Going Beyond Wordtracker

1. Going Beyond Wordtracker Dan Thies, SEO Research Labs

2. A (little) about me... • 7 years of SEO experience, +2-3 years of spam • Published “SEO Fast Start” in 2001 • Started SEO Research Labs in Jan. 2003 • Author, SitePoint Search Engine Marketing Kit • www.seoresearchlabs.com/kit

3. Topics For Today • Rank Checking & Skewed Results • Competition • Total matches vs. competing pages • Accidental vs. intentional competition • Relevance & Weighted Popularity • The PPC Metric • Search Term Targeting Studies

4. Which is more likely? 12 people searched for a barber shop in the Wallingford district in Seattle Someone who owns a barbershop in Wallingford has downloaded rank checking software A complex search term is rarely used more often than a simpler search term.

5. Who’s Your Competition? • 749,000 pages containing the phrase “barber shop” • 5,810 pages containing “barber shop” in the page title • 2,960 pages containing “barber shop” in the title AND links

6. Examining Top Ranked Pages • Are they related to your page? • How many out of the top 10 are similar sites? • Are they optimized? • Keywords in title, headings, body text, links. • Are they well linked? • Directory listings, vertical/topical links, total links, Google “toolbar PageRank”

7. Evaluating Relevance • What Does It Mean? • Some terms have multiple meanings • Some are looking to buy, others for information • Be careful with generic search terms! • Example: “brake repair” • By itself, likely a search for information • With a location, likely a search for services

8. What Does “Barber Shop” Mean? Their upcoming CD? This DVD? Or does someone need a shave?

9. Travel Agents, Calm Down…

10. Evaluating Relevance • What % of searchers want what you have? • Use your judgment, dig into the numbers, or test. • Weighted Popularity Formula • # of searches x relevance % = weighted popularity • 1000 searches/day x 50% relevant = 500 • Quality traffic depends on relevance • Consider relevance from both sides

11. Doing The Math

12. The “PPC Metric” • A search term is competitive, or will be soon, if there is competition for paid listings • PPC bids can define the value of a top ranking. • “Free” organic listings can be more costly than paid listings. • Click-through rate on paid listings is a key indicator of relevance – very helpful with generic terms! • If competitors’ bids are below average for the market, there’s a reason! • Bids will gravitate toward break-even.Beware of “free” keyword research offers from PPC engines – their goal is to increase your spend and overall competition, not your profit.

13. Search Term Targeting Study • Write a basic descriptive ad • Minimize the hype to get the truth • Test the ad’s performance against your “candidate” search terms – “keyword research” was not our best target! • Bonus: search counts from Google • Use local targeting for local counts

14. Entry & Landing Pages • Map SEO & content strategy to the visitor • Where do you want to take them? • Don’t optimize home page for sub-page terms! • Yes, I know it might be “easier…” • But it’s a BAD PLAN. • Your Goal = Get the visitor closer to THEIR goal • PPC Landing Pages • Segment the audience • Track mini-conversions • Clear intent makes it easy to make landing pages • Examples: electric scooters, mortgage rates

15. Keyword Modifiers

16. Keyword Modifiers • 8539 for “web hosting,” an additional 12,281 with modifiers… and that’s just the top 30 or so • The tail is bigger than the head… • 200 million searches a day on Google – half are brand new? • Teoma interview – 80% of searches are non-commercial… (no ads triggered)

17. Contact Information Dan Thies, info@seoresearchlabs.com Free 75-Minute Video on Keyword Strategy: www.seoresearchlabs.com/keywordvideo