Technology Marketing by Tatum MarketingJust another WordPress weblog

I’ve spent six articles talking about keywords for websites; however the question needs to be asked: are keywords the only factor that impacts the ranking of a website?

The answer is no.  Keywords are the foundation for getting a higher ranking on search engine results pages, but they are not the only factor considered.  Without good keywords used properly it becomes harder and harder to achieve good ranking.

What else goes into getting a good ranking?  There are a number of factors to consider, and I’ll go over each in detail in later articles, but let’s start with the basics.

Design factors for increasing ranking.

Search engines pay attention to where a keyword is located on the web pages and whether or not it is emphasized. Words included in titles and headlines or subheads, and words that are in bold or italicized text are seen by both humans and search engines as being more important than non-emphasized words in the body copy. It makes sense that search engines give text that has been treated this way a few extra points towards higher ranking.

You might be tempted to start bolding every other word, but you need to make sure that these enhancements to the text are properly integrated with the overall design and theme of the website.  It is far more important for human visitors to be able to read and use your website than it is for search engines to be able read it.  If text is difficult or challenging to read and use, your visitors will just hit the back button and possibly never come back.

The powers of links:

Links – both internal and external – are another important factor in assessing ranking.  Internal links should always be in plain English (another good place to use keywords) and should be designed so that search engines can follow them.  The types of links that search engines hate are computer gibberish such as “www.mysite.com/00023994/objcet=2&type32”.  It is much better to use one that looks like this: “www.mysite.com/business/software/”.

Fancy Java script or Flash menus, while attractive to humans, can be a problem for search engines.  They are generally unable to follow these links because the links require a mouse click to activate them; thus they don’t show up for search engine spiders.  If you choose to have Java or Flash menus on your site, plan on including text links to duplicate the links elsewhere on the page.  Simple text links are also a good backup for customers experiencing connection problems as they don’t have to wait for the website to fully load in order to get to the page they want.

External links have a huge impact on a website’s ranking.  The sheer number of outside websites linking to your site is important, but do not assume that one link is just as good as any other. Some links will have more of an impact on search engine rankings.

Links coming from ‘trusted authorities’ will increase your website’s ranking more than many other actives.  What is a trusted authority?  That is a lengthy topic, but basically it comes down to websites containing similar subject matter as your site.  A link from a humor site, for example, will help increase your ranking more if you have a humor site than if you have a banking site.

Is your site up to date?

Another ranking factor is the age of the site and its contents.  Paradoxically, the longer your website has been around the better your ranking, but the longer it’s been since you’ve updated the site, the lower the ranking. This is another good reason to plan on updating your site on a regular basis.

You don’t have to totally redesign your whole site. Just keep the content fresh and up-to-date. You can do this by always including breaking news and the latest product or company information.  Make sure that any outdated content is removed.  Outdated content is like missing a button on your suit jacket. It may not seem important, but people notice when you’re not looking your best.

Are visitors returning to the site?

Another seldom-mentioned but important factor towards ranking is the site’s popularity.  More people coming to a site will help increase its ranking.  Yes, this does sound like a catch-22, because most companies invest in SEO to get a higher ranking so that more people will see their site on Google and come for a visit.

Older sites often have an advantage because they have built up repeat visitors over time, and these repeat visitors count as traffic. In order to build your traffic numbers, become a site that people come back to again and again.  You want to be a bookmark that they click on regularly.

Depending on your business and your audience, there are many things that can be added to your website to increase repeat visitors.  For example: user manuals, training guides, resources and blogs generally help keep people coming back.  Don’t be afraid to go the extra mile and put more information and more tools on your site. Think about turning your website into a useful tool instead of just a brochure or storefront for the company.

Is that all that needs to be done?

The items above represent some of the major factors that impact search engine rankings. Search engines use complicated 200+ factor algorithms to determine rank, and there are many other small things you can do to slightly increase ranking. However, using good keywords as a foundation and following the steps above will build the frame to successful website structure.  Without these major steps the smaller steps will have almost no impact at all.

Building a successful website is just as complicated and rewarding as building the rest of your business, and with a large number of people turning to the internet as their first choice to find any business, your presence on the web requires as much investment in your time and budget as your storefront or office.  Your website is often the first thing potential customers see of your business, so spend the time to make a great first impression.

Technorati Tags: seo, search engines, ranking, keywords, algorithms, websites, visitors, traffic

When it comes to researching and selecting keywords you will often hear the term “Long Tail” and it can be confusing.  The name for “Long Tail” searches is credited to Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired Magazine.

The concept is fairly simple. When people search online they tend to type in not a single word but a series of words. In this grouping of words there is a main simple word, which is the head, and behind that are a few more words which are the tail of the search.

An example of this is:  Software (head) Management Inventory (the tail)

When trying to optimize a website, companies tend to focus all their energy on the head words.  But under the Long Tail theory, the tail words are actually the more useful and powerful words to focus on.

Tail words do not generate the large search volume that head words do, however the people searching with tail words tend to much more focused and easier to convert from a website visitor into a true customer. Long Tail keywords also allow for more unique products and services to be found because the searcher is not focusing on a single word but a series of words which can better describe niche items.

For example, Google says people search for the single word “software” an average of 550,000 times a month while “inventory management software” gets less than one-tenth of that. But which is the better search term?

Let’s look more closely at the above example. When I typed in the word “software” into Google, it found 1,340,000,000 pages (heavy competition) and the word is not specific enough to get a good quality of visitor.  Even if you could get ranked high for “software” it would likely generate a very high bounce rate. Since there is a virtually unlimited combination of things the searcher could actually be looking for (different kinds of software, buying software, developing software, comparing software, etc) the majority of searchers are not going to be looking for any one specific thing.

However, when I added “management inventory” Google comes back with only 9,510,000.  While this is still a lot of websites it is only a fraction of those for the single word “software” and we’ve narrowed the potential search target significantly. We can continue adding words (creating a longer tail) and improving the likelihood that the searcher is looking for us.

With the smaller search volumes for the Long Tails, the Pay-Per-Click advertising costs can be much lower because the competition is smaller. For the price of advertising on a major search word it is possible to have several different Long Tail PPC ads running at the same time.

Like all other Keywords decisions, Long Tail choices should not be picked out of thin air.  Research should always be done to make sure that there is good traffic on these Long Tails.

Are Long Tails the right decision for your website?  Perhaps. Every website is different based on what service or production they are providing. But Long Tails are definitely something that all websites owners should investigate when looking for the best way to reach potential customers on the internet.

Technorati Tags: keywords, long tail, search, volume, ppc, seo, search engine optimization

For the last week or so we have been happily working with Google’s Keyword Tool and the new search volume data it produces. This is an extraordinarily valuable tool for B2B internet marketing – or any kind of internet marketing for that matter.

The Google tool is as simple as it sounds. Type in a keyword phrase – get a list of related keywords along with the following info for each keyword.

• Advertising competition – the number of advertisers bidding on that phrase
• Average monthly search volume for the last six months
• Number of searches last month.

All that and it’s free.

You may remember that Overture used to have a tool like this. Yahoo – for reasons I will never understand – stopped supporting it soon after they bought Overture. Kudos to Google for bringing it back.

The Google Traffic Tool gives you more than just traffic and competitor information. You can click a few buttons (Show/Hide and select “Show All Columns”) and you’ll also see estimated ad position and estimated cost per click for whatever maximum click rate you set. This part isn’t new, but it’s still very valuable for pay-per-click advertising.

You can use this tool even if you don’t have an Adwords account. Just go to adwords.google.com and click on Get Keyword Ideas in the middle of your screen. If you have an Adwords account you’ll get more customized info by accessing the tool from within your account. Just click on Tools along the top of your campaign summary page and then click on Keyword Tool.

Adwords guru Perry Marshall has a good tutorial on using this tool here:  Google Traffic Tool.

Go give it a try.

Technorati Tags: Google, Adwords, keywords, search, b2b, online marketing

Today’s search engine marketing tip for technology marketers covers the first “rule” of keyword selection: choose the words your prospects will use to find a product or service like yours.

Read that sentence again. This is very different from using the words you use to describe your product.

I realize this is a big challenge for technology marketers and sales people alike. And it isn’t confined to search engine marketing. But if you don’t drop the jargon here, you’ll surely waste a lot of money.

The solution is relatively simple – take the time to learn what your customers really call your products or services. Stop using your own internal terminology and start using your customers’.

You could hire a market research firm to do this for you, but why? It’s not that hard. Here are four very good– and not too difficult – ways to find out how your customers think about your products.

1. Ask them. Get on the phone and just ask. Listen carefully because sometimes they think of your product in terms of the problem it solves rather than the product itself. You’ll want to consider these keywords too.
2. Poll your customer-facing employees: sales, customer service, technical support and any other group that interacts with your customers. Find out what questions your customers are asking and what words they use.
3. Look at your website traffic stats. Most web analytics applications show you what keywords searchers use to find your site. This is an incredibly powerful bit of information.
   
   
4. Look at what keywords your competitors are using. Beware though – they may be suffering from jargonitis themselves.

You can read more about keyword selection in our recent article Scouting for the Best Keywords.

Technorati Tags: keywords, research, technology marketing, jargon, SEO, PPC