This is a perennial question - and with the recent changes at Google, with upwards of 87% of incoming search traffic now encrypted - people are starting to ask my opinion on this subject yet again.
Allow me to quickly recap this for you : in the past, we saw incoming data in services like Analytics and StatCounter, as well as Squidoo, Blogger and HubPages stats that let us see where the traffic came from. We got the exact URL (address) which meant that for search engines, we got the actual query.
The aforementioned services needed to do a bit of URL bashing to get them out, but they were (and for Yahoo!, some local Google's and other search engines, they still are) available to turn into business intelligence.
That business intelligence was which keywords brought which visitors to what page. Tracking their paths afterwards through the site allowed us to make logical links between the keywords and eventual sales.
That was the foundation of keyword research for many, many tools. Remove the search terms, and they are left with... nothing.
Almost.
They still get query data from the 20% of searches (in some markets!) that aren't done on Google, but that's little help in many cases.
What's more help is that Google still lets us have some keyword data via AdWords - and in particular the Adwords Keyword Planner - which has now been taken advantage of by many tools.
Which brings us to the answer : Yes. Buy a tool. Invest in a service. Pay for keyword research.
However, be aware that there are no tools that have a special relationship with Google, there are no shortcuts, no silver bullets. You are paying for a tool to perform the same tasks that you could, using freely available tools, but much, much more quickly.
Some have the ability to link certain bits of data together and make recommendations, and allow calculations to be done that draw logical conclusions, but the basic data can be replicated with a bit of hard work.
Personally, I only use one tool (Market Samurai, feel free to do a Google search for it) alongside the free stats services, as well as some techniques that I explain in the Keyword Cracker Inner Circle material, but in the end it all boils down to what you do with them.
So, tools are good, but applied keyword intelligence is better!
Showing posts with label keyword. Show all posts
Showing posts with label keyword. Show all posts
Friday, October 18, 2013
Friday, September 6, 2013
Keyword Fishing : Tip for Keyword Research and Analysis
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| Money Fishing (via SXC) |
It is powerful because it takes its cue from actual keyword data and content producers reactions to that data.
The first thing that you can do is turn Google's AdWords lens on yourself and analyze your own content in the quest for new keyword trends.
If you look low down the list of suggested keywords for your content (using the Google Keyword Planner, for example) you will usually find some long-tail keyword phrases that throw up new keyword pairs that you haven't though of.
There is always the danger that this is a self-referential technique, though, with search lists become more and more narrow as the keyword gene pool is exhausted. To avoid this, it pays to expand the content set to fresh sources of keyword inspiration.
Choosing a Keyword Fishing Source
Whether you want to get a fresh keyword perspective on your niche, or are doing some deep research for an SEO client, it is important to pick sources that reflect the content consumers. These are usually (and in keyword research and keyword cracker terms, exclusively) search users.
So, to get a good feel for their opinion, it is important to use consumer generated content to generate lists of keywords that diligent filtering can pare down to a set of useful phrases.
Such content includes:
- other people's blogs;
- comments pages from (open) forums;
- consumer reviews;
- services like Yahoo Answers.
Other good sources include Google News results, Bing News results (which now includes Twitter/Facebook) according to C|Net, and even Twitter feeds, providing that the correct filtering has been applied.
Actually doing the fishing is extremely easy. Once the source URL has been identified (and it can be a base URL, or a landing page) an appropriate analysis tool is used to extract the keywords. There are several paid tools out there like SEM Rush and Keyword Spy, but beginners can just use the Google Keyword Planner.
(Keyword Planner has replaced the old AdWords Keyword Tool, and I still have mixed feelings about it!)
The first step is to put the URL into the Google Keyword Planner, in the box labelled 'Your Landing
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| Google Keyword Planner Options (screenshot) |
It's important to note that this can be any URL, and that the other two boxes should remain empty unless you have a very good reason to fill them out.
You can use your usual targeting and result list customization options, remembering that your mileage will vary if you limit the result set too much.
After clicking the Get Ideas button, you will be presented with the usual list from which you can pick the keyword phrases that best match your current needs.
How you choose to filter to get the best keywords for your purpose depends whether your focus is traffic, traffic acquisition cost (against value) or ratio of buyers to browsers.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Using Blog Posts for Keyword Research
Blogs are great for many things; from getting quick feedback on an idea (if you've allowed comments) through to testing out new ideas and marketing formulae (if you're testing and tracking the keywords properly).
However, many people forget that they are also great for keyword research. In particular, they work well for researching long tail keywords, as well as keyword phrase variants.
A word of warning – they're not much good for one or two word primary keyword phrases; use traditional methods, as well as commercial products such as Market Samurai or WordTracker for these.
Easy Keyword Research with Blogger.com
Perhaps the largest of all blog sites is Google's Blogger. You're reading a blog hosted by Blogger, and one of the principal advantages from many users perspective is the relatively tight integration with Google's tools, such as Google Documents.
One other aspect that's attractive, and which prompted this article, are the statistics that can be tracked.
For example, Blogger tracks the location of people visiting your blog. There are also the usual page view statistics, as well as one very interesting piece of data – the keyword phrases people used to find your blog.
Here's how it works:
Now, once this redirection has taken place, the session variable known as the HTTP Referrer contains the original Google search URL (the one you can see in the browser status area, if you hover over the link text.)
Blogger can then access this data, and extract the exact keyword phrase that the user originally typed in before choosing your page from the SERPs.
How does this help?
Well, if even if your page appeared well down in the list for one or two keywords, there's at least half a chance that other keywords in the query are related to content that you could provide.
However, many people forget that they are also great for keyword research. In particular, they work well for researching long tail keywords, as well as keyword phrase variants.
A word of warning – they're not much good for one or two word primary keyword phrases; use traditional methods, as well as commercial products such as Market Samurai or WordTracker for these.
Easy Keyword Research with Blogger.com
Perhaps the largest of all blog sites is Google's Blogger. You're reading a blog hosted by Blogger, and one of the principal advantages from many users perspective is the relatively tight integration with Google's tools, such as Google Documents.
One other aspect that's attractive, and which prompted this article, are the statistics that can be tracked.
For example, Blogger tracks the location of people visiting your blog. There are also the usual page view statistics, as well as one very interesting piece of data – the keyword phrases people used to find your blog.
Here's how it works:
- someone types a keyword phrase into Google;
- Google fetches the pages from its database and displays the result list (SERPs);
- the user clicks a URL;
- Google redirects the user's browser to the target page.
Now, once this redirection has taken place, the session variable known as the HTTP Referrer contains the original Google search URL (the one you can see in the browser status area, if you hover over the link text.)
Blogger can then access this data, and extract the exact keyword phrase that the user originally typed in before choosing your page from the SERPs.
How does this help?
Well, if even if your page appeared well down in the list for one or two keywords, there's at least half a chance that other keywords in the query are related to content that you could provide.
So, at worst they'll be good prompts for future blog entries.
The place to look for these gems is in the Traffic Sources menu item, accessible from the Overview page of the blog in question (Overview->Stats->Traffic Sources).
At best, these keyword phrases can offer useful insights into what people are looking for, and what you should be targeting in order to make the most of the traffic on offer. And that's the key – traffic.
At best, these keyword phrases can offer useful insights into what people are looking for, and what you should be targeting in order to make the most of the traffic on offer. And that's the key – traffic.
But what happens if you've got a blog that doesn't get enough traffic for this analysis to be helpful?
The answer is simple - blog, promote and wait. Or, boost your profile by simultaneously publishing on other places like Squidoo and HubPages. Once Google notices your blog, and you've got a few posts under your belt, you'll be able to reap the keyword research rewards!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Secrets of an AdWords Professional
Pay Per Click Optimization and AdWords Marketing Guru Reveals All!
In this post, read the top tips from an AdWords professional, learn all about pay per click optimization and AdWords marketing, and follow some simple steps to success...
Google AdSense and AdWords are two sides to the world's most popular, influential, and widespread pay per click (PPC) advertising platform. Content creators can use AdSense to generate income, whilst online sellers can deploy AdWords as their PPC traffic generation mechanism.
AdWords and AdSense are also linked to Google search too, which means that keyword researchers can use the same tools that AdWords professionals use to target their keywords accurately to optimize their content for search engine marketing.
The goal of the AdWords professional is to use pay per click optimization and PPC keyword research to get the best return on investment for their clients, but also to use the techniques to deploy their own content to attract attention in their chosen niche.
It requires some careful tracking, management, and some clever manipulation of the tools Google makes available to it's users to achieve the best effects. But when they come together, the results are outstanding - whatever the final goal:
Pay Per Click Optimization
Running an efficient AdWords campaign means getting the most clicks (actions) from the investment. This usually means making sure that the revenue from each action - on average - outstrips the cost of obtaining that action (the _pay_ in PPC).
For a low margin product, such as AdSense income through advertising (a.k.a AdWords / AdSense arbitrage), the cost per click (CPC in the Google AdWords Keyword Tool), must be minimized, while the expected CPC from AdSense income must be maximized.
High margin products, on the other hand, might pull in enough money that a high CPC can still reap benefits. If the conversion rate is 10%, for example, and the CPC is $10 (easy numbers), then the cost of a single sale is 10 x 10, or $100. So, the margin has to be higher than $100 on each product in order for the AdWords campaign to break even.
And, it goes without saying that the keywords have to be logically connected for the entry and exit points of the system. It is no good paying for cheap AdWords that have nothing to do with the content / product on sale.
AdWords Marketing and Search Engine Marketing
The other side to the technique is as a way to get great search engine rankings using the PPC paradigm and Google AdWords. Here the trick is to leverage the AdWords and AdSense tools to research keywords that have actually been used in real Google searches, and at the same time, are being targeted by advertisers. The result ought to be content that is heavily weighted in favor of good natural search engine rankings.
So, from the point of view of an AdWords professional, anyone can use pay per click optimization techniques to help deliver more traffic. And because it concentrates on AdWords marketing, the result is content that is heavily optimized towards search engine marketing, as well. Using pay per click advertising services such as Google AdWords as a form of keyword research is a key secret to traffic success on the world wide web.
The Keyword Cracker
Get the acclaimed 'AdSense Keyword Research Guide'
In this post, read the top tips from an AdWords professional, learn all about pay per click optimization and AdWords marketing, and follow some simple steps to success...
Google AdSense and AdWords are two sides to the world's most popular, influential, and widespread pay per click (PPC) advertising platform. Content creators can use AdSense to generate income, whilst online sellers can deploy AdWords as their PPC traffic generation mechanism.
AdWords and AdSense are also linked to Google search too, which means that keyword researchers can use the same tools that AdWords professionals use to target their keywords accurately to optimize their content for search engine marketing.
The goal of the AdWords professional is to use pay per click optimization and PPC keyword research to get the best return on investment for their clients, but also to use the techniques to deploy their own content to attract attention in their chosen niche.
It requires some careful tracking, management, and some clever manipulation of the tools Google makes available to it's users to achieve the best effects. But when they come together, the results are outstanding - whatever the final goal:
- Great search engine placement
- Naturally occurring Web 2.0 promotion
- AdSense revenue generation
- AdWords keyword campaign ROI
Pay Per Click Optimization
Running an efficient AdWords campaign means getting the most clicks (actions) from the investment. This usually means making sure that the revenue from each action - on average - outstrips the cost of obtaining that action (the _pay_ in PPC).
For a low margin product, such as AdSense income through advertising (a.k.a AdWords / AdSense arbitrage), the cost per click (CPC in the Google AdWords Keyword Tool), must be minimized, while the expected CPC from AdSense income must be maximized.
High margin products, on the other hand, might pull in enough money that a high CPC can still reap benefits. If the conversion rate is 10%, for example, and the CPC is $10 (easy numbers), then the cost of a single sale is 10 x 10, or $100. So, the margin has to be higher than $100 on each product in order for the AdWords campaign to break even.
And, it goes without saying that the keywords have to be logically connected for the entry and exit points of the system. It is no good paying for cheap AdWords that have nothing to do with the content / product on sale.
AdWords Marketing and Search Engine Marketing
The other side to the technique is as a way to get great search engine rankings using the PPC paradigm and Google AdWords. Here the trick is to leverage the AdWords and AdSense tools to research keywords that have actually been used in real Google searches, and at the same time, are being targeted by advertisers. The result ought to be content that is heavily weighted in favor of good natural search engine rankings.
So, from the point of view of an AdWords professional, anyone can use pay per click optimization techniques to help deliver more traffic. And because it concentrates on AdWords marketing, the result is content that is heavily optimized towards search engine marketing, as well. Using pay per click advertising services such as Google AdWords as a form of keyword research is a key secret to traffic success on the world wide web.
The Keyword Cracker
Get the acclaimed 'AdSense Keyword Research Guide'
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