Image of VisitBritain.com Adwords Ad Targeting ‘Ireland’

If you’re wondering why the destination URL has ‘Thailand’ in it that’s my current location – the beautiful but wet island of Phuket. But I digress – back to VisitBritain.com.

VisitBritain.com now Includes Irish Holidays?

Not on your nelly. While Adwords advertisers often bid on competitor terms and brands I think this is rather brazen ad copy. The site most certainly is not the official site for visitors to Irland, and does not offer any functions for planning trips to Ireland. In fact the closest they come is Northern Ireland, but given that there is only one state with the official name ‘Ireland’ that hardly counts.

Image of VisitBritain.com

Very underhand if you ask me…

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: VisitBritain.com Robbing Irish Tourists?

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Well for the month of July you can get access to Wordze for just $4. I can highly recommend the tool, and use it more or less daily myself.

Coupon -> Get Wordze for just $4 – Click here!

[Update: my bad - it's actually only $4 not $4.95 ]

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: Wordze Keyword Tool Special – Coupon Inside!

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Plural or Singular search terms?

According to Robin Goad over at Hitwise, plural search terms accounted for more traffic to e-commerce sites than their singular counterparts. Robin uses data collected within the Hitwise app, so it’s safe to say the conclusions have high relevance from a search perspective.

So, while the results are not conclusive, it does seem that plural terms are better at sending traffic to retailers than singular terms. Two thirds of the products tested performed better as plurals, with technology products in particular skewing in favour of an added ‘s’. Indeed, the search term ‘mobile phones’ sent almost five times as much traffic Shopping and Classifieds sites as ‘mobile phone’, while for ‘digital cameras’ / ‘digital camera’ the ratio was 4:1.

Well worth a read – head over and check out his post.

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: Do People Search More for Singulars or Plurals?

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If you’re serious about keyword research then I strongly recommend you check out this tool if you haven’t already done so.

And you can now do so free for 30 days if you sign up on or before Sunday January 13.

Nice way to check the tool out without committing funds or relying on videos and the like.

Here’s the link.

Happy keywording

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: Serious About Keywords? Wordze Coupon Inside

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He goes by the friendly (wolf in sheep’s clothing type of friendly) nickname grandad. He smokes a pipe, and at times comes across as slightly geriatric. Some might even consider him ‘crusty’. But beneath the kind gentle exterior lies the heart of a calculated senior porn mogul.

But this candid look into the life of a seniors porn kingpin also reminds me that said individual mentioned previously his lusting for some keywords with which to expand his sordid empire. And not being one to disrespect my elders:

[Update: Unfortunately I have to remove this data. Apologies]

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: Revealed: Ireland’s Sleazy Senior Porn Kingpin

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Google News Ireland adds HSE to entertainment section

If anything those stories would have better relevance if they were swapped over IMO.

I suppose there’s a certain irony in this categorisation (you wont get this unless you’re Irish or have had the fortune of interacting with the Irish Health System). But it just goes to show that algos have a long way to go before they can really ‘get it’.

Anyone else seen any queer results in Google’s Irish News aggregator?

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: Google News Finds HSE ‘Entertaining’

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Dave asked me to grab data on 2 search phrases – “Online Marketing Ireland” and “Internet Marketing Ireland”. Wordze is a great tool for general keyword research, but you have to always bear in mind that Ireland is a small market and they getting accurate data from any tool for Irish search queries is always going to be difficult.

But strangely enough there was quite a bit of traffic on both those phrases:

Online Marketing Ireland Search Query Report

Here’s the same report for [Internet Marketing Ireland]:

Internet Marketing Ireland Search Query Report

While I’m sure there has been an insurgent interest in Online/Internet marketing here in Ireland over the past year, I think that that interest has been overshadowed by something else.

But… Who’s Making All Those Searches?

The main problem with any professional keyword tool is that the data will always be based on available data sources, and in general no one source is reliable. In the case of Wordze they do appear to have access to Irish ISP data (they don’t actually tell customers where they’re data comes from BTW), but there is no real way to validate that data.

The main problem with any keyword research for the SEO/SEM category is that a very large number of the reported searches are going to be executed for the purpose of collecting keyword data (was that sentence as difficult to understand as it was to write?). So every time I do a search on Google for either of those terms I have absolutely no interest in acquiring the service – I’m just interested in who’s doing what in my niche.

And let’s face it – every man (web designer or not) and his dog is now an Irish SEO expert.

NB: Just to qualify my subtle use of irony – I reckon I could count the people who really know what they’re doing on 2 hands. Maybe even 1 hand.

And therein lies the ultimate fallacy of keyword research for the SEO/SEM niche. Chances are very high that most of those searches were conducted by people like me. I’m not saying that the data has no value, just that you have to be very careful how you interpret it. Even an Adwords campaign is unlikely to uncover the true number of ‘real’ searches.

If you’re interested in a decent keyword tool I can highly recommend Wordze. Some great features, and some new stuff in the pipeline that might be of additional interest to Search Marketers this side of the pond I believe…

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: Keyword Data Is Often Very Skewed – Internet Marketers To Blame?

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But in the last while I’ve been using one primary tool for all my research. I can say hand on heart that of the well known tools I’ve tried this one is hands down the best, not only for functionality, but also for accuracy (only running PPC campaigns beats it IMO).

Wordze 30 days for free

That’s the name of the tool – ‘Wordze’. And the company behind it have a special offer at the moment – 30 days free use.. The offer is only for the next four days, so I’d hurry on over if you’re interested.

Here are a few screen shots:

I can very honestly recommend this tool to anyone who does keyword research. It really is top notch. (BTW – the link contains an affiliate code as the 30 day offer isn’t available any other way.).

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: My Favorite Keyword Tool

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Just about everyone knows that spam is part and parcel of life. We just live with it and try to do our best to minimise the impact it has on our daily lives. Unfortunately spam is a particular issue for the SEO industry, as unscrupulous search marketers often turn to spamming techniques to make a quick dollar.

I get my share of spam at Red Cardinal. Generally I just delete the crap left by ‘kind’ spammers (like Cork Web Design Spammers), but occasionally I do a little digging to see what some of the particularly nasty spammers are at. More about spammers a little later – but first, let me tell you what I think of ‘Long Copy’.

Long Copy Pages for ‘SEO’ tools

I like to include screen shots of pages in my posts. I have a nifty little app that lets me grab entire screen shots from within the browser, not just the visible area.

I wanted to include the sales pages for two SEO tools, both of which use ‘long copy’. Here’s the screen shot of the two pages:

These pages are so ‘long’ that I had to reduce them by a factor of ~14 just to get them that small. Maybe they’re ‘Really Long Copy’, if there is such a thing. (If you want to view those pages in all their glory I’ve ‘published’ the URLs a little further down the page. In case you’re wondering what this is all about I’ll come clean in a second.)

These pages appear to be affiliate sites for two well known SEO tools. I’m not 100% sure what’s going on with these pages as they don’t appear to have affiliate IDs appended to the outgoing URLs. Perhaps the affiliate program uses HTTP referrers for identification. Perhaps these pages are actually proprietary sales pages. I’m don’t know for sure.

So what’s the problem with those sales pages? Purely my opinion, but they look and feel like ‘get-rich-quick’ pitches to me. The message I hear sounds like ‘I’ll sell you this great benefit. But wait, there’s more. Buy now and I’ll include x and y’. Yes, lots of marketers defend this technique. And I know it’s true that ‘long copy’ can be effective, but only when the content is compelling and does not feel like I’m being ‘sold’.

Long Page Copy – Read or Turn Off?

When I see long copy pages like these I just turn off completely. As I mentioned, I just think ‘get rich quick’.

I’ve stuck my neck out on this issue once or twice (hello Copyblogger). I sometimes wonder if perhaps long copy is a peculiar American technique that we just don’t fall for this side of the pond? (And if you’re interested Brian Clarke, a.k.a. Copyblogger, has written a post about the death of long copy.)

Back to the comment spam

So taking a step backward for a moment. Why am I highlighting those two affiliate pages? Keyword Elite and SEO Elite are marketed and sold by Bryxen Software (a firm owned by Brad Callen I believe). As with so much of the US on-line marketing industry, Bryxen uses ‘Long Page’ techniques to sell there software. They also make heavy use of affiliate programs to multiply their sales. A couple of weeks ago Red Cardinal received multiple comment spam like the following:

SEO Elite | +http://SEOElite.gurubuddy.com | IP: 216.16.246.184

seo firm…

Automate your link building efforts and rank high in the search engines easily….

and

Killer Keyword Tool | +http://Keywordelite.find-your-stuff.com | IP: 216.16.246.184

keyword lists…

Generate huge laser-targeted low competition, high demand keyword lists in minutes….

These comments were dropped on multiple posts, and, as you can see above, were left by the same IP. Odd? I think not. Probably the same bot. Checking the WHOIS shows find-your-stuff.com registered to someone in Singapore, while gurubuddy.com is privately registered.

Both of the tools being promoted are from Bryxen Software (Brad Callens company +http://www.bryxensoftware.com/), and the linked sites appear to be affiliates.

Comment Spam by ‘SEO’ Firms – Why SEO has such a BAD NAME

I am sure of one thing – spamming blog comments with links to long copy pages, such as those pictured above in miniature, is one of the main reasons the SEO industry has such serious reputation problems. It is very, very hard to blame people for viewing the SEO industry with suspicion. After all, every day the results of spammers litter our websites and pollute our on-line experience.

The reputation problem is only compounded given that the products marketed by the above spammers are well-known SEO tools: comment spam + SEO tools = SEO spammers. And how can we blame people for making that connection.

I’m very interested in your thoughts on ‘long copy’, and whether you have been converted by a ‘long copy’ page like the ones above.

And if you’re thinking of buying these tools, think about this…

I neither own nor use either of these tools. They may well be excellent tools, and perform their respective task extremely well – I don’t know. But if you want to do the world a favour, don’t buy products that are marketed by spammers.

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: A Dose Full of Comment Spam, Long Copy Referrer Pages & SEO Tools – What Do YOU Think?

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I don’t know what’s creepier – that someone visited my site searching for ‘whore‘, or the fact that they went as far as the 47th page before dropping in:

Perhaps it was just my magnetic page title and META description

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: Google Thinks I’m A Whore, Searcher Agrees, From Page 47!

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Overture, the free keyword tool from Yahoo!, is either dead or dying

Most people will be familiar with Overture’s keyword tool which has been returning free keyword estimates for many years. Now the old adage the you get what you pay for still holds true, and most professionals have long since moved to paid services.

But apparently the Overture tool isn’t too well cared for by its owners, as Loren Baker at Search Engine Journal finds out from John Slade, Global Product Management with Yahoo Search Marketing:

First, I’d like to clarify that Yahoo! Search Marketing’s public keyword research tool (formerly known as the Overture’s Keyword Selector Tool- KST) continues to exist today… the responsiveness of this free tool is diminished due to the sheer volume of hits it receives each day, therefore browsers may time out and error pages may appear…

The same Yahoo! representative is then quoted as saying:

… the public tool continues to be available but my advice to our advertisers is to use the protected keyword research tool.

which bascially confirms something we all knew a long time ago – the Overture keyword tool pretty much sucks.

One man’s risk is another man’s opportunity

And lo and behold, hot on the tracks of the rumours about the demise of Overture’s tool comes an announcement via Aaron Wall that Wordtracker has introduced a new free version of Wordtracker that returns up yo 100 keywords.

The Wordtracker tool can be found at http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/.

Want a little bit more?

I use a number of keyword tools, both free and paid. To be honest there’s no fail safe method to generate 100% accurate keyword lists, but by using a combination of tools you can come up with pretty decent ones.

As I wrote previously, I’m using NicheBot (that’s an affiliate link) which has some great features for generating and processing keyword lists. Recently I’ve also added another professional tool to the armoury which I’m really liking a lot (I’ll post about that later).

If anyone knows of other tools that fly a little below the radar I’d love to hear about them.

[UPDATE - Now Trillian is offering a free keyword tool - http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html]

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: Overture Keyword Tool Dead, but Wordtracker Saves The Day (and now Trillain jumps on board)

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Yes, Comreg is still ranking #1 for searches on the phrase ‘Telecoms Poodle‘ (and if you don’t believe me try linking to it yourself :mrgreen:).

I noticed James Corbett linking to my story and lamenting the loss of the ‘Telecoms Poodle‘ bomb (as it turns James is a wee bit premature). It got me to thinking as to how Google might be filtering these ‘attacks’?

Is relevancy the key to the Bomb Filter?

There is a tad bit of discussion going on (see the commentary on Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim blog – one for your reader also) and it has got me thinking how the filter might actual kick in.

First off I wouldn’t know an algorithm if it licked me in the face. But here’s my best guess at what Google might be doing to filter out the Bombs.

Google constantly crawls the web looking for new content and new hyperlinks. As the volume of same-anchor hyperlinks pointing at any one object increases a threshold may be reached which triggers a flag.

I would imagine that relevancy checks are then carried out on both the target object and originating objects to see if:

1. the originating object (the page publishing the link) is relevant to the target;
2. the originating object is relevant to other originating objects;
3. the anchor used has relevancy with respect to the originating object;
4. the anchor used has relevancy with respect to the originating website;
5. the anchor used has relevancy with respect to the target object;
6. the anchor used has relevancy with respect to the target website.

In situations where enough originating objects fail the above tests Google may then filter the target object from search results on the target anchor text.

But I do find it interesting that the ‘Telecoms Poodle‘ is still live and well.

Why might this be? Well firstly, the anchor contains the word ‘telecoms’ which is highly relevant for the target. ‘Telecoms’ is probably also relevant for many of the sites that bombed ComReg (many of the bloggers involved are commenting on the Broadband problems we have here in Ireland). I imagine also that the relatively small size of Ireland’s blogging community makes many of the originating sites relevant to each other (quite a small close-knit circle involved in the bomb).

If I am right it might still be possible to bomb phrases – the key would be to link using semi-relevant anchors, and publish those anchors on sites that share high relevance with the target site and each other.

Of course all the above is simply me speculating. The chances I’m completely wrong? I imagine quite high.

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: The Google Bomb That Got Away – Ireland’s Telecoms Poodle is Alive And Well (and living in Lower Abbey Street)

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The most famous ‘Google Bomb’ was for ‘miserable failure‘, which previously pointed at the White House bio page of George Bush. Searches on that query now produce results pointing at references to ‘Google Bombing’.

What was Google Bombing?

Google Bombing was the practice of extremely heavy and concerted linking campaigns using a particular anchor phrase. In the case of George Bush, links were created using the anchor text ‘miserable failure’:

<a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/biography.html">miserable failure</a>

Previously Google apparently considered both the anchor text and volume of links as a proxy for authority for a particular search phrase. This no longer happens.

But could this change affect your rankings?

Although we cannot be sure whether these algorithm changes have a threshold before they kick in (I’m sure it’s not so simple), it is worth considering the implications for regular link building efforts. The change seems to filter results – I couldn’t find Mr. Bush’s bio ranked at all for the phrase ‘miserable failure’.

Now Google is known for employing the brightest minds on the planet, and it’s very likely that the changes will not affect any sites other than those that previously ranked well after ‘Google Bombing’ campaigns. That said, Google has been known to make the odd mistake here and there.

If your back link profile is heavily skewed toward one or two anchor text phrases you could see your rankings affected by these changes. I imagine sites that target unrelated or semi-unrelated search phrases would be more at risk.

Varying you anchor text has always been a pre-requisite…..

Professional link builders and SEOs should already know to create a varied anchor text profile for their clients. But in cases where a large proportion of any particular backlink profile target an anchor phrase for which a site is not well trusted you might run foul of this tweak.

It might be timely to watch some of the highly optimised niches to see if any other sites are affected by this.

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: Say Goodbye to ‘Google Bombing’ & Hello to ‘Take Care with Your Anchor Text’

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Pat: Hi Richard. Would appreciate any mention. Am beginning to feel like a link wh***
http://blog.roam4free.ie/win-a-pocket-pc-with-roam4free

Me: May I ‘dismantle’ it? It might not be pretty

Pat: Lmao Please do

Of course I’m not one to turn down a free sacrificial lamb, so…

Before I start…

Before I go any further here’s my policy on posting and linking out on request. If something is worthy of a post or a link I’m normally quite happy to oblige. There, that was easy.

Roam4Free

Roam4Free.ie is a great idea. I’ve been with O2 since they were Digiphone, and for many years was always over-charged on my roaming. And I received many a refund to prove it

(Fortunately all O2′s roaming partners ‘set’ the same price a year or two back – how anti-competitive can they get?)

I think Pat is on to a winner. But I also think he really has to nail the website because (and I’m assuming here) it is the primary sales channel.

Oh, and by the way, my comments here could easily apply to any website, so I hope they might be useful to other readers, not just Pat.

What’s the first thing you see on any website?

Well more often then not it’s the page title. As one of the top elements in any HTML page, the title is very first on-screen element to be populated in your browser.

When I visit Roam4Free.ie I see this title:

Welcome to Roam4free.ie – The end of sky high roaming charges !

Two things strike me. First there are no targeted keyword phrases in that title. Other than ‘roaming charges’, which I doubt people search on, there are no reasons for people to discover Pat’s service via the number #1 Internet gateway – Search Engines.

So what phrases might I suggest to Pat?

Well I can see that ‘roaming charges’ and broad matches have very little volume. But the terms ,’international sim cards’, ‘mobile international’ and ‘cell international’ (cell = mobile in the US) and a number of long tail derivatives of those phrases have fairly good volume (000′s per month).

Now just for a minute I’m going to take off my SEO cap and put on my marketing cap. Pat is doing a great job of promoting this (Read/WriteWeb just popped up in my reader). So he’s going to get traffic. Therefore he needs to balance the SEO stuff with pure marketing. And the page title can be a powerful marketing tool.

The title has to quickly establish the product’s benefits for visitors. It should also attract some Search Engine Love if possible. Here are some of my suggestions:

Reduce your International Cell & Mobile Roaming Charges by up to x% with Roam4free.ie

or maybe:

Turn your Mobile into a Free International Cell Phone with Roam4Free

Both of those titles include some relevant keywords that might help with SEO efforts. But more importantly, they both tell the visitor exactly what the product does in simple English, and include a clear call to action. I always think the best way to get your message across to the widest audience is to speak in plain simple language (and pop a couple of nice high-volume keywords in there for measure :mrgreen:).

I posted about the benefit of using good marketing copy in your META description tag a while ago, and I think Pat could look at editing his current Description:

Works in over 115 countries. Receive calls for FREE in over 65 countries. Up to 90% discount on standard mobile rates

I would spell it out – mention ‘international sim card’ somewhere in that copy. (Good use of upper-cased ‘FREE’ though.)

One other point worth mentioning here is that different pages can effectively become honey pots for various search phrases (you should always try to target different phrases on your various pages) . And while I’m on the subject, remember that people can land on any page, not just the homepage, so you should consider every page a selling opportunity.

The Homepage Itself – Quick to Figure or Quick to Leave?

The homepage makes good use of contrast and visual boundaries to break up the main page areas:

I think I have made it clear on numerous occasions that I am not a big flash fan. The flash image on the homepage (sorry, you cant see it in the image above) really doesn’t reinforce the copy on the page. A static image of a sim card will have the same effect in explaining the product. And as for placing static text within the flash file – silly, silly..

And then there’s the font colour, which I feel is too close in contrast to the background colour (blue on blue in places).

This product is crying out for a ‘Sell It To Me Homepage’

Personally I think the homepage should be the seller. If you can convert from the homepage you’re on to a winner. The more pages people check out the more opportunity they have to reconsider that purchase decision.

So how would I make the homepage sell? Perhaps a three point storyboard that explains the product, how to get it, and how to use it:

1. Get a Sim card
2. Add credit
3. Roam4Free

Yes I know all that info is all ready there, but I think it needs to be simplified and given more prominence on the page. Make it feel as simple as possible – 1, 2, 3. Get prospects into the comfort zone.

I would place all the ancillary info into the appropriate story element above, e.g. ‘Use in over 115 countries’, ‘Compatible with most mobile phones and networks across the globe.’, ‘No call set up.’ in step one Get a Sim Card

‘Easy to use. Top up from where ever, when ever.’, ‘Per-minute billing. Save up to 90% on standard mobile rates.’ in step two ‘Add Credit’.

‘No line rental. No minimum contract. No hidden costs – Just FREE incoming calls in over 65 countries, and up to 90% off standard mobile rates’ in the final step.

OK, you might have to edit this last group a little. But the point is to keep the decision process as simple as possible and the purchase path short. Give customers the info needed to make the all important purchase decision without leaving that homepage. (Not sure if implementing the pricing would be possible here though?)

Did anyone else notice the critical navigation flaw?

Take a look at the image above. Apart from there being no obvious homepage link (we read left to right and expect the homepage link to appear top right LEFT of the page), (oops, a little typo there – I’m slightly dyslexic…) I can see the most glaring Achilles heel. But before I declare my hand, some history.

The Internet has been around for a while now, and over time a number of conventions have formed and been widely accepted. The most widely accepted convention is how to link. Unfortunately Roam4Free.ie breaks that convention, badly.

Take a look at the navigation bar:

Do you see the link for signing up? Well it’s there all right. But if you are like most Internet users you glance rather than read, and you’d be forgiven if you missed the sign up link.

It’s actually there at the top of the navigation bar: ‘New User ? Buy a sim to get an account today!’.

The link is not underlined, and worse still, it uses the same color as the labels on the login form. One of the most important links on the site, ‘Sign Up’, doesn’t look like a link at all, it looks like plain text.

Click Here To Purchase

This page is straight-forward and to the point. In fact it’s a little thin on content – there’s a lot a free real estate there, so I would consider increasing the font size to make reading easier. The font size should also be varied to give a visual cue as to the importance of various text elements.

But this next bit pisses me off. When you visit a site you have a goal. You want the shortest and quickest path to achieving that goal so you can move to your next goal.

So every moment of time waisted due to poor design reduces the goodwill you have toward the site in question. On the purchase (sign up) page I am given a link to ‘More Details’. Here’s what I get:

How has that improved my experience? I just waisted 2 clicks – one to view a useless page, and another to go back to go back to where I came form. And a small fraction of visitors wont bother to go back.

Call Rates Page

Try this without Javascript. OK, maybe I’m a little pedantic on this one, but what about mobile browsers? After all, mobile users are the target market here, and I do think mobile Internet might catch on sooner or later…

Nice use of XMLHttpRequest though.

Have I anything good to say?

Yes! It’s a great idea, and I hope it catches on.

My criticisms of the website might seem harse. I only checked a few pages TBH, and I’ve seen far worse. It’s a nice site, and with a few tweaks could probably really pull in traffic that converts.

I see an affiliate system also in the offing. That should push the boat out further as those clever affiliate people target some of the juicy long tail phrases I noticed.

Something I won’t mention…

On a final note, the site has one thing I haven’t mentioned that I think could be a huge asset and very serious linkbait. I’m not going to say what, but I might whisper it to Pat at some stage :mrgreen:.

(If anyone can guess what it is I’ll give them any link they request – no baddies though.)

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: The Tale of a Link Whore, a Mobile PC, a Site Review, and some Clever Market Disruption

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Those Awards, a ‘Best Site’, and some META tag fun optimisation

I swore that I wouldn’t mention those awards again (see, I kept my word :mrgreen:), but this post has led to a rather large amount of traffic.

It appears that many people are hitting Red Cardinal off searches for “moviestar”. Here’s a quick screen shot of the Google results for that term:

(You’ll have to take my word for it when I say that my post ranked #2 for that search for a long time. I’m now at #5. Oh, and while I’m at it, I’ve no idea why www.beingthere.com/ is returned at the current #2? And one more thing, does anyone else find that ‘Movistar’ suggested listings in the middle useful?)

Here’s a larger image of my blog post listing on that page:

When I wrote that post I was a little angry at said awards. So I gave the post a META description of “moviestar.ie is NOT the Best Website Launched in 2006″. And boy have I got some traffic from people searching for “moviestar”.

Meta Tag Optimization alive & well

First off, Meta Description tags have little or no ranking benefit. What content you stick in that tag wont make your site rank any higher (well, for Google anyway). But that tag can be hugely powerful for websites that do rank well. That’s because Google generally uses your META Description for the snippet underneath your page URL in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

When you think about your META description tags, you should think of them in terms of getting click throughs, not ranking.

As people searched for “moviestar” many saw my snippet. That snippet aroused curiosity and served as a good call-to-action. And people did act – by clicking and visiting my post.

So next time you’re creating your unique META descriptions for each page (did I mention that unique descriptions on each page reduces the chance of duplicate content filters hitting your site?) you should think about searchers. And you should think about your descriptions as headlines – the more attractive your headline the more likely you will receive that click over a less interesting or off-topic snippet.

People still believe in Meta Tag Optimization

Just as a parting note, I took a quick look in my favourite keyword tool to see what people search for. And they are still searching on phrases related to meta tag optimisation:

[Update] The actual search query is actually “moviestar.ie” (without quotes) – yes, you’d be absolutely surprised at the number of people who search for a domain name.

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: Who Said META Tag Optimization Was Dead?

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Happy 2007

It’s a new year (don’t they go quickly?). I’m not a big resolution person, but I do think the coming year is going to fantastic for Search Marketing both globally, and, more particularly, here in Ireland. I think more businesses are going to realise that ignoring Search Engines is a strategic error, and that a deeper appreciation of Search Marketing will be manifested in on-line marketing spends.

Some Fresh Ideas

Some of the projects I’ve been asked to look at have fantastic potential. (BTW I decided some time back not to identify future projects publicly). I’m really keyed-up for some of the projects I going to be working on this year.

I’ve also been doing quite some thinking about widgets and web services, which I think offer a great means to promote your site. I think we’ll be seeing quite a lot of new widgets this year (decent widgets can serve as great link bait).

Some of my vacation free time (almost an oxymoron) has been used up with keyword research – one tool I use has turned up some great keyword phrases with decent volumes that have mapped well to domains (and Google’s private domain registration services for $10 have me totally sucked in :mrgreen:). Ill be working on a few proprietary projects in the coming months whenever client work allows.

Finally a Freebie Offer

I post quite a bit over on the Google Webmaster Group (‘Red Cardinal‘) trying to help out others who have issues with Google. It’s all voluntary, and I get great satisfaction from just a little bit of typing.

It makes a lot of sense to thank the people who have read my blog and taken the time to comment. I really am grateful to everyone who’s been in touch or just dropped by. So to give something back here’s a little new year offer for you guys:

If you leave a comment with your URL I will do my best to respond with a review of your site complete with some free advice on how to rank better.

I’ll keep this open for a week or so (as I type this I’m a little worried no one will take me up – go on it’s free!).

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: A New Year, Some New Ideas, and My Time for Free!

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Google again…

Now we all know Google. Google has changed the way we interact on a daily basis. We use their Search Engine more than any other. They supply us with lots of great free services. And they act as the ad broker of choice on the Internet.

While some people may find it curious that I don’t block Google ads (it’s relatively easy to do you know), the main reason for not doing so is to see what’s being advertised and to whom.

Adwords

Adwords is a great way for any site to get noticed. The system is cheap, reliable and trust-worthy. However, Adwords only leads the horse to the water. That’s all you’re paying for.

So what happens when the horse doesn’t drink? Google gets paid and you’re out of pocket. So how often do you check to see what keywords are performing? Not just on clickthroughs, but on conversions? If you don’t check these things your practically throwing away your money. Let me explain by going back to John.

I was reading John’s post and noticed the ad block after his post:

It got me curious. What were they offering and why target John’s site? So as a curious individual I clicked on the ad:

You see I clicked on an ad for

Presentation Skills
Natural, effective and interesting presentations at all levels

I liked the strong copy and was interested in how it related to John’s site. And here’s the big problem. The landing page I hit makes no reference that I can see to ‘Presentation Skills’. In fact, at an Internet glance it seems like the site in question is in the call/contact centre business. There’s no relevance.

When I click on an ad for ‘Presentation Skills’ (assuming that it’s going to be advice or products) and land on your site you have about 5 seconds of my time to give me what I’m looking for.

After those 5 seconds have elapsed I’m back with John again.

And that’s why landing page theme is the most important factor for conversion. You can have the best copy and design in the world, but if it’s off-theme you’ve just lost a prospect.

(As an aside: It seems to me that there could be quite a market for SEM (Adwords etc.) optimisers here in Ireland. For more on this subject see this discussion.)

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: Are Your Adwords Campaigns Leaking?

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As there has been quite a bit of discussion recently over on the Enterprise Ireland board about SEO and keywords, I thought this post might be timely.

Keyword Research

Keyword research is probably one of the most important elements of any SEO campaign. Unfortunately keyword research is also very difficult to conduct. In a nutshell, no one method of keyword research is infallible. You have to mix it up. So the more tools you use the better the possible results.

Keyword Discovery

There are many keyword research services available, some free, some not. Keyword Discovery is one such service. It has built a solid reputation over the years for the breadth of it’s keyword database. The only downside is the cost – $69 per month for the cheapest plan.

Nichebot2

For the past 2 months I have been Beta testing a new service – Nichebot2 (yes, that’s an affiliate link, but I don’t go bandying those around willy nilly, and I only earn something if you like the service). Nichebot2 basically gives you a finite amount of access to the Keyword Discovery Premium service for a much lower monthly fee.

As I mentioned, I’ve been trying it out, and find both interface and functionality to be very good (better than Keyword Discovery). Many of the features are very well thought out (e.g. facilities to save, sort, export, clean and filter lists) and the site includes good video tutorials to help you on your way. There are also some good free tools if you’re just looking for some short keyword lists.

Nichebot2 goes live on November 14 and trial accounts cost just $1. The monthly subscription thereafter is $9.95/$19.95 depending on the service level. You can also buy top-up credits if you go over your monthly search allowance.

The affiliate link wont cost you any more, but if you prefer just a plain link, here you are.

Have thoughts on this post? Head over and leave a comment on the blog: Access To Keyword Discovery For $1

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