SEO Training

There are some simple guidelines for using adwords.

You could of course hire somebody to manage your adwords campaign for you, or you could use the following advice along with some trial and error fine tuning.

Choose your keywords carefully

I made a mistake when I first discovered adwords.  I used the names of every competitor I could think of as keywords.  The logic was sound… anybody looking for a well known competitor would also see my name and have the option of clicking on it and getting straight through to my site.

It worked for two days.  Then it fell foul of Googles quality guidelines (see Ad content below).

When choosing your keywords pay attention to the following:-

1. The search popularity – how many people search for that term (this is your footfall in shop terms).
2. Keyword competition – The higher the competition the higher the price per click.  It is an auction situation.
3. Other similar keywords.  Sometimes a slightly less obvious keyword can give you a better Return on Investmient (ROI).
4. Keyword suggestion tool.  Put in what you think you should appear for and let google do the rest of the work for you.  Just tick any keywords you want to include!
5. Google Trends.  Google trends is great for analysing actual web trafic.  Usefully you can compare keywords by typing in several comma separated keywords.  This is great for showing keyword search popularity for two similar terms like “butchers” and “butchery”.  Google Trends also shows you results by region so that you can target the keywords that are most relevant to your own country.

Ad Content.

It is really very simple.  Your ad content must relate well to the page content you are linking to.  Your chosen keywords for the ad must also be relevant.  The more relevant everything is the less your starting price per click is.  You could have a keyword with low competition (which would signify a low cost per click) but if the quality of the relationship between keywords, ad content and the landing (target) page on your site is bad then that drives up the price.

If you own a Butchers, then an advert that says “My butchers, Finest meats in Ireland, Order online. Nationwide deliveries, www.myButchers.ie” should point to a page that contains all of those phrases, preferably more than once.  Your keywords must also suit the ad.  Having a keyword of “Shopping” will not fit and will cost you more.

Most of you know exactly what PPC advertising is.

Quickly, For those of you that don’t….

When you type in a search query into google Pay Per Click ads are the small text ads that appear to the right of the search results and sometimes as highlighted search results at the top of the page too.

In Googles system these are called Adwords.  Every time somebody clicks on one of them it costs the advertiser.  Usually this is a nominal amount like 20c, but can be as high as €2 or more depending on how high competition is for that search term.

Why use PPC advertising?

If your website is not ranking well for a search term you wish to be found for (SEO in my case), then Pay per Click advertising offers a way of jumping the queue.  You can appear on page one of google (or yahoo / bing /Ask) simply by paying for the privilege.  You only pay for when your ad is clicked on, so you are only paying for actual traffic to your site.  You can set payment caps on what you spend, so that you don’t blow a years budget in a month.

Why Not to use PPC advertising

It is expensive.  €100 a month will not get you far.  The more popular your links, the more expensive it gets for you to rank well.

Compare that to some SEO training.  SEO training can be expensive too, but the results you get from it are free.  If you are ranking well for your keywords then then Adwords become redundant for those keywords.

Ad blindness is also a factor.  Something in the region of 85% of click on ads are made by just 16% of the internet using populace.  That simply means that most people ignore the ads completely.  84% of us rarely click on pay per click adverts.

When to use Pay Per Click Adverts

1. Your site is starting off and has not yet gained any authority in the search rankings.  If your site is new it takes time to build up your rank.  SEO activities take time – something in the region of 6-12 months in general, depending on how much competition you have for your keywords.
2. One off events.  If you have a concert or other event that is a one off, then SEO is not such a good investment.  It takes too long and you will not need the links once the event is over.  In this case using Adwords (or the other PPC ad systems) makes sense.  In fact, with the exception of using social medial it is about all you can do.