What Encrypting Search Terms Means for Keyword Research - The Death of SEO As We Know It?

So, Google (in the name of end to end security) now encrypts all our searches. I'm going to jump straight in and get all technical so that you understand what it means for Keyword Cracker, as well as anyone else involved in SEO.

It's not pretty, I warn you.

Anyone who has, as their remit, the responsibility to match keyword terms to landing pages will, as of this Google update, be unable to fulfill that responsibility as a basic Google user. Other search engines, making up a smaller proportion of traffic are, for now, differentiating by not adopting the same practice but may well follow suit.

That said, here's the science. In order to tell you what keyword terms have been used to find your page, services (like Google's own Blogger platform, Squidoo, Analytics, StatCounter etc.) check the referring URL, and extract keywords from the query that was used to get the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).

Removing that by encrypting the URL, means that those terms are lost forever. That's it. There's no room for anyone to say "Yes, but..." and come up with a technical solution based on search.

SEO that relies on knowing what keyword terms brought in a visitor, and what they did next, will fail.

No longer can you say that 'how to defrag my hard drive' is the keyword phrase to target, because it results in a 15% conversion, based on the visitor path (visitor flow) through your site. You just won't know, because Google won't tell you.

It also means you can't keyword fish. Remember that technique? Putting up pages on high value / high traffic sites like Squidoo in order to capture keyword phrases? Doesn't work any more.

In-site search is still going to throw up some good results, but that doesn't mean that every landing page should be a Google-esque search form, just in case you had that in mind. By all means promote your in-site search boxes, though, to make it easier for visitors to find the good stuff, just avoid asking 'What did you come here for today' like some over-effusive shop assistant.

'Cos it probably might not work.

Also, promote your tag clouds, and - even better - get the tag cloud involved in the sales funnel so you can see what's on your visitor's minds. That way, at least you're getting some intelligence that is based on triggers, even if you have to set them in advance.

There's also another swathe of businesses that have just lost out, too - those custom 404 companies that couple expired domain names with knowing what query produced the listing in order to redirect to paying customers web sites.

They're sunk. They can only send the visitor at random, and hope. They've lost their ability to target, along with everyone else.

Now, the good news is that the AdWords data is still available, so we can still spy on what people think are 'good' search terms. We can also hope that Google has maintained a link between AdWords, AdSense and their search data, so that we will be able to research, and infer, search term (keywords) intelligence.

So, the Keyword Cracker isn't dead. Keyword Research isn't a lost cause. SEO hasn't fallen over the edge of a cliff.

But the rules have changed, and we will be forced to work smarter, better, and create higher quality content than ever before as a result. That can only be a good thing for the people who are most important in this discussion - the customers.

Why is Knowing the Landing Page Important for Keyword Research?

Sometimes knowing the keyword phrase that has brought in traffic isn't enough - especially if you happen to have a lot of fairly diverse content on the same web property.


Sites that are essentially marketing funnels (see Leveraging the Marketing Funnel) will have the worst issue when looking at keyword phrases in isolation, since the net is cast especially wide at first in the hope of bringing in qualified leads among a wide range of visitors.


If you are already getting keyword traffic reports from Analytics - or an equivalent service - on a regular basis, pull one up and look for an entry with a high Bounce or Exit rate.


(If not, the article How to Use Google Analytics Daily Reports for Keyword Research may well be of interest!)


What Does a High Bounce Rate Tell Me?


On it's own, nothing, sadly. The trap that many new Analytics users fall into is assuming that a keyword phrase that has a high number of incoming visitors, but an equally high bounce rate denotes traffic that falls into one of two categories:

• Mis-targeted (i.e. content not related to keywords) or;
• Not interested by the content.

In fact, the visitor who has used the keyword phrase may well fall into a third camp - interested in the content that the site has to offer, but has fallen into the site on a page that doesn't happen to contain that content.


Asking Google Analytics to reveal the landing page as well as the keywords also adds a third metric - the Exit Rate.


Keyword Phrase, Exit Rate, Bounce Rate, Landing Page


The accuracy of keyword research often depends on knowing what the visitor is actually interested in, rather than just guessing from the keyword. 


This is very important when using Google Analytics, as the Bounce Rate on its own may well not be a reflection of the site as a whole, but the validity of a specific page. This page could fall into one of several categories, for example:

• poor content - needs rewriting;
• mis-matched content - needs rewriting;
• no clear call to action - needs rewriting;

Of course, the page could be slow to load, or not load at all - typically looking at the Average Time on Page (all zeros shows no engagement at all) alongside the Bounce Rate and Exit Rate will help to diagnose these pages.


Otherwise, it should be obvious from looking first at the page, then at the keywords that delivered traffic to the page, and then at the metrics, what the problem is.


Sometimes a page with a reasonably high PR (Page Rank) that appears in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) above other more relevant ones, does so because a keyword phrase is quite precise, and has been matched with a reference to the more-relevant content.


More often that not, however, it's a case that there's a high Bounce Rate and/or High Exit Rate coupled with a low Average Time on Page which indicates poor or mis-matched content that needs to be rewritten.


However, it's important not to do anything without confirming the trends by analysis, as the article Using Google Analytics to Improve Stickiness and Engagement explains.

Do Keywords Really Matter?

It seems a bit odd to sit down at the keyboard and write an article on the Keyword Cracker blog which questions whether keywords matter at all, but it's important to look at SEO techniques from every angle.


And that's what keyword research is - an SEO technique.


Generally, keyword research reveals:

• what people are looking for in conjunction with certain key words;
• what specific keywords have brought traffic to a site;
• trends within the browsing community.

Specifically, as a SEO technique, web masters use keyword research to try and find out how to drive traffic to a site that concentrates on a specific niche.


So, it's a traffic acquisition technique, and as such it's not the thing web masters can do to get visitors to their site.


Traffic Acquisition Techniques


Assuming we know that the site is of use, and interest, to the web browsing community as a whole, we don't need keyword research to tell us what to build.


Traffic can come from search engines, and I'd be foolish not to (a) acknowledge and (b) point out that in many cases, Google provides the lion's share of traffic to many web sites that I write for.


But it's neither the only source, nor necessarily the most profitable.


In fact, looking over my Google Analytics statistics, I note several things:

• search engine visitors tend to result in more bounced visits;
• search engine visitors tend to result in lower pages viewed, per visit;
• search engine visitors tend to spend less average time on the site.

So, it's not just about the traffic, but what the visitors that make up that flow of traffic do when they get there.


My most engaged visitors come from other traffic acquisition techniques, such as:

• Twitter, via SocialOomph;
• Twitter, via su.pr (a StumbleUpon service);
• Directly, via word of mouth;
• Directly, via Yahoo! Answers;
• Directly, via Forum posts.

I've yet to test which the most engaged are, but rest assured my findings will make their way onto the Traffic Acquisition blog, and the method on the Test, Track, Traffic blog.


Where does this leave keywords, and keyword research?


Use it to research trends. Use it to estimate interest in a topic, and use it to generate some traffic by way of a test.


Keep an eye on the statistics, see where visitors come from, and what they spend their time doing, and then work what continues to work.


But don't rely on search engines to deliver the lion's share of your customers, even if they do deliver the lion's share of your visitors!

Why the Geographic Source of Traffic Matters to Online Marketers

A lot of filtering options are available in Google Analytics, but one that is often overlooked is the ability to sort, filter, and order by geographic location.
This can be applied in a number of ways:

• Country
• City
• Continent
• Region

It's certainly interesting, but is it useful? In fact it's more than that. Knowing the geographic source for keyword (and content) traffic can be vital to making a sale.


For Whom is the Geographic Source Important?


While knowing where the traffic comes from can be important for any online marketer, it is of particular importance to affiliates. Let's use Amazon as an example.


The web sites Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk stock different products, with different prices, ship to different locations and have different affiliate schemes.


If visitors to a specific page come from one geographic reason, and are confronted by products, spellings, and terminology that they are not familiar with, then there is a risk that the sale will be lost.


More than that, they may not even be able to buy the product and have it shipped, or they may be directed to another web site. Either way, the sale is lost to the affiliate.


Targeting pages (content) to specific geographic markets based on specific keyword trends for that geographic location enables marketers to promote the right products, using the correct affiliate account, to the right visitors.


In addition, brands and brand names may also be different. This helps keyword targeting to specific brands; the more niche the better, as people often type specific brand and model names into search engines.


Finally, once the geographic segment is known, and content has been created to fit each demographic, the online marketing strategy can follow it. For example, Twitter can be used to schedule tweets designed to be released at times that are appropriate for the target market.


All of the above needs some research, which is where Google Analytics comes in.


Segmenting Search Traffic by Location


The best way to view this relationship is to select a relatively small time window (say one week to one month) and then access the Demographics filter from the left hand main menu in Google Analytics.


The Location filter can be found under the Audience tab on the main menu.


The Demographics option needs to be selected, and then Location clicked.

Selecting the Location Filter from the
 Left Hand Menu in Google Analytics

As can be seen in the screen shot, the map will then light up with different shades of green indicating the global results returned for each location.


The actual lcoations that return these visitors are then listed below the map, in the usual results pane in the Google Analytics system.


The usual column headings can be found here - page views, time spent, bounce rate and so on - but this is only half the story.


To get the keywords, it is also necessary to add them as a Secondary Dimension.


To do this, the 'Secondary dimension' button is clicked.


From the resulting menu, the Traffic Sources option needs to be selected.


Underneath that, are a number of options, but for keyword research, the Keyword option is the most useful.

Selecting the Keyword Secondary Filter
from the Results Toolbar in Analytics

Having selected the Primary and Secondary Dimensions, the user then needs to sort the keyword list  based on the metric that most interests them.


One interesting metric is likely to be the Bounce Rate, as a high Bounce Rate could indicate that the geographic targeting needs to be adjusted.


This can be spotted by the presence of two identical keyword phrases, each with different source locations. If one has a Bounce Rate that is significantly higher than the other, then that may indicate that different content should be created for that specific keyword.


This is just one of the ways in which geographic tools in Analytics can be used to hone the marketing message, and is a very interesting and valuable aspect of keyword research.

An Introduction to Traffic Research Using Google Tools

One of the questions that  comes up fairly often is 'How do I do traffic research using Google?' People tend to forget that Google isn't just about search, but also about advertising, publishing and revenue generation, too. 


The two main tools that Google provides that can help with traffic research are:

• Google AdWords Keyword Tool
• Google Analytics

 Both of these tools need to be used together; when people talk about traffic research, what they mean is:

• finding traffic
• getting traffic to visit
• holding on to that traffic to make a sale

The Google AdWords Keyword Tool can be used in traffic research to scope out new opportunities (keyword phrases) that will yield visitors. Luckily, it's not as hit and miss as it might sound, as the AdWords Keyword tool provides some excellent comparison and filtering modules.


Tip : When using the AdWords Keyword Tool, look for traffic of around 10k and Low competition, as this is usually the easiest to target.


The other side of the traffic research question is Google Analytics. This is a very sophisticated service that takes a lot of experimentation to master. Luckily, the Traffic Research with Google Analytics  article will give you a head start in unerstanding how to make the most of it.


Key to using these two resources together, however, is in feeding back some of the Analytics results to the AdWords Keyword Tool in order to find new traffic sources. The process for bloggers is described in the article Using Blog Posts for Keyword Research.


In essence, traffic research using Google tools is like having an insight into the mind of potential customers, and is part marketing and part traffic acquisition.

Using Google Analytics and The Google AdWords Keyword Tool Together

As the largest search provider, Google is uniquely placed to help online marketers, content providers, entrepreneurs and business owners research their online market niches. They have even placed the tools to do so at our disposal, so why not make the most of their generosity?

The technical side of Analytics and using AdWords for SEO (search engine optimization) often challenges people who would rather be writing, selling, or out there doing business.

This short article should help to dispel some of those fears, and help the reader get to grips with using these powerful tools to propel online earnings to new heights.

Google Analytics Organic Search

The secret to online success is often said to be traffic. It's like footfall in the real world – a retail outlet on a busy high street is expected to do better than one in a less frequented side street.

However, as in the world of bricks and mortar retailing, online customers will also travel a bit further than the high street if you offer them something special. At the same time, mere visibility is no guarantee of success.

Google Analytics provides a lot of information, but for the purpose of keyword research, only one page is of special interest : the Organic Search page.

It's found on the left hand menu, under Traffic Sources->Sources->Search->Organic. Once a project has been selected, and the right page located, the user is presented with a spreadsheet style page containing several columns.

We're interested in the following:

• Keyword
• Visits
• Pages/Visit
• Average Visit Duration
• Bounce Rate

In essence, we want to find those keywords for which visitors are viewing multiple pages, and spending time on the site, with a low bounce rate. This may only generate five keyword phrases that we can honestly mark down as being of interest, but they're the online equivalent of a warm lead.

That is, they are people who have raised their hand, and volunteered to go the extra mile to find your page. This implies that there may be others who just missed out, stuck to the high street, and found one of your competitors.

These people might have used slightly different keyword combinations which returned pages higher up the search engines indexes (Search Engine Result Pages, or SERPs) than yours; so, how do we find them?

The AdWords Keyword Tool

The AdWords Keywords Tool provides a way to estimate the potential comparative search volumes over a set of generated keywords.

For each keyword or phrase it is given, the tool will look through a database of actual online searches, and match relevant keywords to the initial phrase, and return both the competition for that phrase (in AdWords terms) and the potential search volume that it could capture.

There are a whole raft of filters, and some are useful in certain situations, but for now we just want to get a feel for the market, and so we look at:

• keyword phrase
• competition index
• global search volumes

Analyzing each keyword phrase from the Analytics tool in turn, we want to select a reasonably limited number of phrases and so can afford to be quite selective. Different markets have different thresholds, but a good rule of thumb is to target 'Low' competition keywords with 10k – 100k global search volume figures.

Anything larger than this will be terribly hard to capture, and indicates that the keyword phrase might not be niche enough to be certain of providing a stream of qualified leads.

The keyword phrases can be written into your content as blog posts or article prompts and used to generate traffic towards your web properties. As long as you remember to keep applying the process to discover new keyword phrases, you'll never run short of inspiration or targeted traffic again.

Rumours and Hyphens (Capital Letters in Keywords & Using Hyphens in Squidoo)

I was wondering why I was getting less visitors than I thought I would to my Squidoo Lenses.

Turns out there are two answers. At least, I think there are. I may be wrong, but part of my theory was vindicated when I noted that a few people out there in Twitter/SEO land have spotted the same thing.

Google now treats Keywords With Capitals differently than keywords without. This means that Keyword is different to keyword. Which doesn't seem to affect results in the search engine itself to any great degree, but it does change some of the lower order SERPs somewhat.

Glitch or feature? Only time will tell - if you have any research :: let us at it!

Where there does seem to be a difference is when it's combined with hyphens. Now, I never really read documentation about new Web 2.0 tools. I jumped into Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Hubpages, SlideShare, and now Squidoo without reading their guidelines beyond the basic FAQ.

So, of course, I missed something vital that was only pointed out to me the other day.

Consider the following Lens URL:

• http://www.squidoo.com/howtostartagiftbasketbusiness

Now, you and I both read that as How To Start A Gift Basket Business, right? Google doesn't. Google sees "howtostartagiftbasketbusiness". Not very helpful if you're searching for a keyphrase like "how to start a gift basket business".

This lens has a 5 star rating, and I think it's great. However, Google doesn't even see it. Why? Hyphens!

I should have called the lens "how-to-start-a-gift-basket-business". With hyphens. That way, Google can separate out the key words. Amateurish mistake, that, and I'm embarrassed.

Ah well, live and learn, eh?

Till next time,
Guy

PS For those who want the technical insight into capital vs lowercase search keywords, the original blog post is here. It's not one of mine though, so be sure to click *back* when you're done reviewing it ;)

Keyword Research Mistake That's Costing You $$$

Most people who use keyword research make the same basic mistake. They think they're doing everything right, but they inevitably leave one aspect to one side. In their admirable quest to provide quality content (good) in a popular niche (excellent), they neglect to take the extra step...

...and look for "Buyers Keywords".

A buyers keyword is one that indicates that the visitor is in a buying frame of mind. They know what they want, and are ready to buy it from the site that can offer it. It's a niche long tail keyword phrase with real earning power.

Learn how to research keyword phrases that really pull in the orders (or AdSense clicks!) in the Keyword Cracker eBook. I'll give you a clue : 'nokia n65 leather case' is, and 'cell phones' isn't.

Have a great weekend.
Guy