Microsoft hasn’t had the best of luck with its search engine really. As far as we can tell, since 2005 its Google competitor has been called MSN Search, Windows Live Search and - most recently - Live Search.
It’s a bit unfair to suggest that the only thing that changed in that time was the name. Microsoft’s developers have been working hard to out-Google Google. But when you’re trying to establish your brand as a serious competitor to the search giant, such naming confusion can’t be anything other than a hindrance.
Now it’s called Bing
Everything changed yet again a few days ago, as Microsoft ditched the Live Search name and unveiled Bing to the world. Yes, Bing.
At first glance it doesn’t look too different to Google. The simple home page has a nice photo that changes daily and there’s an obvious search box and a few other options. So far, so good. Read the rest of this entry »
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In our first Q&A, we asked for your questions about search engine optimisation. And we answered a couple of the most interesting ones - on password protected content and Google PageRank.
This time round, we’re bringing in a search engine advertising expert from Euston Digital to answer your questions on pay per click advertising.
Pay per click (PPC) adverts are the adverts you see displayed alongside search results in search engines like Google. We’ve written about the subject in depth before, so check out our guide if you’re new to PPC.
Send us your questions
Perhaps you already advertise your business using PPC adverts. Maybe you’re thinking of starting. Or it might be that you’re just interested in the subject.
Whatever: if you have a burning question about PPC that you want answered, just leave your question as a comment on this blog post. Like last time, we’ll pick some of the most interesting queries and get them answered.
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Last month we asked you two send us your questions about search engine optimisation. Here’s the second in our series of answers.
As before, I spoke to one of the SEO experts behind InstantTraffic, our SEO service, to get a comprehensive answer.
What is Google PageRank all about?
Ian Ripper from Wheatland Farm sent us a message asking about Google PageRank:
Something I don’t understand about Google PageRank. Am I ranked in relation to my keywords? Obviously my site is of some relevance (and hence ranking) relating to what I do (self catering holidays) but it if no relevance for widget making. Is my PR of 3 related to keywords I optimise for?
Our answer
Your Google PageRank bears no relation to your keywords at all. PageRank is simply a measure of the ‘link juice’ of each of your web pages.
Your PageRank gets boosted when other websites link to you. That’s because Google regards a link to your site as a vote for your site.
The influence each individual link has on your overall PageRank depends how Google views the website linking to you. Highly ranked, big hitting websites will likely have more of an affect on your PageRank than unknown sites which have a low PageRank themselves. Read the rest of this entry »
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A couple of weeks back I asked you to submit your questions on search engine optimisation. There was a decent response and I’ve now picked a few which we’ll answer individually over the next few days.
To make sure we’re giving out the best information we can, I spoke to one of the SEO experts behind our SEO service, InstantTraffic. They offered some great advice which I’ve included too.
We tried to pick what we thought were the most interesting questions we received, so sorry if yours didn’t make the cut this time.
Much of my content is for registered users only. How do I optimise it?
One of our readers, Claire, left a comment asking how Google deals with sites that require you to register before you can see all the content:
“How can I use SEO effectively, when the site requires registration and purchase of credits before you can view the material? For instance, there may be interesting content about the Titanic that customers can’t get to until they’ve registered and purchased.“
Our answer
It’s tricky to optimise sites which require visitors to register before they can view content, because Google can’t see anything which is contained in a members only area. Read the rest of this entry »
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Our recent piece about domaining attracted quite a bit of interest, so we thought we’d try to demystify a couple of related areas too.
We’ve decided to start with domain parking. This is, basically, a way to make money from domain names.
If you’ve spent much time registering domains, or reading about the industries that have sprung up around them, you’ve probably come across the concept at some point.
So how does it work?
A parked domain is one which has been bought and then used to display a single page. At its simplest, a parked domain could point to an ‘under construction’ page. You could even fit it out with an early-90s throwback roadworks sign for that retro feel.
A domain is usually parked in this way when the owner is planning to use it for something, but just hasn’t got round to it yet. Domain parking is also sometimes used to protect a brand name - usually the owner of the brand will redirect the parked domain to their main website (so yourbrand.co.uk might redirect to yourbrand.com). Read the rest of this entry »
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Following on from a previous post Questions to ask a web designer before you use them, I thought I would expand the idea to another area a lot of website owners consider outsourcing, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation ). This list is by no means exhaustive but it should hopefully point you in the right direction if you are thinking about taking the leap…
1. Can you provide examples of sites you have worked on before and any performance stats?
When it comes to SEO, every man and his dog claims to be an expert. To avoid taking on someone who talks a good game but has never used their ’skills’ in anger, ask for specific examples of sites they have worked on and how they increased those site’s rankings.
2. How do you monitor performance?
Just checking Google every so often isn’t good enough. There are dozen’s of good quality tracking software solutions out there which will tell you exactly where you are ranked for each keyword you are targeting. Also, ask for access to that data so you have complete visibility, be it through regular reports or direct access to the control panel to check your self.
3. What areas of off-site and on-site optimisation will you be looking at?
For on-site I would expect to see some of the following highlighted (in no order):
- Page titles
- H1, H2 etc tags
- Keywords in opening paragraph
- Link structure of the site
- Keywords used in the anchor text
- Your sites URL’s
- Meta description tags
Read the rest of this entry »
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I logged into my RSS reader as usual today to check up on the latest industry news and information. And it’s turned out to be one of those days where every site is reporting the same story.
Google is launching its own web browser, to be called Google Chrome.
You can read about it on the BBC, the Register, TechCrunch and Lifehacker. Or you can go straight to the horse’s mouth, and get the official version from the Google blog.
The company let the cat out of the bag earlier than intended when it mailed a comic book to key websites and bloggers. It looks like Google Blogscoped was first with the news.
If you want to check out Google Chrome for yourself, it’s being released in beta (for Windows only) sometime today. I guess it could appear online any time after lunchtime here in the UK. Update: Google Chrome can now be downloaded from www.google.com/chrome.
Main features
Everyone’s got their own take on this, but from a quick flick through the comic, plus a skim of the other websites out there, these seem to be the new browser’s main features: Read the rest of this entry »
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As some of you may know, since Monday 05.05.08 Google has started to allow advertisers to bid on other company’s brand names. Previously banned in the UK (but allowed in the USA), competitors are now allowed to show one of their adverts when some searches for another company’s brand name.
We have already started to see other web hosts biddng on our brand names, and through out other industries these adverts are starting to crop up. Check out lastminute.com, moneysupermarket.com, and iPod.
Important
In order to clarify our position regarding affiliates, I would like to emphasise that affiliates who have joined our programs through 123-reg itself, Commission Junction or TradeDoubler are prohibited by the terms and conditions from bidding on our brand names (123-reg, WebFusion, Donhost & SupaNames).
Any affiliate found to be bidding on our brand name or using our brand name to advertise on another company’s brand name will be removed from the program and no commission paid for any sales made from those adverts. This may seem a little strong but it is vital we maintain control of our brand and where we are seen to be advertising, as well as our relationship with fellow web hosting companies.
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With 25 characters in the title and 35 characters per line in the body, getting across your marketing message in a search engine pay per click advert is a challenge, especially if you take in to account you will be competing with 10 organic results and 9 other paid results for the searcher’s attention.
Below is a dummy advert for an online sports store bidding on the keyword “trainers”
Trainers sale ends soon
Trainers up to 40% off top brands
Hurry ends soon. Free delivery
www.super-sport-shop.com/trainers
1. Use of the keyword in the advert
When a keyword appears in a PPC advert it is highlighted bold which makes your advert stand out and confirms to the searcher your advert is relevant to their search.
2. The keyword at the start of the title and body
When you look at a search engine results page you don’t read each entry and then make a considered decision. Rather you skim the page looking for visual cues as to which result answers your query best. Research is showing that if they don’t get a cue within the first few characters they will look elsewhere.
3. Stand out from the crowd
What are you marketing that makes people want it? Here we have a sale, so we lead with the biggest percentage discount we have. If you have a low cost product lead with the price, if you have a new product; emphasise that and so on.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Note: This post is all about pay per click advertising on search engines. If you are very new to this subject, you will find our beginners’ guides a great place to start before reading this post:
Part 1 - Concept of search engine pay per click (PPC) advertising
Part 2 - Research and choose your keywords in detail
Part 3 - Write your PPC adverts
Part 4 - Analyse PPC performance
Part 5 - How to increase your PPC ad’s conversion
This post is going to do exactly what it says on the tin; comment on the relationship between your pay per click (PPC) ad positions and your advert’s click through rate (CTR)
Your ad CTR is calculated by dividing the number of times your ad is clicked on by the number of times it is displayed as part of a search result. It’s then multiplied by 100 to give your CTR as a percentage.
CTR% = (number of clicks / number of impressions) x 100
The question is, what is the point of having an ad placed in position 4 that costs 30p per click, when you could be in position 6 for 22p per click, saving you 27% per click? After all, positions 4 and 6 are virtually next to each other, so aren’t people bound to see the ad at position 6 if they can see the ad at position 4, and be just as likely to click on it?
Well no, unfortunately, that is not the case.
I want to share some of our own data with you to highlight how closely the two are tied, and how moving just one ad position (up or down) can have noticeable effects on your traffic.
Read the rest of this entry »
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