Search Engine Strategies – San Jose 2008

Whew, so the first day of Search Engine Strategies is finally complete.  What a crazy day, I have so much in my brain right now it’s almost overwhelming.  There are so many things I can apply to what I am doing currently, let alone what I haven’t already implemented.

The sessions I sat in today we’re extremely valuable to me.  I was able to get an insiders look from high end experts deep inside the search engines themselves as well as reputable website conversion experts such as Bryan Eisenberg from Future Now and Grok Dot Com.

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Can Cuil play with the Big Boys?

I have mentioned a site I visit regularly quite a few times on my blog.  It’s called SEOmoz. Masterminded by Rand Fishkin and his crew they come up with some awesome info about SEO as a whole.

Anyway, after my post yesterday I thought maybe I was a bit harsh on Cuil.  I started reading around to see what others thought.  Of course I went to my valuable resources, which SEOmoz being one I noticed Rand Fishkin had come up with a very extensive review of Cuil.  I thought I better share it the all ya’lls.

I don’t know if you’re like me but I am a huge visual learner.  If I see it, it just clicks for me.  Another reason I like SEOmoz so much.  You can take the time to read the post or just skim through it and see the major points through the visual aids.

Here is what caught my eye instantly…

Rand Fishkin came up with his own system that broke down all the major elements a search engine should have and ranked them accordingly.  If this image doesn’t intrigue to read further then I apologize I made you read this far.  If it does, you can continue reading SEOmoz’s latest blog post -

Comparing Search Engine Performance: How does Cuil Stack Up to Google, Yahoo!, Live & Ask”

Just to clarify… I honestly just like SEOmoz and their knowledge they so willilngly share.  I don’t know Rand Fishkin or any member of SEOmoz I am just spreading the love.

I hate that I feel like I have to do that ya know…  Some people are just lame and get a kick out taking things out of context.

Anyway, enjoy the awesomeness SEOmoz brings with this featured post.

What do you guys think about this?

Let’s face it Cuil sucks.

Do a search for anything you’re interested in… I’ll guarantee that the images that show up next to your results make no sense.  Also, what’s with changing the flow of how the results show up.  The top 3 search engines all serve up their results the exact same.  Why?  Because that’s what we’re used to.

But no, Cuil spits them out in 3 columns and you have the option to choose 2 columns.  What is this like a WordPress blog or something?  I feel like I’m searching through a wordpress theme directory or something.  It just doesn’t look right.

Anyone who honestly thought they would even compete with Google needs some serious help.  Look at Yahoo! for a minute.  I mean if Yahoo! can’t find away to become a bigger search engine then Google then how the hell do you think Cuil is going to do it overnight.

Oh sorry I forgot Cuil is backed by $33 million in Venture Capital and was started by ex-employees of Google.  Whoa!  I guess I didn’t realize that.  Well in that case yeah I think Cuil is going to be bigger then Google. You idiots.

They forgot that Google is backed by billions & billions of dollars.  Oh yeah and the fact that Google… well is Google.  How could you honestly think that they would out do Google.

Anyway, if I see one more post about how Cuil is going to take over the world one Google at a time… I might blow a gasket.

Can I get a hell yeah or something?  Is anyone with me?

Ok ok ok… this isn’t the real reason but this is better then any other theory.

Apperantly, Microsoft Live Search admitted to being too “strict” on websites and how they were indexed. They are in the process of making the algorithm no so tough on websites.

Quote from a Microsoft Represenative:

The Live Search team is in the process of modifying the algorithms we use to determine which sites are indexed by Live Search index and which sites receive a ranking so our crawlers will visit the site. At the end of September we launched new ranking and indexing algorithms that were stricter than we anticipated, and we are now changing them to bring back many sites that were removed from our index or given a lower rank. We apologize that it is taking so long to remedy this situation, and we are treating it very seriously. Having high quality content is important to us and we want to make sure we get this right.

We do not have an exact date for fixing this issue, but our plan is to have it resolved near the end of spring. This is our number one priority and we have put all our resources into solving it and bringing a better balance to our indexing so it won’t happen again. We appreciate your patience while we resolve this issue, and hope you understand that at this time there is nothing we can do to modify or improve your site’s index or ranking.

Even when it comets to pay per click, Microsoft adCenter is still so far behind Google Adwords and Yahoo! Sponsored Search its not even funny. Don’t get me wrong they have come a long way & are continuing to get better everyday. Not to mention adCenter has created a fair amount of revenue for me and my clients.

I understand that Microsoft Live Search and adCenter are new but It’s just crazy to me the Microsoft can’t even get there algorithim right?

Does anyone else agree with me?

After writing my previous article it got me thinking. A few days ago I was asked a common question by 2 of my web design clients.

“Hey, now that the site is up and going why am I not showing up in the search engines?”

It’s hard to answer because how do you explain everything to them in 1. less then an hour session 2. without sounding like your trying to make an excuse or justify something. Honestly, anyone that has attempted SEO knows it take months before you show up in the search results and you see any type of benefit at all.

Really, most people do not understand all the algorithms given by the search engines, keyword density, age of the domain name, title and meta tags and so on.

Here is a better description direct from Wikipedia

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results for targeted keywords. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it “ranks”, the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.

As a marketing strategy for increasing a site’s relevance, SEO considers how search algorithms work and what people search for. SEO efforts may involve a site’s coding, presentation, and structure, as well as fixing problems that could prevent search engine indexing programs from fully spidering a site. Other, more noticeable efforts may include adding unique content to a site, ensuring that content is easily indexed by search engine robots, and making the site more appealing to users. Another class of techniques, known as black hat SEO or spamdexing, use methods such as link farms and keyword stuffing that tend to harm search engine user experience. Search engines look for sites that employ these techniques and may remove them from their indexes.

The initialism “SEO” can also refer to “search engine optimizers”, a term adopted by an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients, and by employees who perform SEO services in-house. Search engine optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a broader marketing campaign. Because effective SEO may require changes to the HTML source code of a site, SEO tactics may be incorporated into web site development and design. The term “search engine friendly” may be used to describe web site designs, menus, content management systems and shopping carts that are easy to optimize.

Wikipedia Description of PPC

Pay per click (PPC) is an advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content websites/blogs, where advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an ad to visit the advertiser’s website. Advertisers bid on keywords they predict their target market will use as search terms when they are looking for a product or service. When a user types a keyword query matching the advertiser’s keyword list, or views a page with relevant content, the advertiser’s ad may be shown. These ads are called a “Sponsored link” or “sponsored ads” and appear next to or above the “natural” or organic results on search engine results pages, or anywhere a webmaster/blogger chooses on a content page.

ROI

The most obvious benefit to SEO is the ROI. It doesn’t cost anything to you when a visitor finds you through organic or natural search. Thats not to say the ROI earned on SEO efforts is necessarily better then PPC though.

Why? With SEO you are limited to a number of things. How you can manipulate the user and where you show up in the search engines is night and day when it comes to SEO and PPC.

With PPC in just a few clicks you can show up in Google, Yahoo, MSN or any 2nd tier search engines. With SEO its just not that easy. It can take months and months before you have made any impact in the major search engines.

A few benefits of PPC -

• Manipulate what position or rank you want to show up in the search engines (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th………..)
• What time of the day you want to show your ad.
• You choose the budget you want to spend.
• Geo Target Specific Locations.
  • Local (by zip code, radius of location, metro areas, etc.)
  • Regional (one region or scattered regions throughout the country.)
  • Nationwide
  • Global
• Most importantly you choose the keywords you want to target.

If you have an experienced PPC specialist running your Paid Search campaign the ROI will always be bigger with PPC and the results and growth of your business will rise tremendously.

Keyword Targeting

Targeting the keywords you want in your search engine marketing strategies is a must.

Obviously, certain keywords are more profitable then others. More specific keywords tend to convert better then more generic keywords. Again, with PPC you have the ability to send traffic to your site with any keyword you want.

SEO is a little different ball game. Maybe after months of hard work you are finally ranked number 1 in Google for the keyword or term, “Apple MacBook Pro” but thats only ONE term, the more popular searched term is actually “Macbook Pro” and you are no where to be found. Plus, say that was three months ago and now that new hot product is the “Macbook Air.” Now what??? All that time, energy & manipulating the search engines weren’t as effective as you hoped.

With PPC you would of course have all of those keywords or terms in your ad groups keyword list to gain the most traffic and revenue.

Flexibility

With PPC you have all the flexibility you could ever want.

• Advertise in any search engine.
• Choose keywords you want to target.
• Point to product detial pages and landing page of your choosing.
• Write the ad copy specific to the user, your product, seasonal etc.

So now when you ask yourself, “Can I afford to spend money on paid search in my budget?”

Ask yourself this instead… “Can I afford not to?”

And for all of the “Search Marketing Gurus”

This post is my opinion. Not anyone else. The points I make are true. I know that the entirety of SEO and PPC are much more then this post but this is more of a brief explanation rather then a Search Engine Marketing Handbook… So just chill out and don’t leave comments on how much you know and what I missed.