SEO GOES

Google has released the Website Optimizer API. It covers the basics of the optimizer, allowing for the creation and control of experiments, pages, sections, variations and the other components of the testing framework. This is great news for developers of content management platforms.  For developers of systems such as Drupal, blogging software or shopping carts, the API will allows for the incorporation of  Website Optimizer experimentation into these platforms.  This enables the users of such systems to test their web sites. This will be a major selling point for many of these developers, and a good way to hang onto users whether paying or not.

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Recently, I made a few discoveries while digging around on Google. Shall we draw conclusions from the following?

Google's Semantic Weave

A Little Co-LSI?

Adwords and LSI - A Bit of a Reach?

So here we have some root tokens at work, as evidenced by the truncated string matching that has taken place. Google clearly groups discreet strings from the general English lexicon, but in exactly what capacity, it would be difficult to determine. In situations where there are no exact string matches, Google has delved into not only the root pile but a matrix of co-occurring strings which cross-match within the root pile to locatd combinations of root-derived strings that co-exist on pages and satisfy my less-than-likely search.

Yahoo! and Bing return vastly different results. While Bing associates “CNG” with “Compressed Natural Gas” and highlights both terms within its results, Yahoo! does not seem to make the same association. Bing returns the first result with an exact match for “CNG veh” and Yahoo! does so with its second result. Both search engines return matches that tend to occur in non-HTML documents. Neither return token or root matches. Yahoo! suggests that I “Also try: cng veh in” as a search. Bing makes no suggestions.

Google associates computers and competition with the “comp” in the query “comp nat gas,” but fails to associate the more obvious “compression” or “compressed”. Four of the first 10 results for “comp nat gas” actually contain the word “compression” without highlighting, which seem to indicate, that though the term is present, there is not a strong enough association to merit confidence.

There are instances within results where associative confidence is present only in certain sections of the results content. Check out the bottom-of-page results for “cng veh” where Google highlights the Honda NGV in it’s similar searches, and twice fails to highlight “cng” which was actually a string in my query!

Loose Associations: Google

Any qualified takes on these discoveries are mighty welcome.

My theory is that these are perhaps some of the common roots at play in the associative partial-word substitutions seen in the examples above. Is it possible that there is some more-loosely-constructed means to determine the substituted words – one which does not rely on a defined lexicon and a matrix of lexical roots? Is this result of some substring or back tracking function in tandem with co-occurrence probabilities?

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What Google has to say about landing pages:

“The best way to figure out whether your keyword, ad, or landing page is relevant and useful is to put yourself in the shoes of a user. Do your ad and landing page include language that makes sense in the context of the keywords you have chosen? For example, if you have selected the keyword ‘hiking shoes,’ have you made sure that your ad mentions hiking shoes or related name brands? Does your landing page actually offer the name brands you mentioned, along with detailed information about this shoe type?”

“Targeting your keywords, ads, and landing pages in this way likely will lead to several positive results. First, it can help you gain the trust of your customers and therefore keep them coming back to your site. You will also minimise the money spent on clicks from users who might not be interested in what your website offers. And finally, you can increase your overall Quality Score and lower the minimum bid necessary for your ad to appear.”

Landing Page Approaches

1. Relevancy
In the case of PPC landing pages you need to match the offer to your text ad copy. Keywords should be highlighted or displayed prominently. Keep it relevant to that person’s search query, because that’s all they care about.

2. Copy
Write compelling copy. Avoid meaningless adjectives and over-reaching. Use action verbs. Base copy length and tone on your audience.

3. Clarity
Have a clear call to action. Perhaps this will take the form of a big button. Prominently display delivery options and costs. Bullet points work well online, to help communicate the benefits of a product or service. People most often skim text online. Use bold text to reinforce key messages. Use larger, readable fonts, such as Arial (pixels are better than point sizes for consistency). Use strong highlighting for elements such as quotes.

4. Features, Benefits, Solutions

5. Remove distractions
Focus the user’s mind on the end goal: the checkout or the conversion action. Limit his or her options by removing link navigation, for example. Many find that a one-column page format helps achieve focus by leaving little room for distractions.

6. Accuracy
Grammatical accuracy, accuracy of details and any other part of the page: these are not optional.

7. Reinforce credibility
Testimonials, press, partners and awards. All these things convey trust and respectability.

8. Images and color
Product images are crucial. Crisp, clear images optimized for fast load times are strongly suggested. People want to see what they are buying. Images of a product in context are ideal. Images that evoke product benefits, features and illustrate how a product solves problems are valuable. Color influences emotions, impressions and actions. People have strong associations with color.

Page elements that often support conversions:

Calculators (illustrating savings by context or over competitors)
Comparison Charts (how does your product stack up competitively)
Embedded Video (brief product demos or walk-throughs)
Site Security Indicators (McAfee, Verisign, etc.)
Prominent Guarantees (any element of risk reversal so that the buyer feels they have nothing to lose by purchasing or taking the next step in the buy cycle)
Dynamic Text Insertion (in PPC – placing the user’s search terms into the page text – especially in the heading)

You can never go wrong with the following. My teachers used to say something similar in creative writing workshops:
Show what you mean and avoid simply telling it.
Showing is the key to good landing page content. Show the user how you _____.

Example Landing Pages:

Free Web Traffic Report
Donor Perfect
An example from Landing Page Star
Another example from Landing Page Star
GMAC Mortgage
ADT Home Security
smart401k.com

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1. Segmentation of keywords and adgroups is essential
2. Increasing CTR does not always equate to increased conversions (though it does most of the time)
3. Lowering click cost does not always increase ROI (though it does most of the time)
4. Specials symbols ® © $ + ! ? & non-word characters draw eyes to ads + add credibility in some cases
5. Start building campaigns with exact matching for all your keywords
6. After setting up exact match keywords, slowly transition to phrase matching where appropriate
7. A negative keyword list should be no less than 200 keywords or keyword phrases. More is great.
8. After negative keywords are in place, slowly phase in broad matching to collect good phrases you don’t yet bid on
9. Ad copy that focuses on benefits will often outperform copy focused on features (but not always – so try both and measure)
10. Separate search and content network campaigns as a requirement when setting up a campaign
11. Don’t start off with your bids set at the minimum
12. Test ad copy like there’s no end to the possibilities or profit
13. The fewer keywords in an adgroup the better
14. Landing pages carry most the burden of converting the click. Text ads carry the burden click generation.
15. Campaigns often benefit from being structured around the time of day, the day of the week or by seasons
16. Don’t make ad copy decisions with limited data or think that you know what works best (you don’t until you can back it empirically)
17. The first two weeks are sometimes the most expensive and stressful. But, hang in there.
18. Avoid heavy-handed, turbo-charged, mind-boggling language in ad copy. Be geunine and precise.
19. Master vs. learn. Transform vs. change.
20. The imperative voice is often an effective copy tactic:

Double Your CTR
Master click appeal with 20
proven copy writing tactics

21. Copy with specific means to a particular benefit or solution will often outperform copy for a free offer:

Double Your CTR
Master click appeal with 20
proven copy writing tactics

vs.

Double Your CTR
Learn the secrets of click appeal
Download a free ad copy guide

22. “You need to” is a phrase worthy of testing. You need to test this phrase in your ad copy.
23. People love secrets. “Secret” is a word that often gets attention. Secrets more than not generate clicks.
24. Have you “exposed” anything in your ad copy? If not, put “exposing” to work for you.
25. Experiment with capitalization. Use it for emphasis, and don’t overuse it. Highlight the important keywords only.
26. Avoid {Keyword: Dynamic Keyword Insertion} until you understand it well, at which point you probably won’t use it.
27. {keyword:keyword insertion} = keyword insertion
28. {Keyword:keyword insertion} = Keyword insertion
29. {KEYword:keyword insertion} = KEYWORD insertion
30. {KeyWord:keyword insertion} = Keyword Insertion
31. {KeyWORD:keyword insertion} = Keyword INSERTION
32. {KEYWORD:keyword insertion} = KEYWORD INSERTION
33. Experiment with active and passive states. Let the product empower the user in one case. Let the product actually do the work for the user in another.
34. Focus on ROI and not CTR
35. Landing page load times aren’t as important for Quality Score as they are for the usability that encourages the engagement required for conversions.
37. Try ending ads with “…”
38. Try “+” vs. “and”
39. Try “$0″ vs. “Free”
40. “Save $” vs. “Save Money”
41. Try “&” instead of “and”
42. Ask questions in your ad copy
43. If you can determine a target CPA or CPT (Cost Per Aquisition or Cost per Transaction) try conversion optimization over manual bidding
44. Use analytics to find negative keywords. Use keyword suggestion tools to find negative keywords.
45. Create adgroups containing typos and mispellings, which usually have reduced competition and CPC
46. The phrase “keyword typos” has 260 potential typos for the phrase, these don’t include permutations, such as “key word” or the reversal of the words, as in “typos keywod”
47. Create landing pages that lead with and highlight the keywords the user has search for
48. Inlcude the exact keywords you bid on in your add copy whenever possible
49. The user’s search keywords correspond to the keywords your bidding on which should then correspond the keywords in the ad copy and finally the keywords on the landing page
50. Segement poor performing keywords into their own ad groups and experiment before retiring them
51. Include the product price in the ad copy if the pricing is competitive
52. Use SEO to augment your keyword presence and brand visibility in tandem with paid search
53. Use data from SEO to understand your audience and keywords more comprehensively. Do the reverse, too.
54. Give away free stuff like compelling downloads. Don’t give away anything lame. Make it worth the time.
55. Use the Adwords Editor to save time by editing in mass
56. Pay close attention to the ads of competitors. Learn all you can from them.
57. Start strong. Overpay and overbid to quickly get a higher quality score which increases your CTR and lowers minimum bids.
58. Avoid migrating a campaign from a an established account (one with performance history) to a new account (one with no performance history). The loss will be substantial.
59. Track conversions. Track conversions. Track conversions.
60. Use Google’s Website Optimizer to improve your landing pages
61. Use this phrase in ad copy “Did You Know that [Keyword] Could [Insert Benefit]”
62. Be specific. Use exact numbers, like “15,786 reviews” instead of “15,000 reviews”
63. Utilize the Mcafee Site Secure icon with ad copy. The Mcafee icon appears provided the website has a Mcafee certificate and the end user has site advisor installed.
64. Offer Google Checkout – By offering Google Checkout payment gateway, the ad copy will display a colourful Google Checkout icon which stands out.
65. Include a phone number in your display URL, for example:

3-Day Red Shoe Sale
Red Shoes Up to 85% Off
Save $ on 26 Brands + All Styles
www.RedShoes.com/800.736.5403

66. Use free tools such as the following to improve efficiency:

http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/adwords-wrapper.html
http://tools.ppcblog.com/spelling/keywords-typos.cgi
http://tools.ppcblog.com/keyword-research-tool/
http://tools.ppcblog.com/ad-generator/
http://tools.ppcblog.com/keyword-list/generator.php

67. You have to be able to at least estimate the following before you can know the right price to bid.

* conversion rate data
* profit margins
* lifetime value per customer

68. Use tracking Google’s tracking URL capabilities to capture the keywords and network segment that generated each click:

http://www.sitename.com/buy-now.shtml?src=adw&sid={ifsearch:S_}{ifcontent:C_}{keyword}

* adw is used in the URL to denote google as the source. Just as easily you could enter G or Google or something similar.
* the {ifsearch:S_} and {ifcontent:C_} place an S or C before the keyword to indicate whether the source was search or a content site.
* {keyword} inserts whatever the keyword was.

69. Consider phone call tracking.
70. Track all important user actions – not just sales. Newsletter signups, review contributions, free downloads and form submissions all make good candidates.
71. Validate all destination URLs in your campaign on a regular basis. You pay for clicks even if your page is not accessible.
72. Work the recent events and seasonal angle, especially if you’re selling gift cards or flowers – even if you sell industrial supplies.
73. Gaurantee your product or service. Do so prominently.
74. Price match.
75. Offer coupons and discount codes.
76. Offer volume discounts.
77. Solve real problems.
78. If selecting your geography by state, make sure to select all of the cities and areas within the state, and not just the state. Your ads will contain the state of the user, but not if you use the global state selection.

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