8 February 2010
Keyword Research-Factors to consider
When doing a keyword research, there are quite a few factors that need particular attention and that are often underestimated. Below are some examples:
- Seasonality
If you base your keywords research only from local search from the previous month, you may be risking basing your research on misleading sets of data. The reason behind this is that search patterns naturally change throughout the year and there a broad range of keywords that might be affected by seasonality factors. Imagine you are a company that sells sports merchandise and that wants to identify which Australian sport is the most popular and searched. If the company decides to run a search in May, it will probably think that rugby is the most searched term - see below.
A good way to evaluate seasonality factors is to use Google Insights (as shown in the example above) and the new Google Keyword tool. This tool is only available through your Google Adwords account. The difference between this and the keyword tool available to public search results, is that this(logged in version) gives you the ability to see traffic data month by month. The representation of the above data in the keyword tool will be as follows:
This shows you in details how the distribution of searches varies throughout the year.
- Search volumes predictions
Search volume predictions can affect your keyword research. For example, in the information technology industry, new terminologies are constantly being created and others becoming obsolete. Volume predictions can sometimes be identified by global search volumes and global search trends. An indication of how search volumes may vary can be obtained with the tools mentioned above (Google Insights and keyword tool).
See below some example of terms that show increase in Google trends, and have high search volumes worldwide but not yet in Australia:
Google Insights worldwide results for "cloud computing"
Google traffic results for "cloud computing" in Australia
Google Insights results for "mobile seo" worldwide
Google Traffic results Australia for the keyword "mobile seo"
Keep in consideration the global trends especially in similar markets; this might give you an indication on how search trends will develop in the near feature.
- British and American spelling dilemma
In the English language, there are a variety of terms that vary according to the British or American spelling. Surprisingly enough there are quite a lot of words that have American spelling but that are highly searched in the Australian market.
See some of the example below:
It is important to not underestimate search volumes around the spelling variation of search terms as they may be commonly used in other markets. Similarly other words belonging to other languages such as French or Spanish might suffer from the same dilemma.
Posted by Raffaella Bronzi on 8 February 2010 at 11:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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4 February 2010
SEO Recap January 2010
Welcome to the first Bruce Clay SEO recap of 2010. In the recap, we explore our analysts' favourite news and blog posts for the past fortnight. This week includes some updates of Google on Mobile phones, the launch of the SEOmoz Open Site Explorer, the moving of Google Social search to beta from labs and events listings with rich snippets.
Photo by boite-en-valise via Creative Commons |
Optimised Search Suggestions for mobile using your location
This feature (available in the US and on Android powered & iPhones only at the moment) will optimise search suggestions from Google depending on your position.
From the Google Mobile Blog "when users in the Boston metro area begin typing "Muse", suggestions such as "museum of science boston" and "museum of fine arts boston" are provided because people near Boston frequently look for these very popular museums. On the other hand, users in San Francisco who begin their query with "Muse" will see suggestions for museums in the San Francisco area."
New Click to Call Phone Numbers in Mobile Ads
When you are browsing Google on your newest smartphone and see a PPC that might just answer your search query, there is a very simple way to connect with the advertiser. Just Click. You just click the number and your phone will automatically call the number listed.
Simple easy and effective, I really like this feature. What's more, the ads and phone numbers you see are based on your location.
So, if a store or restaurant has multiple locations, you'll be calling the nearest one. If you are an advertiser who wants to make use of this, check out the AdWords blog that introduces this feature.
SEOmoz launches Open Site Explorer
With the Microsoft and Yahoo search deal, rumours have been swirling that Yahoo may discontinue its popular link information tool. As result of this several alternatives have cropped up, the most recent being SEOmoz's Open Site Explorer.
Open Site Explorer provides a number of data points pulled from SEOmoz's Linkscape tool and its index of the web. It shows stats such as overall link counts and a count of domains that link to a URL, along with anchor text distribution and more. A helpful feature is the ability to compare two domains side by side.
Google Social Search now in beta
Google's Social Search technology is finally ready for the big time, with the company officially moving it from Google Labs to a 'beta' option within the main search system. Google Social search brings in relevant content from users' social networking friends, if they have been posting content that matches the search terms used. The general idea is that people will find results that are from friends or their own trusted online sources will be more relevant to them personally than say, Wikipedia.
The new format shows links to specific events on the page along with dates and locations. It provides a fast and convenient way for users to determine if a page has events they may be interested in. These events will be shown just under the entry in the SERP's. The events markup is based on the hCalendar microformat
I Hope you enjoyed this fortnights search engine optimisation recap. More to come in two weeks time. Happy searching.
Posted by Marc Elison on 4 February 2010 at 2:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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21 January 2010
The Zone of Acceptance
One of the most successful ways we use search engine optimisation to improve pages here at Bruce Clay is by providing content recommendations for each keyword. We do this quite a lot, and are pleasantly surprised by how this procedure can dramatically improve rankings.
Photo by Iain Farrell via Creative Commons |
What we try do is locate the most 'imperfect' web pages associated with the keywords we are trying to target. We then modify the pages we are trying to optimise to make them resemble the least imperfect pages we found in the first step (in terms of keyword densities and other factors).
But what I've grown to wonder is 'why does this work?' And why does one keyword recommend a spam like density and for another barely a mention on the page.
The answer has to do with what the search engine believes to be natural, and consequently the sites that lie within their zone of acceptance.
The search engine is not an expert and has no worldly experience, but the purpose of a query is to return the best sites for a particular topic. To work out who are the best sites, it makes an approximation of who the experts are, and in turns looks at its most comprehensive resource to help with the decision. This resource is its index. Making the decision of who are the best sites is based on the population within the index.
The belief is, like much of the Internet, that trust can be placed within the wisdom of the crowds. The population knows who the experts are. If a site does not match that of the general population, then it cannot be an expert. The search engines looks for common characteristics among the index, these commonalities determine the better sites and therefore the zone of acceptance.
Google's 'did you mean' option is a simple example of how this works. A misspelled search query asks Google for an answer outside the majority of the population. It sees an unnatural anomaly and looks elsewhere for what it perceives to be natural. Hence the 'did you mean'.
A site ranking for 'Sydney cricket tickets' will contain vastly different information to a site ranking for 'Sydney cricket'. The purchasing website contains a system for visitors to enter their details and buy the tickets. The research website presents a long article detailing all there is to know of Sydney cricket. So you can see how each themed site and (the keywords they ranked for) would naturally have two contrasting content specifications. The search engines know what is appropriate for each keyword.
The great advantage that our toolset offers is a quickly generated measurement of what a natural looking page is. By applying some math to the top ranking sites, a recommendation is given. So for example, one recommendation is to write the body of content with x amount of words that includes the keyword x amount of times. This is the zone of acceptance. This is what the search engine believes to be a natural fit. We know this because these figures come from the top ranking sites. By giving the content writers a natural target that the search engines are looking for, your chances of improved rankings and SEO effect are increased.
Posted by Matthew Geale on 21 January 2010 at 3:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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19 January 2010
2010 SEO Checklist
2009 has seen so many changes in the Search Engine Industry and you would probably be surprised to realise how these changes have an impact on your business.
The Vince update is already so far away and so 2009 anyway, but 2010 looks very promising and full of exciting innovations that will keep on influencing the way people search, and find.
So here's our 2010 SEO checklist for Marketing Managers:
1. Personalised Search
The Search Engines have come up with so many new ways to personalise your search results, logged-in or not, based on your search history, on your social media profiles, your location, etc. 2010 will see more of these customised results and the challenge will be to maintain relevancy for all users while businesses will have to maintain their search engine rankings in the new top 8+2. For the online marketers, it will become a greater challenge as they will have to manage the balance between more online profiles to maximise their search engine visibility while ensuring that their primary property ranks ahead of the others.
2. Speed matters
Since Matt Cutts revealed during an interview with Web Pro News that Speed will become part of the Search Engines ranking algorithm in 2010. To rank higher, the webmaster will have to optimise code, technology as well as content delivery strategies to win the race.
3. Real-Time Search
Bing opened the ball this year by starting to index tweets, and Google followed and started displaying real-time search results with its "Latest Search Results" option. The online marketers and the public relations people probably had a chill down their spine realising how much more crucial reputation management then became.
4. Videos
Now that online videos are making their ways up in the marketing budgets and that viral marketing as emerged, video organic rankings have become extremely valuable. The search engines as well have jumped on board, and ever since Google acquired YouTube in 2006, the online video spending has only gone up. Google recently introduced sponsored videos via their AdSense network. Ranking for videos has become critical, and the two big questions for webmasters and online marketers is to decide whether:
a) they are willing to pay the big bucks for sponsored videos as opposed to optimising videos for organic results
b) they want to host their own videos to attract more traffic to their site as opposed to having better chances in ranking for their keywords via video sharing sites.
5. Local Search
The release of Google Maps in 2005 has changed the way people search locally. Little by little, Google Maps has delivered more local results, establishing partnership with local directories and mapping companies to improve the quality of their results. It can now be used in so many aspects, from getting directions to a place to getting a closer look with Street View. The introduction of the new dashboard in the Google Local Business Centre earlier this year has once more proven that it has now become essential to be listed on Google Maps. Bing has recently launched their own Maps engine "Bing Maps", which has an emphasis on user experience.
These new Maps engine now provide a new arena where the SMEs in particular can easily be found and rank for their search term + location. These businesses can now also be found by users searching for keywords only, using the geo-targeting features of the new smartphone generation with built-in GPS, and therefore potentially converting a sale in minutes if the business is found by a mobile searcher.
These new local business listings also provide an opportunity for businesses to rank for highly competitive terms, even without a website.
If you want to learn more about SEO, Bruce Clay Australia is organising a 1 Day SEO Training presented by Jeremy Bolt in Sydney on February 17th, Brisbane on April 7th, Melbourne on May 12th, and Sydney on June 9th as well as a 3 Days presented by Bruce Clay in Sydney on March 10th, 11th and 12th.
Posted by Martin Orliac on 19 January 2010 at 9:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)
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14 January 2010
Deteriorating search engine results
Photo by _Tophee via Creative Commons |
The other day at the Bruce Clay Australia offices we had a discussion about how the search results seem to have deteriorated over the past 3 - 4 years. Whether it was searching for cheap hotel rates in Melbourne or trying to find a review for a laptop, it seems more time has to be spent and more searches have to be carried out just to find the relevant information. Now there are a few reasons why this might have happened and I am going to explore a few of these.
Heightened expectations
With all the advances in technology and search engines algorithms, are we expecting too much from the search results? In the past few years, everything has been geared around instant gratification (I think this was a driving force in the development of real-time search) and we are not only expecting results accurately but immediately. Now I struggle to recall my searching habits of 4 years ago but I have a sneaky suspicion that I was willing to cut all the big search engines some slack when it came to searching. I don't think they have that luxury any more.
I think a big part of this heightened expectations comes from knowledge. I know Google has 5000 PhD's just sitting around thinking of ways to improve the algorithm, but when I want to get the cheapest accommodation in Melbourne I dont want to have to navigate between 10 different, yet almost identical aggregator sites in the SERP's before giving up due to frustration and ending up in Wogga Wogga, just because it's easier to find a cheap hotel.
Another interesting observation is that more and more users are using longer (longtail) search queries to find what they are looking for. The question I pose is: are users searching with more specific search phrases because they are more savvy to the way the web works, or is it because the search results are so poor for broad-based queries that in order to find something relevant you are forced to use detailed and lengthy search queries?
TMI
Too much information! Normally a teenager's response to a friend giving one personal detail too many, it can also describe the explosion of web sites, blogs, aggregators and web properties in general. Since March 2005, the number of people using the Internet has doubled to almost 2 billion. The figures around number of actual sites on the internet are a little hazy, but according to Google the number of sites they had explored was 26 million pages in 1998, one billion pages in 2000 and ONE TRILLION PAGES in 2008, and the number of individual web pages out there is growing by several billion pages per day.
Now I know Google has some of the best infrastructure, technology and talent at their disposal but if we take the number of pages as products that Google has to provide quality control for, then that's alot of control - even for the world's biggest brand. Not only is there so much more information for Google to sift through, but the information is becoming more complex to evaluate. SEO is becoming more prominent, with alot of people who own web properties having been exposed to some kind of search engine optimisation education and using that knowledge to make their sites more 'appealing' to search engines. Popular blogging platforms like Wordpress also have SEO functionality now built in, straight out of the box, so again, more SEO-friendly pages are added to the web index. Aggregators, with their boilerplate templates are also becoming more popular in the SERPS again, further adding to the congestion.
Social media also comes into this. With Google and Bing starting to index Facebook and Twitter status updates, the amount of information is expected to increase exponentially. However, I think the search engines have the capacity to do this or they wouldn't try.
The Internet is expanding exponentially and pointless pages are taking advantage of Google's ranking system, rendering it unwieldy, Google and the other search engines need to counter this and find a way to once again become dynamic and streamlined and eliminate all those guff and filler sites that take up a large portion of their index (and my time incidentally).
Diminishing core focus on search
When Google first started, all they cared about was search. They put all their efforts and resources into making search better. Now it seems that have moved into fields pretty far flung from search, like renewable energy, cloud computing and mobile phones. Now I realise a simple answer is that they have invested in massive infrastructure and staff numbers to compensate for their diversification but somewhere along the way, with so many different things going on, their focus on search has diluted. Whether it's right at the top with Eric, Larry and Sergey or down the line through the many thousands of Google employees, it's happening.
I believe this dilution of absolute focus on search has resulted in some deterioration (or perhaps not as much improvement) of the search results. It's time to put the focus back on search, or the current batch of search engines may become the HotBot and AltaVista of the past.
Maybe search results have gotten better and we are just expecting too much, however I don't think this is the case; many people with in the search industry have noticed this and questioned the big wigs about it. I think that there are alot of outside factors that might be negatively affecting the SERPS, but I think it's time the search engines took cognisance of these factors and tried to counter them instead of putting feature upon feature (real-time search, more blended results, caffeine update etc) upon pretty average search results that are already crying out for some better quality control and more relevant sites within those SERPS.
Posted by Marc Elison on 14 January 2010 at 3:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Marc Elison
Kate Gamble
Martin Orliac
