[Exact] ≠ Exact; at least not in Google AdWords

What is Google Changing Now?
With the upcoming changes to both the [Exact] and "Phrase" Keyword Match Types, Google is helping you reach a larger audience. The question is will it still be your target audience. If you read the official post AdWords Blog, the examples given seems like this change will be extremely helpful. However, some marketers do not agree. Whether these changes will be beneficial to you is yet to be seen, but you need to know what impacts these changes will have on your account(s).

How Match Types Work
First, understand that [Exact] and "Phrase" match types are designed to help you reach your target audience and only your target audience. For example:

As you can see, the changes to these match types include close variations of the keyword (i.e. checking – check.) In addition, [exact] and "phrase" match types will also include misspelling, abbreviations, and singular/plurals. According to Google, these changes are meant to help you increase your reach and visibility online. Will it really help?

The Impact of the Changing Match Types
The obvious impact is going to be more Impressions for your ads. The question is will these addition Impressions generate more Clicks for you. If you feel that the addition impressions caused by the change of the match types will bring in more Clicks, then great. You do not have to do anything. Google will automatically opt-in to these changes for you.

However, if you feel this extended reach and visibility is going to be outside your target audience, then the additional Impressions will not result in more Clicks. That means that your Click Thru Rate (CTR) will drop, which is a large aspect of your Quality Score. A drop in Quality Score would result in an increase in Cost per Click and potentially in overall Cost, or drop in Position and most like Clicks. Therefore, if you feel this update to match types is not going increase Clicks, then you are going to want to opt-out in the advance settings.

Beneficial or Harmful Changes?
To conclude, these changes to the [exact] and "phrase" match types on Google AdWords are neither beneficial nor harmful across the board. It is going to be a case-by-case situation. You are going to want to keep a close eye on your CTR over the next few weeks. Once the change is made, you will notice an increase in Impressions, but if your CTR drops, you will want to opt-out. Otherwise, you will soon see a drop in Quality Score and eventually a decrease in Position and Clicks, or an increase in Cost. Do you think these changes will help or hurt your PPC Campaigns? Let us know.

Claim Your Place

According to Google, 97% of consumers search for local business online, therefore having a local business listing with Google Places is a must. Google Places allows businesses to connect with local customers by providing a simple free web page containing relevant company information on Google.

The first step to getting your business listed on Google Places is to verify your business. After verifying your business, you may begin building your page.

It is important to claim your business’ page, otherwise the information Google accumulates may be inaccurate. Additionally, it is advantageous to add details about your company. For example, many businesses customize their pages by including “photos, videos, coupons, and even real-time updates like weekly specials” (Google “Getting Started”).

Regardless of whether you claim your business’ Place page, customers may post reviews about your business and their experience. However, once you claim your Place page, you possess the ability to monitor and respond to customer reviews.

Not only may your Google Place page show up in the search engine result pages but also be accessed and visible on Google maps. This can be helpful to customers trying to physically locate your company.

Google Places-- a great free, easy way to create more visibility for your company online.

Increase Productivity and Leverage SEO/SEM Beyond Search for Enterprise Search Solutions

What is Enterprise Search?

Enterprise Search (ES) is typically defined as the practice of creating content from multiple enterprise sources, such as databases, intranet sites, and/or directories that is searchable to defined audiences. Enterprise Search differs from traditional web search by indexing data or documents from sources such as file systems, emails, or document management systems. ES has the ability to use access controls to limit the content that is available to user types.

How can my business use Enterprise Search?

Businesses of all industries and sizes can leverage Enterprise Search to increase productivity, reach new customers, and improve customer services. Enterprise Search can help your sales team effectively and efficiently find product information (Product updates, features, and benefits, for example) to help them in their sales process. It also helps prospective customers quickly identify information related to products or services on your website. According to Google, customers that deploy an Enterprise Search solution report an increase of conversion rates by 25%. Enterprise Search solutions offer improved customer services and cut costs by providing relevant information to customers faster.

What Enterprise Search Solutions are available for my Business?

• Google Search Appliance: Search Box with similar algorithm as Google for intranet, employee directories, internal databases, etc.
• Google Site Search: Integrated into your company website to find product and service related information
• Google Commerce Search: Integrated into your e-commerce website for a better shopping experience
• Open Source Solutions: Constellio, Apache Solr, etc.
• Other ES Solutions: Vivisimo, Attivio, SharePoint, IBM, etc.

How can my business apply SEO insights to Enterprise Search?

Enterprise Search can incorporate SEO/SEM insights to provide query suggestions, related queries, dynamic navigation and synonyms for a better user experience for customers, and create internal operating efficiencies. Your business can also leverage meta data that aligns to web related searches and business information. Enterprise Search provides an opportunity to use the insights that are generating leads and sales to save your company time, money, and develop internal efficiencies.

Tip for Considering an Enterprise Search Solution

• Be sure to choose the correct Enterprise Search solution base on your business goals and objectives.
• Consider the impact of Enterprise Search on your intended audience.
• Target your Enterprise Search on your intended audience.
• Target your Enterprise Search solution and configuration according to your audience
• Test configurations, query features, and designs to maximize its benefits.
• Measure the impact on revenue, internal efficiencies, and sales.

Conclusion

The power of search goes beyond search engine optimization and pay per click advertising. In general, we associate “search” with the customer finding us within the search results. As marketing professionals and business owners, we need to consider what happens when a prospective customer lands on business website. We work to create strategies to increase brand awareness and reduce our cost per lead, but we still need to identify opportunities to increase productivity, reach new customers, and improve customer service. Enterprise Search provides us with the ability to leverage our findings from SEO or SEM to take advantage of these opportunities to better serve customers, create efficiency, and increase sales.

Google's Value of Content over Optimization

Recently, a debate has emerged regarding Google’s potential forthcoming decision to place greater restrictions on its algorithm for websites that utilize less-compelling content coupled with so-called “over-optimization.” While the details aren’t exactly clear as of yet, at this year’s SXSW Conference in Austin, Google’s Webspam Team manager Matt Cutts made mention of “something that they’ve been working on in the last few months” that will make the search playing field “a little bit more level.” And even though multiple sources have taken this brief mention of change as something that won’t solve a much greater problem, or are criticizing Google for trying to level a playing field that inherently cannot be so, a single point remains—impactful and meaningful content has increased value for a website over SEO alone.

SEO Provides the Means to a Content End

The benefits of SEO for businesses and digital marketing teams have often been proven in the past. While the importance of SEO is beyond question, the real value of a website for searching users lies in the content they find once they arrive there. And while it’s one thing to fault Google for fighting a losing battle or “jumping the shark,” as many bloggers have touted, Google’s intention was made clear in that same conference—certain SEO techniques or “tricks” that can increase a site’s traffic in lieu of engaging, relevant content should not have a strangle hold over their (or any) search index. As it stands, whatever Google is working on, there is simply not enough information available yet to make any sweeping claims about their next update or improvement.

Marketable Sites have Meaningful Content

For any web developer or digital marketing team, a page’s content in relation to its search engine ranking is a powerful combination in terms of visibility and reach. These factors also provide a basic, yet effective foundation for additional, future internet marketing campaigns. Rather than bashing Google for over-regulating the over-optimizers and creating an unjustified fear of SEO, businesses should allocate time and resources toward the creation of content that is accessible, impactful, and informative in addition to approved, “white hat” optimization efforts. Many are anticipating further clarification on this issue when Cutts speaks again at the Search Marketing Expo Advanced in Seattle this June. Then we’ll see whether all the hype was warranted and who really “jumped the shark” on this issue.

Conversion Attribution: Give Credit Where It's Due

In the Digital Analytics space, we are all obsessed with identifying marketing tactics that perform the best and drive the most return-on-investment via conversions. We seek to track all sorts of checkout funnels, application submissions, and newsletter sign-ups and do our best to identify what search phrases and traffic sources ultimately led visitors to those actions. But one of the most common mistakes of many analysts and marketers is to only pay exclusive attention to the assets that led to a conversion in a single session. Many people fail to realize that the conversion process can often span several sessions before a valuable action is taken.

That's why it is important to consider conversion attribution: Did converting visitors visit the website prior to making the purchase or submitting an online application? If so, how did they initially find your website? There are countless gems that can be found in looking at these factors.

Be sure to check out DaBrian Marketing Group's latest YouTube video where Web Analyst Brandon Wensing discusses the importance of Conversion Attribution:

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