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High Rankings Advisor: Contextual Search - Issue No. 092March 31, 2004 ~~~IN TODAY'S ADVISOR~~~
*Search Engine Marketing: ----> Google Highlighting of Keywords ----> Switching to a New Domain Name ----> Submission Services ----> Importance of a Site Map *This Week's Sponsors: ----> SmartSearch Marketing PPC Seminars ----> High Rankings Chicago Seminar Apr. 23 ----> SEO Copywriting Combo *Guest Article: ----> Is Contextual Search Advertising Right for You? *Stuff You Might Like: ----> ClickTracks Version 5.0 Released *High Rankings Forum Thread of the Week: ----> Competitive Terms, What Are They? *This Week's Sound Advice: ----> How Many Words Do You Need for High Rankings? *Advisor Wrap-up: ----> Stay Tuned ________________________________________________________ ~~~Introductory Comments~~~ Hey everyone! Last week's Q&A newsletter was such a hit, I decided to do a similar issue today since I still have lots of "shortish" questions to answer. I've also got a great guest article on contextual advertising, so be sure to scroll down that far! On to the good stuff... - Jill ~~~Search Engine Marketing Issues~~~ ++Google Highlighting of Keywords++ Hi Jill, I just noticed that Google search results now highlight the searched criteria in the file/document name. Does this mean they are giving more weight to this than in the past? I always use relevant file names as a part of my optimization process, but understood it only carried weight at a few places. Jim ++Jill's Response++ Hi Jim, Nobody really knows what it means except for Google. However, it's my opinion that it doesn't mean anything other than the fact that their new highlighter sees all the search words on the page, even words that are not parsed by a hyphen, etc. It's doubtful that this has anything to do with Google's algorithm. They recently changed their look, and this is just a manifestation of that. I am doubtful that Google would put any additional weight on file names or domain names in their ranking algorithm. If anything, I would imagine they'd be moving further and further away from giving those fields any weight. I also think that this new little twist is just another way to drive SEOs and Webmasters crazy, and give people like Danny Sullivan and me more questions to answer! Thanks Google...we love you too! ;-) Jill __________________________________________________adv. 10 Steps to Successful Search Advertising __________________________________________________ Become a search-advertising pro in 8 hours! Attend this essential workshop presented by SmartSearch Marketing. Learn a proven process to implement search advertising the right way. Everything you need to run an *affordable* pay-per-click campaign. Coming to a city near you. Find out more: http://smartsearchmarketing.com/workshop1.asp __________________________________________________ ++Switching to a New Domain Name ++ Hi Jill, I have always enjoyed your newsletter and personal email responses because they are so direct and easy to understand. I am hoping you can continue that precedent with this question. I have a customer that has been known by Google for quite awhile. We have had moderate success with SEO. However, the customer now wants to drop the domain name in favor of a new one. Do you have any advice on how to "swap" domain names for a website in Google without adversely affecting rankings? My fear is that if we suddenly drop the old domain name, Google will take a while to catch up and continue ranking the site effectively. Thank you so much in advance for any insight. Doug B. P.S. This feels like that episode on Seinfeld where Jerry is attempting the roommate swap and George keeps yelling "No! No! It's impossible, don't even think it!" ++Jill's Response++ Hi Doug, LOL at the Seinfeld reference! All you've gotta do is set up a 301-permanent redirect (at the server level) from the old domain name to the new and it should work itself out with Google in about 2 or 3 months. The other engines aren't so great at following the redirects and will probably use the old domain name, but there's not much you can do about that. At least people will get to the new domain once they click on the link from the engine. Good luck! Jill ++Submission Services++ Hello Jill, I have been a longtime fan of your newsletter and appreciate your help with many issues. I have a question which I am sure is not new to you. I have been using Inktomi for all my URL submissions and have been quite happy with their programs. Now the new Overture Site Match is in place and we have no choice but to use this service when adding new URLs. I DO NOT want to use this new service; I think it is unproven and way too expensive for my taste and for my customers. Are there any other services for submitting your URLs at a basic cost per page (relatively cheap like $25 per page) out there? And what search engines do they subscribe to? Best regards, Deirdre D. ++Jill's Response++ Deirdre, Whatever you decide, do NOT subscribe to any automated submission service or buy any automated submission software. You will be throwing your money completely down the drain if you do. However, the good news is (as I mentioned last week) that you absolutely do NOT need to submit your URLs to Yahoo at all. They will find and index all your pages for free if you just give them a crawler-friendly site and the time to do so. Remember, most of you don't need Overture Site Match for your sites. Chances are your pages are already securely listed for free. Jill ++Importance of a Site Map++ Hi Jill, I've read that a site map is a very important aid to search engine spiders to help them navigate your site. Is it necessary to have the site map on all pages of your site, or is just the home page sufficient? (We have a fairly small site -- less than 20 pages.) Thanks for your input! Stacy R. ++Jill's Response++ Hi Stacy, For a small site it really doesn't matter. I would assume your site is easily navigable by the search engine spiders and people. If it is, then you really don't need a site map at all. If you already have one, that's fine too. A link from every page to the site map certainly won't hurt. Site maps are a great way to make your pages accessible through fewer clicks, plus they're a wonderful opportunity for you to create nice, descriptive keyword-rich hyperlinks pointing to every page of your site. Best, Jill _____________April 23, 2004 in Chicago_________________ Jill's High Rankings Search Engine Marketing Full-day Seminar __________________________________________________ Everything You Need To Know for a Successful SEM Campaign! Jill will cover the search engine optimization basics, then her moderators from the High Rankings forum will teach you link popularity building, PPC, writing for your target audience and the search engines, plus how to measure traffic & conversions. Sign up now as seating is limited to 50 and going fast. </hra92seminar>. __________________________________________________ ~~~Guest Article~~~ ++Is Contextual Search Advertising Right for You?++ Patricia Hursh has written today's guest article, providing us with the low-down on contextual advertising. Patricia is a search engine advertising consultant and workshop facilitator with one of today's newsletter sponsors SmartSearch Marketing in Boulder, Colorado. So without further ado, here's Patricia! Is Contextual Search Advertising Right for You? By Patricia Hursh Many search advertisers are currently evaluating content-targeted programs (also called contextual advertising). The expanded visibility can be great, but is it right for your business? These programs are relatively new in the search-advertising world, and early results are mixed. First, let's define contextual advertising and review how it works. Then we'll take a look at some recent results, and finally, I'll share a few recommendations. What Is Content-targeted Search Advertising? With contextual advertising, pay-per-click search ads are displayed not on search engine results pages, but on related content pages across the web. This is accomplished by matching a site's content with advertisers' keywords. Ad sellers such as Google and Overture determine what a site is "about" by using some combination of algorithms and human review. Ads are then served on these participating sites by matching content to advertisers' keywords. In this way, contextual advertising is a method of distributing paid search listings beyond search engine results pages. Who Is Selling Contextual Search Advertising? The two largest players in this space are, not surprisingly, Google and Overture. Google's product is marketed to publishers under the name "AdSense," and Overture's program is entitled "Content Match." Other players include Industry Brains, Enhance Interactive (formerly ah-ha.com), Searchfeed, and Kanoodle. Where Are Contextual Ads Displayed? Google content-ads are shown on HowStuffWorks, Mac Publishing sites (Macworld.com, MacCentral, JavaWorld, and LinuxWorld), New York Post Online, Reed Business Information sites (Variety.com and Manufacturing.net), U.S. News & World Report online, and thousands of other participating sites. Yahoo!-owned Overture's ads are shown across Yahoo! (Games, Groups, News, Shopping, and Travel), several MSN areas (MSN Entertainment, MSN Money, and MSN Family), InfoSpace, and Edmunds.com, to name just a few. How Do I Participate? One important detail that catches many novice marketers off guard is that when you launch a pay-per-click campaign on Google or Overture, contextual advertising is turned ON by default. You must proactively opt out of the program if you do not want to participate. Turning contextual ads OFF is easily accomplished by adjusting your campaign settings. How Do I Track Results? Both Google and Overture offer the option of separating results for traditional keyword ads and contextual ads in their reporting systems, so advertisers can measure impressions, click-through rate, cost-per-click, and conversion (if you are tracking this through the ad provider) by each type of ad. Similarities and Differences Contextual advertising and traditional search ads are similar in that advertisers buy both through the same provider, as part of a single campaign. In both cases, keywords and bids determine if an ad is displayed, and in what position it is presented relative to the competition. The same text ad is displayed (i.e., title, description, and URL) either way. Finally, advertisers pay on a cost-per-click basis. The fundamental difference is that traditional search ads appear on search engine results pages after someone enters a query containing a keyword matching or related to the ones being bid on. The key point here is that the person viewing your ad has proactively gone to a search engine looking for something related to your products or services. In contrast, content ads are not shown on search engine results pages at all, but rather on web pages containing content deemed to be relevant to your keywords. The people who see your ads on these pages are not necessarily actively searching. This illustrates the fundamental difference between "search mode" and "surfer or browse mode." In fact, many advertisers view traditional search ads and contextual ads as very different things, and believe that contextual advertising is more appropriately compared to ad placement in niche magazines than to traditional pay-per-click advertising. Recent Results Contextual advertising is not a new concept in traditional marketing or eMarketing, but it is a fairly new option for search advertisers. Google's program has been around for about a year, Overture's a bit less. So far, ad providers are reporting that results for contextual ads are similar to those for traditional pay-per-click programs. However, many advertisers complain that click-through and conversion rates are much lower. Based on this feedback, Overture now allows separate bids for traditional and contextual ads. Google has not followed suit; their keywords still have *one* bid associated with them. My personal experience is that click-through rate tends to be much lower, and cost-per-conversion a bit higher, with contextual ads. However, I've also found that contextual advertising can provide substantial impressions at a very competitive rate. For example, for one of my clients, 80% of their monthly search advertising investment and 83% of clicks come from traditional pay-per-click ads. The 20% of their budget attributable to contextual ads is, in fact, less efficient from a pure cost-per-conversion basis. So you might be inclined to say, "turn it off." But not so fast: By adding content-targeted ads, the client has gained nearly five million contextual impressions per month at an additional cost of only $4,000. Because this amounts to a CPM of about $0.80, they are very pleased with these results. (Keep in mind that this company is in a *very* active search category -- most advertisers will not see impressions of this volume.) Recommendations Test and measure before you invest significantly. Content-targeted search ads are great for advertisers wanting to maximize their reach and frequency across the web in a very relevant way. If you are interested in volume of impressions or maximum exposure, contextual advertising may be perfect for you. This can be an extremely cost-effective way to enhance a brand online, and your results may be very favorable on a cost-per-impression basis when compared to other methods. Contextual ads are also great for companies who have already fully utilized the traditional keyword inventory available to them, but who continue to look for additional online advertising opportunities. That said, advertisers who are driven solely by cost-per-conversion should test the waters carefully before engaging in a full-scale content-targeting program. Additional Resources Overture's advertising center: <http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ac/ba/cm.jhtml>. For Google, visit: <https://adwords.google.com/select/faq/sample.html>. Patricia Hursh SmartSearch Marketing http://www.SmartSearchMarketing.com [If you're interested in gaining more in-depth knowledge about PPC, check out Patricia's SmartSearch Marketing workshops mentioned in the first sponsor ad in the top half of this newsletter! - Jill] __________You need the "write" skills____________________ Your site is only as good as its copywriting. __________________________________________________ If your site is poorly written, your sales will be slow. You *must* speak to your target audience with each and every word you write. At the same time, keeping your keywords featured prominently is a bit of a juggling act. Save $10 on the most powerful copywriting combo available today! Karon Thackston's Step-By-Step Copywriting Course & Jill Whalen's Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines. Click the "Buy Both" button on this page: </combohra92>. __________________________________________________ ~~~Stuff You Might Like~~~ ++ClickTracks Version 5.0 Released++ Earlier today, ClickTracks Analytics, Inc. announced the availability of version 5.0 of their award-winning web metrics software. ClickTracks Analyzer 5.0 ($495) and ClickTracks Professional 5.0 (pricing starts at $2995) are the latest additions to the marketer-friendly line of software. Version 5.0 keeps the same intuitive, highly visual user interface of previous versions while adding even more features to the program. I've played around with the old ClickTracks version and it's pretty cool. The new version definitely seems to be worth looking into, as it has tons of new features. Since measuring conversions is too important to miss (i.e., which traffic on your site is comprised of visitors who are buying your stuff), it's really critical to have a powerful software package that can keep track of these things. You can learn more at the ClickTracks site here: </clicktracks>. ~~~High Rankings Forum Thread of the Week~~~ ++Competitive Terms, What Are They?++ In the forum today, we've been discussing how to determine the competitiveness of any given keyword phrase. Come join the fun here: </forum/index.php?showtopic=5072> ~~~Sound Advice~~~ ++How Many Words Do You Need for High Rankings?++ </soundadvice> ~~~Advisor Wrap-up~~~ So let's see...not much happening this week in my world. Ho-hum! Just the same old, same old. I may have some really interesting news in a few weeks though, so be sure to stay tuned! Until next week...have fun! - Jill    |
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