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Sunday, June 5, 2016

Optimizing for SEO vs Google AdWords

Today I want to clear up a common misconception about your website.  Scroll down to learn why it’s a mistake to try to optimize the same webpage for both SEO and online advertising.

Why You Can Not Optimize One Webpage
For Both SEO and Advertising 

I realized as I was meeting with a client last week that there’s a common misconception about how to optimize your website for search engine optimization (SEO) and search advertising (i.e. Google AdWords).
 
For both SEO and search advertising, your website plays a critical, yet very different, role.  The misconception is that a single webpage can be optimized for both online marketing tactics.  This is simply not possible and in this article I’ll explain why you need separate pages for SEO versus search advertising.
 
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The Many Roles of Your Website
 
The primary role of your website is to convert visitors into leads and customers.  It’s no different than a sales position in your company, and you should judge your website performance accordingly.  Sure, you may love your new, slick design, but does your “upgraded” website drive any more sales than the previous one?  That’s the all important question.
 
Next, assuming your prospects search for your products and services in Google, then your website must also have the appropriate pages for Google to display in the search results.  If your prospect searches for “huarache running sandals” and your website does not have a page about huarache running sandals, then guess what, Google is not going to show your website in the results.  The first step with SEO is to make sure you have a webpage for each of your target keywords.  That’s SEO 101.
 
Finally, if you’re going to advertise, then you need pages on your site that perfectly match the different offers you’re going to make in your ads.  For example, if you advertise a special buy one pair of sandals and get a free running shirt offer, then you better prominently display that on the ad landing page.  If prospects don’t find what they’re looking for within seconds of clicking an ad, then they’ll click back and go to a competitor’s website.
 
So let’s recap:
  1. Your website should be designed to convert visitors to sales.
  2. To optimize your website for search engines like Google, you must have pages that match the keywords you want to target.  These pages need to be set up properly so Google knows they are 100% relevant to the target keywords.  The goal of your SEO efforts is to first get ranked in Google so you drive traffic to your site.  If you can’t drive traffic, then there’s no one to convert into customer :)
  3. To optimize your website for search advertising, you must have pages that match the offer in your ads (which also must match the keywords you’re targeting).  The sole purpose of these pages is to sell.  You’re buying traffic so all you need to worry about with your ad landing pages is converting the traffic into sales.
See how your pages optimized for SEO have different goals than your ad landing pages?  With SEO, your webpage must be set up to get ranked in Google.  Of course, you also need to convert the SEO traffic, but getting ranked is the primary goal.  With advertising, your webpage should be structured with only one goal in mind: get the highest conversion rate possible.
 

Why SEO Pages Do Not Make Great Ad Landing Pages

The temptation is to try to optimize your webpages for both SEO and advertising.  Sure, they are both online advertising tactics.  Plus, your website is an integral component in both.  But they really are different beasts.  A webpage optimized for SEO will typically not be the best landing page for your advertising campaign.
 
For one of my clients, the best ad landing page is simply a video that gives information and presents a compelling sales pitch to buy the product.  There’s no way we could optimize a video page like this for SEO.  On the flip side, the best pages for SEO typically do not convert high enough to be profitable on paid search advertising.
 
This is a very important concept to remember as you get started with online marketing.  Do not fall into the trap of trying to optimize your webpages for both SEO and advertising.  You must create different pages and optimize each tactic separately.

Top 5 Reasons to Invest In SEO Now

There’s a lot of skepticism about whether or not SEO is still a relevant tactic. That’s why in today’s article we address 5 reasons why SEO is (and likely will always be) a great investment for your business.

The Top 5 Reasons to Invest in SEO

 
Does SEO still matter?
 
Given how dramatically the online landscape has changed — more people access the Web through smartphones than desktop, and social media is king among mobile users — it’s natural to wonder whether good-old fashioned SEO tactics have suddenly become obsolete.
 

But don’t worry, the answer is yes, SEO still matters.
 

In fact, good SEO might matter more today than it did a few years ago.
 

Google still processes more than 100 billion searches per month, and more than half of those searches are made from mobile devices. And while some aspects of old-fashioned SEO have been greatly diminished, many of the old rules still ring true today.
 

For example, content is still king, but there’s vastly more content online and more businesses are vying for attention. Marketers and business owners must evolve with the times or risk being left behind.
 

Good SEO doesn’t happen overnight, and getting more active on Facebook won’t replace the value of a great ranking in Google. Read on to learn the top 5 reasons why business owners should still invest in SEO.
 
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1. SEO is an asset – it’s a good investment since it keeps paying dividends.

See all those people with their noses in their smartphones? They might be texting someone about what their spouse, friends or coworkers said. Or, they might be finding a place for happy hour, researching home improvement ideas or eyeing new running shoes.
 
Mobile technology has greatly affected how people interact with the Internet, and that includes how and when people search for the goods and services they need. Now, people are more likely to use Google when standing in line for coffee, waiting for doctor appointments or riding in cars with friends.
 
Given the mobile nature of Web searches, people are much more likely to visit businesses or buy products online as a direct result of good SEO – and that’s huge.
 
The simple truth is that investing in SEO is a smart business decision. It always has been, and there’s no reason to believe that will change. It’s crucial to view SEO as an investment rather than a purchase. Business owners who continue to invest in good SEO are much more likely to continue connecting with customers online despite seismic shifts in how people interact with the Web.
 

2. SEO helps conversions.

Having a great website that’s fully functional on smartphones and tablets is a must in today’s mobile world – but what good is an amazing website if nobody ever sees it?
 
When your website ranks at the top of Google, people are pre-sold on working with you. Organic results at or near the top of the rankings are often assumed to be authorities in their fields of expertise and make prospects more likely to trust you and therefore more likely to convert.
 
Having good content (remember, content is king) is the foundation of good SEO, and visitors are more likely to become paying customers when your website provides useful, engaging content.
 
The combination of having a solid website and a high ranking in Google is great for your company’s brand. Visitors and customers are both more likely to not only find your business, but to come back again later.
 

3. SEO is a zero sum game. So if you stand still, you’ll lose market share.

Ever play musical chairs? There are never enough seats for everyone in the circle, and when the music stops, someone always loses – and snagging a chair only gets tougher.
 
These days, landing an above-the-fold position in Google is a lot like musical chairs. Google is allocating less space for organic results and more room for PPC ads, local Web directory listings and even direct answers for search queries. Investing in SEO is absolutely vital for staying on the first page of the Google results.
 
Mobile SEO is even more competitive. According to 2015 data from the marketing firm MobileMoxie, only 3 percent of Google searches in the United States return only organic search results. In many cases, Google prevents any organic results from showing above the fold, instead opting to show lists, graphs, PPC ads with extensions, locator maps and more.
 
When the music stops, you want to make sure there’s still a seat for your business!
 

4. It’s not a fad — it will continue to change, but it’s not going anywhere.

Ah, the 1980s… The decade of success is fondly remembered for saxophone solos, fluorescent colors, Showtime basketball and angsty coming-of-age films.
But marketing gurus look back at the 80s and see it as something far more profound – the last days of advertising when the Internet didn’t matter.
 
It seems almost obligatory that people wonder each year whether SEO really matters. Not only has SEO mattered for roughly 20 years, but it will likely evolve and be relevant for decades.
 
Up until the end of the 80s, consumers tended to learn about products via radio, television and print ads, and purchasing decisions were often made in stores.
 
Nowadays, consumers often reach decisions on what to purchase – a moment that Google calls the Zero Moment of Truth, or ZMOT – while browsing websites on their phones. In other words, good SEO is arguably more influential to consumers than the full force of advertising channels from yesteryear.
 

5. Local SEO can be a huge opportunity.

About to leave the grocery store, and you feel like grabbing Indian food on the way home? Or are you out running errands and suddenly remember that you need a new outfit for an upcoming party?
 
In the past, finding on-the-fly answers for spur-of-the-moment impulses was significantly less convenient. Now, thanks to smartphones, consumers can instantly find and compare nearby restaurants, retailers and any other kind of business – and according to research from Google, 50 percent of local searches led to consumers visiting stores on the same day.
 
If you’re a business owner, make sure your company is listed on Google My Business and ensure your business name and contact information are displayed correctly on your website, Facebook page, Bing Local, and any other online channel. You should also register your business on leading online review sites such as Yelp, Angie’s List, Urbanspoon and TripAdvisor. Online review site listings like these are often listed on the first pages of search results.
 
While businesses are starting to put efforts into Local SEO, there is still plenty of opportunity to build yours up before your competitors and now is the time to beat your competitors to the punch.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

AdWords Tip: How to Boost Your Quality Score (in 24 Hours)

Yesterday, I helped one of our Marketing Breakthrough members clean up his AdWords account.  Together, we ran some reports and quickly saw that some of the keywords had low Quality Scores.  It didn’t take us long to see what the problem was by looking at the Keyword Status and within 24-hours we improved many keywords from a 5/10 to a 7/10 Quality Score.
 
Want to know how we did this?  It was only about 15-minutes of work and is sure to have a big impact on the campaign performance the rest of the month.
 
First, let’s get up to speed on Quality Score…
 
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What is the AdWords Quality Score

The best way to think about the AdWords Quality Score is that it’s Google’s grade for your ad campaign.  If Google thinks your ads are not set up properly, then you’ll get a low grade of 1-3 out of 10.  If your ads are above average, then you’ll get a grade of 7, 8, 9, or even a perfect 10/10.
 
Your grade is then multiplied by your bid to determine your Ad Rank.  So a higher Quality Score leads to a higher Ad Rank, which means you’ll be ranked higher on the page.  If you do the math, you can also see that you don’t need to bid as high as your competitors to outrank them if you have a higher quality score.  For example, if you have a 10/10 quality score while bidding $2, and your competitor has a 5/10 quality score bidding $3, then you’ll outrank your competitor.
 
(10 QS) x ($2 bid) = 20 Ad Rank
(5 QS) x ($3 bid) = 15 Ad Rank
 
Again, the higher the Ad Rank, the better ad position you’ll have in the search results.  So in this example, a $2 bid would outrank a $3 bid.  Clearly, quality score is a huge leverage point in any AdWords campaign and that’s why it was the focus of my call yesterday.
 

How to Check Your Quality Scores

To check your current keyword quality scores, go to the Keywords tab in your AdWords account.  Under the “Status” column, you’ll most likely see “Eligible” along with an icon that looks like a speech bubble.  Click on the speech bubble and you’ll see your quality score, along with information about your expected click through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience.  All three of those factors are ranked as “average,” “above average,” or the dreaded “below average.”
 
You can also check quality scores by adding the Quality Score Column to your AdWords report, but you won’t see the grades for the three factors above.
 

How We Improved Quality Scores in 24-Hours

When I reviewed the keyword quality score information with my client, we noticed some of the keywords had below average ad relevance. The click through rate and landing page experience were both average, but the ad relevance was dragging us down.
 
Ah ha! We identify an easy problem to fix.
 
If you find yourself in this situation, then navigate over to the Ads tab in your account to draft new ads.  In the new ads, include the keyword you’re targeting in the ad group.  Now, if your ad group has many different phrases, then you have another problem on your hands.  I recommend you restructure your account so only similar phrased keywords are in a single ad group.  That will allow you to match the ads precisely to the keywords.
 
As I mentioned earlier, by simply drafting ads that included the keyword, we were able to improve our keyword quality scores overnight!  Take a look at your keyword quality scores and follow these steps if you also have below average ad relevance.

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