“Did you see that Google Instant came out today?” he asked.

“What’s that?”

Douglas pulled up a Google search and started to type in a few words.

“Oh, wow,” I said, “Where was that today when I needed it?”

Among the updates Google has made to their offering:

• Gmail Priority Inbox - which I’d say, “Office has done this forever,” but then I remember Gmail is free.
• Google Tags - Something I need to play more with.
• Google Adwords Keyword Research Local Search Volume Stats Tweak (maybe)

Google Instant might be the most helpful SEO tool Google’s released in a long, long time.

What is Google Instant?

Google Instant is a feature that shows the page 1 listings for the keyword as you type them. And changes the results as the keywords change.

Check out the video:

Why Is This Cool?

How many times do you type in a query, hit the enter button, not like the results, go back, type in another query, hit the enter button…Yeah. What this does is allows you to play with search queries and “try before you buy.”

Why Is This Important?

1) How people search will change – Instead of typing in a phrase, clicking the enter button and seeing what appears, searchers can craft their phrases as they go. If they get a few words deep and they don’t like what’s appearing, they can backspace and go again. Long tails were already increasing in possibility. Something tells me keyword combination are going to start becoming more serial-based and descriptive.

For example: I found myself playing Charades with the SERPS when I first searched using Google Instant.
“Band Southern Rock James Brown sound.”
“Band James Brown sound Lollapapooza.”
“This band sounded like James Brown and Southern Rock at Lollapalooza.”

Then I realized, “Lollapalooza 2009 band list.” And finally found the band I was looking for.

Black Joe Lewis & the HoneyBears – by the way, great stuff!

2) Easier to show the customer the dynamic nature of search engines – ever try to explain to a client that search engines have SERPs for every keyword phrase? It doesn’t always go over so well. With Google Instant, you’ll be able to start typing in a keyword, and as you take that keyword into a keyword phrase, then to a long tail keyword, the client can see how the results shift. Having that type of instant update to the SERPs is going to be like an animated video that you’ll be able to show your customers when explaining how SEO works.

3) Cutting down the work time – on the Google Instant page, Google claims that searches will be cut by “2-5 seconds per search,” with the help of Instant. I believe it.

If you haven’t taken Google Instant out for a spin. Do so. It’s not perfect, yet. And you’ll come up with search phrases that Google will be clueless on. It happens. But after playing with it, I believe you’ll find that if Bing can claim to be “The Decision Engine,” then Google can boast that they’ve become “The Collaboration Engine.”

Sadly, I think “Collaboration Engine” is patented.  Only one way to find out…

Search two with Google Instant is underway…

Speaking of musical great stuff, check out this demonstration Google did using Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues

The war room is the room where strategic decisions are analyzed, discussed, proposed and made. The war room exists for every company because your company is in competition with another company – it just depends on its quality.  Everyone needs a strategy. I always prefer to do a rundown list on competition. It starts this way…

Someone wants to start a small business – something they love to do – and they want to see if they can make a little money of off it. They ask me, “what could I do to increase website visits.” After I give a punch list, they start backing away. More often than not, they have a fear of getting in over their heads and want to keep it small. Two months later, they come back “ok, let’s do it.” At this point, I wish I could pull down maps out of nowhere and get an expandable pointer. Why? Because there’s no time to waste.

Here’s my initial punch list to develop a war room strategy:

1. SERPs
Search Engine Results Pages. Your keywords. What are they? What are people typing to find you if they don’t know your name? The top results in your keywords and key phrases are your competition. Search less popular terms and take note of any opportunities.

2. Competitor Websites
Visit each website and take note of the following of how their information flows and the direction it takes you.  Does the information make sense? Are you guided to make a decision? Does it prompt you to make a decision now or some nebulous time in the future?

3. Links
Are other sites linking them? Which ones are they? Are they quality sites?

4. Social Media
Are they on Twitter? Facebook? Are they actively using them?

5. Local Results
Google Place Pages, Yahoo and Bing Local. Did they claim their listings? What info are they sharing?
What are they NOT doing?

6. Blog & Forum Chatter
Search on their name and URL – see what people are saying about them. Do they have a blog? How often do they update it?

That’s the short list right there. Once you profile your top competitors, you then look for holes in each instance to “do one better.”

A. SERPs
Place your keywords and keyphrases in places where they matter most.  Optimize for the “not as competitive” keywords to circumvent a bloodbath of fighting.
Example: Three Competitors fighting for “Home Windows.”  Instead of joining in the fray, I optimized for “replacement vinyl.”  It worked, but then the other sites caught on so I changed it again.

B. Websites
Arrange your web pages to flow to increase conversions by giving strong call to actions and empathizing with prospective clients.  Example: After researching a year on the top problems a potential client would face to bring them into my “store.”  I changed the flow of the homepage to those problems with quick solution paths.  Conversion percentages were staggering.  Company information was moved way out of the way to the “About Us” tab.   I have never seen a commercial starting off with the history of the company, why should your website?

C. Links
Seek out better places to link to you. Example: A competitor had 3 times as many backlinks as one client.  They were going for quantity rather than quality.  By getting links from the local TV station, Better Business Bureau and the local university and a government website. It made a difference and it didn’t matter if the “no-follow” link attribute was used because of number 1.

D. Social Media
Do it better.  Example: We started a client with both a Twitter and Facebook account.  Facebook was a lot more popular.  We were able to acquire fans with an offer, a contest and other promotion.  However, it started becoming problematic to retain and engage the “Fans” without annoying them but serving a purpose.  The direction was changed quietly as competitors started to blast their fans needlessly … and still do.

E. Local Results
Fill out your local profiles and use them to the fullest.  Example: Using coupons and mimicking the working language from your website that works, a lot of lead sources and phone calls were tied to the local SEO.

F. Blog & Forum Chatter
If there’s anything you can capitalize on – a mood within the industry, a PR flub, take note and move wisely. Example: Google Alerts were set up for competitor names as well as the client’s name.  This was able to bring in alerts where people were talking about us positively and negatively.  Seeing the negative aspects of a competitor’s customer service allowed us to enhance the client’s.

Hoowah! Don’t get intimidated. Size up your competition and know their weaknesses. Remember, knowing is have the battle.  Scouring this site is a place to build your war room for the above steps.  What tactics are in your “war room?”

Although it seemed tedious at the time, I quickly realized that it became a longer, messier project without. If you were born before 1990 you probably remember searching through pages of content: paper pages, in books, in libraries.  Well, with the invention of the Internet, we’ve got the world at our fingertips.  Translation: there’s no excuse not to do your research.

SEO is no different than any other project.  Before you make proposals to your client, be sure you’ve done your research. No one wants to look silly in front of a client, any more than they did a class full of peers.

A few questions your client might ask include:

• Who links to our competitors?
• Why do we want this site to link to us?
• What terms should we target?
• How are we currently ranking for this term?
• How hard will this term be to rank for?

These aren’t answers you can make up on the spot, so it pays to prepare in advance and to understand the tools that are available to help you gather the information you need to answer any SEO questions. SEOmoz tools are a fabulously useful source of information , and the best part is all of the tools discussed below are free!

Let’s talk about how we can answer these questions, shall we?

Who links to our competitors?

This is a great question.  If your client isn’t asking – then you should be asking yourself.  If a site is relevant to your competitors, then it is probably relevant to you.  Also, if a site is willing to link to your competitors, then it is probably willing to link to you!  Do you see where I’m going with this?

Find out which sites are linking to your competitors with the open site explorer. Simply, insert your competitor’s URL and bada-bing, a list of linking sites.  This is a great place to start your link building.

Why do we want this site to link to us?

Generally, the more inbound links the better but not always.  Think of it as being guilty by association.  You don’t necessarily want spammy sites or bad directories linking to your high quality site.

So, you’ve got a list of sites that link to your competitors.  Take it one step further and weed out the bad apples.  Use the Check PageRank tool to see how search engines rank the site.  Then, use the term extractor to find out which of your target terms this site is optimized for.   Obviously, sites optimized for your target terms are valuable, combine that with a high page rank and you have struck gold.

What terms should we target?

As you probably already know, choosing terms to optimize for is easier said than done.  Sometimes it helps to know what you’re already optimized for.  Check out the term extractor to see how much of your work is already done.  If none of your descriptive keywords come up, then you’ve got problems.  The plus side is, you can use the same tool to check what competitors’ sites are optimized for.   Then, you can use the Google keyword tool to find related terms.

How are we currently ranking for this term?

Once you’ve optimized your content you can check how well you rank for each keyword using the term target.  You just type in the page’s URL and the targeted keyword.   Pretty handy gadget, right?

How hard will it be to rank for this keyword?

Again, in many cases your client may not think to ask this.  In fact, the client may offer you a million keyword suggestions that are nearly impossible to rank for.  That’s why it’s important that you are able to answer this question even when it isn’t asked.

There is a tool for this but it isn’t free, so we’ll talk about that at a later date.  At Hanapin Marketing, we list out silos of keywords and then use the aforementioned Google keyword tool to find the number of searches each query receives per month, and divide that number by the number of current Google results cued by that query.  The fact of the matter is you don’t want to try to rank for a keyword that has a lot of competition and very few searches.  While some may be easier to rank for, you also have to decide which terms will “flow”.

Content stuffing aside, you will probably try to use this word often, so you don’t want to choose some awkward phrase like  “big white fluffy Easter egg rabbit” instead of  “Easter rabbit” just because its easier to rank for.

Hopefully you find these tools to be uber helpful in planning and analyzing your SEO strategy and performance, and, of course, for making you sound more intelligent in conversation.  Give them a try and let me know what you think!

You have your website up, now what do you do? Here is a step-by-step guide to SEO Keyword Research.

Step 1: Brainstorm.

1. Before we begin talking about online tools or spreadsheets, sit down and spend some with your website. Browse the site and jot down any terms that frequently show up.
2. Act as a searcher and from Google.com search for terms that you might type in if you were a potential customer looking for your product or service. Click on some of the competitor sites and pull any additional terms you haven’t thought of yet. You can look at the sites’ meta-data (right click on the page and view page source) to find their meta descriptions and keywords, which can help inspire your own keyword list.
3. If you have any print material, brochures or magazines, look through them as well, and add any reoccurring terms to your list.

Step 2: Dig a Little Deeper.

Using the accounts below you can find additional keywords that you will definitely want to include in your keyword list.

1. Google Analytics account – using Google analytics you can see the search queries people are using to find your site. Login to your Google Analytics account and click on traffic sources and then keywords on the left hand side. If you have a PPC Account be sure to segment your visitors by Non-paid only. You can do this in upper right hand corner, above the date. PPC keywords may be helpful, but you want a clear understanding of the organic searches from analytics before you look at the paid terms.
2. Google Webmaster Tools account – with GWT you can see your most-used keywords as well as keywords your site is appearing for. When you login, your search queries should be right on the dashboard for you to browse. If you don’t have a Google Webmaster Account, sign up for one today. It’s free and essential for your SEO efforts.
3. Pay-per-click accounts – if you maintain a pay-per-click account you can pull your most successful keywords and include them in your SEO list. Remember that PPC keywords are a little different in that you are trying to cast a wider net. With that in mind, choose the keywords to include in your SEO efforts carefully. If you won’t be using that keyword as a term on your site to describe your product, don’t include it.

Step 3: Additional Tools.

Once you’ve finished your creative brainstorming, it’s time to go online and utilize free tools. Remember, everyone can access these tools so your best shot at finding unique and useful terms that are different from your competitors will come from your initial brainstorming. Make sure you’ve fully exhausted your creative energies before moving on.

1. Google Keyword Tool: You can use this tool one of two ways. First you can type in your Website URL and the tool with scan your website looking for keywords (make sure the ‘website content’ radio button is selected). Secondly, you can type in those individual terms to find additional, related terms (make sure the ‘descriptive words or phrases’ radio button is selected.
2. Additional Google Tools: When you search for a term in Google, on the left hand side of the results page you’ll see ‘more search tools’ – when you click on this Google offers additional tools that you can use including the Wonderwheel and Related Searches tools. Test these out to see which ones work best for you.

Step 4: Organize Keywords.

Once your list is complete, separate keywords into themed “silos” or lists by topic. Each silo should be on a separate Excel worksheet. This way you will have a list of keywords unique to that particular topic or page. This organization will help you identify what keywords to target by topic. It will also help you avoid targeting multiple pages with the same keywords, and to ensure that your keywords are very relevant to search users trying to find the information offered on your pages.

Step 5: Generate Ranking Statistics & Sort Keywords.

1. Using the SEOBoy Keyword Tool or Google Keyword Tool and search results pull the rankability, search volume and competing pages for each keyword. The Rankability is an indication of the relative ease of ranking for a keyword based on search volumes and competing pages. The higher a keyword’s rankability, the better chance it has to rank in the Google search engine results. Search Volume is the estimated global monthly search volume for a word, provided by Google. Competing pages are the number of pages in Google’s index that also appear for that particular keyword.
2. To determine the best keywords to target, sort each of your keyword lists by competing pages (ascending order). Within each silo, further separate your keywords based on the natural breaks in the competing pages total. One this is complete, sort each sub-group by rankability (descending order). This will help you select the best keywords to target.

Step 6: Keyword Selection.

Choose keywords based on both highest rankability and relevance to your page. Keywords should be those which people searching for your services will be using, not just any interesting and rankable keyword. For each content silo, choose two to three target keywords and compile these into a target list. The total amount of keywords targeted on your site should only be 25-30.

Once you have your target list in place you can begin to optimize your site with keywords. Set up an account with Advanced Web Rankings program and make sure your Target List is ran once a month to track progress. It is a Hanapin best practice to schedule the ranking reports to run at odd hours (during the night).

Voila! Your keyword research is complete. Now it’s time to start optimizing the Meta Data with your Target List.

Maybe that’s a choice topic for my next post…

Today I got into a friendly email war with one of the business development heads at where I 9-to-5. He was starting to pick over some of the services we were offering for a client. At one point he wrote back, “Isn’t Keyword Analysis and Competition Analysis essentially the same thing?”

“No,” was all I could say.

Actually, what I wanted to say was, “‘Fa, fa-fa, Fa, fa, FA-FA, Fa, fa,’” because I thought his question was sad (I was a little tired and irritated). But it was in that moment, as I snickered to myself about my inside-joke-for-1, that I realized the bigger problem.

See, last week, my answer to that question would have been much different. If you were to graph the supply and demand charts for the What’s-on-Finn’s-Mind market, the consumer demand changed drastically from last week to this week. And with it, the language to express these needs also changed.

What changed? This week, the much-anticipated, “Otis Redding: Live on the Sunset Strip,” was finally released. I had it on the brain, and I’ve been listening to it again, and again, and again. Included on the album is the Redding classic, “Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa (Sad Song).”

Competitors in online markets have to deal with similar shifts. Pending on the market, effective keywords will evolve thanks to the cat-and-mouse game between consumer searches and competitor reactions. Factor in the presence of news and media sites, affiliate marketers, and bloggers all crowding for the same space and fighting for those terms, and your need to constantly monitor both the keywords AND the competition becomes paramount.

Competion Analysis should never be lumped in with your Keyword Analysis. It doesn’t help your efforts. And it certainly doesn’t help your clients.

But Competition Analysis should be performed nearly as frequently as Keyword Analysis.

What do I mean by Competition Analysis?

When I say, “Competition Analysis,” I don’t mean using one of those scraper tools that are integrated into the Google Adwords or Analytics API, but actually going to the site and visually inspecting it. Setting up “ears,” – Google Alerts and Google Reader. Subscribe to Twitter keyword searches and Facebook Wall Posts. Sign up for checking media outlets to see if which names from your market(s) appear.

Make sure you get all the data you can to paint as clear a picture you can for you and your client.

And as for my friendly email war, I finally wrote and explained to him the difference and promised him we’ll finish our glossary before to long.

(Oh yeah, be sure to check out “Otis Redding: Live on the Sunset Strip.” It’s a performance that’ll get into your soul. You can find it on OtisRedding.com).

(photo credit:  1) heanster & 2) A Look Askance via Flickr)

A real fine way to start…

The Opening

I came home late this evening because I was finishing the initial keyword research for a big corporate site. As big as corporate sites get…

And, yes, we put Google Analytics on the site before the redesign because the client wasn’t aware of their baseline data.

Here’s where the fun starts:

I asked, “What’s going to be the marketing plan?”

The answer:  “We’re not sure yet.”

“Ohh-kay.”

Face palm.

Middle Game

When you’re not privileged enough to know the marketing plan, budget, scope, or intentions and you still have to get the keyword research done, adopt the Dr. Gregory House method:

“When in doubt, plan broad.”

In this case I’m spending much more time on the long tails and sub categories than on the main categories. Do enough years of keyword research and identifying the major keyword themes in a common market can be like hitting a bullseye with a bowling ball. You’re going to hit those themes plus the themes you weren’t thinking about. Tie in some “how to’s” and “what are’s” while you’re attempting to identify the searchers’ spelling nuances and you’ll do pretty well on the first try – pending market and competition.

End Game

I don’t know if the site’s going to involve an integrated PPC campaign that’s backboned by a news blog or whether it’s going to be a hard-pounding offsite SEO campaign, but now I’m prepared to attack the “lower hanging fruit,” and build momentum as I go after the major themes.

Also, I get a chance to watch search behavior on those major themes. The fun part with keyword research is that most of the researchers get their data from the same sources and start focusing their themes around similar items. Maybe it’s just me, but when the industry adjusts to the searchers, the searchers adjust their terms to look for deeper results. And the game changes again.

And I get some time to monitor this behavior. The analytics history after the redesign gets a chance to mature, and I get to fight after the major themes with a planned, polished, multi-piece attack.

(Insert unique “checkmate” ending here)

When you go to research without all the facts, what approach do you take?

My favorite offhand phrase to date that gets me unexpected traffic is, “Kierkegaard died a virgin.” (The great part is that he didn’t, actually, but that’s existential talk for another day).

Sometimes, the difference between success or failure in campaigns, especially in cases where competition is fierce, comes down to these phrases. These phrases become the details that need not be overlooked.

But how to find high-converting long-tail keywords?

Many people know the value of analytics. A PPC keyword analysis along with simple keyword and phrase searches in analytics often give people the aggregate keywords to help them on their way. But many people have a tendency not to consider the traffic along with the keyword.

For example, if keyword A came from predominately blog links but keyword B came from PPC campaigns, which keywords do you go with? If you have enough pages, you can optimize accordingly and test-test-test, but that’s where Closed Loop Analysis comes in.

Closed Loop Analysis – aka Closed Loop Marketing

The more I utilize closed loop analysis, the more I become addicted to the practice. No matter how much history you have, keywords, long tail and question phrase optimization, anaytics…what is profitable can change on something a simple as a blog post.

Or more typically, a successful branding campaign.

With closed loop analysis, you don’t simply analyze the traffic, but you break it down and analyze the conversions: What product(s) converted? What is the frequency of the conversion? How did they enter the site? Was it direct traffic, keyword search, referrer, CPC, email…What keywords did they use? If you can break down the fundamental data of those who’ve converted, then you can better optimize for that target market(s) with the hopes of attracting more like-minded individuals.

Products that provide Closed Loop Marketing data

I first learned about it when a co-worker first introduced me to Inbound Marketing. The cornerstone behind the movement is Hubspot in Cambridge, MA. They are a software company that offers subscriptions for metrics such as closed loop marketing.

If you are savvy enough, you can have your PPC, email, and media campaigns tagged and from with some custom tweeks, you can set up similar analysis in Google Analytics – remember to use a copy of the profile!

Don’t assume that just because you’ve gotten sales from a demographic that you’ve already tapped the market. Consider those who’ve already converted for you. You just might find you’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg.

Please consider the example of handing over a keyword list from an agency to a client. The agency has spent many hours researching a large amount of data and bulk keyword lists. They have studied the client and their market. They have formed a list, to the best of their knowledge, that will help make the client’s website a success. However, no matter how much research the agency has done, the client will always have additional insight into what types of words their audiences use. They’ll know the slang of their industry and how it is used. These words can be invaluable in reaching the project’s goals.

The only problem with the scenario above is that it’s not the complete story. Please consider the other example of handing over a keyword list from a client to an agency. The client has collected a keyword list that best describes their products or services. It probably contains slang and industry words mentioned above. It may even contain words that are nowhere on their site. “Sure, that’s _________, but no one ever calls it that,” can often be heard when a client discusses their list with the agency. The agency has the keyword research tools and knowledge to analyze the client keyword list to know what is really being used and what isn’t. Does the client’s audience use slang on the web or do you use the proper terminology? What about similar words that a user logically searches for without knowing what the product or service is actually called? The agency is able to complement the client’s list with new opportunities and keep the list retained to only keywords that will actually benefit the project.

If you a client or an agency project manager, please consider the rhetorical view of your counterpart when reviewing keyword lists. Their insight and expertise can be invaluable, but the best approach is to trust your own insight and expertise, as well.

Some things we’ll like. Some things we’ll wish we’ve done better. Some things we’ll just as soon forget.

And for some internet marketers, the end of January brings around a traditional debate:

“High-Traffic or Long Tail Keywords”

It took me a few years, but eventually I backed into my answer for this question:

“Yes.”

Why?

Because when I first started SEO copy writing I was afraid to go after the high-traffic keywords Keyword Discovery and AdWords Keyword told me I desired. So what I’d do to combat my fear was to wrap the keywords I craved inside long tail phrases that could give me better quality traffic along the way. I wasn’t doing it to be aggressive. I was doing it because I wasn’t sure of my skills, yet. I admit it.

But as I backed into my strategy, I realized how effective it was and tried to apply it to everything.

That’s where the “Maybe” comes in

After a few months, I actually made the keyword goals I one thought unattainable, but they didn’t get me the traffic I coveted.

That’s when I turned to Analytics and Closed Loop Marketing

Analytics told me what the quality traffic was using to get to the site. Closed loop marketing was telling me what inbound marketing efforts were most profitable. Couple those with the PPC efforts and analysis and not only was I able to find better keywords for my site, I was able to use keywords that were better for my site.

And because I had a year’s worth of content on terms that were couple close cranks on the Google Wonder Wheel, it only took a few mods and tweaks on a key posts to help transform my site and increase my relevant traffic.

So if you’ve found the keywords you want, wrapping them around long tail phrases so you can optimize for more than one term is smart. It’s always smart. Why optimize for one phrase when you can use the same space to optimize for multiple terms – so long as the content is fluid, makes sense, and engaging. Yes, SEO Copywriting is an art form.

But take the time to do a closed loop analysis. See what phrases people are using in places Google can’t reach. There’s always a good chance that you’ll find phrases you would have otherwise never considered.

Next week, I’ll go into greater detail about why closed loop analysis is so important.

When it comes to doing keyword research for SEO, there are terms you know you want to rank highly for, and there are terms that get high search volume and convert well, and sometimes those terms don’t necessarily match up.

It’s okay to target your website for terms you know you want to rank highly for.  But part of marketing and making marketing decisions is knowing what is happening right now, running reports and doing some analysis before you make that important decision. If you have a current AdWords PPC program, picking out highly converting keywords from your PPC campaigns can be very helpful when it comes to choosing your SEO keywords.

Not only can you get more accurate search volume estimates from your Adwords account, but you can also find keywords that convert at a higher rate than others. Some of those highly converting keywords may not have been in your initial research for SEO keywords.

For example, say you’re running a debt management solutions website. One of your core keywords you want to rank for is ‘debt management solutions.’  However, you may find in your AdWords account that, ‘how to manage debt’ has less volume, but converts at an extremely high rate. Why wouldn’t you want to rank for that keyword?

If that is the case, you could always target your homepage to the higher search volume keywords, but create a new page where you can target keywords that tend to convert at a higher rate. You can even write blog posts around that keyword and link that blog to pages within your site.

If you don’t currently have an AdWords account, I would recommend that you think about starting one for a couple of months, and get some real-time data and statistics from it. If you could afford to spend $1000 – $1500 you should be able to get enough data on specific keywords to make informed decisions about which SEO keywords you wish to target. What’s great about having a PPC account in AdWords is that you can throw as many relevant keywords in your account as you wish, and depending on your keyword bids of course, you’ll begin to know immediately which keywords are going to be successful over others.

When it comes to SEO keyword research, you aren’t just limited to the many free keyword research tools out there that provide so-so information on a particular keyword. Most of the time I find traffic estimates from the keyword research tools (even Google’s) to be very far off. Plus, they don’t give you any kind of conversion data, whereas the Google AdWords account can.  And of course, if you can/have a Yahoo and Bing.com PPC accounts that will give you even more info to back up what Google AdWords tells you about your keywords.