Follow Friday: The Week in Search
As is always the case in search marketing, this week left no shortage of valuable content. Here's what we found most interesting.
PPC: Quality Score, Click Through Rate, and Behavior
My colleagues sitting next to me can tell you that I'm a big fan of Brian Carter. What can I say, I like his style. This week, he helps us demystify the issue of Quality Score by focusing on the relationship between click through rate and highly relevant keyword groups. Forget all the other factors that go into calculating Quality Score, he suggests, and focus instead on the one that matters most, CTR! Reduce the number of keywords in your keyword groups to improve relevance, and increased Quality Score and CTR will follow. Do you agree? Is campaign granularity most important to optimize?
George Michie discusses the issue of competitor behavior and CTR. Often, you can benefit from your competitor behaving irrationally, but the tables may have turned in search marketing so that you're left hoping your competitor practices rational PPC tactics.
Let's say Companies A and B are competing for the same traffic, even though their businesses are different. Here, George uses an example of a vendor selling light bulbs, company A, and a vendor selling flower bulbs, company B. If I search for flower bulbs, then click on the ad of company A because it's better positioned, I don't find what I want. Do I then ignore all sponsored ads on that page? Does company B lose out? Does company A improve their Quality Score because they raised their CTR? What do you think?
Bob Dylan an SEO Sage?
Aaron Wall's posts are another must-read. Why, you ask? Well, mostly because they remind me of my beloved Fenway Franks--they're meaty, juicy and short enough so that you're always left wanting more. Yesterday, Aaron dispensed some great advice when it comes to search engine optimization. Much like life, "the biggest risk you can ever take is no risk at all." Got a new website? Are you a new webmaster? Your traffic is already invisible, so why not take some risks?
Go ahead, take 7 minutes, and watch the video of Bob Dylan singing "Like a Rolling Stone." It is Friday after all...