Google Blogs - Tips Right From the Horse's Mouth

On the Internet where there is no shortage of "inside information", Google now has three blogs that speak directly about their three big product lines: Google Search, AdWords, and AdSense.

Google Search

Google Software engineer Matt Cutts has started his own blog where he will reveal answers to webmasters most frequently asked questions.  Matt is a staple at most Search Engine conferences and has a reputation of being a very friendly and helpful person.  Some have even suggested that Matt is GoogleGuy, a contributor to a lot of Search Engine forums.

Google AdWords

This is Google's Pay-Per-Click (PPC) service where businesses can create small advertisements that display to the right of Google's free search results.  adwords.blogspot.com is a resource that Google states will provide:

• Updates on enhancements they have made to the system
• Thoughts on things that advertisers have been asking about
• Tips on getting the most from AdWords
• Details on tools they think you'll find useful
• Links to articles you might find interesting

Google AdSense

Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant Google ads on their website's content pages and earn money. adsense.blogspot.com is a blog where you will find:

• Site optimization tips
• Product feature descriptions
• Ideas on getting more out of AdSense and increasing your revenue

If you are user of any of these services, then being a frequent visitor to these blogs will surely enhance your experience.

 

Keyword Research Tips From the Pros

Wordtracker has just released a free 75 page PDF Keyword Research Guide.  This guide chronicles a fictional company looking to break into a new market, vegetarian dog food.  What follows are nine chapters, each authored by a web marketing expert, with tips on how to use the Wordtracker service.

I downloaded this guide last night and highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in search engine optimization, understanding customer behavior, conducting market research, generating new product ideas, writing copy and planning advertising and promotional campaigns for all types of on-line businesses.

If you are not familiar with Wordtracker, they compile search data from the metacrawlers Dogpile and Metacrawler.  This data is updated every week and currently has over 330 million searches indexed.  This data, and the Wordtracker tools, gives you an insiders look into what keywords your prospects are using, how many competing sites are using those keywords and can identify the phrases that have the greatest traffic potential.  You can test drive the service with a free one-day pass (although some of the tools and functionality are limited) or pay for a daily, weekly, monthly, or annual subscription.

Search Engine Strategies - San Jose Conference

Several times a year, search engine authority Danny Sullivan puts together a fantastic lineup of experts to discuss the search engine scene.  Last week San Jose, CA was the host city.

These conferences are packed with information that everyone can use.  Listed below are several links about the conference and reports from the different sessions.  Give them a look and see if you can put some of information to good use.

Search Engine Strategies Event Overview

Search Engine Strategies Blog

Session recap by Search Engine Roundtable

Are All Search Engine Results Created Equal?

Of course not.

The metasearch engine, Dogpile has released a study that found that the first page results from the top four Search Engines (SE) don't have much in common at all.  In fact, their study calculated that only 1.1% of the first page results across Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask Jeeves were identical.

A closer look at their findings reveal:

• 1.1% of results were shared by all four SE
• 2.6% of results were shared by three SE
• 11.4% of results were shared by two SE
• 84.9% of results were unique to one SE

This has some interesting implications for the people and organizations that use SE.  Too many people, myself included, rely one one or two SE when searching for information.  We are missing out on some potentially useful information by not broadening our search providers.  In addition, businesses that obsess over high rankings in one or two SE, can be missing a good sized chunk of the searching public by limiting their focus.

To read the full study, click here.

Dogpile also has a neat tool that visually shows you the difference in the results returned by three SE.  Go to their Search Comparison Tool and enter a keyword phrase.  What is returned is a Venn diagram showing which results are either shared or unique among the three.  Then the tool will show you what results Dogpile would have returned.  This tool also gives you the ability to change what SE are being tested.

Not surprisingly, the study concludes by saying searching all the leading SE at once, Dogpile gives its users a better chance of finding what they are searching for.

Beware of the Search Engine Penalty Box

There is a great article posted today at SearchEngineWatch.com by Marcela De Vivo that talks about Search Engine (SE) penalties. 

Everyone who has a website wants to be listed as high as possible in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) for their selected keywords.  But some people go too far and try to artificially inflate their rankings by using dubious methods.  When this happens, SE will access penalties that can range from lowering ones ranking in the SERPs, to an outright ban from the SE.

In this article, Marcela talks about:

• A drop in the SERPs due to changes other than penalties
• What are considered real SE penalties
• What to do if you are put into the SE penalty box

This first part of the series talks about Google specifically.  In the next part, Marcela will talk about the search engine penalties applied by Yahoo and MSN.