going beyond wordtracker

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Going Beyond Wordtracker

Dan Thies, SEO Research Labs


A (little) about me...

• 7 years of SEO experience, +2-3 years of spam• Published “SEO Fast Start” in 2001• Started SEO Research Labs in Jan. 2003• Author, SitePoint Search Engine Marketing Kit

• www.seoresearchlabs.com/kit


Topics For Today

• Rank Checking & Skewed Results• Competition

– Total matches vs. competing pages

– Accidental vs. intentional competition

• Relevance & Weighted Popularity• The PPC Metric

– Search Term Targeting Studies


• Which is more likely?

– 12 people searched for a barber shop in the Wallingford district in Seattle

– Someone who owns a barbershop in Wallingford has downloaded rank checking software

• A complex search term is rarely used more often than a simpler search term.


Who’s Your Competition?• 749,000 pages containing the phrase “barber shop”

• 2,960 pages containing “barber shop” in the title AND links

• 5,810 pages containing “barber shop” in the page title


Examining Top Ranked Pages

• Are they related to your page?– How many out of the top 10 are similar sites?

• Are they optimized?– Keywords in title, headings, body text, links.

• Are they well linked?– Directory listings, vertical/topical links, total links,

Google “toolbar PageRank”


Evaluating Relevance• What Does It Mean?

– Some terms have multiple meanings

– Some are looking to buy, others for information

– Be careful with generic search terms!

• Example: “brake repair”– By itself, likely a search for information

– With a location, likely a search for services


What Does “Barber Shop” Mean?

This DVD? Their upcoming CD?

Or does someone need a shave?


Travel Agents, Calm Down…


Evaluating Relevance• What % of searchers want what you have?

– Use your judgment, dig into the numbers, or test.

• Weighted Popularity Formula– # of searches x relevance % = weighted popularity– 1000 searches/day x 50% relevant = 500

• Quality traffic depends on relevance• Consider relevance from both sides


Doing The Math


The “PPC Metric”• A search term is competitive, or will be soon, if there is

competition for paid listings• PPC bids can define the value of a top ranking.• “Free” organic listings can be more costly than paid listings.• Click-through rate on paid listings is a key indicator of

relevance – very helpful with generic terms!• If competitors’ bids are below average for the market, there’s

a reason! • Bids will gravitate toward break-even.

Beware of “free” keyword research offers from PPC engines – their goal is to increase your spend and overall competition, not your profit.


Search Term Targeting Study • Write a basic descriptive ad

• Minimize the hype to get the truth

• Test the ad’s performance against your “candidate” search terms – “keyword research” was not our best target!

• Bonus: search counts from Google– Use local targeting for local counts


Entry & Landing Pages• Map SEO & content strategy to the visitor

– Where do you want to take them?– Don’t optimize home page for sub-page terms!

• Yes, I know it might be “easier…”• But it’s a BAD PLAN.

– Your Goal = Get the visitor closer to THEIR goal

• PPC Landing Pages– Segment the audience– Track mini-conversions– Clear intent makes it easy to make landing pages– Examples: electric scooters, mortgage rates


Keyword Modifiers


Keyword Modifiers

• 8539 for “web hosting,” an additional 12,281 with modifiers… and that’s just the top 30 or so

• The tail is bigger than the head…• 200 million searches a day on Google – half

are brand new?• Teoma interview – 80% of searches are non-

commercial… (no ads triggered)


Contact InformationDan Thies, [email protected]

Free 75-Minute Video on Keyword Strategy:

www.seoresearchlabs.com/keywordvideo

going beyond wordtracker

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