Selecting the right keywords for a web page is critical element of a successful campaign strategy, however, its important to evaluate the competitiveness of key term selected.  Selecting only highly competitive terms can lead to unrealistic goals and an unbalanced approach to attain increase in traffic.  Join one of our own SEO specialists, Avinash Conda, as we explore this topic in this video.

There are many aspects to optimizing your individual web pages from meta data, to keyword density, proximity, images, videos, etc.  Join Sarah Dryden (Digital Strategist) as we  we talk a little SEO and touch on this one element of on page optimization, introducing key phrases into your headlines and sub headlines.

Path Interactive is an NYC SEO Optimization company, paid search management, and social media services are also available.

Infographic by the Pay Per Click Blog

How Does Google Work? Learn How Google Works: Search Engine + AdWords.

With so many online marketing firms offering a myriad of SEO solutions, how do you evaluate which one is right for you?  Is it as mystical as some present it to be?

Evaluating a true partner is something we should be doing and when it comes to online marketing, there should be no exception.  Join Michael Stearne and I, as we discuss this topic in another Path TV episode.

Former Google SERP for Labor Lawyer NYC

The new SERP looks very different (see screenshot below). The top three ads are still there, but the map is now on the upper right hand side, and ads 4-10 have been moved down the page; many of them are now below the fold, depending on your screen.  The SERP leads with a few organic results from the wider web, but then shows results from Google Places, offering more information than the 7-Pack including pictures, descriptions, and the option to go to the law firm’s website or Places page.

New SERP for Labor Lawyer NYC

Predicted Effects On Paid Search Advertising
The key change for paid search is the location of the map.  By moving the map to the top right, Google has effectively de-emphasized any ad that doesn’t appear on the top of the page (positions 1-3).  Moreover, the map stays visible as you scroll down the page, covering up ads in positions 4 – 10 as it moves.  This, combined with the fact that the ads start lower down to begin with, likely means that ads in positions 4 – 10 will suffer lower click through rates and, potentially, higher costs per click (CPCs) due to declining quality scores.  Most importantly,the reduced value of positions 4 – 10 will lead to higher competition for positions 1 – 3, so we expect a marked increase in the CPCs of those positions.  We’ll watch to see if these predictions come true.

Return of Session-Based Match?
One interesting thing we noticed with the new SERP is the renewed presence of session-based match in the ads displayed.  Session-based match means that Google will show you ads based on previous search queries.  We hadn’t seen this occur in months, but we saw it in a number of searches yesterday and today.  Not only that, but, at least in one case, the ads shown were for queries done days ago.  We’ll keep our eye on this development, too.

Roger Montti, Founder, MartiniBuster.com

Arnie Kuenn gave some excellent strategies on targeted link building:

• Target Searching – target sites that link to relevant resources
• Backlink Trolling – checking competitors back links and narrowing down the list to .gov’s and .edu’s.
• Association Membership – join relevant niche associations which you might be able to obtain a link from
• Paid Links – paid links in general are risky and when obtaining the link other sites that are also linked should be taken into consideration.

Arnie Kuenn, President, Verticle Measures, LLC – Targeted Links

• Broken Link Solicitation – Find a site you would like to obtain a link from and do a broken link checker. If the site has any broken links reach out to the webmaster and get them to link to you.
• Free Links – building a relationship with other blogs and sites

Chris Bennet, President of 97th Floor – Info Graphics and Virals

Chris Bennet gives great tips in infographics and viral techniques:

• Chris states that what makes a good graphic is one with a lot of data, aesthetically pleasing and contains complex ideas.

• Digg has a recent redesign which makes posting commercials more friendly, however – digg  traffic gives you 1/4 of what the old digg use to give you

Gil Riech, VP of Product Management, Answers.com

Gil gives tips on how you can get visibility on answers.

• Make your message “this guy rocks”
• Write on sites that want good content and deliver an audience
• Find a niche in the community you’re aiming to target

Debra Mastaler, President, Alliance – Link

Debra Mastaler gives some excellent strategies on link building

• Debra states it’s what you do with link building but more about where you do it.
• Common elements that businesses should aim to be placed are news, video, wikipedia, local, brand, images
• Video tutorials and how to content does very well in terms of ranking in search engines

1) Generate Relevant Natural Inbound Links -

A successful social media campaign can help to generate a ton of NATURAL links. This is huge deal because a lot of SEO efforts do come from linking strategies.

2) Reputation Management and Social Media Websites -

By building a series of social media site profiles you are increasing your brand awareness. This can be both a positive and a negative when it comes to managing your business. Just ask quickly as you can get ranked for your brand, other negative results can be populated

3) Ranking Organically From Social Media Websites -

Social Media sites rank extremely well on the search engines.

This is helpful for new sites trying to get off the ground and even create brand awareness. The social media sites can outrank the own site which is helpful getting referral traffic.

On August 24th, Bing released the statement “This is a great milestone for Bing and Yahoo! and our customers, and we are happy to report the transition has gone smoothly and we feel great about the progress our search alliance has been making over the summer.”

Bing Powered Organic Yahoo Search Results are LIVE as of August 24, 2010

When conducting a search on Yahoo and scroll to the bottom of the page you can actually see “powered by Bing”. The full transition began to take place a week ago and is fully LIVE and running. Senior Vice President of Yahoo, Shashi Seth states ” I am proud to announce that the transition of organic search between Yahoo! and Microsoft is complete.”

The Future of The Yahoo and Bing Migration

What we can expect in the upcoming future regarding the Yahoo and Bing migration? The migration of sponsored listings of course! Bing states “We continue to work hard on the migration to adCenter, and are optimistic about completing this phase later this fall. As we have said all along, our primary goal is to provide advertisers with a quality transition experience in 2010, while being mindful of the holiday season.”

Just last month (June 2010) Google has launched Google Tags in the US. It’s an option that gives local business owners a yellow tag and the ability to add additional information right on the search results for a flat monthly rate of $25.

Are Google Maps Tags Really Worth It?

Many businesses are actually using this option as an incentive to lure sales by offering coupons, but is this option really worth it?

Personally, Google tags is just an eye catching tag for the local listing. Further more, by adding this feature – it has absolutely nothing to do with how your local listings will rank. Local listing optimization will have to done in order to achieve the highest possible conversions rates.

If your business simply ranks for the brand name, searchers are already intending on using your services, so it really makes no sense to add this feature if you do not have  your local listings optimized.

Additional Information about Google Maps Tags

For businesses which have multiple locations, it is a $25 dollar fee PER location. So you would want to  be selective about the location(s) you would want to use and strategically place these tags on the listing that gets the most impressions. It might not be feasible to have this option on all of the locations and could just be a waste of money.

It might be from your CMO or your contact that online shoe store you just signed, but whether you do in-house or agency paid search advertising, you’ve undoubtedly had this asked before (perhaps several times).

A couple of answers.

Without Paid Search, You Are Losing Clicks and Sales.

Yes, for brand terms, where you rank #1.

The AdWords agency team recently released notes on an experiment showing the value of paid search for those ranking competitively in natural search.

The experiment involved the clothing company Vineyard Vines, which feared it was paying for brand-related clicks it might have received anyway. They ultimately calculated they’d only replaced about 33% of their paid clicks with organic clicks, meaning the great majority of such clicks were completely lost by not running paid search campaigns.

And these brand clicks, they saw, were converting at over 5%.

The Secret Reason Goldman Sachs Loves Paid Search

Paid search advertising allows you to tightly control the content and prominence of your message, something not always possible when you’re relying solely on natural search.

Currently mired in a dramatically reported mortgage controversy, Goldman’s corporate site does not come up in position 1 naturally for “goldman sachs.” Nor does it appear in position 2, for that matter. Those positions are taken up by bad press.

Thankfully, they’ve read this post.