There has been debate for some time now regarding whether or not bidding on multiple match types for the same keyword is an effective strategy or not. An example would be purchasing:

Bradford PA Restaurants
”Bradford PA Restaurants”
[Bradford PA Restaurants]

In this case the advertiser would be attempting to purchase the same term in Broad, Phrase and Exact match types. Regardless of whether or not they are in their own ad group, all terms would be turned on in an attempt to serve an ad. So why would anyone do that?

I recommend using this strategy for testing purposes. Not all match types are perfect for all keywords. Sometimes an exact match type will carry a slightly higher CPC, but you will likely not be spending money on wasted clicks as often found by using broad match. But, yes there is a but, broad match can be a great tool. It can help you find new keywords to purchase as well as allow you to build a more significant negative keyword list if you intend to stay away from exact match.

Depending on the account structure, I will start by placing the keywords in their own ad groups, sometimes even their own campaigns. This can help with bid and budget management and will be easy to clean up when you stop purchasing all match types. According to Google:

If you have multiple keywords that are the same, the system will prefer to use the keyword with the more restrictive keyword match type.

Therefore, depending on the queries that are driving traffic, your broad terms will only be served to users that aren’t searching the exact term or using the phrase as part of a longer query (theoretically). In testing, you may find that you are getting the majority of your conversions from the less restrictive match types or vice versa. But because search is a data driven marketing strategy, why not gather all the data you can get; including which match type performs better for you. And again, even if you are nervous about broad match it can really provide some great search query reports to help you build your account with high performing keywords, or expand your list of negatives.

In conclusion, my opinion is that bidding on multiple match types is a great testing and data gathering strategy, but not necessarily a long term solution. I am a firm believer that if you can gather data to improve your account performance long-term, trying various tests aside from the simple A/B test is a good practice.

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A deal between the #2 and #3 search engines was announced today. Microsoft and Yahoo! have agreed to a 10 year deal, hoping to compete with search giant, Google. Some of the details about of the deal are:

• Shortly after the deal is finalized in early 2010, Yahoo! results will show ‘Powered by Bing’
• Yahoo! will continue to receive 88% of the search-generated ad revenue for the initial 5 years
• The deal will allow Yahoo to focus on other areas such as display, the mobile web, and audience properties
• Bing should be able to improve search results, as they will be able to gather information from the newly acquired Yahoo! users
• Everyone at Ask is very happy [RT @dannysullivan over at ask.com, they're prepping the "we're #3" banners]
• Danny Sullivan also provided a great chart at Search Engine Land detailing more changes.

My Question is Obviously…What Will This Do for Search?

At this point much of this is up in the air, but I do have some guesses. It’s a given that focus on Yahoo! optimization will move to Bing. Because they will providing the Y! organic results, optimization should be the same. I also assume that there will be overall changes in Bing optimization practices as the technologies of the 2 engines will apparently be blended. As technologies change, search professionals must adjust. As far as market share goes, I still doubt much will be taken from Google, but I do think that the general public will see this as a positive given the general idea that 2 heads are better than 1. I predict that some people will try switching away from Google simply because of the merger, which may stick given the new Bing look.

As for PPC, I am unsure. According to the Search Engine Land chart (which will be continually updated throughout the day), advertisers may have to purchase ads at both Yahoo! and Bing although Yahoo! will be targeting ‘premium’ users. For the most part, I don’t see a huge problem with this, as it really isn’t a change. There will still be users at both engines, so if you want to reach them through paid advertisements, it’s a necessity. I don’t foresee much of a change in CPCs, at least in the near future. '

What About Google?

Google is not the type to just sit back and let this all happen without some sort of fight. I assume they will have changes or ‘news’ to release in the near future. They do not want their users to have the perception that Bing results will be better because they are now combining technologies with Yahoo!. As I stated before, I don’t expect them to lose much, if any market share because of this deal. I assume that our potential clients will still come to us saying ‘I want my site to be found on Google’ not, ‘I want my site to be listed on the top search engines including Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Ask’. Only time will tell, but Google always has something up their sleeve…even if it is not evil.

What else?

Well the first thing that comes to my head…Is Yahoo! really ready for this?

Honestly, I don’t think anyone can really be ready for that. But, we at protocol 80 hope the best for Bing and Yahoo!

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According to a post at the Marketing Pilgrim, Baidu is experiencing great success as a search engine in China. Baidu currently holds 64.5% of the Chinese market, up from 62.3%, according to Bernstein & Co. It will be very interesting to watch these numbers over the next several years as more of the population gains internet access. Recent reports show that only about 13.4% of the Chinese population has access to the Internet…while only an an astonishing 5% of the Chinese Internet population uses the Internet from work.

What does this mean for advertisers? If China isn’t one of your target demographics, then nothing right now. If you aim to reach Chinese users, it is time to optimize! This is extremely important for B2B customers who are looking to reach that market. The Baidu search engine can be optimized much like Google optimization a few years back. Baidu pays attention to Meta tags, content, links, etc. Gaining links is currently easier than Google, as quality does not really play a roll. Baidu will look for a variety of links from various domains. For best results the anchor text of the links should use Chinese characters. Another best practice for the Baidu search engine is for the pages to have all content in the Chinese language. Using a translate tool on an English site will not do if you are looking to have success in Baidu. A best case scenario is to get a .cn top level domain if you can get your hands on one. They were originally designated for only Chinese businesses, but they are now available to the rest of the world.

For Baidu SEO, remember your best practices and implement strategies that would have been used in past versions of Google. But, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket! Just like Google and other search engines have changed their algorithms over the years to improve user experience, Baidu will certainly change as well. Keep up on the Baidu SEO news and adjust accordingly.

Contact us for Baidu SEO consulting or for questions about general web marketing.

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I am sure at this point many people have already developed their own opinions of bing and how it compares to Google. But, how do bing and Google compare in terms of search? I how found many differences so far and also talked to other people in the search industry who have shared their opinions.

First, the verticals. Bing considers themselves a 'decision making' engine more than just a search engine. They are focused on helping users make easier decisions in 4 verticals: shopping, travel, health and local. In my opinion people in these verticals will benefit from bing. Not necessarily because they will show you better results...but because as bing catches on and people learn more about the engine, more people will use it. I am not saying they are going to catch up on market share, just that people will try it out...and they may just like it. For instance, these are the results that show in both engines when I searched "chicken pox":

In this case I like bing better for a few reasons. Please note these are my personal opinions. First, when I am searching for health issues I would not want to be inundated with advertisements...I just want to know about the issue. Bing shows only 1 ad, while Google shows about 10. Yes...I know Google has more advertisers, but I have done several related searches and have not yet felt overwhelmed with ads on bing. Second, I really like the related searches on the left. I have found these to be extremely relevant when searching for health or travel related terms...which in turn I do think can help me make a decision. Third, I like the categories bing provides when searching for a specific ailment. Every time I searched a specific 'issue' it has offered me the category choices such as articles, symptoms, virus, etc. As far as the organic results themselves, I found both Google and bing to be relevant. Therefore, I can see traffic picking up, at least in these areas.

I did find this quite interesting...

I searched "PA SEO". I found that in this search, Google understood user intent better. (I cleared my cache and cookies and made sure I was not logged into either account before searching). Google understood that I was searching for something related to 'SEO' versus 'Paseo'. Why would bing combine the words? I assume because they are somewhat focused on travel, they thought I meant a place. Whatever the reason, they were wrong.

What are other 'search' people saying?

I have heard various opinions...but at a small conference last week, one person stated that bing was 'The most search friendly engine I have seen.' She went onto explain why and gave several examples of certain terms that her clients rank so-so in Google, but rank 1,2 or 3 in bing. In comparing our clients ranks between Google and bing, I found it very hit and miss. Sometimes the term would show in the same position, sometimes higher and sometimes lower. I could not find a concise pattern whatsoever. Hopefully we (or someone else) can find a pattern between the two in the near future.

As far as optimizing for bing...I have always said that we should NOT focus on just one engine because even though you may generate the most traffic from Google, any of the other engines could convert at a higher rate. Optimizing only for certain engines may make you lose out on sales. But, with Google still dominating the market, a lot of focus is geared that way. So I guess the short answer would be...optimize for bing as long as it doesn't harm your Google ranks (unless of course you find you are converting more in bing).

What about Paid Search?

As far as paid search goes I cannot give you an accurate answer as to which is better. Reason being, ROI is all that matters for paid. You are going to see different results based on your industry and your strategy. It was the same with Live...some clients achieve a high ROI in Google, but very low (or negative) in Live and vise versa. Paid search requires an adjustment to strategies based on performance. If you are not currently participating in bing paid search, try it out and you may just be surprised at the results.

So?

Overall I think bing is an improvement over Live, but I doubt it will be true competition for Google. I actually like the appearance of bing better. There would be many benefits to having competition as far as search engines go. CPC's would hopefully lower, it would force the engines to continuously improve, and it will just give people actual options...which is always a positive. Please share your thoughts about bing!

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This can be debatable based on several factors...budget, vendor, client, target audience, product, etc. But what are the numbers? According to a survey done by eMarketer, SEO is the most effective form of online marketing!

eMarketer surveyed senior level marketing executives to find out what their business was experiencing in regards to online marketing success. Not surprisingly...at least to me, SEO, e-mail marketing and PPC (pay-per-click) were the top 3 most effective marketing strategies. 48% of all respondents claim that search engine optimization created the most conversions for their web site.

Why is this? As I said, several factors can vary this answer...but my general answer is, they are marketing where the users prefer. Most searchers prefer organic search results, therefore more clicks are being generated (unless you have a large PPC budget). People have access to email 24/7...email marketing and e-newsletters are being delivered directly to users through one of the most common forms of communication; of course conversions will be generated. Finally, the ability to target a specific audience through PPC is generating quality traffic that will convert sooner or later. The more advanced marketers and targeting abilities get, the more targeted PPC ads will become.

Brand perception tells a different story. Respondents claim that site or page sponsorship is leading the way as far as brand perception. SEO is second, but only 14% of respondents said that PPC was effectively building brand perception. Why is PPC not effectively maintaining or changing brand perception? My opinion is that these companies are not likely using PPC for brand perception. They are likely overlooking soft-conversions for hard-conversions when they are shoveling out money for PPC. I believe PPC can be an extremely effective way to build/maintain brand perception if that is your goal.

What does this mean for online marketing budgets? Only 8% of respondents are decreasing their SEO budget, while 40% are increasing their SEO budget. The majority (57%) of PPC budgets are going to remain the same. Not surprising, although, I was surprised that 42% of respondents are allocated a higher percentage of their budget to viral marketing even though they mostly agreed that it was not extremely effective in terms of brand perception or driving conversions.

I hope that eMarketer will survey the same group of people later this year or early 2010 to see how these numbers have changed.

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There is a lot of search news out there...it can be tough to make it through the good stuff. I gathered some articles together for a client and thought I would share.

· Does Including A Physical Address On Your Website Help Rankings? – Including the physical address of a business may help with organic search engine ranks. This article compares several auto repair businesses to determine whether or not the physical address plays a factor.

· Is Your CAPTCHA Killing Your Business? – CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) is great for reducing bots, spam and unwanted computerized visitors, but are websites losing business because of it?

· 33 Reasons to Use Twitter - A Guide to Finding Value in the Service! – You can’t go anywhere without hearing Twitter this and Twitter that, but many people are still having problems grasping a purpose for Twitter. Here are 33 reasons to Twitter.

· Why SEO & Usability are like two peas in a pod – Many SEO professionals forget about usability…but it is important in a quality SEO strategy. This article explains why SEO and usability are essentially the same.

· Microsoft Bing Goes Live – What is up with the new Microsoft search engine? Will it catch on? Will it compete? Does anyone care? Try it for yourself at www.Bing.com.

Please enjoy the articles. You can always find more search marketing info at our website.

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Google has recently updated their user interface for Adwords users. If you are looking for a quick answer, I like it so far. I have also talked to a few other SEM professionals and the general consensus has been, "Well, it seems to be an improvement. But no matter how you look at it, the Adwords UI is still better than anything Yahoo! or MSN has to offer!" I think we can all agree there.

First, efficiency has greatly improved. It is easier to access everything without traveling to separate pages. For example, I can easily edit bids, keywords, and ads for campaign A and with a click of a button I can move to campaign Z. Another nice feature is being able to access all keywords and ads by campaign, instead of only by ad group.  Also, the ability to change campaign settings is easily accessible from the campaign view without venturing too far from everything else you were doing. I have also found some new reporting features, additions to campaign settings, easier access to Analytics, and couple more things here and there. Overall, usability and efficiency gets an A in my book.

One thing I don't like is the automatic selection of ad serving to mobile devices. If you upload your campaign through Adwords Editor, it automatically chooses to show your ads to iPhones and other mobile devices. You have to go in the the UI to remove this selection. I never run campaigns to mobile devices unless they are optimized for mobile devices. You will see much better performance if you create a campaign which includes keywords, ads, and landing pages that cater to these devices. Google did include the option to duplicate campaign settings if you start your new campaign through the UI, another nice feature which can alleviate this problem for the most part.

You will have to try the new UI out for yourself to come up with your own opinion. You can also check out some of the material directly from Google for more information. Again, overall I am pleased. It may not be the prettiest thing out there, but if it makes my job more efficient I am happy!

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Crisis management...something we generally don't want to think of as a business. Most times it means bad news, but bad news can be worse if the situation is not handled properly. Generally speaking, most businesses who require strong public relations, already have a public relation strategy in place in case of crisis. But does your company's PR plan include search engine marketing?

Think about it, more and more Americans turn to the Internet for their daily news source. Do you want them to get their information from a blog or a spun news story? You have little if no control how third parties will report the story. The optimal situation is for readers to get their information directly from the source.

It is unrealistic to think that an SEO strategy will get the information noticed fast enough. The communication with the public should be as quick as possible which simply will not happen with SEO...these efforts take time to be effective. There is no better way to handle a crisis situation than Pay-per-Click advertising (PPC). This is a perfect PR channel for a crisis if you wish to have an accurate message sent. The cost-per-click (CPC) would be very low because keywords would be targeted directly towards the situation, a custom landing page can be implemented that gives the facts of the event or situation and you are placing the information exactly where people are looking: Search Engines.

One important thing to remember is to make sure your search marketing provider works with the company and/or public relations firm to accurately portray the situation. If your business is leading people right to the source for information, things can turn ugly if it is incorrectly reported. Your search marketing provider should have a plan of exactly how things should be handled in the event of a crisis...prior to a crisis situation. This is the only way the strategy will be handled effectively and accurately.

For more information about PR and Search Engine Marketing contact us today.

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I read an interesting article this morning on Mobile Marketing Watch (http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/study-localmobile-search-now-tops-print-yellow-pages/) that provided details of a study conducted by TMP Directional Marketing and comScore.  They found that search engines have overtaken the print yellow pages as the first place to look for local businesses.  Sorry Yellow Pages! 

I thought it was a timely article given Josh’s video post yesterday:

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Advertising can be difficult for B2B marketers in the paid space because of rising costs and trouble finding qualified leads, but there are strategies that help make B2B PPC advertising more successful.

1.) Choose Highly Targeted, Long-Tail Keywords: A major problem with PPC advertising for B2B marketers is finding qualified leads. Users searching for B2B products/services tend to be more sophisticated with what they are looking for, and will use longer search terms to find the appropriate results. By using shorter broad match terms B2B advertisers are likely driving unqualified traffic and wasting their budget. Remember the end user when performing your keyword research.

2.) Take Advantage of Niche B2B Search Engines: An important key to a successful PPC campaign is advertise where your target audience is! The people who are making the decisions for businesses are usually aware of the best way to find the right company to satisfy their business needs whether it is trade shows, trade publications or word of mouth. But with more and more people turning to the Internet to make their business decisions, B2B search engines are often the first place a user will look to find their B2B needs. Below are some B2B search engines to consider when implementing your PPC strategy:

a. Business.com – The largest B2B search engine with over 40 million unique visitors per month.

b. GlobalSpec – A B2B search engine focused on engineering, manufacturing, scientific and technical markets. Currently GlobalSpec has nearly 5 million registered users and is continuing to grow.

c. ThomasNet – Focused on industrial products and services, ThomasNet will drive low volume but highly qualified traffic. 

d. MasterSeek – Provides low volume but is focused on becoming the world’s largest B2B search engine.

3.) Send Users to the Appropriate Landing Page: When searching for the best product or service for their company, a B2B user will not spend time trying to find what they searched for after landing on your site; if they can’t find it right away they will go back and click on the next ad. By sending the users to a specific landing page directly related to the search term, you will achieve more conversions than sending them to your home page.

4.) Write Your Ads With the User in Mind: Users searching for B2B products/services are different than users searching for consumer products/services. Write your ads with this in mind to improve your Click-Through-Rate (CTR) and increase the amount of qualified visitors.

5.) Remember, Quality is More Important than Quantity: Because you may purchase longer search terms for your PPC campaign, it can be frustrating if you aren’t getting the traffic or conversions you expected. Keep in mind that the buying cycle is much longer for B2B purchases and a user may not act the first time they click on your ad…but hopefully they remember your name. Do not jump the gun and add several keywords because you are not happy with the traffic after 2 months. Adding unnecessary keywords just to gain traffic will likely not convert and you will be wasting your money. Reevaluate your campaign carefully after you have given the strategy some time always remember your business will make more money with conversions, not traffic!

For more information on B2B advertising check out this article and visit www.protocol80.com.

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