Google Stabs Business In The Back

If you do a lot of web surfing, you probably have seen Microsoft's Ads that say "Don't get Scroogled".  "Scroogled", of course, being a derogatory term for "Google".  Naturally, Microsoft is trying to gain market share in the search business, but I am starting to think they are on to something.  Google has made a move recently that they are pushing as "good things" to the general public, but I suspect are anything but.

If you have been advertising in Google Adwords, you probably noticed that in late July, Google forced everyone into their "enhanced campaigns".  Now, on the surface, this can almost seem like a good thing.  "Enhanced campaigns" provide automatically mobile optimized support for your ads.  In the past, mobile advertising was a bit more difficult for the average business owner.  Now, the mobile side will pretty much just happen as a result of you creating an ad.  Actually, you will be forced into mobile advertising.  So, this sounds like a good thing, right?  Well, not really.  While there are workarounds (we will talk about these later), advertisers are being forced into advertising on mobile compatibility with the auto-upgrade feature.  How is it good for Google?  You need to remember that Adwords is a big auction house.  People bid on keywords and essentially fight for ad space.  What do you think happens when millions of new ads flood the mobile and tablet advertising market?  Starting to see the big picture?  Yes, that's right.  Google makes more money.  Now, making money isn't a bad thing.  So, why am I claiming they "stabbed business in the back"?  Because along with the push to mobile to make Google more money, they raised business's costs and threw some of their money out the window.

The push for enhanced campaigns begins with Google creating automatic bid adjustments based on information it has about what other people are doing in the marketplace that are advertising similarly to you.  Does this mean it is the best thing for you?  No.  Every business and marketing strategy is different, naturally.  What it does do though is it forces the less savvy advertisers into a position of being forced into advertising on mobile.  Mobile can be good for businesses, but mostly for business to consumer purchases.  For Business to business advertisers, it typically doesn't perform as well.  So, many "B to B" companies are now advertising on platforms that are relatively ineffective for them because they are not savvy to the changes, and pretty much just throwing money out the window (or to Google).  The other issue with this is based on all of our client data.  Around the time that Google forced the push, our clients had a spike in their average cost per click of five to seven cents per click.  From everything we can tell, this was entirely a market adjustment and has not entirely ceased.  While we can make adjustments for our clients, you can't completely beat the marketplace.  So, everyone's ads just became more expensive, reducing everyone's return on investment.  So, what can you do?

1.  Enhanced campaigns allow for you to make manual bid adjustments based on device.  If tablet advertising is no good for you, adjust the bid adjustment for tablet advertising by -100%.  This will effectively shut it off.

2.  Also, make sure DO NOT pay too much attention to the "bid simulator" feature.  It is ball park at best, but is almost never correct.

3.  Use the bid adjustment feature to target geographies and demographics better.  In other words, if you find that your ads perform better in a certain state, increase the bid adjustment for that particular state and reduce the bid adjustment for poorly performing states.  Do the same for demographics.

4.  Take advantage of the advanced calling features if mobile is good for.

5.  Google will always tell you to use sitelinks, but they are not always good.  They are always attempting to increase click through rate.  This is not always a good thing.  An ad can effectively screen out bad clicks if worded correctly.  So, CTR is not always reactant of ROI.  So, pay attention to your conversion rates and determine what your true cost per conversion is.  Then, determine how increasing your CTR may effect ROI.  If you believe it will, then use some of the sitelink features to increase the ROI.  

6.  Look at alternative ad platforms.  Bing ads is good, though they certainly make it harder to work on then Adwords as the tools aren't as advanced.  The Yahoo Network is another alternative.  If you do your homework, you can find some great direct opportunities with banners on nice vertical sites.

The last alternative is that you can hire a professional search engine marketer.  I know, I know.  It sounds like a pitch.  Here's the issue though.  If you don't, chances are that you will spend more money in campaign inefficiencies that it would have cost you to hire someone in the first place.  Especially, if you are spending $600 or more per month already.  Essentially, in those cases you are getting someone to manage your ads for free.  At Foremost Media, our average client has sees a reduction in the average cost per click of almost 50%.  So do the math, and if you can afford it, hire a professional.

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SEO Basics Episode 1 Keword Research | Foremost Media

SEO Basics Episode 1 Key Word Research | Foremost Media


Tune in and watch the Foremost Media team as we break down the steps involved in getting your site to rank well on the search engines. In this episode we discuss keyword research. Key word research is one of the first steps in the search engine optimization process and is often overlooked by webmasters. Jon Ballard breaks down some of the keyword basics and provides links to several tools used by our professional Search Engine Marketers to do Keyword Research.

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The Facts on Search Engine Optimization

The primary benefit of search engine optimization (SEO) is widely known as a prime placement on a search engine’s first result page. Companies across the globe are manipulating their website in order to achieve the elusive status of a first page appearance. There are many things that a company should be aware of in the SEO process. First, it will necessitate change and a significant amount of time. Along with this, keywords will be chosen and links will be earned. Above all, your company should set realistic goals for your search engine optimization.


Change

In order for SEO to be effective, you web page will change; it may be as simple as minor wording adjustments or it may be a complete overhaul. The HTML code on your site must be changed so that search engine spiders can easily scan your site. Along with this, the keywords for which you want to be known must appear throughout your web pages. If you are a small site competing against large sites with various blogs, communities, archives, and forums, your site will most likely require significant change in order to compete.

Time

SEO does not garner immediate results for your website. It should be seen as an ongoing marathon, instead of a ½ mile sprint. A search engine has to first find and index your website. Older, more established sites are rewarded a higher ranking because of their long-standing success. New sites require much more time, sometimes even years, to rank well in big search engines. On the other hand, some sites may only require relatively quick fixes to appear on the first page. Be persistent and continually work toward optimization success.

Keywords

In order to attract your target customer to your site, your keywords should be chosen specifically and deliberately. Although common words may appear on your list, it is also important to target the keywords to the best products/services/information on your site. For example, the website of a cosmetic dentist will contain keywords of elective dental treatments rather than general dental provisions. In this way, you are attracting your target audience to your site rather than those that are looking for something else entirely. It will often take time to find the best keywords.

Links

The right backlinks are crucial to your placement on Google’s results pages. Generally you are looking for links to your site from related websites. Your keywords should appear in the link text. If you only have links that were simple to get, it is likely that their influence will be minimal to Google or another major search engine. Create a high-quality, dynamic, attractive website in order to obtain good links. After all, if your content is bland and dull, no one will find it linkworthy.

Goals

Successful search engine optimization involves setting realistic goals. First of all, the objective is to draw your target audience to your website based on the keywords they have entered into the search engine. You need not lure just anyone to the site; the goal is the draw potential buyers to the site. Additionally, your goal should be to increase your sales based on the SEO efforts.

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Google Bot Feeds On Bread Crumbs

Google has recently started to return bread crumbs as clicable results on some of their search results pages (SERPS).  The program is still new and according to Googles Matt Cutts and what you are seeing now may change down the road.  The neat thing for webmasters is that it provides more links to your site from the SERPS page on Google.  At this point all that is needed to get Google to display bread crumbs with your search results is you need bread crumbs on your site with a consistent deliminator between them and the bread crumbs should reflect your sites hierarchy.

Remember bread crumbs aren't a magic bullet for SEO but it is my belief that every website should have them regardless of there effect on your search results.  Breadcrumbs help improve the user experience on your site especially if your site is pretty deep.

Here is what Matt had to say about the topic:

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Writing A Good Title Tag For SEO

Writing Good Title Tags For Search Engine Optimization

It amazes me how many companies are not taking full advantage of their title tags or not formatting their title tags properly. If your page is all about branding your company name then put the company name at the front of the title tag, but if your page is trying to capture traffic for a specific phrase like "Thermal Dynamic Techno Funk" you want the key phrase at the front of your title tag.

Missed Opportunity:  XYZ Company-  Leader in Thermal Dynamic Techno Funk

Properly Formatted:  Thermal Dynamic Techno Funk Information XYZ Company

Title Tags are one of the most important elements on your page so use it well.  For the most part, your company is going to show up well on the search engines because it's all over your site.

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Can you guranatee to get us on the first page of google?

Here is what Google Says About Ranking Guarantees: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Beware of SEO's that claim to guarantee rankings."


- Google's SEO Tips

At Foremost Media we have a great track record of providing top rankings for our clients and we can guarantee that your project will be completed in a ethical and honest manor and with the same attention to detail that we have used in the past to deliver excellent results to our other SEO clients. Our results with our past and current clients are our guarantee that we have had great success with search engine optimization.
I am confident that we can help your company generate more leads through the search engines. Remember that the search engine optimization projects are a collaboration between our companies. We will defiantly need input from you and your team as we move forward. The more involved in the process your group is the better the results. Our job is to help you tailor your content to both the search engines and the surfer to help you not only be found but also generate more leads for your business.

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