Search Engine Marketing New England

It seems like we are constantly trying to understand search engine algorithms, only to learn that algorithms are always changing and there is always something to be learned. Fun, right? One of these search engine algorithm changes occurred on February 23, 2011, when Google created Panda; yet another search algorithm change (cue hitting your head on the keyboard, now).

What is Panda? Panda measures content quality and user experience to provide the user with the best search results. Panda also identifies pages that are relevant for a query, but lack significant content for viewers (aka “content farms”).

What has Panda done, thus far? Eric Enge, president of Stone Temple Consulting, answers this question by going into the changes Panda brought about, what this means for users and publishers, and future predictions for Google at June’s Search Engine Marketing New England event.

Panda update aftermath

Total number of Panda recoveries: Zero
Panda recovery requires traditional marketing expertise
Panda is a fundamental shift for Google — it’s not going away
Panda will expand, Google trying to push it down to lower traffic levels

Panda recovery prescription

Establish authority
Offer a unique point of view
Provide new info/data
Bring in user-generated content
Kill weak pages
Add unique tools and video

Post-Panda Search Engine Optimization

Is about promotion — through links and social
Should focus on generating authority
Search engines are looking to see if you have anything new to say (not rehashed content)
Content should cater to users NOT search marketing tactics
Ad density: In many cases search engines can measure this: Don’t go overboard
Low AdSense click-through rate can bring a page down overall with Google
Google’s Webmaster Guidelines can help your page rank

Zappos case study

A bad review with intelligible sentences sells more than a good review that’s well-written
Zappos spends millions to edit user-generated content
- Errors affect conversion
“Simple” writing doesn’t mean dumbed-down
Everybody’s stupid when they’re impatient ← LOVE THIS

Google Analytics

59% of all websites have Google Analytics
Google Analytics time on-site = from the time you arrived at the last page you viewed
Bounce rate in Google Analytics = only looked at 1 page

Eric Enge’s expertise keeps everyone updated on Panda, perhaps Google’s most significant algorithm change. Don’t be overwhelmed by all the search engine algorithms out there: Stay briefed, embrace input, and work on creating great and UNIQUE content.

Eric Enge is the president of Stone Temple Consulting. He also writes for the Stone Temple blog, Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Land, and is a co-author of The Art of SEO, published by O’Reilly Media.

Thanks for the input for this post @diannahuff, @stonetemple

“Could too much A/B testing be detrimental to PPC?” asks Matt Van Wagner of Find Me Faster at a recent SEMNE event. Follow Matt Van Wagner’s SEMNE slideshow to see how to obtain advertising success on the internet.

A/B testing: Which message resonates best with your target audience?

Run ads to create performance profile
Find out which ad is the best

Reasons why AdWords fail

Keywords don’t match queries
Ad impressions doesn’t equal number of searchers
Ad rotation isn’t even/balanced
A/B testing will give you the best ad, not designed to give you your highest performing ad group
As many of 50% of searches are repeats, and they happen in hotspots, search up to 20 times
5-20 impressions could be just one person
Quality score impacts ad rotation, so rotation might not be even

Winning ads perpetuate themselves

A few well-performing ads will be more effective, we forget that individuals with personal preferences are doing the searches
- Humans can out-smart the algorithms
- “Save 20%” message vs “eco” message: these are two different demographics you’re speaking with
- Keeping multiple ads gives a fighting chance to engage with divergent populations. Why would you only write ads for men and cut out women?
- 5 well-performing ads will outpace one top-seller

Google is trying to make money, so if you didn’t click on the first ad, it’ll show you another version

After 1 search you’ll see different results, by the time visitors search 4 times there’s a 93.75% chance that visitors are seeing both ads

Bottom line: Don’t be so quick to kill off ads that are performing until you have a top 5 and keep testing

Don’t try to reduce to 1 ad
Test more combinations
Ad sets can mask the performance of poorly performing ad groups
Set ad rotation to even

Broad Match Modifier

Create keywords that give you more control than broad, more flexibility than phrase match
Use + sign in front of broad-match keyword
Now available in the US, think how can use broad match to direct traffic to targeted places.

Google Panda updates with Eric Enge at Search Engine Marketing New England