Showing posts with label keywords. Show all posts
Showing posts with label keywords. Show all posts

February 14, 2010

Keyword Finess, Broad, Phase Or Exact

Yes is the short answer. But lets take a closer look at keyword match options and examine why using all three types is one of the best ways to ensure a higher CTR, as well as a strong Google Quality Score.

Google has defined the three-keyword match options in a fairly understandable way. You need to know what each match type is, how Google uses them and how you can use them in your keyword selection process.

BROAD MATCH is the default option Google will use in determining the relevancy of your keywords to a users search. If you don’t specify, your keywords will be matched using this option. Broad refers to the span of keywords Google will consider when determining the placement of your ad. Plurals and other variations of your keywords are automatically included. Broad matches are the least targeted of keyword matching.

infant carseats will show your ad when a search for both words are used, in any order, or when either is used separately.

PHRASE MATCH refers to entering your keywords using quotation marks. Google will show your ad when a user searches for the phrase, in the order you placed it within the quotation marks, as well as other possible terms.

“infant carseats” will show your ad when a search for the complete phrase occurs. This allows a more targeted audience than broad match.

EXACT MATCH occurs when you surround your keywords in brackets. This will show your ad only when the exact keywords, in the exact order are searched, and will not include any other possible words. This is the most targeted search and should produce a higher quality (although a lower quantity) of clickthroughs.

[infant carseats] will show your ad when a search for infant carseats appears. It will not appear if the search has included any other words. The traffic you attract will be the most targeted to your keywords.

NEGATIVE KEYWORD gives you the opportunity to exclude words. For example, if you do not want the word used to trigger your ad, you may place a negative sign, -used, and your ad will not appear if that word appears anywhere in the search. This is helpful if you are trying to target specific traffic and there are certain very popular words that often accompany your keywords, but are not related to your ad.

So which option is the best to use? The very best option is to use all three, broad, phrase and exact matching for every keyword in your ad group. Doing so will result in impressions being calculated for every variation of your keywords. This produces a greater click-through ratio. Google will calculate statistics for each keyword, allowing you to track performance. Having a high click-through rate is a key element in raising your overall Google Quality Score, meaning your ads will appear more frequently than someone whose score is lower.

A standard recommendation of 25 unique keywords per Ad Group is then changed to 75 when all three-match options are used.

It may seem very redundant to include the three different match types, and it certainly means more data entry per ad group. But you are increasing the chances of the right people clicking on your ads. The quality of the traffic and your overall Google Quality Score are worth the extra effort.

February 3, 2010

Keyword Research and Product Lines

As you have probably heard over and over, keyword research is a pivotal step for success. Taken a step further, it can develop your product lines for you.

Keyword Research and Product Lines

Finding success in e-commerce can really be boiled down to one theme. Identify the needs of your prospects and provide a solution for them. It is that simple. You should write out that statement, print it out and hang it over your monitor. If you stray from this theme, you will have problems making money.

Keyword research is the key to identifying the needs of your prospects. When doing the research, you should identify the phrases they are using to search for solutions to their needs. Most people understand this concept, but fail to take the process to the next step.

More than a few people have said they do not want to pursue rankings under a set of keywords because they do not carry such products or provide such services. If you have ever said the same thing, you are blowing it.

Remember, we are identifying the needs of prospects. If we do not have products or services oriented to an easily identified need we identify through keyword research, what should we do? We should get products or figure out a way to supply the service!

Assume we have a site selling hiking and backpacking gear. We have backpacks, guide books, tents and so on. When doing our keyword research, we find out our prospects are also looking for writing journals in which they can record their hikes. Since we don’t carry hiking journals, we want to avoid those keywords, correct? NO! We want to find a line of writing journals for hiking and add them to our catalogue of products. We value our prospects and that means providing them with solutions to all of their needs. By doing so, they will return to out site again and again when they need new hiking gear.

One of the more difficult things for online businesses to pick up is the fact that you should never design your site based on your view of your business. Your prospects should design it. By this, I mean that you should look to keyword research to identify all the product lines and/or services you are going to offer.

Find out what your prospects are search for and ignore everything else. Follow this guideline and your site will evolve into a revenue producer.

January 14, 2010

Finding Your Nook and Cranny

Online or off, a time tested method of succeeding in business is to focus on an unexploited area. You are probably wondering how. Here is your answer.

Finding Your Nook and Cranny

When we talk about a nook, we are simply identified a very focused area of business. There are a zillion sites selling movies, but very few selling French movies from the 1960s. If there is sufficient interest in such movies, you could build a business around selling such classic movies. This concept applies to any business area regardless of whether you are selling products or offering services.

You need to do some daydreaming. Most people make the mistake of focusing on a subject that they think will make a ton of money. Problems can occur with this approach because if you have no inherent interest in the area besides money, you will eventually grow disillusioned with it. If you are going to start a business, you want it be enjoyable. If it is just another job, you have made a bad mistake. This brings us back to daydreaming.

You need to give serious thought to your interests, and not just your interests today. What have you always been interested in? Don’t worry about how you will make money, just focus on the subject matter. Remember the cliché – find something you love and the money will follow. This is exactly what you want to do. Once you have an idea, it is time to figure out how to make money off of it.

For a web business, you want to focus on something known as keyword research. Keyword research is crucial because you can type in a phrase and see the exact phrases people have used to search on Google, Yahoo and MSN that incorporate the world. Even better, you can see how many people use the phrase each day. Doing keyword research lets you determine if there is enough interest in your area and the exact phrases your prospects are using to find things in the area. It doesn’t get much better than that!

There are a variety of tools you can use. Overture offers a free tool that will give you a general idea, but is not the most accurate. Wordtracker is much better, but will set you back a few bucks. Keyword Discovery is similar, but runs a few more dollars yet. Regardless of your choice, make sure to use one of these for keyword research.

Once you identify the phrases used by your prospects, you can determine if there is enough interest in your nook. You can also identify the exact phrases they are using and tailor your site and marketing to those phrases.