Archived Search Marketing Blog for KoMarketing Associates

Example of Improper Domain Management

As webmasters, we often buy multiple domain names for our businesses for a variety of reasons, including brand protection, theme generation, and general interest. As SEO’s, we often talk a lot about the 301 redirect of domain names - the reason is so that search engines 1.) give proper, complete credit for your website and 2.) most importantly, avoid the confusion of multiple domains and the error of thinking that there is duplicate content online.There’s nothing wrong with having multiple domains point to a single website. Webmasters just need to be careful when marketing all of these domains.That means they should not do that.Webmasters and marketers should manage one domain presence. If domain names change, or are purchased for whatever reason, the following opportunities are available (in order of preference):

1. 301 redirect the new domain, so that everyone (including search engines) understand that the new domain has “permanently moved” to the other domain


2. Point the domain - this is something system admin’s can do (or whoever controls the web server), and is basically a 302 redirect, which means that the domain is temporarily located at the primary domain. Search engines do not transfer any credit for this domain, because it is assumed that it will eventually be moved.


3. Park the domain. This is the improper solution. This means that the domain essentially because another entity for the site. Here is an example - in this case, The Massachusetts Board of Travel and Tourism:
   
   
   • http://www.mass-vacation.com/jsp/home.jsp
   • http://web.massvacation.com/jsp/index.jsp
   • http://massvacation.com/jsp/index.jsp
     

     In this example, the original domain is mass-vacation and it would seem that the new (and probably more appropriate) domain is massvacation.com. Unfortunately, both domains are “Parked” on the web server, so either web address is accessible online. When users enter the domain name in their address bar, they have access to that specific domain with the same content. This causes the appearance of duplicate content online - which is considered spam and can be severely penalized by major search engines (use this example to see the duplicate listing in search results). I do not believe that the MA Travel and Tourism site is going to be blacklisted from Google, but I do believe that this causes confusion not only to search engines, but to users as well. The optimal solution here, is to 301 redirect whatever domain is the old one, and make sure it redirects to the new one.

A previous post in our weblog highlights more information on 301 and 302 redirects, shows some examples and points to resources online to learn more. (portions of this post originally appeared in the "Discussions on Internet Technology" Weblog).

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Link Building With Podcasts

We’re always looking for the ultimate passive link – one that is freely given, from a quality site and uses keywords in and/or around the link to a client’s site.

To get those votes of confidence from other sites, the client needs to have something worthwhile on the site; not just product/service info and product catalogs. In other words, there is a limit to how many quality links a commercial website will get.

Sometimes a nice fit is a podcast. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s strictly a “podcast” or an audio file with something interesting to say.

There are a number of ways to go when deciding how to distribute/disseminate the podcast. One decision that needs to be made is where to host the file. You can host it yourself, or use a hosting service.

In general, we look to add content to the primary domain we are trying to promote. That is, hosting the audio file on the site itself may help generate nice passive links, deep into the domain.

However, using an audio hosting service can provide some very nice benefits. One that I was recently introduced to is http://www.libsyn.com.  (Level 1 - Podcast Basic - $5 Monthly.  100mb of storage per month with unmetered bandwidth usage. This level of service is recommended for once-a-week podcasters.  More pricing info  here - https://www.libsyn.com/signup.php.)

This service could be a very nice fit for companies that do not have the bandwith to host large numbers of audio files on their site. Libsyn provides a blog environment that hosts podcasts.

Using a service like Libsyn can be a great way to use a separate domain that helps build link popularity for the primary domain being promoted.

The formula for using a blog that hosts audio files can be very compelling:

keyword-rich blog content + blog comments/interaction + podcasts generating passive links + permalink back to main domain = supercharged SEO for main domain.

In addition to hosting the audio file externally, the audio files have their own URL, so you can also link directly to the audio files from a "pretty" page on the site.

Of course, the key is to create a podcast with good content, create a compelling blog post to accompany the podcast, and then promote the podcast/post online. Getting even a few bloggers to comment on the podcast can create link popularity for the post. Then that link popularity will flow into your primary domain through the link from the blog back to the main site.

We are working on this with one client and we’ll update this post with results later…

Google Increases Market Share By Providing Better Search

The latest statistics from Hitwise are in for May, and as the title says: "Google Crushes Competition" with almost a 60% hold on the search market.  With MSN Adcenter finally unveiled, and Yahoo looking to significantly revamp it's own search advertising toolsets by the beginning of the 4th quarter, it will be interesting to see if this hold can continue through 2007. 

But the additional significance to this infers one other underlying theme: Google organic search is better.  At least better than MSN and Yahoo for the time being.  More people use it because more people find the results they want when using Google versus the rest of the industry. This is the soft-sell of the industry - organic search results establish the value of where people search.   Better organic search leads to more visitors entering queries, leading to more people ultimately clicking search advertisements.  While providing a more efficient advertising engine will help the bottom line quarter to quarter (and the stock price), it will not help the competition gain market share.  If search engines like Yahoo and MSN really want to attract more visitors, the answer lies in improving organic search.

Consider the following factors:

• Brand Loyalty: Pew Internet & American Life Project's (PIALP) 2005 study of multiple search engine use shows that 48% of users use 2 or 3 search engines, and 44% use only one engine.  But, of that 44%, a study from ICrossing in coordination with Harris Interactive shows that only 13% of total users (or one-third of the single search engine user base) use Google exclusively.  This compares to 10% favoring MSN and 7% using Yahoo.  We may see a shift as one can infer that MSN has a higher share based on being the default search application for Windows-based PC's and Dell's new partnership integrating Google Search Technology into Dell PC's, but the fact of the matter is that you would assume a higher brand loyalty to Google, given a 60% total market share for clicks.
  
• Consumer Confidence:  The same study by PIALP shows that 68% of searches believe that search engines produce "fair and unbiased sources of information" and 92% of users are confident in their ability to "search" for the information they want.  So, users not only trust search results to be effective, for the most part, but also are comfortable in using search tools to find their results.
  
• PPC as a percentage of Clicks: Over 75% of all B2B searchers use organic results over paid results, according to a 2004 study by Enquiro.  And JupiterResearch confirms approximately a 70% share of clicks for organic results versus paid results for the market as a whole.
  
• Awareness of Paid Advertisements and The Users Willingness to Put Up With Them
  Maybe Yahoo should consider this statistic as they continue the integration of search results and paid placement/paid advertisement.  54% of Google users are aware of paid ads (as they are clearly titled and organized), while 42% are aware in Yahoo, and 36% in MSN.  The startling statistic is that, according to PIALP, 45% of users would stop using a search engine, if they weren't clear about which results were paid or organic.

In Summary:

• Brand loyalty between engines is not very high - and users will use multiple search engines to get results they want
• Users are comfortable with search engine technology in general
• Organic search results drive at least 70% of all search traffic by search engines
• There is a distinct statistical argument against merging commercial, paid advertising directly into organic results.  Users want unbiased search results.

If search engines like MSN and Yahoo really want to make a dent in the search market, it's through an investment in better organic search that will lead the way through the long-term.  Optimizing paid advertising helps with the bottom line today, but focusing on this at the exclusion of organic search improvement ignores the opportunity to attract a larger percentage of clicks from an audience that is constantly demanding better organic search and not necessarily better advertisements.

The Internet Doesn't Take Vacations

In the midst of everything we do during the daylight hours, I finally was able to get back to reading some of the blogs that I have been severely behind in.  Amongst those was the post from Matt Cutts, regarding what he is doing on the first day of his vacation - research.  It drew me back to a few general observations:

• The 60 Minutes piece on Google, specifically the reference concerning Google Engineers burning the midnight oil
• The fact that the Internet is an international platform, with "passionate" individuals online every second of every day
• When we get asked "Why Do I Have to Change Things" on my website?  In other words, I want to put something up online, sit back, and watch all of the money come pouring in.  Isn't that what eBay did? Craigslist?  MySpace?

So what does this really mean?  It means that we as SEO's, web developers, web designers and programmers, but most importantly as consultants, need to be aware of the fact that everything online can change in a manner of moments.  If you really are passionate about the web, and excited about new technology, it's impossible to sit back, build a website, and think that your job is done.  The best websites today foster more interaction, adopt technology both sensibly and effectively, and really spend time being involved in "what's new" online.  Once you learn about RSS, you learn about RDF, then you dig into Wiki's and Podcasts and everything else.  It's the nature of the beast.  The Internet never takes vacations, calls it a night, or calls in sick.  Right now, someone or some group is building something really exciting. 

I took a vacation a few months ago (which was great by the way - and much needed), but my first comment to those who asked about it was (unfortunately), that I read this great book on the history of search technology!  Of course I felt refreshed and ready to dig back in, but part of it was that I could sit back and rethink where my strategies and objectives were before.  I hope Matt has a great vacation as well, and I imagine that when he gets back, in addition to a few posts about his travels, we'll see some inflection on technology, the Internet, and search, because the Internet doesn't take vacations.

Search Engine Optimization During Mergers and Acquisitions

A well-planned search engine optimization strategy is critical for any company going through a merger or acquisition.  (All companies should be concerned with the M&A effect on search engine optimization strategies, but it can be especially useful in B2B SEO strategies).

Even as a company restructures its primary website for the addition of products and services, one of the last things that is taken into consideration is the impact of website consolidation/restructuring on the search engine visibility of the website(s).

Our concern as search engine marketers is to help management understand that it is possible not only to maintain current search engine visibility during the transition, but to make visibility even better by using the combined assets (the web sites acquired in the merger) to maximize their combined entities’ presence on the Web.

During an M&A, impulsive decisions can leave lasting, irreversible effects on overall search engine optimization. Managers might disregard the positive impact of an acquired site, which could already be highly optimized for search engine visibility, and the benefits that can accrue. Following an acquisition, firms may rob themselves of these benefits in an effort to gain control and manage the new brand.

A common move is to take down an acquired company’s site after content has been transitioned over to the “winning” website.

Unless a pressing legal issue makes it necessary to take down a site, take time to develop a search engine optimization strategy for the website transition.

Some things to consider:

1) Do any of the websites that might be taken down have good link popularity or especially good ranking exposure for strategic keywords?

2) Do any of the existing websites have a good aging history? The longer a domain has been active, and has been a good citizen of the Web, the more value it has with a search engine (particularly Google and Ask.com).

3) Can you leave up existing websites for a period of time to link keyword text into the appropriate sections of the primary website?

4) How will you notify sites that link to the sites that will be taken down that the link destination is changing?

5) Can you get the website owners to not just change the destination of the link, but also use keyword-rich text in the hyperlink?

6) Have you created an effective landing page on the main website to help users navigate through the combined companies’ entire site?

7)  Do any of the sites provide customer service functions that have helped build a loyal user base and network of inbound links? Can that domain be left active as a customer service portal?

8) Even if a product or service is being phased out (or re-branded), attempt to use the existing Web pages to improve the SEO presence of the new site/pages.

9) Of course, for any domain, or URL with high exposure, that is being taken down, there should be a 301 redirect put in place to help search engines (and users) understand that the presence and content have a new home.

10) Don’t forget to use PPC to help drive traffic to the new site/pages. PPC can help maintain awareness for keywords that may lose rankings temporarily, and to help users see that there is a new company offering the product/service, but that the quality and benefits are still there (or that things have improved!).

So, if you can get management to give you some breathing room while all of the critical branding and corporate strategy issues are being folded into website strategy, make sure you don’t lose something useful from a search engine perspective. You might even be able to leverage a net gain in driving traffic.

MSN AdCenter Is Annoyingly Good

So now that I’ve had clients set up with MSN AdCenter for a few weeks, I have enough experience to say what was on my mind right at the start – “this is terrible!” I am finding that the user interface and customer support for AdCenter are both lacking.

I appreciate that MSN launched with some nice features right away – geographic targeting, demographic targeting, and day-parting to name a few.

But, working with destination URLs for customized conversion tracking and seeing reliable reports in a timely fashion are two of the more annoying failures at launch.

I did finally figure out the way to append conversion tracking codes to each individual keyword with the {param1} function, but no thanks to Customer Support. In fact, when I called in to get help with this function, and a few others, I found that I knew more about the AdCenter system than the customer service rep!

So what if the service is new and it takes a lot of bodies to handle the calls? MSN had been testing the system and training reps for months in beta (U.S. and Europe) for months prior to the full release in the U.S. How could MSN allow someone to take phone calls, who not only could not answer my questions, but did not know who to refer me to?

But, as much as I am finding the system difficult to use, I have no choice but to stick with it. The B2C clients that we have using MSN AdCenter are getting some very nice conversions. That says something about the quality of the audience using MSN Search.

Unfortunately.

After all, the natural search results on MSN.com are generally terrible. I myself cannot see why anyone would use MSN for search. But, obviously consumers with money to spend are using it, so I will continue to put clients where they will make money.

I just hope that the pain ends soon, and that MSN AdCenter continues to take its lead from Google AdWords (MSN obviously admires Google’s system because things like the ad unit size, bidding system, and ad ranking methodology were taken right from Google’s playbook). So, as MSN works to crush Google (good luck), they’ll be making advertisers’ lives that much easier as they play catch up.

Considering Business Blogging?

Are you considering adding a blog as a component of your website presence.  Blogging has evolved into a major component of many company's online marketing strategies.  Blogs represent a way to communicate with customers, prospects and partners quickly and easily, while also providing fresh content, new ideas and new ways for businesses to collaborate online.

SiteProNews recently posted a nice article on business blogging, which wraps together some of the benefits of blogging, blog resources and the idea of merging the world of blogging into your business environment.  A while back, KoMarketing posted some thoughts on the Blog Software we have been using. In addition, here is another SiteProNews article which provides more comparative analysis on Blog Software tools, the differences between them, and some of the advantages around each.

SEO Effects of Modifying Your URL Syntax

One of the components of SEO that can often go overlooked, especially by individual webmasters, is the importance of maintaining web URL syntax.  While keyword relevance in your URL string can be beneficial for search engine optimization, constantly changing your URL names, in order to catch the latest trend or buzz, may actually do more harm than good.  Here are some reasons why:

1. It's a new URL that search engines haven't found yet.  With the emergence of Google Sitemaps and RSS, adding new URL's often times get indexed faster and faster, but that doesn't change the fact that the URL must get crawled to get indexed.  You may be at the mercy of the engines for getting your revised web addresses updated.  (this leads to...)
   
2. What about where the old URL went?  That's the initial question that the search engine is asking.  It's comparing it's database of information (web addresses) for your site and then re-evaluating this based on your new information (new web address).  This leads to tactics webmasters will often consider to make sure that destinations are properly identified (301 redirect etc - see our post on 301 redirects).
   
3. People link to your pages. At least you hope they do.  While a 301 will solve the immediate problem for you, you still don't want to have outdated web addresses floating around the web.
   
4. Most importantly: URL Aging is a component of both Google and Yahoo's algorthims.  How long a web address has been active will factor (amongst other items) in search relevance over the long-term.  To some extent, this may explain why you sometimes see pages that haven't been updated since 1997 appearing in first page search results.  The length of time your web addresses have beeen online can matter.

There will always be reasons you need to change a URL name however.  This includes revisions to products (brand name changes), marketing objectives, technology changes etc.  These factors also need to be taken into consideration.  Short term disruptions in rankings will ultimately be overcome by quality factors that improve user experience or reflect new business practices.  But you need to understand that there more than likely will be a disruption.

The bottom line is that changing your URL's simply for to catch the latest trend, asthetics or other minor reasons, can have a negative impact on your search rankings in the short term.  Be aware of this the next time you are considering modifying your web addresses.