Archive for May, 2010

Google Tweaks the SERPs by introducing Brand Suggestions

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

In the last couple of weeks, Google has quietly slipped out a couple of modifications to their Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). One of these is ‘Brand Suggestions’.

Brand suggestions

For some product searches, Google has started introducing suggestions about which brand of the product you might like to search for next, in a single line above the rest of the results

For example, if you’re looking for a digital camera, Google gives you these suggestions at the top of the results page:

Google say that these suggestions are designed to help those who are researching which product to buy. They are based on brand searches that other people have moved on to.

What does this mean for your SEO and SEM strategy?

To start with, its going to boost the number of secondary searches for big brands.   Big brands by their very nature will be better known, and therefore more frequently searched for. This will push even more people to search for them.

If you run a PPC campaign for a big brand, then you need to make sure you are appearing in top position for all your brand + generic searches, since theses are the ones that are going to be boosted.

If you’re a retailer then your SEO strategy should include building brand pages on your site. These will give you a better chance to grab some of that brand + generic traffic. Be sure to build targeted links to these pages within your site that include the brand name

If you’re a smaller brand, then it might be a good time to start bidding on competitor brand names + generic keywords; and building product comparison tables on your website. This will give you a chance of getting other brand’s traffic onto your website, and then converting it once there.

Tags: brand suggest, PPC, SEO
Posted in PPC, SEO, Search Engines | 2 Comments »

Modified Broad – a new keyword match type on AdWords

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Keyword match types haven’t changed in years. Since 2001 we’ve been plugging away with Exact, Phrase and Broad.

As a brief reminder, this is what the match types all mean.

Exact Match: This allows your ad to show for searches that match the exact phrase exclusively

Phrase Match: This allows your ad to show for searches that match the exact phrase

Broad Match: This allows your ad to show on similar phrases and relevant variations including synonyms.

Now rocking onto the scene comes ‘Modified Broad‘. This match type is a compromise between phrase and broad, and allows you to grab some of the extra reach of broad match whilst keeping control of the search queries triggering your ads.

If – like Euston Digital – you favour an extensive exact and phrase march keyword list, this is a useful addition to the keyword armoury.

How does it work?

All you need to do is to place a plus symbol (+) just before your broad match keyword.

Every time a broad match keywords is preceded by a + it will ‘closely’ match the users’ search query, either exactly or as a close variant.

What’s a ‘close variant’?

These are:

acronyms;

abbreviations;

singular or plural forms;

misspellings;

stemmings (like “tile” and “tiling”).

The key thing here is that synonyms (such as “fast” and “quick”) and related searches (like “cars” and “BMW”) aren’t included. So Modified Broad essentially gets rid of the (hard to control) ‘expanded match’ keywords.

Here’s a useful image that highlights several match type strategies:

Modified Broad gives you the chance to appear on a greater number of searches than the equivalent phrase keywords, but less than full broad match.

You can also try modifying the broad match of some – but not all – of the broad match keywords in a phrase.

As an example, the keyword car +tyres will match the search “BMW tyres,” but the keyword +car +tyres won’t.

To find out how Euston Digital can bring modified broad match to the benefit of your PPC Campaign then get in touch.

Posted in PPC | No Comments »

Welcome back to Euston Digital

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

You’re probably reading this text because you’ve clicked on one of our adverts.

Last time you were on our website we attached a cookie to your browser, telling us which pages you visited.

We then used Google Remarketing to reach you when you were off doing other things online.

We can use Remarketing to get users back to your website too.

If you want find out more about Remarkeitng, or if you want to stop seeing our adverts (we can do that too!), get in touch.

Tags: remarketing, retargeting
Posted in Conversion Optimisation, Display | No Comments »

How to find out which keywords lead to phone calls

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Search Engine Advertising is great. You bid on keywords. People click on your ads. They buy from you. You know which keywords they searched with and you bid up.

Right?

Not always. Often this virtuous circle is broken, all because there are phone numbers on websites. And as soon as a website visitor picks up the phone, we can’t track them.

Up to now.

Telephone Tracking that links up with your AdWords campaigns

Euston Digital can now tell you which keywords lead to phone calls from people on your website. This means we can:

*Identify exactly which keyphrases are converting.

*Focus on high conversion keyphrases.

*Truly optimise your website for both PPC and SEO.

*Improve your website’s profitability.

How does it work?

Using some slick programming and javascript, we auto-populate your phone number place holder with a dynamic number. Our system hooks up the keyword searched with the number called. The circle is made virtuous again.

How easy is it?

In short, its very easy. We’ll do the whole thing. We’ve made the system very easy to use.

*We will set up all up

*We will install all the necessary scripts on your website

*We will tag all URLs

*We will make any changes as you need

How does it integrate with my current analytics?

We’ve already integrated the system with Google analytics, and we’re working to add it to other commonn platforms too. So you won’t need to log into multiple locations to compile your reports, it will all be available in one place.

What’s next?

To find out how we can integrate phone call tracking with your Pay Per Click Management then get in touch.

Tags: google analytics, phone call tracking
Posted in Conversion Optimisation, PPC | No Comments »

Google has a new look Results Page

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Starting from today, Google is rolling out a new look Results Page. The main change is a side bar – similar to the ‘options’ panel that previously opened on request. Here’s what it looks like:

The change is the result of months of testing. The panel allows users to get more specific in their search requests, to obtain results not just from the web but Videos, Maps, Blogs and so on. Users can also drill into the old-look options panel from here, which looks like this:

Although there are no new features – this is purely a UI change – it shows the direction that Google is travelling. They want to be able to answer search queries as accurately as possible. But they recognise that in order to do that they need more input from users about what they’re looking for.

The key opportunity for an SEO agency is that this will boost the amount of search volume generated by long tail keywords. Whether this means adding new content, developing new landing pages, or modifying your link building strategy, this long tail traffic should convert much more effectively than general terms.

When it comes to Pay Per Click, its going to be interesting to see how this impacts on CTRs, and ultimately quality scores.

What do you think of the new look SERPs? Leave us a comment below

Tags: google, SERPs
Posted in Link Building, PPC, SEO | No Comments »