Paul Pedersen

Don’t Ignore Google AdWords’ Content Network

PPedersen — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:17:02 +0000

Many of you may have been like I was …Ignoring Google AdWords‘ Content Network because of low click through rates and low conversions. The problem with the content network, I eventually discovered, has nothing to do with the quality of the network and everything to do with the way these campaigns need to be setup. A properly set up Content Network Campaign can add a lot to your search engine marketing ROI.

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SEO: Going from Good to Great!

PPedersen — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:47:48 +0000

A heated conversation broke out on Sphinn yesterday that centered on whether you need to know HTML to be good at SEO. Frankly, I’m surprised that’s even a question. It’s a kin to asking if you need to understand the human anatomy to be a good doctor.

I’m not trying to be mean or belittling but if you only have an academic knowledge of SEO factors, you can’t be good at SEO. You only think you are because [1] the smallest changes can have big impacts and [2] you don’t know what you don’t know.

But in this article I’m not going to focus on the negatives. I’m going to focus on some constructive ways to go from being a good search engine optimizer to being a GREAT search engine optimizer. The following are the four core things, as I see them, which you need to be good at if you want to go from good to great in terms of SEO. (more…)

PPedersen — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:18:49 +0000

Today was a sad day for me. An old friend has died. Tomorrow, February 27th is the last edition of the Rocky Mountain News. Denver, as well as the rest of the nation, will not be the better for it.

Working for E W Scripps, the Rocky Mountain News has been a big part of my life for the last year. Although a late adopter of SEO, they were quick to see the benefits of its common-sense principles and adopted it more fully than most any other paper within the company. Some of the things we have been able to accomplish over the last year have been profound, and the plans for the future held even bigger SEO success for the paper …a future we will never see.

One example of their success was our SEO initiative around the Democratic National Convention. During a period of heavy news coverage and other web resources covering the Democratic National Convention, the Rocky Mountain News was able to hold first page Google coverage, sometimes out-performing the official DNC sites and Wikipedia …and always outperforming CNN, MSNBC, and the rest of the news giants. Even today you will find them as a first page result for Democratic National Convention.

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I’m a Search Geek!

PPedersen — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:18:36 +0000

I just got my letter regarding the SMX Biggest Search Geek Contest.

Dear Paul,

Thank you for participating in the SMX Biggest Search Geek Contest, sponsored by Marin Software. We are pleased to inform you that out of nearly 1700 entries, you scored in the top 10% - a truly great achievement! You can view where you scored in relation to others at http://www.marinsoftware.com/searchgeek.

To recognize the contest?s top achievers, we have created the attached badge, with code that you can place on your website.

To read more about our Biggest Search Geek Winner, Keri Morgret from San Mateo, CA, please visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/02/prweb2007494.htm.

Thanks again for participating and we hope you join us again next year!

Natalie Clifford Cann
Director of Marketing Communications

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Google AdWords Quality Score

PPedersen — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:01:01 +0000

While I’ve written about decoding Google AdWords Quality Score and CTR in the past, I wanted to point out that Google released their official position in their post the other day about quality scores and the ad auction. Within the post they talk about CTR being a primary indicator of relevance in determining quality score which is them multiplied by Max CPC to determine position.

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SEO Keyword Organization

PPedersen — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:06:06 +0000

Foundational to good search engine optimization is the understanding that every search is someone asking a question. Someone who searches for “George Washington’s birthday” is asking, “When was George Washington’s birthday?” Someone who searches for “chicken soup recipes” is asking, “Where can I find chicken soup recipes?” Every search is a question, and every searcher has a unique job to be done.

When we understand that every search is a specific question and every searcher has a unique job to be done, it should change the way we think about creating, organizing and optimizing our web pages. Our pages can’t simply be a collection of facts on a page. Our pages have to become answers to specific questions and solutions to unique jobs to be done.

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The Future of SEO is User Experience

PPedersen — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:06:47 +0000

Last week AdAge reported that Google CEO Eric Schmidt, while speaking with a group of magazine executives, referred to the internet as a “cesspool”. What is even more noteworthy, to us a search engine optimizers, is his statement that “We don’t actually want you [as SEOers] to be successful [at gaming the system]”.

The vast majority of us, as SEOers, are still stuck in 2006 when it comes to our SEO practices. We’ve generally ignored that the search engines have built countermeasures to our SEO tactics. As producers of real content have slowly moved up in the results, system gamers have moved down. So what is the solution? Better title tags? More links? In my opinion, it’s none of these.
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Search Engine Rap Battle (Google, Yahoo, MSN)

PPedersen — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:53:55 +0000

OK. I don’t normally make this kind of post but, since I haven’t been posting anything lately, I thought I’d share this little jewel (sent to me by Justin Davy).

http://www.searchenginerapbattle.com/

Search Engine Optimization Specialist Job (Knoxville)

PPedersen — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:02:51 +0000

UPDATE: THIS POSITION IS CLOSED

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Google Keyword Tool Now Provides Real Data

PPedersen — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:19:24 +0000

It takes a lot to get me giddy as a little girl. When my parents gave me a TV for my 12th birthday I said, “Thank you.”. When they gave me my first starter car I said, “Cool. Thanks.”. My mom asked me if anything ever got me excited. She clearly didn’t know what a data freak I am.

The SEM community has had a big data hole when Yahoo stopped updating their Keyword Selector Tool. In grand Yahoo tradition, however, they totally missed the value of supporting, and being a friend to, their customers. First, they stopped updating their tool. Then they pulled it behind their PPC wall so only “paying” customers had access to it.”Hey Yahoo! Have you ever hear of a good faith gesture?”Apparently Google has. They’ve responded by opening up real data to everyone one. Not only does this befriend the SEM community, but it keeps Google’s brand out in front of their potential customers …something that Yahoo clearly hasn’t “gotten” yet.But I digress… (more…)