Search

• Google makes 200-300 changes every year – and they kill off 2/3 of their initiatives.
• Google’s efficiency with Search saves us about 350 million hours per year.
• BING stands for “Bing Is Not Google”
• There are more searches made on Twitter each month than Yahoo! And Bing combined
• Google Instant isn’t changing the way people Search, but the way they read the results. With Instant, searchers rarely look past the top 5 results.
• Google Instant decreased time to click by 50%
• SEO is not just about rankings, it’s about conversions
• 3 key success factors for Search: Relevance, Speed and Usefulness
• The average search query on Google today is 4.3 words
• Over 50% of queries are over 3 words in length – and 2/3 of them yield no exact match
• Local Search queries are up 54% year over year.
• YouTube is the 2^nd most popular Search Engine on the planet
• When optimizing videos, follow similar SEO practices – links always matter!
• Multi-lingual SEO is a whole other ball game. Adidas faced many challenges with international campaigns which included SEO for 19 languages and the use of slang terms
• With multi-lingual SEO, you can’t just translate keywords. You need to consider different dialects of languages in different regions
• Your homepage is not a consumer’s first impression of your brand online. It’s what they see on a Search Engine Results Page.
• Go after those who are actively searching for you, stop searching for them.
• Are you optimizing your landing page? Bring users to where they want to be. Stop sending them on a wild goose chase.
• Always add negative keywords into your PPC campaigns.

Social Media

• There are over 1 billion Social Media users worldwide spending 2 billion minutes a month
• 25% of activity on Facebook is from a mobile device
• Facebook is becoming a bigger enemy to Google than Microsoft is.
• Three often overlooked YouTube Ranking factors: 1) Increase of views over time 2) Quantity of inbound links 3) Inclusion of video in playlists
• When it comes to Social Media don’t ask What – ask Why? “What” is a tactic, “Why” is a strategy.
• Foursquare experienced 3400% growth in 2010
• When creating a Facebook Deal consider the “What if’s”. What if 500 people claim a 50% off deal? Can you support your deals?
• The 4 pillars of Location Based Strategy: Context, Location, Social Interaction and Platforms

Mobile

• 101 million smartphones were sold in Q4 of 2010 compared to only 94 million PC’s
• 2011 will be the year of mobile – expect for it to really take off
• A major difficulty faced with mobile advertising is the discrepancy between a user’s location vs. their destination.
• Is your website optimized for mobile? If not, do it.
• All 5 of Google’s strategic initiatives for 2011 revolve around mobile
• 544.6 million text messages were sent in Q2 of 2010

Online Reviews

• 62% of consumers read reviews online before making a purchase
• 62% of people trust online ratings and reviews of people they don’t know
• 18% of people who were contacted by a company after they had left a negative review ended up buying more from that company in the future
• 33% of those mentioned above removed their negative review, and 34% went on to write a positive review about their experience.
• A bad review online shouldn’t be seen as a threat. It is a great opportunity to address the problem, satisfy that customer, and show others that you care.

Quotes

• “How do you demand innovation, creativity and radical rethinking if you can’t imagine it?” – Avinash Kaushik
• “My three year old son will look at a keyboard the a same way I look at a rotary phone” – Mitch Joel
• “Plugging your computer into a phone line to get Internet ten years ago was so barbaric. Look how far we’ve come.” – Mitch Joel
• “Your brand isn’t what you say it is, it’s what Google says it is.” – Chris Anderson
• “Never do anything in marketing that doesn’t add economic value to your company.” – Mitch Joel
• “Incorporate your digital marketing efforts into your marketing mix. Think “with” not “instead of”.”
• “Just because someone is on Facebook all day it doesn’t make them a Social Media Marketing expert. I turn the lights on when I walk into a room, am I an electrician? No. “ – Mitch Joel
• “Display will grow into a $200 billion market” – Eric Schmidt
• “Search is the connection between intent and content.” – Bill Barnes

That’s all folks! Two days of intense sessions with lots of great insights and takeaways. Have you considered these strategies when it comes to marketing your business online?

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Search Marketing Expo Toronto Recap is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

You’ve decided that Social Media is right for your business. You’ve determined your goals, developed a strategy and implemented it. You’ve created interesting, creative, and engaging content that gets shared through your Social Media profiles. Stop – you’ve already missed a step. Optimizing. Think of your Social Media Strategy as a party. You’ve decided that the best location for this party is at your friend’s house (Facebook). At your party you are going to have decorations (Photos), a DJ (Videos), an open bar (Events) and snacks (Blog Posts). Everything looks, sounds, and tastes delicious. But oh no…nobody has shown up to your party. No one has had the opportunity to enjoy all of these amazing things that you are offering. Why? Because you forgot one key element – the invitations – you forgot to optimize your Social Media.

You’ve essentially wasted a lot of time, effort and money planning and executing this unbelievable party that no one will get to enjoy because you failed to let them know that it existed and where to find it. How stupid do you feel standing there alone at your own party? See my point? It’s the same way with Social Media. It doesn’t matter how amazing your Facebook Page is, or how beautiful your Flickr photos are, if no one can find you, or even knows that you exist, you will be standing alone feeling stupid.

In order to leverage Social Media and SEO together, you must develop a roadmap with clearly defined goals. Begin by determining who you are going to invite to your “party”. Who is your audience? What do they like? What do they search for? What Social Media platforms are they present on? Deciding who you are going to “invite” is essential in beginning the whole process of integrating Social Media with SEO. There are many tools (free and paid) out there that can help you track, analyze, measure and understand your audience.

Next, determine the location of your party. Is it going to be a backyard BBQ, or a dinner and dance in a ballroom? In other words, are you going to be on Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter? Flickr? You don’t need to limit yourself to just one. It all depends on your business, and your individual goals. There is no one-size-fits-all Social Media solution. Once you have determined which “venue(s)” is right for your business, you can begin to create your content.

“Produce great stuff, and your customers will come to you. Produce great stuff, and your customers will share your story for you. More than ever before: Content is king! Content rules!” – C.C. Chapman, Author of ‘Content Rules’

Chapman is 100% right – Content Rules, and Content is King. We live in an amazing time where we all have the ability to create content, and share it with millions of people with ease. Old-school marketers would advertise their business by interrupting people with full page newspaper ads, TV commercials and telemarketing phone calls during dinner. Today’s marketing world is all about permission marketing. The customer is coming to you and saying “Hey, I like you, I give you permission to talk to me.” So stop interrupting them! Talk to them, engage them, entertain them. This is where content really does rule.

It’s almost party time – but where are your decorations? Your DJ? Your caterer? Your bar? You’re missing the content of your party, the things that really make it worthwhile for people to attend. Write an awesome blog post, post some photos, create a video, record a webinar. But don’t stop there. Entice your audience to share them with their network…and their network’s network. You’d be surprised by the ripple effect it can have. Increased social interactions within your network, and their network will improve your brand’s visibility in a search result. Remember, all of those inbound links provide you with excellent Link Juice.

“Content + Links = Search Engine Success” – Lee Odden, CEO TopRank

Now for the invitations. If anyone is going to attend your party they need to know it exists – where it is and when. Build your networks, establish trust and engage in conversations. Reach out to them. Invite them to your party and to try the food. Listen to the music. Look at the decorations. Make it memorable and valuable enough for them to tell their friends about how awesome my party is! Getting it? And it stretches far beyond your current community. What about all those people not in your network that you want at the party? Let’s say Peter and his friends are searching for a BBQ party in Ottawa playing Classic Rock music and serving mini burgers; will they find your party? You better hope they do.

Developing an online strategy that focuses on your audience’s wants and needs that is keyword optimized and easily shareable will make your party a hit. Track how your content is being shared. Who is consuming it? Who is passing it along? During this process however, don’t lose track of your ultimate goal. If you have a great party, but XYZ isn’t being accomplished, then you need to rethink your strategy. Always keep your goals in the front of your mind, and measure success continually throughout.

By integrating SEO techniques into your Social Media efforts, and vice versa, you will begin to see increased search traffic and interactions with your audience. While Search Engines such as Google have begun integrating social functions into their search results, Social sites such as Facebook have started improving their internal Search functionalities. The two roads are no longer parallel, they are beginning to intersect. Have you optimized your Social Media?

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The Intersection of Social Media Marketing and SEO is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Here are five good SEO reasons to use Google Analytics:

1. Search Engine Traffic
Google Analytics tracks search engine traffic to your site. This captured data tells you how many of your site visitors arrived via engines as well as the how your search traffic ranks compared to your other traffic sources (direct traffic / referring sites). It also identifies the engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo! Bing) and who sent the most traffic. By default, GA tracks more than 20 different search engines. There is also a breakdown available between paid and non-paid keyword driven traffic.

2. Keywords
In addition to automatically tracking search engine sources, Google Analytics tracks keywords that send search traffic to your site. This data tells you which keywords / keyword phrases were used by your site’s visitors and ranks them according to popularity. You can drill down further to determine more details for each keyword including statistics on organic and paid search.

3. Content Performance
Since optimizing content for search is the basics of search engine optimization, tracking page performance is essential. Google Analytics tracks data on which web pages attract site visitors and displays them in order of which are performing the best (listed by URL). You can also view this data by Page Title. The Content Drilldown report provides a list of top pages based on content sections within your website. Top Landing Pages, sent by search engines traffic can also be identified, as well as data on how well they perform.

4. Campaign Tracking
This is a more advanced feature than the above three, as it needs to be set up. Google Analytics can do campaign tracking. This includes Google AdWords by default. However you can also track any search marketing (as well as offline) campaigns. Campaign tracking is implemented by using link tagging (a unique URL to identify each marketing source).

5. Site Search
Likely the most overlooked – yet a real valuable source of SEO data. This is only for those sites that have a search box and allow web visitors to do an internal search to find information. Google Analytics can track these search terms as well a search term refinements at the site level. This requires set up as well.

Accessing the data, of course, is only the first step in the web analytics process. You need to measure, analyze, test and modify – always working towards your desired outcomes.

If you do not have Google Analytics installed on your website or if you are not monitoring your site outcomes, it is time to get started.

Recent Post: Google Analytics Qualified Professional Helen Faber

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Why use Google Analytics for SEO? is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

SEMPO Canada was created by founding members and co-chairs Ken Jurina, President and CEO of Epiar Inc. and Alexandre Brabant, President of eMarketing 101, who are charged with the mission to educate and increase awareness of the benefits of ethical search. “We are very fortunate to have Helen on board,” said Jurina. “Her deep understanding of the industry combined with her experience in building relationships, both online and off, has made her the perfect choice for the role of Ontario Chair for SEMPO Canada.”

Helen Faber will be working closely with other leaders in the Canadian Search Engine Marketing industry to ensure SEMPO Canada’s mission is fulfilled. Not unlike other countries, the fields of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click (PPC), and Search Engine Marketing (SEM), are well established in Canada. “We have a strong network of Search Engine Marketers who are extremely dedicated to ethical search from across the country. By building on that network, I look forward to continued innovation in the field to ensure business organizations in Ontario and other provinces across Canada are well served,” said Faber.

Join SEMPO Canada on LinkedIn
SEMPO Canada is currently reaching out to other Canadian Search Marketing Agencies and in-house Internet marketers who are looking to align themselves with an organization poised to strengthen the Search Engine Marketing Industry. SEO, PPC and SEM practitioners, managers and/or educators are invited to join the SEMPO Canada LinkedIn Group, which officially launched earlier today. “We welcome all levels of expertise who are interested fostering growth, awareness and understanding of ethical search marketing in Canada”, adds Ken Jurina. The SEMPO Canada LinkedIn Group is open to Search Marketing agencies and in-house Internet Marketers from all provinces across Canada, and in both official languages, looking to share their knowledge. Join the SEMPO Canada LinkedIn Group today to engage in topical discussions on Search Marketing, SEO, PPC and other search-related topics.

About SEMPO Canada
Working on behalf of the country’s Search Engine Marketing and industry professionals, SEMPO Canada is non-profit professional search marketing association dedicated to increasing awareness and promoting the ethics and value of search engine marketing in Canada.

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SEMPO Canada Appoints Ontario Chair to Advance Canadian Search Engine Marketing is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

You may be wondering how does the WebFuel team actually stay up-to-date with search and what is happening on the Internet. Well, first off, we devote at minimum 20 per cent of our time to making sure that we are on top of search. But how do we do this?

We do this in a number of ways:

• Attending industry leading webinars
• Attending Search Engine Marketing and Social Media events
• Attending Google Webcasts
• Attending Google Seminars for Success
• Attending conferences (Search Engine Strategies and PubCon Social Media and Search Marketing Conferences) on an annual basis

As an example of how we “really” do this, this week we are attending the Search Engine Strategies 2010 Conference in Toronto, Canada. This three-day conference is focused entirely on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategies. This includes keynote speakers Peter Morville on the topic of the future of search and Maile Ohye from Google. We will also be attending seminars on topics such as SEO, Canadian search, local search, mobile search, pay per click management (also known as paid search), keyword research, social media, link building, duplicate content, multiple site issues, video optimization, site optimization, and usability.

In addition to the professional development component, we also devote time to keeping up with industry search leaders. We do this by:

• Following industry experts on Twitter
• Reading industry-focused blogs
• Online networking through LinkedIn and Facebook

But that’s not all – we also have the following recognized Google credentials: Google Advertising Professional (GAP) and Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ). And don’t take our word for it, it can all be verified by Google!

All this goes to show that we are passionate about Search. We know the value of a sound and serious search strategy. We do the work on the Internet to ensure that your search strategy is getting you to the top of the search engine results page.

We work with clients like you who are Serious about Search and can clearly understand the value it adds. You’ve learned the value of outsourcing search to the experts – letting us do the work for you. As you know an in-house search strategy doesn’t allow you to stay on top of the industry shifts and trends. Since we devote 20 per cent of our time to search, we know what is coming and how to get you where you need to be.

Working with WebFuel gives you the peace of mind that the latest strategies in SEO, Social Media, and Web Analytics are being used to get you to the top and keep you on the top.

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Are you Staying on Top of Search? We are. is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

How do SEO and SEM differ?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization (also known as Google Optimization). This is the process of optimizing your website for search engines. The goal is to improve organic or natural qualified traffic to your site and to rank higher in a search engine results page (SERP). In other words, getting found in a web search without paying Google or the other search engines to achieve this.

SEM is short for Search Engine Marketing. This is a broad term that captures the entire field of search engine visibility. Generally the primary service is focused on Paid Search Marketing. SEM companies provide Pay-Per-Click (PPC) services (such as Google AdWords). While the goal is also to improve the client’s search visibility in a SERP, the results are on the Paid side of search.

Depending on which strategy you use, higher placement is the goal for either unpaid or paid search results.

And…. this is where it gets confusing!

A Search Engine Optimization Company, of course, offers SEO services but may also provide AdWords advertising. Why? To help (temporarily) overcome low rankings for organic keywords in Google (we provide this service). Whereas a Search Engine Marketing firm may offer a wide range of SEM services but not necessarily SEO (or site optimization). And… in some cases, they offer this service and outsource it to a SEO agency.

Understanding the meaning of these terms – and what various companies offer, will help you in the selection process when you require search visibility support.

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SEO vs. SEM: What is the difference? is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

The third session of our Search Engine Visibility Education Series being offered is Introduction to Google AdWords. The format of this customized workshop is one-on-one (small group). Training is based on your Google AdWords account, with a hands-on approach – and is offered at your premises. The session is two hours.

Who should sign up?

• Website Owners
• Marketing Specialists
• Webmasters

What will you learn?

• What is Google AdWords?
• Google AdWords features and benefits
• Campaign snapshot and settings overview
• Ad group targeting and testing strategies
• Keyword selection and bidding
• Landing pages (Google Website Optimizer)
• Integration with Google Analytics
• Accessing and interpreting the data
• Creating and sending reports
• Goal setting (conversion tracking options)
• Getting help

What makes us different?

The foundation of our company is built on education. Our Google AdWords instructor, Helen Faber has successfully completed the Google Advertising Professional (GAP) training and exam. She is the author of Search Engine Visibility: Simplified – a SEO/ SEM Education blog and the Search Engine Visibility Glossary (an Education resource).

WebFuel is a member of Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), a global non-profit organization serving the SEM industry with members in 41 countries (including Canada).

Related Training:

• Introduction to Search Engine Optimization
• Introduction to Google Analytics

Related Post:

Contact us to schedule your customized onsite Google AdWords training session today!

Ottawa Google AdWords: Need training? is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Here is a basic list of PPC acronyms – and what they stand for.

CPA: Cost Per Action. Also stands for Cost Per Acquisition.
CPC: Cost-Per-Click. Also commonly known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC).
CTR: Click Through Rate
GAP: Google Advertising Professional
GYM: Google Yahoo MSN
PFI: Pay For Inclusion
PFL: Paid For Listings
PPC: Pay-Per-Click
SE: Search Engine
SEM: Search Engine Marketing or Search Engine Marketer
SEMPO: Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization
SEP: Search Engine Placement.  Also stands for Search Engine Positioning and Search Engine Promotion.
SERP: Search Engine Results Page

For SEO acronyms and search industry definitions, visit the WebFuel SEO/SEM Glossary.

What do all those PPC acronyms stand for? is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

However, new AdWords advertisers often tend to make mistakes in setting up their campaign. As a result, their paid search efforts do not achieve the maximum return on investment (ROI). An underperforming pay-per-click campaign can quickly drain your account.

The seven novice AdWords Campaign mistakes to avoid:

1. No campaign management
Likely the biggest mistake is launching an online paid ad campaign and just letting it run on its own. It’s like buying a car and never maintaining it. How can you expect it to work properly?  Ensure that you consistently monitor and optimize your campaign in order to get the best results.

2. No campaign goals
Similarly, many new search ad marketers haven’t set goals and haven’t figured out how to measure success. And… they do not know how their campaign is performing. Goal and conversion rates can be tracked with Google Analytics, which can be linked to your Google AdWords accounts.

3. Wrong geo-targeting
With Internet marketing, you can target the entire world. However is this the right location to market your business? Rather than having your ads showing up globally, review your geo-targeting. Select the correct country, city or a specific region. Your budget will go further and your localized clicks will be more qualified.

4. Overlooking ad distribution
If there is one component of AdWords that’s most often neglected, it is ad distribution. By default, where your ads will be displayed (search, search partners and content networks) are pre-selected. Again, you should test, track and modify your selection.

5. No ad variations
Yes – you can have one search campaign with one ad – but why would you? Running multiple ads will allow you to test them to determine which ones perform and which ones do not. During this testing process, you will want to ensure that you have ad rotation switched to “rotate”.

6. Poor keyword selection
There are two equally common errors made during the keyword selection process. The first is choosing too many keywords. Start with a managable number of 10 to 20. Second, avoid using broad match only (again a default setting). These terms tend to be highly competitive and costly (high cost-per-click). Instead select more targeted keyword phrases in narrower niches. They will likely send more qualified visitors at a lower CPC rate.

7. Non-converting landing page
This is the most common mistake that we see during our Google AdWords audits. Ad traffic is sent to the home page rather than to a specific landing page that was designed for conversion. This often results in high bounce rates, poor quality score and consequent lower ad ranking.

PPC search engines such as Google can provide your business with targeted web traffic. It’s a good strategy to use them to help you get found in a search. For optimal conversions, and a good return on your investment, AdWords optimization and campaign management are essential.

What are the most common Google AdWords campaign mistakes? is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Here is the WebFuel Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Checklist:

1. Domain Name Ownership
Review your domain name registration and ensure that it does not expire. This is likely the most important item on the checklist. No rights to use your domain name equals no live website. Just imagine what that would do to your search engine visibility. While you are checking your domain status, register the other extensions (.ca, .com, .org, .net) if available. This is known as Google insurance.

2. Reliable Hosting
It likely goes without saying, but a site that is down due to hosting issues does not help your Internet visibility. Ensure that you have engaged a reliable company to provide you with hosting services. There is software (some free) that can track uptime as well as alert you if your site goes down. Being live 24/7 is a must.

3. Crawl & Index Friendly
Making certain that your site stays live is the foundation of the SEO process. The next step is to ensure that your website design, including the navigation system, is spiderable so that search engines can crawl and index your web pages. Do a check. Test using Google and the other major search engines.

4. Robots.txt
Review and update your robots.txt file. This is usually the most overlooked item on the checklist. The robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers what content you do not want crawled.  Not everything in your site should be found in a search.

5. Search Engine Submissions
If you haven’t already done so, submit your XML sitemap to Google. You can do this via your Google Webmaster Tools account. While there is no need to submit to the major search engines (they find you), you should take this opportunity to review what industry-related engines exist (always new ones). And… of course, submit your URL.

6. Content Review
Yes – content is still King. After all, this is what generates the possibility of appearing in search results. Content review should include checking for content starved pages, outdated information, as well as building new content pages – if required. Copywriting revisions should also include adding keywords and addressing internal lingo (not what people search for).

7. Social Media
Now think beyond just your website and explore Social Media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube. Even if they are currently not a good fit for your particular business, create a company profile (just in case). Once again, this is also known as Google insurance.

8. Online Reputation
Don’t just control your company profile beyond your site. Manage your reputation on the Internet as well. To get started, simply Google your company name, brand, key people  etc… and review the search results. Again, there is lots of software available to track what is being said on the web – some are fee-based and others are free (Google Alerts). And… of course you can hire a company that specializes in monitoring and keeping your online reputation clean.

9. Web Analytics
Review your filters, goals and conversions to ensure that they are in place as well as your system to analyze the data. If you don’t have a program installed to track your web visitors, put this on the top of your “to do” list. Google Analytics is a powerful tool – and it is free!

10. SEO Site Audit
If you haven’t already done so, budget for a search engine optimization (SEO) site audit. In a nutshell, an audit lets you know what is working, what is not – and how to proceed. It also gives you a baseline to track your search findability over time. This is likely the best investment you can make when it comes to the web.

The predication for the web is continued strong growth in 2009. Ensure that this is the year that your online visibility is managed and improved.

SEO Checklist: Top Ten for 2009 is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel