Professional Search Engine Optimization and SEO Marketing Firm

Home

Package Deals

Optimization

Submission

Pay-Per-Click

Paid Inclusion

Conversion

Free Tools

Blog

Welcome to the ineedhits Search Engine Marketing blog, where we share the latest search engine and online marketing news, releases, industry trends and great DIY tips and advice.

We encourage you to get involved in our blog community - so share your opinions and experiences by leaving comments on our posts.

If you're looking for help with promoting your website - check out our range of affordable search engine marketing services.

Monday, April 30

Google Local - Changes to Onebox on Google.com

Google has made some changes to their 'Onebox' display when a user searchers for local results on Google.com. Earlier this year local search results started appearing at the top of organic results which was great news for local businesses - especially if they appeared in the top 3 positions for that search.

The screenshot below (taken from Small Business SEM) shows the changes to the Google 'Onebox'. These include:

Additional red balloons on the map representing businesses not listed in the top 3 results. This clearly shows users that there are other businesses in the area and not only the top 3 that may have been assumed in the past.

The 'More results' link at the bottom should provide additional exposure to Google Maps where users can view and search for other local businesses.

I am a huge fan of local business results appearing at the top of organic results due to the relevance of the information presented. A user searching for Italian Restaurants near Portland is instantly provided with a choice of restaurants including their location, contact information, directions and even reviews by others.

In the near future I will be posting some of my findings on Google Local and how you can improve your Google Local Listing ranking.

ineedhits has now released Local Search Listing. Get submission to 35 Local Search Engines and your very own Online Profile Page for $24.95/month. Click here to find out more.

Labels: Google, Google Local, Local Business, Local Search Engine Listings

Is Your Pay-Per-Click Campaign Worth the Money?

With millions of people using Google and Yahoo! for their pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, it is no wonder there is an endless supply of new techniques for improving on your campaigns. These can include,

Choosing the ideal position for your advertisements.

Improving your click through rate (CTR) (how many times your ad is clicked on divided by how many times it is shown) by writing catchy advertisements to grab the searchers attention.

Choosing broad, phrase, exact or negative keyword matching options.

Multiple bidding options - preferred bidding, max cost per click bidding or the budget optimizer.

Choosing the time of day to show your ads.

This leads me to an interesting point - if people are so busy refining and improving their campaigns to get those lower costs, who is actually measuring if the time and costs are justified? Consider this; if you spend all of your time getting your CTR high and your click costs low but it isn't leading to an increase in sales then it is quite possible that you are wasting your time and money.

As most advertisers know Google and Yahoo! will reward higher CTR's with lower click costs, but at what expense? It is very common to see people writing catchy ads to get people to click, however if your ad is vague then what are the chances of you having exactly what the searcher is after, and for the right price. On the other hand you may have a low CTR because you place your price in the ad, if people see your price in the ad they do not need to click to compare you against your competition, which lowers your CTR. However if someone does click on your ad, at least you know that they are willing to pay the price that you are offering. This makes them more targeted and maybe worth the drop in CTR that results. But here we go again getting caught up in CTR rates.

The scary thing is that there are still many advertisers out there that do not even do simple ROI calculations on their PPC campaigns. ROI is return on investment, meaning how much money you make from your investment. For example if one of my campaigns cost me $100 for a month and made me $120 then:

a) ROI = (120/100)*100 = 120%

If you had a campaign that cost $200 for a month but only made you $120

b) ROI = (120/200)*100 = 60%

In example (a) you came out with a 20% return on your investment, however in example (b) you lost 40% of your investment.
You then go even further to break down the ROI on individual keywords and then make changes as needed.

Other measures of success can include:

Cost per Acquisition (CPA) i.e. if you spent $100 and had 3 orders the CPA is $33.33
Conversion Rate: You had 1000 clicks with 10 Orders the conversion rate is 1%
Average Order Size (AOS): $1000 in sales with 10 Orders the AOS is $100

You then use these figures to measure how successful your campaign is and then make changes to your ads and keywords to improve the results.

PPC is a tough industry, however if you continue to monitor your ROI on your campaigns and try not to get too caught up in CTR's and click costs, you can ensure that poorly performing campaigns are refined and campaigns performing well get more of your investment. Remember to spend as much time monitoring your returns as you do monitoring campaign performance or you may find it becomes very costly indeed.

Friday, April 27

Special Offer - Unlimited Free Trial of Easy Blog Ping

Pinging your blog is a great basic of blog marketing. Now, an unlimited free trial of Easy Blog Ping allows you to keep your blog listing up-to-date with ease.

What Is It?
Easy Blog Ping is an industry leading blog submission service that pings over 35 of the biggest blog search engines, directories and feed aggregators including:

Google Blog Search

My Yahoo!

Technorati

FeedBurner

NewsGator and more...

How It Works
Blog pinging is a way to inform blog search engines, directories and feed aggregators of updates to your blog. So, every time you create a new post, add a picture or even change your feed settings, you should ping your blog - deliver traffic to your blog today!

The unlimited free Easy Blog Ping offer is provided in an effort get some valuable feedback on the service, and is available to anyone interested in using the product. Feedback may be provided through our blog comments or via email, and is appreciated, but not a requirement of the special offer!

Easy Blog Ping is the fastest way to boost your blog traffic and increase exposure.
Don't miss this chance to get unlimited free use of this industry leading blog submission tool - Start your free trial today! Ping all your blogs, as often as you like!

Tuesday, April 24

5 Tips to Optimize Your Shopping Cart

At ineedhits I think we've written about nearly every type of optimization technique possible, however, today I came across Joost De Valk's article on optimizing your shopping cart! Keep reading for the major points, the how and whys of optimizing a website shopping cart!

1. Inventory That's Easy To Crawl
Create shopping cart URLs that are easy to remember (for the user) and easy to crawl (for the search engines). Keeping URLs and links clear and simple is one of the basics of SEO so don't forget this rule when it comes to your shopping cart! Joost advises that you include nothing more that categories, product and brand names in your URLs, in order to keep them short and simple. Links should also be clear and 'clean' (no JavaScript).

2. Reduce Duplicate Content
Some products fit into several different categories, and it's smart to ensure that they can be found under all relevant item groups. However, duplicate content is a very big no-no, because search engines may severely penalize you for it!

Google Webmaster Central defines duplicated content as "substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar". Website owners should take care that no product, with identical content and copy is displayed more than once across the site. Instead, create one page for each product and link to this from the different categories!

Joost brings up another downside of duplicate content - if a product is listed on more than one URL it may 'dilute' that product's popularity as people may link, or view it on either page - thus affecting the ranking of that webpage!

3. Be Specific!
In short, if your product is a bed then call it that. Consider what your customers are searching for, and how you can deliver it in the easiest possible manner. Undertake some keyword research to find the most popular searches, and base your entire customer journey on your findings. By making it easy to find products on your site, you'll not only increase your initial sales, but also encourage repeat business.

4. SEO, SEO, SEO
On-page SEO is critical for any website, and it doesn't end with your shopping cart! Using relevant category, product and brand names is essential in both copy, links, images and page tags, so make sure you dedicate time and effort into best practice SEO techniques (or get a professional to do it for you! Our Optimizer Kit Plus takes care of all your basic search engine optimization needs!). Also see our archive of articles for more great SEO tips.

5. Build Links
Link building is becoming a more and more popular topic and everyone has an opinion on the best ways to do it! Using your keyword research, search for other relevant websites from whom you would like a link. Joost suggests that you email the website owner and ask for a link, stating your reasons for doing so. The links you get should point to your category, for that keyword (i.e. keyword: "Nike" may correspond to a category/sub-category called "Sports Shoes")

While some of these points might not be relevant to "your" website shopping cart, make the changes you can in order to improve your search engine optimization. The smallest amendments can often have amazing effects. It's amazing how such an important part of the customer journey is the one thing we often forget to focus on. Make sure you treat your shopping cart right!

Google Personalizes Search Results

Google Web History
It's happened to the best of us...you surf the net, come across a wonderful website, forget to book mark it, forget where it was, and how you ever came across it! Now, Google has launched Web History, a great tool for Google Account holders to see where they've been, and what they've been searching for!

To activate Google's Web History you need both a Google account and the Google Toolbar (with PageRank enabled), then away you go. Users have the option to limit their history to searches or enable the full web history.

View a condensed version of your search results

Click to view large
Or, expand the search history to display the individual search results you may have visited

Click to view large
Unlike the Internet History on your PC, Google's Web History means you can access previous searches and visited pages from any PC, anywhere in the world! Sign-up or login and check out this great feature for yourself!

Google Dice
Not the fluffy kind to hang in your car, Google Dice is a 'queryless search' that utilizes your search history to deliver you to sites that may be of interest. For those of you familiar with StumbleUpon the premise is similar - based on previous user behaviour the 'Dice' will show you other relevant webpages.

Obviously if you have not built up a search history the dice will have little to show you, however, continue searching and given time The Google Dice results will become better and better!

Not surprisingly, Google's additions to personalized search results rely heavily on users already having, or implementing, a whole host of other Google products. To get Google Dice you must have Google Web History enabled, which relies on the Google Toolbar and so on...It's hard to imagine the ramifications, should Google start charging for the pleasure of their day-to-day services.

Labels: Google

Google Pays $1 Billion to AdSense Earners

With their latest earnings report, Google have announced they paid over $1 billion to AdSense publishers in the first quarter of 2007. This figure was up from the $976 million they paid at the end of last year, and was the first time the figure has reached the $1b mark.

The earnings report also shows Google are now sharing more revenue with AdSense publishers than ever before, with 83.7% now given back to publishers. The graph below shows AdSense revenue sharing over the last 4 years.

So why are Google now sharing more revenue with publishers? Loren Baker from Search Engine Journal has a few ideas listed below,

Higher quality of publishers & partners
More strategic partners with negotiated revenue share
Higher share due to competition at Yahoo Publisher Network, Federated Media and other ad formulas
The introduction of image and video advertising in Google AdSense

If you're keen to get your hands on some of this revenue, it's never been easier to start displaying Google Ads on your website or blog. Sign-up for an AdSense account, and let us know if you see an increase in your earnings.

Labels: Google

Monday, April 23

Farewell Froogle - Google Gets Serious About Product Search

This week marked the end of Froogle, Google's odd brand for their product and shopping search engine. The service is being re-branded as Google Product Search, and a revised user interface has been released to reinforce the new brand.

Google introduced their product and shopping search engine back in Dec 2002 and its playful brand was born from the union of Frugal and Google - hence Froogle.

Since inception, Froogle has progressively taken a back seat to other services such as Google Maps, Video Search and Image Search as lack of adoption and usage eventually led to its removal from the Google homepage in 2006.

Marissa Mayer, VP of Search and User Experience, summed up the changes on the Official Google Blog:

"Today, we're making some changes to how we help users find things to buy. You may be familiar with our product Froogle (a pun on "frugal"). Froogle offers a lot of great functionality and has helped many users find things to buy over the years, but the name caused confusion for some because it doesn't clearly describe what the product does. "

Google has used the re-branding exercise to release a re-vamped user interface. The search refinement options have been shifted to below the search results and Google Checkout has been integrated into the service. With the ability to filter results to Google Checkout only merchants, this is a clever way to encourage businesses to adopt Google's payment system.

I believe a product and shopping search "renaissance" will occur over the next 12 months, but the questions remains, will the makeover bring the product search traffic and usage that Froogle failed to generate. With a little help from core search integration...I'm betting it will.

Labels: Google

Yahoo! Integrates PayPal Checkout in Search Results

Yahoo! and PayPal have released a new program that will see the PayPal checkout icon appearing in Yahoo! Sponsored search results. The Yahoo! PayPal Checkout Program is aimed at creating a secure and seamless shopping experience for Yahoo! searchers and hopefully greater sales for advertisers.

Under the program, Yahoo! Sponsored Search advertisers who offer PayPal Express Checkout as a payment system can have the blue PayPal shopping cart icon displayed in their ads. According to the release post on the Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog:

When a user goes to Yahoo! Search to find an item or service, the results page may include Yahoo! Sponsored Search results matched to the user's query. If the merchant has joined the Yahoo! PayPal Checkout program, a blue shopping cart icon will appear next to the merchant's name in the Sponsored Search results. By clicking on the ad, users will have direct access to a safe, secure purchasing process that does not require any additional credit card information and can be completed in just a few mouse clicks.

With an estimated 130 million PayPal customers already on the internet, the new program could be a great way for Yahoo! to encourage more PayPal merchants to sign up for their pay-per-click advertising program.

It's also an attractive program for new online businesses that are choosing which merchant facility to offer. By highlighting the payment options in advertising, it should help to reduce secure shopping fears, a conversion hurdle new businesses would surely like to avoid.

All told, one of the key goals of this initiative is to combat the growing adoption of Google Checkout by ecommerce sites. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a similar integrated checkout and advertising model from Google in the not too distant future.

Labels: Yahoo

Tuesday, April 17

Google, Yahoo! and MSN Pay-Per-Click Comparison

Pay-per-click marketing seems to be changing all the time. With Yahoo!'s new Panama system now rolled out, and Google consistently tweaking the AdWords platform, it seems appropriate to revisit the pros and cons of using each for your pay-per-click advertising. While there is still much room for improvement, I have included MSN Adcenter for those that are thinking of trying it.

Yahoo! Pros and Cons

Yahoo! Pros

The "originator" of the pay per click search engine

If your listing appears in the top 3 you also appear on MSN and AltaVista.com.

If your listing appears in the top 10 you also appear in Dogpile, Excite and theInfospace network

Large traffic volumes

Inbuilt search term suggestion tool, with search volume numbers

$75 free credit for new US customers

Advanced and standard matching of keywords options

DetailedReports Available

Advertisement quality indicators

Easy to use customer interface

Performance tracking available (clicks and conversion??)

Ability to have multiple ads running at same time not previously available

Ads and keywords go live instantly (pending approval) instead of waiting the usual 3 days for approval.

Yahoo! Cons

Limited geo-targeting , with State/County level only available for the US and Canada

Tough review process for new keywords and a limit of 50 for each new campaign

Minimum monthly spend for some advertisers of $25.

Limited payment options, only prepaid available

Click fraud Issues (industry wide)

Very high click prices for some keywords

No multiple client centers available. All accounts need to be logged into separately.

Google Pros and Cons

Google Pros

Strong brand name and large user base resulting in more website traffic

Strong and Growing Distribution Network including

America online
Ask Jeeves
Netscape
AT&T WorldNet
NY Times

Ads are ranked using algorithms and maximum CPC (cost-per-click) multiplied by CTR (click-thru-rate)

Automatically reduces bid prices to the lowest needed to gain top positions

No minimum monthly spend and no monthly fees

Advertisers can target over 225 countries, regions and territories, 6 language options and over 6 international currencies.

Several ads permitted in one ad group to test performance

Advertisers can choose broad, phrase or exact match keywords and add negative keywords if they choose.

Offers a Keyword Suggestion Tool

Ability to have site targeted campaigns utilizing banner advertising

Innovative new features such as Radio advertising

Multiple payment methods: prepay, post pay and direct debit.

Detailed Reporting Ability

Analytics program with conversion tracking

Ability to hold multiple clients in one main client center

Google Cons

Content network producing very low CTR and ROI.

Click fraud issues (industry wide)

Very high costs for some keywords, i.e. "Movers Baltimore" $12 per click.

$ 5 setup fee

MSN Pros and Cons

MSN Pros

Still growing

Has a good brand image supporting the service

Well organized

Continued growth should start providing greater traffic volumes

MSN Cons

Smaller traffic numbers than Google and Yahoo!

Click fraud issues (Industry wide)

Fewer reporting capabilities

$5 setup fee

Less features to choose from when setting up campaigns.

Behind the major players in terms of search partners and new product developments

More complex user interface

Yahoo! and Google are very similar in the services that they provide. Both are looking at ways of getting better-targeted ads, especially with the release of Yahoo's new Panama system that has bridged the gap between AdWords considerably. Time will only tell whether Yahoo! can match Google on all levels considering they are always proactively looking for better ways to reach potential customers, (e.g. radio advertising program).

Google is by far the easiest and most feature rich of the two however are the most expensive in terms of click prices. So it looks like it is up to Yahoo! to continue improving the usability of their services while also keeping a close eye on the rising keyword costs and the potential bugs that seem to be popping up. In terms of MSN they are growing, however the search volume is still dwarfed by the competition. Hopefully, they will continue to grow and make a better presence in the marketplace just to create a little more competition for the big guys.

Labels: Google

4 Reasons You Should Outsource Your Search Marketing

When faced with the challenge of ranking higher, getting included in search engines or even running an online advertising campaign, small businesses are faced with two options; 'Should I outsource search marketing or do it myself?'

While there are benefits either way, I feel outsourcing is the smartest choice (working for an SEM company helps), as it allows business owners to focus on what they do best, running their small business. Aside from this, there are many other reasons you may want to consider outsourcing your search marketing. Here are my top 4:

1. The Search Environment is Constantly Changing

Fast rates of adoption and low barriers to entry have meant the online landscape is evolving at a very rapid pace. Firms like Google and Yahoo! are continuously enhancing and adding new features to their marketing products, leaving many business owners at a loss about which medium is right for them. Search marketing firms make it their job to keep on top of industry developments. The quick adoption and implementation of new marketing elements mean search marketing firms are able to suggest and employ these changes on their client's campaigns.

2. The Right Mix of Experts is Hard to Find

Running a search marketing campaign requires a broad range of marketing skills that are not often available to every small business owner. Today, it's virtually impossible to find someone who possesses all the skills required to fully manage an entire search marketing campaign. At ineedhits, like many search engine marketing firms, we employ a range of specialists with expertise in website submission, SEO, pay-per-click and online advertising, copywriting and landing page design. This unique mix of talents ensures we can help small business across all areas of search marketing.

3. It's not all about SEO

There was a time when 'search marketing' simply meant ranking higher in Google. How times have changed. Search marketing has now developed into a complex mix of paid advertising, PPC campaigns, paid inclusion, webpage conversion and more. Understanding all elements and choosing those best suited to YOUR business is the only way to achieve effective results online. With increased competition and millions of new websites, focusing solely on SEO is definitely a thing of the past.

4. Easy to Start but Hard to Improve

Many businesses find themselves starting search marketing campaigns, only to cancel them after about a month or so. Why? Because they were not getting the ROI (return on investment) they were looking for. A prime example in this case is pay-per-click advertising. After setting up these campaigns, many small business owners simply let them run their course, without monitoring clicks, optimizing ad copy or changing ad placement. Their click through rate decreases, ad position declines and they are left wondering where it all went wrong.

Monitoring and improving your campaign is something best left to professionals. In the case of our pay-per-click service Easy PPC, your campaign manager sets monthly goals for your business and optimizes your campaign to meet these goals. This ensures your campaigns produce long term results for your business.

Whether you're new to search engine marketing, or have been using it for a while, I hope this post provides some insight into the benefits of outsourcing your online marketing. If you currently outsource your search marketing, let us know how it has improved your business via our blog comments!

Google, Yahoo! & Microsoft Unite - sitemaps.org

Google, Yahoo! & Microsoft unite in referencing sitemaps within the robots.txt file

Good news for webmasters, and online publishers, as Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft unite to support a single format sitemap auto discovery method. In a rare collaborative effort, the three search rivals have agreed on referencing sitemaps within the robots.txt file.

What are Sitemaps?
Sitemaps inform search engine crawlers of the pages within your website, how important each page is and the frequency with which you update them. For a great DIY tip into creating sitemaps, check out Matt's post on Making Sitemaps Work for Your Website

What is a robots.txt File?
Robots.txt is a text file (hence the .txt) present in the root directory of a site. It controls which pages of your website search engine robots index. Since all search engine crawlers access this file, it's the obvious place in which to reference a sitemap - hopefully resulting in better, faster website indexing.

The New Sitemap Protocol
Once you have created a sitemap for your site, you should have it uploaded to your website directory and should add the following line of text into your robots.txt file:

Sitemap: http://www.mysite.com/sitemap.xml
(Speak to your webmaster if you don't administer your own website)

Any search engine that supports sitemaps will now be able to access your sitemap through your site, making it easier for you to get all the content you want into all the search engines. It's best to follow the guidelines from Google, Yahoo! or sitemaps.org to make sure you implement your sitemap in the robots.txt file correctly and remember that it's best to leave changes to your site to your webmaster, or an IT professional!

Boost your chances of getting into Google - guaranteed Google inclusion in just 7 days - order G-Boost now!

Labels: Google

Yahoo! Site Explorer Full Release with SPAM and Mobile Site Features

Yahoo! recently announced that their Site Explorer service is out of beta and now comes with SPAM and mobile website features for webmasters. Yahoo! Site Explorer, like its Google Webmaster Central counterpart, is a great tool for website owners to monitor their search engine listings.

Over the past 2 years of beta, the service has continued to grow providing more features such as feed submission, site authentication and more detailed website data.

To mark the full release of the service, Yahoo! Site Explorer now provides website owners mobile site submission and management. According to the post:

Enhancing our Mobile Site Submit feature, publishers can now submit mobile sites and feeds to Site Explorer, which enables them to get their mobile sites into Yahoo! oneSearch and gain access to Yahoo!'s mobile user base. Our mobile crawler will consume these feeds to help it find new pages. The feeds can be:

RSS 0.9, 1.0 and 2.0, such as CNN Top Stories
Sitemaps
Atom 0.3 and Atom 1.0 such as, Yahoo! Search Blog
A text file with a list of URLs, each URL at the start of a new line
A single webpage

As linking is a critical component of any search engine optimization strategy, another new feature allows you to report inbound links to your website that you feel are irrelevant or that could have a negative impact on your ranking. The new Report SPAM facility allows you to fill out a spam report and reduce the potential impact of such back links.

For the DIY website owner or online marketer, Yahoo! Site Explorer is a great tool and is worth exploring. Set up your Site Explorer account here.

Google Steals DoubleClick Deal from Microsoft

Last week I posted about the competition that was brewing over the acquisition of DoubleClick, with Microsoft being the initial front runner. Well it appears that Google has stolen the deal for a cool US$3.1 billion.

So what does the acquisition of DoubleClick really mean for the search engine and online marketing industry?

For Google, it's a real chance for them to tap into top end online brand marketing where significant dollars are spent by major corporations. It's an interesting move considering the effort that has gone into expanding AdSense's media options, but as DoubleClick has strong brand equity already - they will be covering both ends of the market.

More importantly, it further increases their ad publishing real estate. Considering how much space they already have with the AdSense network, DoubleClick's portfolio of websites will be a welcome addition to the Google range.

As for Microsoft and Yahoo!, the new deal is another nail in the coffin (so to speak). The competitive gap between Google and Microsoft just gets bigger and bigger. While Yahoo! already has its own display advertising subsidiary, DoubleClick was considered by many to be Microsoft's last hope.

The Google - DoubleClick deal has many rivals questioning the competitive equity in the online advertising market. Many are concerned about the advertising monopoly that is developing. It'll be interesting to see whether regulatory intervention occurs.

Labels: Google

Tuesday, April 10

New 'State of the Blogosphere' Data

Technorati have released their State of the Blogosphere data, analyzing blog and blogging trends for the first quarter of 2007. Now tracking over 70 million blogs, and growing rapidly, the Technorati data has been expanded to provide more information on the State of Tags and tagging as a form of categorization in web 2.0 culture. Following is a neat round up of all the Technorati data highlights:

70 million weblogs are currently tracked

About 120,000 new weblogs are created each day, or...

1.4 new blogs every second

3000-7000 new splogs (fake, or spam blogs) created every day

Peak of 11,000 splogs per day last December

1.5 million posts per day, or...

17 posts per second

Growing from 35 to 75 million blogs took 320 days

Japanese the #1 blogging language at 37%

English second at 33%

Chinese third at 8%

Italian fourth at 3%

Farsi a newcomer in the top 10 at 1%

English the most even in postings around-the-clock

Tracking 230 million posts with tags or categories

35% of all February 2007 posts used tags

2.5 million blogs posted at least one tagged post in February

Read Sifry's entire State of the Blogosphere report or go back and check out all of the State of the Blogosphere and State of the Live Web reports starting from October 2004! The emerging trends are fascinating!