Meta Tag Optimization: Baloney or Good SEO? » Online Marketing Blogкомпютри

I would have to vote that it is good SEO and part of any well developed Web site. It will not only help the visitors find your site, but it will also help the search engines better understand who you are. A lot of people say that it is no longer relevant, and to a point I agree. At the same time search engines will use the META description in the SERPs, so a well written description should help with your CTR.Wenn bis zum Button alle gefoldet haben, und dieser dann erh?ht, spricht man von einem casino Blind Stealing , es ist durchaus gerechtfertigt , mit poker H?nden, die man in Late Position spielen wurde, zu re raisen.

EMP E-Marketing Performance » : » Making Sense of Keyword Matching

Diana at E-Marketing Performance has written a great article on how the major search engines categorize keyword matching.  Some day there may be a standard that they all follow like the new XML site maps, but at this point you have to keep up with the difference between standard, advanced, broad, excluded, negative, phrase and exact. The kind of stuff that keeps people up at night. They are all the same, yet different. The cool part is that in Google phrase and exact will get you one type of search results while on MSN you will get something else. This is in regards to ranking and quality score. Good times for all.

She also mentioned the Paid Search Marketing - Best Practice Guide which can be found at eConsultancy.  It is a good read.

The obsession for minute detail (and missing the big picture)

A lot of the time with the use of large analytics programs, we miss the overall objective of what we are trying to accomplish. Make money for our company or ourselves. Omniture, HBX, WebTrends and others are great for large, e-commerce focused sites, but they may be a little too much for smaller b-to-b sites or b-to-c sites that offer a few products and content.  The article referencd above has some good insight into what smaller organizations should be focusing on such as key metrics and the concepts that truly make you money.

I love Omniture, HBX and WebTrends, I think they are great and offer a very valuable service and great information. The problem is that it can be information overload and take Web owners away from their main focus. Chasing metric rabbits all day is fun, but it doesn’t always get you where you need to go. Evaluate your business needs before purchasing your Web metrics tool. Also, evaluate Google Analytics it is free and easy to use. Plus it offers all the data most Web sites need.

Why Do the Other Search Engines Bother to Compete?

Since most of us are not Jack Welch’s GE, it is OK not to be number one or two in everything we do. As you probably know Google is number one when it comes to search. Yahoo! and MSN are a distant two and three, respectively, which still equals billions of dollars in ad sales.

A solid search engine marketing strategy needs to include more than just Google. A well-rounded campaign should include Yahoo! and MSN, as well as Ask, LookSmart, MIVA and other 2nd tier search engines. The reason being is that if you are just advertising on Google, you are missing out on 40% of overall searches. You are probably also spending a lot more than you need to. The  2nd tier engines usually have a lower cost per click, and can also drive more qualified traffic than Google and the other giants. Ultimately, you need to diversify your search engine portfolio, just like you would diversify your investment portfolio.

Web search engine will take 90% of market, analysts say | Chicago Tribune

I know Google is good, but this is hard to believe that they will get 90% market share. The author states that search can be monopolized like the yellow pages, but I don’t think that is possible. There is, and will be more to search than telephone numbers and addresses. Look at what Ask has recently done with 3-D and Google Universal. I think there are too many factors to make such a claim.

SEOmoz | KeYwORd INSErtioN - A few PPC tips and tricks.

Using the dynamic keyword insertion tool in Yahoo!, Google and MSN is very helpful in creating custom search ads for your campaigns. When using this feature, the keyword that the user is searching on is placed in the location of the keyword insertion code. There are various ways to do this and SEOmoz, gives a great explnation on how it would work in Google.

How To Optimize A Contextual Search Advertising Campaign

Brad Geddes at Search Engine Land, wrote a great article about optimizing your contextual search campaigns when advertising on Google and Yahoo!. A lot of advertisers group search and content ads together, which is not good for business. The reason being is that when advertising in these two areas you are going after different types of customers or visitors. Content ads are within the content pages on Web sites that choose to advertise Google ads. The people who are on these pages are not necssarily actively searching for anything. It is more of a passive experience. With that said the keywords and ads need to be developed with a different mind-set than if the ads were coming up in a search result.

Brad explains how all of this works, and makes several great points about not combining search and content ads in the same campaigns. The reason being that it will throw off your reporting and make your data look way off. For example, your paid search ads may be bringing in a CTR of 5%, but your content ads only 1%. That is not necessarily bad, it is the nature of the environment in which your ads sits.

Synergy Between Domain Names & Keyword Based Search Engine Optimization Strategies : SEO Book.com

A good post by SEO Book.com on if domain names really matter when it comes to SEO. I imagine it would depend on the industry and the type of search query that is being used. For example, Amazon.com it most likely does not get the majority of its traffic from people typing in Amazon.  True, it ranks well in Google for that keyword, but the domain doesn’t really explain what the site is about. If someone typed in online shopping for electronics, or had onlineshoppingelectronics.com as its domain name would it rank better than Amazon? At this point most likely not.  I tested it out, and Amazon was the number one result on Google.

Anchor text is what makes the difference. If people linking to Amazon, and use Amazon as the anchor text it probably as not effective if they used: Amazon-Online Shopping or Amazon books and electronics. Using this type of anchor text will give more validity to a site. Then again does Amazon really need any more help in this area?

Bounce Rate: Sexiest Web Metric Ever? | Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog

It really is all about measurement. If you are not measuring what is going on within your site, there really is no reason to have one. The bounce rate, single page visits/entry pages, is one of the most important. It will show you if your pages are worth looking at, and if they offer any value to your visitors. A high bounce rate means low value.

PPC Discussions: AdWords is Stealing From You (or you just don’t know what you’re doing)

The blog, PPC Discusions, has a good article that helps fight several of the conspiracy theories attached to using adWords. Apparently there has been more grumbling about AdWords in one of the forums, and people are blaming Google and not themselves for poor campaign management.

At the end of the day, AdWords is just a tool to help get your product in front of potential customers.

I like this quote:

The bottom line, at least for me, is this: AdWords is working for tens (hundreds?) of thousands of people and companies. If it’s not working for you check the variable you have the most control over - the person/people running your campaign(s). Hammers don’t build houses, carpenters do. Wrenches don’t fix cars, mechanics do. Stoves don’t prepare meals, chefs do. AdWords doesn’t make sales, marketers do.

If your SEM campaigns are not working, most likely you do not have to look much further than yourself or what you are offering.