Jon's In Waikiki (AKA The Waikiki Marketer)

Google is making some adjustments to their AdWords system. Specifically how they’ll rank your ad in the search engine listings. The idea is that they want to take out the influence of the ad position on the click rate. They haven’t been explicit about what that means, surprise surprise. Most blogs note that the same ad in the 6th position tends to get a better click thru rate if moved to the 4th position.

However, I believe they might have missed the negative effect that Google might be including. By that I mean just the reverse of the above example: that the 4th position ad would probably not do as well in the 6th position despite being the exact same ad.

Search engine marketing, and search engine optimization, does have a lot to do with positioning. However, it’s quality that (usually) gets you to those positions. That’s what most people forget when chasing Google success.

That brings us to the next change ing Google’s search advertising system. Google is now using something they call a ‘Quality Threshold’ test for top position ads. According to their new search ad ranking, a lower positioned ad can actually leapfrog to the top search ad postion(s) if it passes the ‘Quality Threshold’ and the top ads do not.

What exactly is included in this ‘Quality Threshold’ standard? Google isn’t talking, except in very general terms. What you can rely on is that a targeted ad, sent to a targeted landing page will help your search engine fortunes. Keep writing good AdWords ads that convert, that are on subject and you’ll be on the right path. That’s search engine marketing.

I’m amazed when I look over a potential client’s site and they have the same title on every page. It’s one of the most basic search engine optimization techniques out there.

Why would a company use the same page title on every page?

Maybe they didn’t understand the value of varying their page titles. Maybe they think that using the same titles will give them an extra edge in their chosen keyphrase. Maybe they got a little lazy.

Whatever the reason, they’re missing a big SEO opportunity.

When the search engine spiders see the same title over and over, that says ‘it’s the same content on this page as all the others’, at least on 1st look.

The spider will pick up the content on the page and change its mind, but the duplicate title is a strike against you.

The title also communicates something to the searcher. They see your title and a brief description, that’s it.

Your title and description must compete and communicate in the midst of up to 9 competitors saying something similar.

That means your title must reflect the keyphrase entered into the search engine, not just your main keyphrase.

One keyphrase does not fit all searches, even in a niche market. Remember all of this before you decide to keep the same title on every page because it’s easy to do so.

Your SEO will thank you for that.

CTR (Click Thru Rate) is a good indicator of success, but it’s not foolproof. If you don’t check other indicators, you might be fooling yourself. You think all’s well and it ain’t. What’s the solution?

The solution is that you need to take it to the next level. You have to track the results. The dot com bust was a result of this belief in one piece of data over all others.

They believed in traffic, at the expense of any real income or profit. If you focus solely on CTR, you might be making the same mistake.

You must examine those keyphrases you’re targeting, whether that’s for SEO or a Google Ads campaign, and see if they’re producing response. Your response will vary according to what you’re after, so that could be a sale or a client lead.

I can say from personal experience that keyphrases that were giving my clients excellent CTRs had to be eliminated.

They were not producing response – a lot of traffic, but little to no sales. They were targeted as far as being on topic, but they didn’t produce.

Again, CTR can be a great indicator of SEO or Pay-Per-Click performance, but going by that alone can hurt you.

Take it to the next level – test and track your optimization/marketing.

Many are wondering about where the economy is going. We’re obviously experiencing a slowdown. Whether that means a full scale recession will happen, or even is happening, is uncertain.

What is certain is that search engine marketing and optimization will be the way to go in tight times.

This is backed up by recent surveys that show an increase in the amount businesses are spending on search marketing, including Google Ads/Pay-Per-Click as well as organic search engine optimization.

The 3rd quarter of this year showed big gains across the board. And there’s good reason for that.

Many businesses are finally realizing that search engine marketing really is the most cost-effective marketing avenue out there. Although the numbers backed this up there was a reluctance to fully embrace it for some reason.

Whether that stemmed from so many getting burned in the dot com bust of 2000/2001 or a reluctance to embrace a new marketing at the expense of the traditional outlets, the tipping point was finally reached.

Keep in mind, however, that its cost-effectiveness relies on the same criterion of other marketing. You still need targeted, knowledgeable and responsive methods to get the benefits. It’s not magic.

It’s an excellent marketing opportunity, but one that still requires effort and smarts. Money can be thrown away on Google as easily as it can be on print ads. So approach it with open arms, but a cautious mind.

Google has urged in writing that web sites submit to directories, especially DMOZ & Yahoo, for years. At least until a week or 2 ago.

Their webmaster guide, followed closely by the SEO community, has always been important, especially since the search engine race is  owned by Google.

The deletion of that suggestion immediately caused many to say that it meant that directories were no longer important. That Google might be moving back to content as a bigger deciding factor in ranking. In other words, something closer to what Yahoo and MSN have been.

It might be, but probably not to the degree that those SEOs believe. It’s been well known for some time that a DMOZ link is not nearly as valuable for ranking as it once was. That development, which is at least 2 or 3 years old, was met with a sigh of relief from people like this writer. DMOZ was well known for its questionable practices about who got a link and who didn’t.

As for directory links at large, Google is saying that they’re just choosing not to highlight it in the webmaster guidelines. That sounds like Orwell speak, but it might be true. I believe that directories are still a good start for a link campaign, even if their value has dropped a little. Whether that drop has actually taken place isn’t at all clear, though.

What this means for good, effective SEO is that you should continue to do what you’ve always done – write & created targeted, solid content and continue your link campaigns, including directories. No reason to panic.

One of the most common questions I get is whether I ‘just SEO for Google’ or something similar.

Prospective clients have the impression that optimizing can be done specifically for one search engine or that SEO that helps in ranking in Yahoo won’t help in Google.

There’s something to that, but not in the way they’re thinking. For example, on-page factors are taken into account by Yahoo faster than Google.

By that I mean that you’ll see a faster payoff in Yahoo rankings when you make (good) on-site SEO changes.

Because Google is slower to reward on-site, and even off-site, SEO work, many see the quicker ranking movement in Yahoo as a long-term effect.

In other words, because Google’s policy is to hold off and give full credit for your SEO only over time, they tend to miss the effect.

It happens slowly and sometimes long after the work is done. Therefore it appears that Yahoo does reward the SEO changes while Google doesn’t.

It’s an understandable misconception when people observe what seems to be a clear Cause And Effect relationship.

Good SEO, good content, good keyword work will benefit you in all search engines. But keep in mind that the rate of return will be slower in Google probably.

Patience is needed in the search engine world. Remember, SEO is a long term marketing strategy.

Google has addressed the complex problem of doing SEO/optimization for sites using dynamic pages.

Most SEO strategies for these sites centered on Mod Rewrite to turn those multi-variable addresses into something more search engine friendly.

The problem was that this could go wrong and hurt the site’s standing if not done carefully and with forethought.

Google’s new posting on what they want to see from sites is a mix of enlightenment and further confusion.

Reading the comments at the bottom of it will show you exactly what they did – and didn’t – address clearly. It might be a case of opening a can of worms that was already losing its top.

Still it is worth reading and could help us all in trying to feed to Google the kind of SEO that they want and reward. You can read all about it here:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/09/dynamic-urls-vs-static-urls.html

This will open in a new window, by the way.

It’s been some time since I wrote a post here. That’s what happens when you’re on the board of your Jaycees chapter. Time flies when you’re busy.

When Google Sitemaps first came out I was an instant convert. I added them to every site I worked on, including my own. And I updated them religiously. Then I fell out of the habit. So what’s the result?

I have to say that having the Sitemaps didn’t seem to make a difference. Rankings didn’t come any better or quicker from their use. And believe me, I used them. There’s been some time since I stopped using them – I haven’t updated them in months, possibly even a year in certain cases.

It hasn’t mattered. My work is still producing search engine gains and all without the use of Google Sitemaps. Many clients, and prospective clients, ask me whether using them will somehow give them an edge with Google. Answer: Nope.

In fact I haven’t bothered to install them in my most recent clients sites. Will I regret it someday? Who knows – maybe Google will suddenly make them all important. You never know with them. But I doubt it. Search engine optimization (SEO) is, and always will be, more about the content, the linking, the ability for search bots to get the content clearly and other factors.

So, if you’re thinking about adding a Google Sitemap or if you’re worried because you never added one, the message is: Don’t Sweat It. Work on more important additions to your site. Rankings will come from good work, not good Sitemaps.

The 2nd feature of Google AdWords that has seen improvements added is the Ad Diagnostics Tool. Basically, the tool is for those keywords you believe your AdWords ad should be showing for – but itsn’t.

It can be very frustrating to aim an ad at a specific audience and/or keyword phrase and come up empty. The Ad Diagnostics Tool is intended to give you an idea of why that is happening. It should be kept in mind that the answer you get from using the tool isn’t necessarily the actual reason for the problem. So what’s the difference from before? Good question.

Before, when asking for an answer from the tool, that’s what you got. An answer, as in 1, and only 1, answer as to why your ad might not be showing. While that reply was often helpful, if not completely dead on, you were usually missing some side of the problem and how to solve it.

Now the tool gives you multiple answers and pointers for curing your AdWords ill(s). Again, keep in mind that these are possible solutions you’re getting, not necessarily The Solution to the lack of success in appearing for your intended keyword(s). Still, getting more than a single answer gives you greater odds that you’ll get closure.

After all, if it’s one thing causing it, you have a better chance at getting the right answer in the multiple answers you now get, instead of the one shot you formerly got.

If the solution arises from a combination of factors, then you no chance of completely fixing it before with the single output available. Think of it as getting more pulls on the slot machine lever. For those in Hawaii, that’s probably the best metaphor I could use.

Are you a Google AdWords user/advertiser? Google AdWords has added a couple of new features to aid you (and me) in running your campaigns. Here’s the breakdown:

IMPROVEMENT #1 – Location Targeting

If you used the AdWords geographic targeting tool before, you know that you chose could choose areas, but if you only wanted to choose one certain part of a country to target, you had to create a separate campaign for it. In other words if you wanted to choose all of Asia and just the Western states of the U.S., you had to do 2 campaigns. 1 for Asia, 1 for the US states. Now you can choose both in one campaign.

The new targeting tool takes the form of an interactive map. That’s a great improvement over the old-school list of nation/state/city names that preceded this. With the map you can make choices in different countries at different levels of specificity.

Still, having not used this yet myself, I’m unsure how well you can tell the campaign is doing in one area over another if they’re in the same campaign. There’s always the option of an analytics campaign tracking it, but that adds another step to getting to that data – assuming that you can’t see it from inside AdWords, that is.

Improvement #2 will be addressed in the next post. Stay tuned.