your site or visiting your competition. So why should Google be concerned about that?
Truth is, they’re not. They don’t care if you make any money or not. But they do care if they make money and they do care if searchers have a good experience on any site that Google sends them to. If your site is an AdSense site and it loads slowly then Google will make less revenue. If you advertise your site using pay per click advertising and it loads slowly then you’ll likely have fewer clicks and Google will make less money. See how it works now?
Fix your site load speed or you might start seeing your pages fall in the rankings.
4 Free Tools To Spy On Competitors
Competitive intelligence is one of the most important aspects of doing business online. Keeping tabs of your competition and what they are up to will allow you to respond more quickly to market developments. The following 4 tools are free and will enhance your competitive intelligence efforts and make your overall marketing much more effective.
- Google Alerts – This is a mainstay in every online marketer’s arsenal. It’s been offered by Google for a very long time. You can enter as many search terms as you want to and any mention of those terms will be e-mailed to you almost as soon as they are indexed.
- Twitter – You’ve no doubt heard a lot about Twitter, but you don’t often hear about it in terms of competitive intelligence. In actuality, it’s a great way to keep tabs of your competitors. Follow them and you know immediately what they are talking about. It’s a direct line to their communications team.
- Yahoo! Site Explorer – There has been talk that Yahoo! might do away with this tool, but until they do it’s a great way to check the back links of any page on the Internet. Enter your competition’s web pages and see who is linking to them.
- SocialMention – Type in an important key phrase for you and see who is talking about it, what they are saying and whether the sentiment is positive, negative or neutral. A great way to keep tabs on your competition’s social media campaigns.
These 4 spying tools are a necessity in today’s online competitive marketing culture. They’re all free and in just a few minutes each day you can know what your competition is up to.
How Google Understands Your Search Queries
Search engine optimization is the process of writing content and designing web pages so that they have an improved chance at ranking for search queries when a person starts to look for something at a search engine. Google has become the search engine of choice for a lot of people, primarily because it has lead the way in the science of search. Its algorithm is the key to how Google understands search queries.
To truly understand how to SEO a web page, you have to have some clear idea of how a search engine ranks them and that means understanding how Google attempts to understand search queries and the intent of searchers. A Wired magazine article delves into that issue and goes into considerable detail about the history of Google’s algorithm.
Search engine optimization is not a shot in the dark. While there are no tried-and-true methods that work in all cases, if you want your web pages to rank better for the search terms you are targeting, you should at least learn how search engines work, especially Google.
Would SMO Be Better If Facebook Offered Blogging?
Chris Crum at WebProNews suggested that Facebook replace it Notes tab with a Blog tab. It’s not a bad idea.
Facebook users would gain an immediate benefit if Facebook offered blogging. No. 1, the built in Facebook user base would be incredible. This is now the second most visited site online, right behind Google. Facebook could compete head on with Google’s Blogger and actually do well.
Not only would users of Facebook benefit with that feature, but Facebook itself would benefit as it would see an immediate increase in user-generated content, improve its search engine friendliness and more people would stay on the website longer. But would a Facebook blog improve social media optimization (SMO)?
I believe it would improve search engine optimization for anyone who had a Facebook blog. I also believe it would improve SMO in a number of ways.
- First and foremost, Facebook users would likely connect more through a blog
- A blog could be brandable just like a Facebook page
- With thousands of Facebook blogs pumping out content on a regular basis, Facebook would likely see more Twitter traffic
- Widgetized blogs would likely lead to more video sharing on Facebook
I don’t really see any negatives in the prospect of adding a Facebook blog. Do you?
Positive Rollout is Reputation Management
Google took a hit to its reputation this week when it rolled out Google Buzz with some privacy flaws. This could have been fixed really easily very early on. All Google had to do was make its public profile of Google Buzz users an opt-in feature instead of an opt-out feature. Now they have reputation issues and for a company like Google, this is a big issue.
It’s also a learning point for the rest of us. Your reputation management begins the moment you start planning. It doesn’t begin when you start marketing or when your product hits the market. You’ve got to plan your reputation management right from the beginning.
If you can’t anticipate correctly what the market wants, take a poll. Conduct a survey or find out in some other way. But you can ask your users what they want before you ever do it. That will save you head aches later, believe me.
Just remember, your reputation is at stake the moment you consider an idea. Protect it with everything you have.
Should You Social Media Optimize For Google?
Yesterday we discussed whether you should optimize your website for Facebook in light of the social media leader’s relationship with Bing. Today I’d like to discuss whether you should get ready to optimize your social media campaigns for Google.
Well, I’ve been reading a few places today that Google is launching its own social network through Gmail. So does that mean you should go all out and plan a social media marketing campaign to target Google?
Not so fast. Give them a chance to prove themselves first.
Personally, I think you’d do better to spend your time optimizing web pages for Facebook. Google may have some nice social features, but it’s not a social network. And I think it will be a long time before it will compete with Facebook and Twitter.
Using Google’s External Keyword Research Tool
No Internet marketing campaign is complete without keyword research. Google has a great keyword research tool for anyone just starting out on their journey and who hasn’t built their website. If you’re just getting started on the planning of your site then the Google AdWords External Keyword Research Tool is the right tool for you.
What I like about this tool is you can search for keywords by descriptive phrase or by associating your research with a website. If your website is already built and you want to see if there are any keywords you may not be targeting then you can check the Website content box and generate your list of keywords specifically for a website you own.
Otherwise, you can enter your keywords and phrases, check the synonym box and filter for words you don’t want to use. When you click the “Get keyword ideas” box, the keyword research tool will generate your list of keywords based on what you enter in the words and phrases box above. Then you can play around with the data by measuring the keywords and phrases against each other in three columns:
- Advertiser competition
- Local search volume
- Global monthly search volume
This tool is useful if you are running AdWords campaigns or if you are just conducting initial keyword research. I highly recommend it as a free tool.
Why Search Engine Marketing Can Save The World
If you’ve been watching what’s going on with Google lately, it looks as if the company may pull out of China over cybersecurity and human rights issues. If it happens, that will drastically change the dynamics of the world wide web. It will certainly be noticeable in China where Google has 30% of the search market share.
Today I noticed on Google a link below the search box to “Information, resources, and ways you can help survivors of the Haiti earthquake.”
Search engine marketing is more than buying clicks. First and foremost, it’s about using the search engines to get your message across. That includes organic search and paid search.
Both of these incidents – the large one and the small one – affect search engine marketing in some way. If Google pulls out of China, that will leave a lot of businesses in China with one less alternative for reaching their customers. It could also slow down progress toward a more open China. And Google’s link to more information about helping the Haitians is the perfect example of how search engines can be used to make a difference in the world. That’s true even if, maybe especially if, you own the search engines.
Search engine marketing continues to be a growth industry. It is not today what it used to be and it won’t be tomorrow what it is today. Keep you eye on the changing nature of the web and look for opportunities to make your search engine marketing efforts better and more effective than ever.
What Will Viral Marketing Look Like When …
Google controls the social web?
It’s not hard to imagine. Besides the search engines, the most popular websites in cyberspace are social sites (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter). And Google is in the race to control the social web with such tools as Google Wave and Google Friend Connect. Plus, real-time search, personalized search, Google Reader, and the list goes on. What will happen when Google controls the social web?
Viral marketing will always be the same. Friends tell friends and they tell friends. But I have a feeling that when Google is involved the terms and results will explode beyond imagination.
Youtu.be URL Shortener – How Silly
I must admit, I’m getting tired of all the newfangled URL shorteners appearing now. I blame it all on Twitter.
In the old days it was Tinyurl and a few other struggling upstarts trying to compete for space in the URL shortening arena. Of course, there was no money in URL shortening so it was just a service to help webmasters who wanted a short URL – largely to help affiliate marketers mask their affiliate IDs and conceal the fact that they were sending their site visitors to another site to make a quick buck. But things have changed.
Twitter has made the URL shortener a necessity and not just a choice. While no marketer is obligated to use Twitter, not to do so is to miss out on a growing opportunity. I think it’s here to stay and will likely become an important part of doing business online. But you have to communicate in 140 characters or less.
Since Twitter has asked us all to share our favorite links online in 140 characters or less, there have been a ton of new URL shorteners appear on the scene to help us do that. The best ones offer link tracking so you can see how many clicks you are getting on those links. And now savvy webmasters are using those URL shortening services on their own websites.
Recently, Google announced their own URL shortening service – Goo.gl – which can only be used on its own site. And now, the latest, Youtu.be. Doug Caverly recommends using it for YouTube videos. I don’t know. Do we really need another one?
I’m all for social media in any of its forms, and YouTube is one of the best social media websites around, but what if they all had their own URL shorteners? How silly would that be?
Favorite Places As Reputation Management
Google’s got a new way for local small businesses to engage in reputation management. It’s called Favorite Places. It seems like a simple program, starting with 100,000 local U.S. businesses with a bar code in their window. Yes, I know, sounds hokie, but that’s what it is.
The bar code is intended as a way for mobile phone users to scan and find out more about the business. What kind of information? You know, reviews, history, menus, etc.
Google is inviting other local businesses to participate by nominating themselves as a Favorite Place. Well, you join the Google Local Business Center, which you should have done already anyway. Then, if you get a lot of people searching for you at Google, you’ll get your own decal.
Apart from the silliness, it can be another reputation enhancer for the right businesses. But I’m wondering how many people will actually use the decals with their mobile phones?
Internet Marketing Could Change Forever
When you survey the landscape of Internet marketing history you’ll see that certain developments over time have really changed how people conducted Internet marketing. The Open Directory Project, Yahoo! offering display advertising, Overture, the advent of Google, pay-per-click marketing, the creation of the landing page, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. These are just the big ones.
It’s enough that tools like Twitter and Facebook exist. But when they get so important that search engine monoliths like Google partner with them then you know they’ve really arrived. Google today announced that real-time search is here. That’s big news. But I think it’s only going to get better.
This could very well change the way Internet marketing is done. Marketers will likely start focusing on hitting the top search results spots in real-time. That means an increase in spam. But it also means an increase in real opportunities.
I’m really looking forward to the next couple of years of search and Internet marketing. These are exciting times. They’re about to get more exciting.
How Many Keywords Can You Manage With PPC?
Google is getting stricter with its quality score. Recently, the search engine announced that you will hurt your quality score if you try to target too many keywords with one ad. The search engine wants you to target a specific web page with each keyword. The result for many webmasters could be a new PPC campaign for every keyword they want to target.
But that’s not to say that you’ll have to target a different keyword for every PPC campaign under every circumstances. In most cases, a tight keyword group within a PPC campaign will boost your quality score and give you maximum performance,l but you have to manage the campaign in the right way.
Your targeted web pages should be managed around a tight keyword group consisting of keywords that are related. We’re talking about a small keyword group – about 5 or 6 keywords. If you try to manage a single PPC campaign around hundreds of keywords that are broadly related then you will hurt your quality score and your ad rankings and click-throughs will suffer.
Is PageRank Still A Relevant Metric?
PageRank has an interesting history. Since Google first introduced it as a measure of trust for websites there have been strong proponents and equally strong opponents. At different times, the strongest proponents have also been the strongest opponents. All in a season, I guess.
Titus Hoskins asks if PageRank is still relevant. Then says yes in answer to his own question.
It really is a good question and I’ve heard Internet marketers argue both sides. There was a time when it was considered the cat’s meow. Everyone fought hard to get the best PageRank possible. So hard, in fact, that some people started acting unethically, selling links for PR. Google penalized those webmasters when they found them, but many webmasters still sell links “under the radar.” I suspect link selling will always be a problem.
That’s why some Internet marketers discount PageRank as irrelevant today. It’s too easy to be gamed, they say. Maybe it is. But as Titus Hoskins says, there still always be people who will judge you on the number Google reports. As long as PageRank is a public metric it will be an important metric – gamed or not.
The problem of PageRank is complicated by its ability to be gamed. But that’s no reason to discount it completely. Look at it, note it, and try to improve it. But don’t let it rule you.
How Social Media Optimization Will Get More Complicated
The Web has increasingly grown more complicated since its inception and search engine optimization along with it. The next wave of search will undoubtedly be social media search and the result will end up being a more complicated social media optimization process.
Currently, it’s not so difficult but neither was SEO when it was first conceived. Now, however, talk to any Internet marketer and you are sure to get a list of do’s and don’ts that would make a bug go cross-eyed.
In the wake of Google’s and Bing’s near simultaneous and recent announcement that there is an agreement with Twitter to incorporate real-time search into both search engines’ universal search results as well as Google’s announcement that social search is just around the corner, it is likely that the next big playground of competition will be in social media optimization.
Not only will the search engines themselves be competing for marketers’ attentions, but marketers will be competing for an audience’s attention.
There is no doubt that Twitter and Facebook will be at the center of the social media optimization wars. But what other networks will be there? My guess is any network of any size at all will eventually be incorporated into any social search model at the search engines. If you have not already started charting your course for social media optimization then now is the time.
Search Engine Marketing’s Upward Mobility
Search engine marketing is getting better and better every year, as it gets more and more challenging. The latest news is that Bing is incorporating real-time results from Twitter and Facebook into search results. Nice. We’ve been waiting for this for some time. But the interesting thing is how they are doing it.
Tweets that are deserving of rankings evidently will be weighed by a Twitterer’s follower count. That will make Twitter popularity very important.
What I do see happening down the road is a quality score for social media content. The search engines – Bing and Google primarily – will give an algorithm-based quality score to a tweet or Facebook update based on keyword usage, follower count, retweets, and other measurements of social proof. Social proof will actually become a relevant ranking factor and added to the ranking algorithms. Remember, you heard it here first. Search engine marketing is on the move.
Is SideWiki A Reputation Management Problem?
Google has rolled out another product – one that hasn’t seemed to gain too much traction in the short time that it has been available but that has received it’s fair share of criticism. The main criticism hurled at it is that it is a ticking reputation management time bomb. Is this criticism justified?
Scotland SEO explains why they’re a bit shaky in the boots about SidiWiki. On the other hand, Nick at Search Engine Optimization Journal doesn’t seem a great deal concerned. And Paul at TalkBiz has a very detailed post on how Google is plotting to steal the Web. Is it really that big a problem or just a bunch of hype?
Well, I can’t say that the concerns many of these people bring up are not real. They are. But should webmasters go around singing “the sky is falling?”
Personally, I think webmasters should write the Google staff and request some modifications to SidiWiki – I do believe it could post some reputation management problems for a lot of people. But it’s nothing to go to war over – yet. Most of Google’s new products take time to pick up steam. If SideWiki is like any of the others, we’re a long way away from universal usage of the Google Toolbar.
Google Is Not The Only PPC Gig In Town
Google is a great PPC provider. I wouldn’t knock ‘em. But they aren’t the only gig in town.
In fact, I’d say that there are some drawbacks to using Google alone. For starters, Google is expensive. It’s very competitive. And no matter what niche you are in you are likely to be paying good money for clicks. It will be targeted traffic, for sure. But you’ll pay.
Sometimes, small PPC providers can deliver targeted traffic for much, much less. You’ll get less traffic. But it will be good traffic. Where you’ll pay 50 cents for a keyword at Google, you might only pay a penny or a nickel at some of the other PPC providers, so it’s worth it to try to parlay those services into some cheap traffic.
The best way to win at PPC is to use a small PPC provider to test ads and landing pages where you can do it inexpensively then, when you find a combination that works, you migrate your ads to Google. You probably should also up your budget at the small PPC company. At any rate, don’t just stick with one provider. Google is good, but they’re not God.
Using Google For Competitive Intelligence
One of the most important tools at your disposal, and it’s free, to spy on your competition is well within your reach – Google. So how can you use the search giant as a competitive intelligence tool? There are a number of ways.
- Links – If you type in links: followed by the domain name then you’ll get a list of links that point to the site. Great for checking backlinks. You can see which ones are most valuable, which pages they are linking to (and from), and gauge the value of your competition’s links with just one click.
- SES – Search engine saturation is the number of pages a domain has indexed at Google. Using a search engine saturation tool, you can figure out how many pages your competition has indexed at Google.
- Meta Data – If you visit your competition’s website and look at the meta keywords tag on their home page then search for that keyword in Google, you can find out how many pages on your client’s site rank for that keyword.
- Google Analytics – With Google Analytics you can benchmark your site against your competition. Know where you stand in relation to the competition for important metrics like traffic, page views, etc.
- Google AdWords - You can also spy on your competition with Google AdWords. Target their most important keywords for a test campaign and have someone go up at different times of the day to perform a search using the search terms you have bid on to find out if your competition is bidding on the same keywords. You can also judge how much they may be paying per click based on where their ads fall in relation to yours.
Google has several tools you can use to spy on your competition with. Competitive intelligence is one of the most important aspects of running a web business. Don’t leave it out.
Is It Time To Target Your Search Engine Optimization
For many years the name of the search engine optimization game has been to target Google. The more articles you read the more often you will come across references to Google, Matt Cutts or Webmaster Tools. Every now and then, Yahoo! or Bing creeps into the conversation.
The theory has been that Google gets the majority of traffic so that is the place to rank. It has been a reasonable theory too and most sites find that if they get it right for Google, they are close to getting it right for the others.
Yahoo! recently announced a new search design and at the same time made a little noise about targeting people search. A search for a person will produce results which include profiles Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and FriendFeed. Their aim, to be number one for people search.
It was not so long ago that reports indicated that Bing was doing well in the travel, retail and finance sectors when it came to searches.
If the search engines are going to target certain niches, perhaps the time has come to reassess our search engine optimization strategies. If your site is based on travel, retail or finance, it may be time to focus your search engine optimization strategies on areas that will help you rank well on Bing.
Many will argue that you can optimize for all three search engines, and you can. However, we still bring the focus back to Google – perhaps it is time to change that.
Spread Your Pay Per Click For Better ROI
Pay per click marketing can be a stressful past time for many web site owners particularly if they are in a competitive niche where costs per click can be high. If your walking a tight line between profitable and unprofitable costs then it may be time to rethink your pay per click strategies and look at some of the lesser known PPC options.
There are quite a few alternate search engines around that offer pay per click advertising, often with lower costs per click than the big boys like Google. The hard part is finding these alternatives. A search of Google will help you find a good handful of alternatives.
Once you have a list of alternative pay per click search engines, sit down and do some research. Sign up and create a few ads, check out their interfaces, and see what sort of costs per click you may be up for. Many of them can provide the same keyword advertising program but at much less costs.
If you have the funds, create a few trial ads and let them run for a few days. This will give you an idea of what costs you are likely to face, what sort of click through rate you are receiving, and most importantly, what sort of conversion rates you are achieving.
You would be surprised at the amount of traffic you can generate through these alternate search engines. You may also find you are achieving better conversion rates – if that’s the case, your ROI will simply get better.