Find Resolution
Google recently posted an article urging Webmasters to not screw with (or screw up) their dynamic URLs, and while Dave McAnally says that some of the giant’s reasoning makes sense, sometimes URLs just need to be retooled to reap the ultimate SEO rewards.
The article said that Webmasters shouldn’t attempt to make dynamic URLs look static for three reasons: the giant can effectively crawl dynamic URLs, some of the info in the original URL can help the engine’s crawlers better understand (and index) the content, and most importantly, that site owners make mistakes when rewriting URLs and risk having the page not crawled at all.
“I can see why a company like Google would take issue with webmasters rewriting URLs to appear static on the premise that it will help manipulate rankings,” McAnally says. He also understands that the giant doesn’t want inexperienced Webmasters to risk having their pages not indexed at all. “However, there’s a big picture to URL rewriting, and for a holistic SEO approach, clean and concise URLs are always preferred. As of right now, my opinion on URLs is that a clean URL is advantageous to the user, and thus, advantageous to the marketer.”
Search Engine Land
Want to know what the search engines “think” of your Web site? Matt McGee lists a set of tools you can use to find out. First up is to use the various Webmaster guidelines each of the engines provide.
“At minimum, you should connect your site with Google’s Webmaster Central and Yahoo’s Site Explorer,” he says. “MSN also recently launched its own Webmaster Center, and you should consider connecting your site there, too.”
Then, McGee says to use the “site:” parameter in a search for your particular domain. The results will offer stats about the percentage of the site that is being indexed, which can point to internal navigation problems or other issues that are preventing the crawlers from accessing your content. You’ll also find out whether there are any duplicate content problems, how often the crawlers are combing through your info, as well as how unique (and descriptive) your page titles and meta description tags are.
MindValley Labs
What’s an AdWords smackdown, otherwise known as the “Google Slap”? It’s when the minimum bids for various keywords in your account increase dramatically, often as a result of landing page or ad copy changes. Mike Reining outlines some of the most common offenses that can incite a Google Slap, as well as some solutions for recovering from one.
The top reason for incurring a penalty is that the content of the landing page isn’t relevant to the keyword you’re bidding on. “This is a huge no-no which will hurt your Quality Score and you will most likely get slapped by Google,” Reining says. A landing page full of graphics but lacking in text will also negatively impact your Quality Score (and minimum bid), as will poorly targeted Ad Groups.
If your account has already been slapped, Reiner suggests fixing the above errors first. Then, try deleting the whole campaign; and copying and pasting its old Ad Groups into a new one. “It is much easier to start over than to revive a campaign that got slapped,” he says. Make sure you weed out all of the problem keywords in particular. Lastly, if you’ve been slapped too many times, try starting a whole new AdWords account.
BusinessWeek
Advertising Week is underway, but the financial crisis is perhaps the most pressing topic facing those marketers and advertisers who’ve converged on Madison Avenue this week. BusinessWeek reminds us that a weak financial sector means financial services firms have less money to spend on advertising, even online advertising.
When budgets are tight, advertisers stick with proven methods like search, placing less emphasis on experimental campaigns in sectors like social media and mobile. As Russell Fradin, president of Adify, which creates ad networks for companies, says, “Mobile and social networks will be hit.” He adds that for the greater online ad market, “the first six months of the next year will be slow.” Matt Sanchez, CEO of video ad network VideoEgg, thinks the slowdown could last up to a year. He anticipates that less well-funded firms will have a difficult time surviving.
Meanwhile, researchers were cutting back online spending estimates even before the AIG bailout and the demise of Wall Street’s independent investment bank structure. In August, eMarketer cut sector growth projections to 17.4%, compared to 25.6% in 2007. Next year, growth will be even slower, the firm said, at 14.5%. “Online advertising will not grow as fast because of the economic problems,” eMarketer senior analyst David Hallerman says.
PPC Hero
If a particular landing page is undeperforming, it may not be the ad copy, according to John Lee. It might be a fluke in the design/navigation of the page itself. And so Lee devotes an entire blog post (the first of a landing page-focused series) to design tweaks you can make to boost conversions and build authority.
First, keep your call to action above the fold. Some insiders may urge you to try to get all the content — including headlines, forms, buttons and images — above the fold, but Lee argues that that’s not a realistic mandate. “From one level-headed marketer to another, let me lay it out… you can’t fit everything above the fold!” he says. You have to choose which page elements are most vital (like the call to action or a product image) and get them up there.
Also, avoid packing too much content into your landing page. Leave some white space. “Clutter on a landing page is confusing for the user and can keep them from finding relevant details and your calls-to-action,” he says. “Users scan the text and take away only certain elements that they use to make a decision if the page is relevant to their goal or not. Clean use of space allows users to scan and absorb key messages.”