It appears we are all not quite seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with the latest economic slump. It has hit everyone hard regardless of business size or industry and in many cases marketing dollars are the first to disappear.

Truth be known, many companies that do succeed during tougher economic times are the ones who actually increase their online marketing budgets.  In many cases this strategy is used to take advantage of the competition dropping their strategies all together and the benefits are far reaching well after the economy woes are over.

Everyone can understand the incredible value in this economy of having highly relevant traffic directed to your website showcasing your products or services. A skilled SEO company is your best and most cost effective option to handle the daunting task of continuously growing relevant and converting search engine traffic.

There are a large amount of key points to consider when deciding whether or not to outsource your SEM / SEO initiatives. The following points are two that are common throughout regardless of industry.

Keeping Current and Connected

The search engine marketing environment is a fast ever-changing world and typically reputable SEO /SEM firms stay current with tactics and trends. In-house marketing and IT employees are commonly wearing many hats and it is difficult to be up to date with current developments and news throughout the industry. This can include certifications, training and industry specific tips and tricks.

Enterprise level search marketing firms have an extensive network of professional colleagues and other contacts operating within the major search engine companies. The majority of SEM company employees have spent a great deal of time and effort participating within their own industry via social media channels such as twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. These added benefits can be a huge advantage to you and your company and in every case is a significant time saver if these resources need to be tapped for information during a search engine optimization of paid advertising campaign.

Can Our In-house Developer or Marketing Manager Do It All?

Perhaps, although these skilled individuals is very rare.  Surprisingly enough it is common to find even mid-sized firms employ a single staff member to handle not only their web properties, social media management, paid advertising management but their search marketing strategy as well. The most skilled of professionals would find this an impossible juggling act and those who can manage this multi disciplined work load should be well coveted.

The potential danger of your company losing this individual over time and not finding a suitable replacement could be devastating.  Companies that place a high value on this type of risk management should consider seeking outside professional search marketing assistance.

Freeing up in-house resources to focus on other vital business aspects of your company during these troubled economic times can be an extremely cost effective move.

Ad Hoc Keyword Research is Dead

Determining an optimal keyword list can be a very involved process and is always considered the lynchpin of any successful search marketing campaign. Gone are the days of focusing your search marketing efforts on a phrase list consisting of one or two keyword terms. These “short-tail” phrases might prove to be over saturated in the search engines results or are lacking in specific relevancy to your message thus leading to a poor conversion potential. Finding those “long-tail” terms will always lead to a great ROI potential, and greater user retention.

The Process –In a Nutshell

The phraseology process has in recent years has truly become an art form and each analyst will have a core set of tools and different methods of data collection when crafting their final targeted terms.

The first step of this process typically includes the collecting of related search terms en masse. Generating large groups of search terms varying in length are gathered using keyword search tools and one should utilize more than one set of tools. Relying on one keyword tool can be detrimental to the end result when assessing your keyword targets. It is always a safe bet to back up your search data comparing the results between multiple sources. As one can imagine different search data sources can lead to very different results.

Most reputable search marketing firms will have a gambit of in-house developed tools at their disposal however here is a sample of commonly used search / keyword tools:

• Google’s Keyword Tool and Insights to Search
• Keyword Discovery
• Word Tracker
• Wordstream
• Keyword Spy
• SEOmoz – Keyword Difficulty Tool

At the end of this phase you should take a close look at historical analytics to see what terms have delivered the most relevant targets in the past. It is imperative not to destroy the great traffic you have enjoyed in the past by diluting it with new terms. Build on past successes instead of just replacing it with another term.
Once your core phrase targets have been collected and loosely organized the paring down phase of the process kicks in. The removal of unachievable terms (due competition) and others that have a lower relevancy or traffic potential should be performed. The results should deliver you with somewhat of a refined core list to work from.

The final goal of course is to have a tightly refined targeted list to apply to your search engine optimization strategies and this is where the historical knowledge of the types of keywords that convert comes in to play.
Assessing the realistic expectations of the phrases you wish to employ is prudent. Can your site compete with the others targeting that term? Are you able to do what it takes to add value to your site in order to target that particular term? These are the questions that need to be addresses before committing to the final targets.

These tips are truly a very broad look at what is needed to come up with solid targets that will over time deliver you with all that huge traffic increases you are looking for. An experienced keyword analyst will have the insight to provide a solid targeted list and the search / historical data to back up the choices.

The Company Branding and Messaging Misconception

The right mindset is essential to come up with the final keyword selection that is going to deliver you with those “money” terms.  All too often traditional marketing individuals have a difficult time understanding that what has works for years on a billboard does not necessary translate into a winning term via search. This is not to say that one should not pay close attention to fully understanding a company’s brick and mortar business and the existing marketing initiatives. The more intimate you are with the business messaging, product or service will obviously have a large impact on the phraseology process.

Marketing managers and business owners will also sometimes have strong views on what terms they wish to be found under. All too often these terms are not searched by web searchers in great numbers and in some cases can deliver irrelevant results.

For example, an auto insurance company might be apprehensive with the keyword suggestion “cheap auto insurance quotes” with the thinking that the word “cheap” degrades the quality of their business and perhaps places a misconception on the quality of their service. They may push you on this and suggest that “inexpensive automobile insurance quotes” is what they want you to utilize in your strategies. Nine times out of ten once they realize that people just don’t search that way and your suggestions will come to fruition.

Mark Johnstone

Search Engine Marketing Analyst and Project Manager
Google AdWords Qualified Individual
Metamend – Search Engine Marketing Experts

Search engine giant Google announced yesterday that they have been targeted by cyber attacks of “varying degrees on a regular basis”. Google’s Chief legal Officer David Drummond also mentioned that Google was not the sole recipient of these attacks and that it included at least 20 other companies from a variety of different industries. Google investigation thus far has led them to pass along the details of this cyber activity to these additional companies.

It is apparent that the attackers attempted to access Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists and Google is reporting that the malicious activity was for the most part unsuccessful. The unauthorized access consisted of two Gmail accounts being compromised and the attackers were only able to view the account creation dates, email subject lines and basic account information. Google immediately implemented changes to their architecture to enhance security for its users.

This latest round of cyber attacks has promoted Google to review their business ventures in China. In the interim Google has decided to not to continue censoring delivered results to Chinese web surfers claiming that they do not wish to further limit free speech.

This could very well be the end of Google operations in China resulting in google.cn and local offices being shut down completely.

What does this mean for Search Engine Optimization?

Until a final decision by the powers that be at Google and the Chinese Government the verdict is still out on how this may affect the search engine marketing world.  One would think that if Google pulled out of the Chinese market it could have a negative impact on companies that have heavily invested in optimizing and targeting this already massive and growing market.

Nobody can deny the importance of a successfully implemented Search Engine Optimization campaign. If one has an optimal set of keywords in place, and a savvy SEO technician implementing the tactics necessary the results can be rewarding.

As everyone knows, these results can take some effort to achieve and there can be a significant amount wait time for the search engines to pick up on the implementation. Paid advertising can fill that void by driving relevant clicks your way.

“I need it now”

Clientele that want high traffic results immediately while the organic implementation is in the works have an effective option – PPC or Pay per Click Advertising. The flexibility that PPC offers customers is unparalleled in terms of grabbing that “ideal” customer. The ability to craft customized ad copy and manage a typically  much larger set of keywords targets than a SEO campaign can drive that converting traffic within hours of set up.

A common tactic is to have the paid advertising gradually tailor back in terms of scale and budget as the organic results come in. Even with this said, it is best to keep in mind that continuously exploring paid advertising venues running in conjunction with SEO can fill in the missing pieces that SEO cannot always deliver.

“Sharing the goods”

Although the behavioral and geographical data paid advertising generates can significantly differ from the information collected during a search engine optimization campaign the ability to test and acknowledge traffic trends can prove to be invaluable – the more you know about the visitor the more you will benefit across both venues. In certain situations PPC can serve as a test bed for alternative methods of generating traffic in the future.

“Tis the season”

Where SEO tactics can fall short is the targeting products that are seasonal or a product line “one off “campaign. Clientele that offer these types of services can enhance their SEO initiatives by users querying seasonal Keyphrases or even phrases that are only available for a limited time. Once again, PPC can fill the void.

“I don’t even sell my goods there”

Although organic optimization has improved over the years with its ability to target specific geographical markets, paid advertising still is the winner in this category hands down. If one was selling carpet cleaning locally a well optimized paid advertising campaign can be “turned off” form the rest of the internet world other than your local area of interest.

Even on a national scale the ability to selectively choose your geographical market has huge value. For example, companies that sell services that are not licensed to sell within some states or provinces can once again be removed from the targeted audience. The potential loss in investment is drastically reduced when you have this type of geographical control over your traffic.

“It’s really working with my organic rankings why do I need that PPC anyway?”

Simply put a page one organic ranking and a first position on the paid side of the search engine results packs the most punch. The on page dominance with this tactic has historically produced the best results for our clientele. One might ask “well if I am ranking #1 organically why would I want a first position PPC ad running at the same time”? The answer is clear once one takes a close look at the data over time. The brand onslaught during a query often leads to a proportionally much larger return with the PPC ad in place than when it is not running side by side with the SERP result. The added bonus is that more often than not the organic result is clicked over the paid result which can save your paid advertising budget for other terms not picking up organic results.

Working in Harmony

A well crafted Paid Advertising campaign and a skillfully managed SEO strategy running hand and hand delivers the best results and the highest return on your ROI.

The new “Opportunities” function replaces perhaps one of the most clicked Tabs within a My Client Center’s interface – Tools.  Well, rest assured the good folks at AdWords have not replaced the precious Tools section but have incorporated all of them under the new Opportunities section within the Adwords interface. You can find the familiar list of tools within this section along the bottom of the left column.

In an effort to continue with the amalgamation of tools and functions within the latest Adwords interface Google has released the Beta version of their popular Keyword Tool.  The Adwords Development team has not only given the Keyword Tool a face lift but has integrated some additional functionality.  The inclusion of a wide gambit of filters allows Campaign Managers to get the data they need faster and with more granularity. Here are some of the new features:

•    Compressive Advanced Options and Filters (Illustrated below)
•    All Match Types at a glance
•    Estimated CTR
•    Estimated Ad Position
•    Estimated Impressions
•    Estimated Cost
•    Category specific filtering
•    Search Share
•    Extraction web page identification
•    Sort by grouping results

Keyword Tool Filters

A trend that the Google AdWords Team has been on as of late is to allow users to have all of their information in front of them during a query. For example one can compare all of the match options for a phrase list in one glance; Broad, Exact and Phrase matches. This is a huge time saver as you do not have to flip between screens to compare the search volumes and other data that tend to differ greatly between match types. The excel export will also carry over all of your match types as well making campaign set up or refinement that much more enjoyable.

I have to admit Google has taken the world of keyword research to the next level with this Beta release and the only thing left for me to do is to see if over time if the new data being shared is indeed accurate in the real world of campaign management. Experience and historical knowledge is still by far the best ammunition for an AdWords Campaign Manager to be successful – good tools sure help though.

A bit more under the hood with Google AdWords…

Placement Tool

The Placement Tool gives you the ability to seek placements with any combination of keyword, category or website URL within the same interface. One can utilize the advance options as well which include filters to segment by Country and / or Language, Ad Sizes, Demographic, and Impressions per day. One other very handy feature is the ability to search for placements via youtube.com.

The tools that really are of high value are the ones that can save the “guess work” being done. There are two benefits to access of these types of resources with the first being saving time to perform a task or develop a strategy. Secondly, these time saving tools can have a positive impact to a budget’s bottom line. If one can find a balance between a given keyword’s maximum bid and the volume of impressions it may accrue over time without using a best guess approach this may help eliminate unnecessary clicks and cost. Typically it can take a few days of monitoring and manipulating bids (and yes, ad copy and landing targets as well) before one understands the users click behavior resulting in a more firm bid setting. This can, in some cases slowly chip away at your budget without any initial results.

In comes Google’s latest addition to the new AdWords interface the Bid Simulator. Released on August 3rd 2009 the Bid Simulator helps alleviate some of the guess work behind where to start with a given bid and to which keyword groups to allocate your over budget to. The Bid Simulator provides a range of keyword data from the previous seven days and compares it to your actual current bid during this time. Basically it answers the questions “What if I had a lower bid back then… would I have had significantly lower impressions?” or “Should I have doubled the bid as I am not having a high impression rate on my ads?”. Although the Bid Simulator in Google’s words “cannot predict the future” it has the ability to point you in the right direction.

This feature in no way can replace the historical knowledge and decision making a Qualified Google AdWords Professional has gained over time but it is another small interface addition that can make my day a lot easier. I highly recommend reading “Bid like a pro with the bid simulator” from the Google Adwords Team.

Microsoft has released with little fanfare the new Search Engine dubbed “Bing”. This is the replacement to the beleaguered Live platform that has just never caught on with internet users.

We have given Bing and test drive here at Metamend and are pleasantly surprised. The SERPs deliver a nice clean page of results with the option to view further information on the listing with the simple hovering of the mouse (on the right side of each listing). This keeps the listings nice and organized, however we are seeing some problems with this feature always working as it should using the Firefox browser (no surprise) – in Internet Explorer it works like a charm.

We are hoping that the clean results Bing is putting forth is a trend with the new Search Engine incarnations on the horizon – “Keep it clean and give me what I am looking for”. The balance between providing “suggestions” to users and the risk of over delivery to the human eye is a tough one to convey. This has been lost even with the mega Search Engine giant Google with Organic, Local, Video, and Paid listings splattered all over the page. Let’s hope Bing stays on track well beyond the preview (beta) release.

As Bing is still in the preview stages we will be able to comment more on the functionally and validity of the results once the kinks are worked out. Some of the features to take note of are:

1. The continuous and fast loading images search results page gives you all of the goods on one page
2. The video search is definitely in a next generation format as the small thumbnails preview on a mouse hover – very attractive and time saving.

Our SEO services team will keep an eagle eye on this new release from the folks at Redmond and will comment in the future.

The Release Notes from the Google AdWords Team are impressive as the new additions will prove to be extra time savers and will save one from flipping from the editor and the online Client Center as often. Some of the key features are:

• Fine Tuned Import and Export Campaign Functionality

This allows you to tailor your imports and exports with more precision. For example one can specifically select active campaigns to download with a click of the mouse.

• Download Resume

A solid addition to the tool which allows you to resume a campaign download if you are interrupted during the process. This is a great feature if a large campaign you are downlading  cuts off during the procedure.

• Conversion Metrics

This function expands on the latest AdWords tracking metrics data with new columns illustrating “many-per-click” and “1-per-click”.

• Keyword Count

A very handy addition which allows you to view how many words there are in a particular phrase.

• Select Duplicates

A supplementary function that allows you to take a quick glance at keyword duplicates with a variety of sort options.

There is no question that the AdWords Editor is a powerful addition to a PPC manager’s arsenal. What we like most about the tool is that it is a significant time saver and truly gives you the power to manage multiple large campaigns at a glance.

” Wanted: Your AdWords success story
Has AdWords changed your business, or your life? Do you have a great AdWords story you’d like to share with us? One we might even share with the press?
Tell Us Your Story!”

I do have to say that being a PPC Client Manager, AdWords “has changed my life”.