Paid and Organic Search: Better Together in AdWords Search Report

Excerpts from my latest article at Practical Ecommerce: “Google Offers Paid and Organic Search Report.”

Paid and organic search work better together. Because searchers inherently trust that search engines are recommending the best pages in search results, when brands rank well in both paid and organic search their search performance for that phrase tends to increase. However, measuring that increase has been a bit challenging until now.

Google AdWords released a new feature this week enabling search marketers to measure performance of their paid and organic search efforts. The “paid and organic report” can be found in the AdWords campaigns tab as a dimension.

Analyzed together, paid and organic search data can uncover a wealth of optimization opportunities. Taken together, paid and organic search represent a large portion of the available real estate on the search results page. The larger your brand’s footprint on the search results, the more likely searchers are to choose one of your listings over the competition.

For example, the report could show keywords that are driving organic search traffic but no paid search traffic. Those keywords could be added to your AdWords campaigns to drive additional traffic and potentially boost the effectiveness of the organic search listing as well…..

Read more at “Google Offers Paid and Organic Search Report.”

Read my articles in full at Practical Ecommerce » Jill Kocher


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Originally posted on Web PieRat.

Using Google’s Keyword Planner for SEO

Excerpts from my latest article at Practical eCommerce: “SEO: Using Google’s New Keyword Planner.”

Keywords are the foundation of search engine optimization. They’re what searchers type into Google’s search box, and what marketers incorporate into their web pages to attract searchers to their sites. Google recently launched a new tool that changes the way we research keywords: AdWords Keyword Planner.

Intended for use by paid search marketers, the Keyword Planner replaces the AdWords Keyword Tool I’ve often recommended using and merges it with the AdWords Traffic Estimator. In essence, the Keyword Planner is designed to simplify keyword research and campaign planning for paid search marketers.

Despite its AdWords focus, the Keyword Planner can still be used by SEO professionals. The core of the toolset revolves around keyword volume, a measure central to both paid and organic search.

For those familiar with the Keyword Tool, the new interface will take some getting used to. Where the Keyword Tool offered a single interface to accept keywords and return keyword data, the Keyword Planner gives marketers three choices for how to proceed.

Really, though, it doesn’t matter which we prefer, the old Keyword Tool or the new Keyword Planner. The Planner was launched in mid-May, and the AdWords Keyword Tool should be discontinued sometime this month. Since the Keyword Planner is here to stay, get used to the interface before the Keyword Tool disappears and you’re left scrambling for data.

Read the article in full at Practical eCommerce » http://www.practicalecommerce.com/member/2459-Jill-Kocher/articles


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Originally posted on Web PieRat.

Three Free Keyword Tools for SEO

Excerpts from my latest article at NBC 5 Chicago’s Inc. Well blog: “3 Free, Web Newbie-Friendly Keyword SEO Tools.”

Analyzing keyword data can be fast and fun. No, really! From collecting keyword data to analyzing, visualizing and present it, these three free tools have earned bookmarks in my SEO folder.

  • Tagxedo
  • Ranks Page Analyzer
  • Google Keyword Tool

Read the article in full at Inc. Well »


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Originally posted on Web PieRat.

Keyword Research for Business Decisions (and SEO)

Excerpts from my latest article at Practical eCommerce: “Using Keyword Research beyond SEO.”

Keyword research is one of the foundational pieces of search engine optimization because it illuminates the exact words real-life customers use to search for the products we sell. But why stop there? The insights that keyword research provides can inform other many other areas of the business as well.

Keyword data is free and readily available via Google’s keyword research tool. This article is less about how to collect and analyze keyword data, however, and more about the various uses of that data. For a detailed account of how to conduct keyword research, see “Optimizing a Page for Search Engines, Part 1: Keyword Research,” my previous article on that topic. Once you have the data, it can be leveraged in all kinds of ways to improve your ecommerce site, your understanding of the customers, and inform business decisions. All it takes is an open mind and a little determination to make sense of the data.

  • Content Planning
  • Information Architecture
  • Market Research
  • Product Development

Read the article in full for more information on these other uses of keyword research at Practical eCommerce »


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Originally posted on Web PieRat.