Relevant Google Advertising – the Pyramid

What makes a good Google Advertising campaign? In a word, “Relevance”: Are the visitors to your website from your Google Ads likely to buy your product or service?  The idea is to get the people to your website that are looking to buy exactly what you are selling.
More “Traffic” to your website will not always bring you more business.  More “Relevant Traffic” will bring you more business.  As an example, if I were to drive 10,000 people to your website interested in winning $1000, you would get 10,000 visitors looking for free money.  I doubt many of them would be interested in anything else on your website.  However, if I were to drive 100 visitors to a website for a store in Anytown, VA that sold American flags, and all 100 of them lived within 10 miles of the store and they just searched Google for the phrase “American flag store in Anytown, VA”, you might expect to get a few phone calls.
To further illustrate the idea and importance of “Relevant Traffic”, I like to use the pyramid model:

The Google Advertising Pyramid

At the top of the pyramid, the search phrases are very targeted to a business.   Using my typical pizza restaurant example, the search terms at the top of the pyramid might be something like “Italian Restaurant Pizza Delivery Coupons in Anytown, VA”.  This term is very specific and there aren’t very many websites that would want to be found for that phrase.  The person that enters this phrase is looking for something very specific.  If you owned an Italian restaurant in Anytown that delivered pizza and you had delivery coupons on your website, then this search phrase would be highly likely to get you a phone call.  In other words, that visitor would be very “Relevant” to your business.  On the other hand, this phrase isn’t searched for very frequently, probably only once or twice a month.
At the bottom of the pyramid, there are the phrases that are very broad in nature.  As an example, the search phrase “restaurant” would be near the bottom of the pyramid.  The person that enters “restaurant” as a search term could be looking for a job in a restaurant, a sub shop, hamburgers, breakfast, Chinese food, a restaurant that takes reservations for a client dinner, McDonalds, or even for a restaurant that’s for sale – in any city in the country also.  So for the pizza restaurant mentioned previously, most of the people searching for “restaurant” would probably be “Irrelevant” and unlikely to convert to a customer.
Unfortunately, the easiest way to get a lot of traffic to a website is to target a few very broad terms – ie. target the irrelevant traffic at the bottom of the pyramid.  This is how some other Pay per Click companies operate, so you need to be a little careful when selecting a Pay per Click company.  Some of them tend to charge more since they will get you a ton of “traffic” to your website, but you may not get too many phone calls.
At Third Marble Marketing, we strive to make sure the traffic from our Local Google Advertising is Relevant Traffic from the top of the pyramid.  Yes, we have to spend more time setting up hundreds of phrases from the top of the pyramid, instead of just three or four from the bottom.  But whether you are spending $100 per month, or $1000 per month with Third Marble Marketing, we make sure you are getting the most relevant visitors for your money (so you can get the most customers for your money).

Where to Put KeyWords to be on Page One of Google (Part 2)

(If you haven’t read last month’s article on Where to Put KeyWords to be on Page One of Google, please read that article first. )
Continuing our discussion, this month, I want to describe the next few places to put your keywords to help improve your rankings in the search engines like Google.  Last month we talked about the Title Tags, the Meta Description and the URL.  While those are the three most important places to put your keywords, this month, we will discuss the next most important places that will get you just a little higher in the rankings – Header Tags, Alt Tags and Copy.

Header Tags

Once you have selected your ideal keyword phrase for a page on your website, you should incorporate as many of those keywords into the “Headline” of that page.  In the image below, the phrase “Where to Put KeyWords to be on Page One of Google (Part 1)” is considered the Headline for the web page:

In the HTML for this web page, the Header Tags (sometimes called “H” Tags) define the Headline for a web page.  It simply looks like this in the code:

<h1>Where to Put KeyWords to be on Page One of Google (Part 1)</h1>

(Hint: If you want to see the HTML for your web page, right click in any blank area of your web page and select “View Source” or “View Page Source”.)

The Header Tags on a web page are a lot like the headlines for newspaper articles – they tell the reader what the articles (or in this case the web page) are about.  Google and the other search engines factor this thinking into their indexing algorithms, so it is important that your Header Tags (Headlines) contain keywords that people would search for to find your web site.
A great example of a bad headline is “Welcome to our Web Site”.  That could be anyone’s website.  For our pizza restaurant example, a better headline would be “ABC Pizza – A Pizza Restaurant in Anytown, VA”.

Alt Tags

Google and other search engines can’t understand images, so website images have “Alt Tags”.  These tags are designed to be description of the image.  Since “an image is worth a thousand words”, search engines often use the words in the Alt Tags in their search algorithms.  Make sure your images all have meaningful Alt Tags that contain your ideal keywords.  You can see the Alt Tag for an image by simply hovering your cursor over the image, like this:

An Example of how to see an Alt Tag.

Your Website Copy

Writing your website copy is always a challenge.  Not only do you have to sell your customers on your product or service, you also have to make the copy search engine friendly.  There are a few things that you should try to do with your website copy, but not at the expense of losing a potential phone call or customer.  If you can, try to incorporate a few of these strategies in your copy writing:

• Make your ideal keywords bold whenever possible, without looking ridiculous.
• Do not repeat the same phrase over and over and over and over and over again.  The search engine will think you are spamming.  Make sure the copy reads like it is “normal” English and that it makes sense to the reader.
• Try to make your hyper-links meaningful.  Instead of “Click Here“, use a hyper-link like “Learn more about Local Google Advertising“.  The words in the link make a small difference.
• The words at the beginning of your web page carry more weight, so make sure your ideal keyword phrase is in the first sentence.

If you don’t know how to make any of these changes yourself, your web person should be able to do it.  These are easy changes to make, so don’t let your web person charge you too much either.
If you have any questions about this, feel free to contact us.  In the meantime, if you think you need help with selecting your ideal keyword phrase, check out our $900 Google Trial with a Free SEO Suggestion Report.

Where to Put KeyWords to be on Page One of Google (Part 1)

Once you know your “ideal keyword phrase” (see last month’s article), you need to know where to put those words on your website. So the first thing we need to know about Google, and other search engines, is what they look for and how they index websites.  In other words, how do search engines determine if your site is relevant to the keywords being entered?  There are numerous things that make up the search algorithms.  I believe these are the most important factors:

• Words in the URL (ie. www.keywords.com/key-words/)
• Title Tags
• Meta Description
• Header Tags
• Alt Tags
• Links
• Copy (including bold font words)

Search Engine Optimization of URLs

Let’s say your “ideal keyword phrase” is “pizza restaurant Anytown VA”.  If your URL is “www.mom-and-pop-italian.com”, this isn’t going to help much.  If you have extra money to spend, consider buying the URL “www.pizza-restaurant-anytown-va.com” and having someone create a second website for you.  If that’s not practical, then you may want to ask your web person to change the URL for your home page to “www.mom-and-pop-italian.com/pizza-restaurant-anytown-va”.
If the URLs on some of your pages look like “www.mom-and-pop-italian.com/page=123″, then change the “/page=123″ to “/pizza-restaurant”.  If these options aren’t appealing, don’t worry, we have a few more tricks.

A little about Google

Before we get into Title Tags, I’d like to talk a little about Google.  Google’s mission is to provide their searchers with the most relevant search results possible.  So when someone enters keywords into Google, what Google displays on their Search Results Page better have those keywords, otherwise Google will look foolish.  Makes sense, right?  So if we understand what shows up on their search results, we’ll know where to put our keywords.  Below is a screen shot of a search result…

Three pieces of a Google Search Result and where they come from.

A = Title Tag, B = Meta Description, C = URL

So if the Title Tag, the Meta Description and the URL are what Google is showing you in their search engine results, then it stands to reason that they would be the most important words on a website for search engine optimization.  If these three elements contain your ideal keyword phrase, then you’ve greatly increased your chances of being on Page One.

Search Engine Optimization of Title Tags

If you want to know what your current Title Tag is on your website’s home page is, simply go to your website and look in the far upper right of browser window, or, if you have browser tabs, you can find it there.  Here is an example of where to look:

This shows the location of the Title Tag and the URL.

Once you know your “ideal keyword phrase”, change your Title Tag so it matches your ideal keyword phrase.  Your Title Tag should be less than 60 characters, including spaces.  You should also avoid short words like “in”, “at”, “the”, etc.  Try not to repeat any one word more than once or Google will think you are spamming your Title Tag.  In the pizza example, a good Title Tag might be “Pizza Restaurant Anytown VA | Italian Restaurant | Delivery” (59 characters).

Search Engine Optimization of Meta Descriptions

The Meta Description cannot be seen on your website or in your browser window.  It’s part of your website code that your web person added.  Here’s what one looks like:

<meta name=”description” content=”Local Google Advertising. Easy, Effective, Affordable. Local Pay per Click (PPC) for local businesses. Google AdWords service at affordable prices.” />

To see your Meta Description, right click in an open area of your website’s home page, then click on “View Source” to see the html code for your home page.  If you don’t see a line in the code that starts with “<meta name=”description” content=”, then you may not have a meta description on your home page.
To optimize your Meta Description, simply make the first few words the same as your Title Tag.  Meta Descriptions should be less than 150 characters, but they can be a little longer.  Do not repeat words too many times, or again, Google will think you are spamming.  Remember this is the copy that a potential customer will read on Google’s search results page.  Make sure it is written in complete sentences and is free of misspellings.  Not only do you want people to see your search result, but you also want them to click on it.  This is somewhat of an art form. You need to create compelling copy that sells to help drive more traffic to your website, but also maximize the keyword usage.  For the pizza restaurant  example, a Meta Description would be something like:

Pizza restaurant in Anytown, VA. Enjoy our Italian restaurant favorites like pizza, spaghetti, lasagna and more. Pizza delivery and carry out available. (152 characters).

Next time, I’ll talk about more about Header Tags, Alt Tags, images, copy and other ways to optimize your own website for the search engines.  In the meantime, if you think you need help with selecting your ideal keyword phrase, check out our $900 Google Trial with a Free SEO Suggestion Report.

The “Key” to SEO – Selecting the Right Keywords.

This article is the second in a series written for small, local business owners about Do It Yourself Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  SEO is the art of getting your website on Page One of Google.  In this article, I’m going to discuss the basics behind creating your “ideal keyword phrase”.  In my next few articles, I’ll describe ways to strategically place this phrase on your website and other websites to get your business on Page One of Google.
For small, local businesses that want to be listed on Page One of Google, the “key to keywords” is selecting a good phrase that best describes your business AND your location.  Once you determine a good phrase for your business, you can start adding that phrase strategically throughout your website and other places on the internet.  This should dramatically increase your chances of being on Page One of Google when someone enters that phrase.
The ideal phrase for most local businesses should be a combination of two basic phrases – the “WHAT” phrase and the “WHERE” phrase.

• The “WHAT” phrase is a keyword or phrase that accurately describes your best product or service.  By ‘best’, I mean your most profitable, most asked for, best selling or your customer’s favorite product or service.
• The “WHERE” phrase is simply the city and state from the physical address of your store or office location.

First, let’s talk about the “WHERE” phrase.  Small businesses often find it difficult to compete with national companies or franchises.  These large companies often have large budgets, can afford the very best SEO guys and can dominate keywords on a national level.  For a small business with small budgets, the idea is to dominate the local level since most of your customers probably come from within 10 or 20 miles of your location.  By adding your business’s city and state to your “ideal keyword phrase”, your website can appear above the national companies on Page One of Google.  It is important to select your business’s location and make sure it’s the exact city in your physical location’s address.  In other words, if you are located in a suburb of a major city, don’t try to use the name of the major city.  I’ll discuss the reasons why this is important when I talk about how to optimize your Google Places page.
Now, let’s look at how to find good keywords for the “WHAT” phrase.  If you want to spend the money, most decent SEO companies can generate a list of keywords for you.  If you don’t want to spend the money, you can do it yourself.  Here’s how:

• Make a list of 10 or so phrases that you think someone might enter into Google to find your products or service, other than your business name.
• Circle the phrases that describe products and services that generate the most profit for you.
• Circle the phrase or two that most prospect customers call about.
• Circle the phrase or phrases that you would have been listed under in the Yellow Pages.
• Ask several friends what they would enter into Google if they wanted to find a business like yours.  Circle or add any of their responses.

You should have a list of a few circled phrases.  If one or two stand out as clear winners, that’s your phrase.
If you want a more scientific way to determine your best WHAT phrase, ask us about Third Marble Marketing’s SEO Suggestion Report.
To finish, simply add the “WHAT” phrase to the “WHERE” phrase.  For example, if you own a pizza shop in Anytown, VA, your keyword phrase might be “pizza restaurant Anytown VA”.  If your pizza restaurant has a very profitable pizza delivery service, then your keyword phrase might be “pizza delivery Anytown, VA”.
In my next article, I’ll discuss what you should do with this keyword phrase to get your business exposure on Page One of Google.