Matthew Carter has written this nice review of these features over at the Affilorama blog

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In a recent meeting a debate arose after I said that Google doesn’t use the keyword metatag. I was challenged on this point by someone confidently asserting that Google is indeed using the keyword metatag once again. He inferred that any suggestion that they weren’t was simply uninformed.

We agreed to disagree. The customer was confused. My creditability was compromised.

I blogged about the keyword metatag back in 2008. More recently even Google’s Matt Cutts once again debunked this urban myth, but the mighty keyword metatags’ magic powers will continue to persist…

My point is that there is so much SEO mis-information that the sheer mass generates its own pseudo-creditability much along the lines of …Oh yeah that must be true because I heard it the other day….

Metatag Basics
A metatag is a special place inside the web page HTML code that can store variables for example the Description meta tag which is used in SERPs

The keyword meta tag is one of a number of common HTML metatags, traditionally used to store a string of words that represent the content on that page.

Its use has persisted, particularly in Content Management Systems where editors are invited to add ‘search words’ etc that are then published into the keyword metatag by the CMS.

The keyword metatag was identified as being open to abuse around 2002, and no longer used by Google from that time and I suspect by many other search engines for the same reason.

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Check out some of the gadget functionality on offer.

Ive added the Google gadget for Google’s Insights for Search into the right hand column in this blog so you can marvel at what South Aussies are currently searching for…

OK so maybe you’re not that interested in what we do in little ‘ol Adelaide, but look closer at the Insights for Search Gadget and you’ll notice you can even filter the display to particular search terms.

This example shows global searches relating to internet marketing in the last 30 days

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This tool compares current search activities against the content in your website and presents you with suggested keywords, their bid pricing etc

While the tool has been available in limited release since the end of ’08, it is now generally accessible in Australia and elsewhere.

Ive used this tool on several recent projects, and will definitely be including it in my keyword research toolbox.

Try it out here yourself: Search-based Keyword Tool

This release is just one of an unyielding barrage of enhancements and new releases to help your AdWords online marketing campaign be more a more effective sales tool.

Is your AdWords service provider using these tools to make your campaign more competitive for you ?

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If you are able to take time to view the video below you will get a glimpse of how keyword research should be a significant contributor to your online and even offline marketing efforts.

A series of enhancements to Insight for Search announced in Inside AdWords today also signals its continuing evolution, with Google adding additional data sources, categories and greater granularity although sadly only in the US.

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This article dating back to 2002 (that’s correct 2002!) is just one of a plethora of articles and controlled SEO experiments that have shown the keyword metatag has no affect on Google.

Unfortunately some folks just don’t get it.

Perhaps its because the tag’s name suggest that’s what it does and its just too damn temping to ignore it.

If you’re paying for SEO services and they are getting stuck into your keywords metatag you’d be better off looking elsewhere for your SEO services.

There, Ive said.  I feel better now.

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But how do you decide which paid search services your business needs, and importantly how do you decide which service provider to use ?  Could you DIY paid search ? Not sure? Read on.

What is Paid search?

Paid search displays an advert to someone who has just searched for your products and services on the internet.

Paid search even allows you to display those ads in a targeted geographical area i.e. you can only show your ads in SA, or just SA and Vic or just Australia or even globally.

IThere’s two great things about paid search for small biz:

Get a slice of the action – however small
Unlike commtting to a print advertisement that you can only afford to run once, paid search allows you to set the budget you’re comfortable with, and you the exposure proportional to that. 

You get to play with the big boys; at least for the time your budget allows.

Just the facts Ma’am
Adwords gives you access to high quality information about your target market that you can even use in your off-line advertising:

Paid search facts

•    Google owns internet search in Australia with over 95% of all searches conducted on Google.com.au. For maximum exposure it makes sense to use Google’s AdWords paid search.
•    Paid search = Auction:
  Paid search is literally a keyword auction. You bid to show your ad when someone searches on a keyword. If they click on your ad then you pay a click price. If they don’t click you don’t pay. What value! Imagine if you didn’t have to pay for the brochures that clients didn’t read!The prospective client is automatically taken to your website where they can find out about what you can sell them that they where just searching for.

•    Bidding:
  Its an auction, so if your bid is too low your ad wont be seen.
  If you bid too much you are wasting money.
  If you bid for searches or ‘keywords’ that don’t clearly represent a customer, then you’re wasting your money.Poor bidding can burn money and get zero results if you are not careful.

•    Keywords:
  Cultivating a selection of successful keywords is the most important component of a successful paid search campaign. This is followed closely by creating compelling adverts that entice searchers to click and visit your site.

•    Tuning:
  Most search term volumes fluctuate over time. Some are seasonal (i.e. Christmas), others follow fashion, fads even current affairs (i.e. green house). If you don’t proactively manage your bids and keywords over time your campaign will drift out of tune and will either waste your money or stall altogether.

Setting up Paid search

Actually setting up paid search is really easy! Well at least setting up a basic campaign is.
But if your market is already strongly represented online, suddenly it gets much more challenging. 

There is an arsenal of AdWords tuning tools and 3rd party products to help you be more competitive.

DIY

It is quite viable for self-motivated and marketing savvy individuals to create a paid search campaign. There’s lots of online help and Google even has a ‘Starter edition’ to make it even easier for you.
Go to www.google.com/adwords and register.

If there’s not much competition in your online marketplace then this is probably all you need to do to dramatically increase the number of sales leads to your website. So do it!

If you find your campaign is not working or it seems to be ridiculously expensive for a click then you probably need assistance from a professional.

Paid search specialist

There is a growing number of good providers (& sadly bad ones too!) offering paid search support, even your web developer maybe able to assist you in setting up an AdWords campaign and getting you going.

Assessing Paid Search results

AdWords includes a very useful management console that shows the status of individual keywords and ads over time. The system can even email you regular reports to keep you informed.

Google Analytics is Google’s free website traffic tool.
Analytics provides cross medium (AdWords paid search and organic search) data, and the ability to comine and compare is extremely valuable.

I routinely use paid search to research optimal keywords to improve the website’s organic performance.
Paid search’s immediatecy means you get quick results.  

The data is live not historical (like predictative tools) and you are using your target client base to test it – an online focus groupof throushands of clients – Wow! Paid search data  has enormous creditability.
Its marketing gold!   

You can do all of this and much much more, but only if the Analytics and AdWords accounts are linked.

Paid Search traps

These are some of the major issues I see 

•    Changing rules for paid search
  In an effort to improve its paid search ‘relevance’, Google is penalising paid search campaigns that have a poor quality score which mainly relates to the target website’s landing page. This signals the end of the simple paid search campaign era and heralds the need for a broader internet marketing strategy that balances paid and organic search to avoid the penalty of inflated click prices.

•    Bundled fees = poor information
  Paid search providers who bundle their service fee with click fees mask ROI information and so inhibit your ability to evaluate and tune individual keywords, or even the campaign.

•    Fixed fee packages
  Paid search providers with fixed fee prices somewhat naively assume a constant keywords click price. You will either pay too much per click or the keywords will be under budgeted and therefore ineffectual.
•    Analytics & AdWords linkage
  You need to link AdWords to Analytics to assess the quality of keywords and ads in your campaign.  If your provider won’t allow you access they are hiding something; most likely their profit margin for their bundled campaign.

Where to from here?

Research: Your online marketplace.

Search for the generic terms that describe your offerings or the problem they solve in Google.  See how many AdWords ads are displayed on the right hand side under ‘sponsored links’.

There are only eleven positions available so if they are already occupied then there’s already competition for that keyword.

Do it: Set up a paid search campaign

If you don’t have time or the interest use a Paid Search provider or internet marketer.

Measure: Your website’s performance  

Add Analytics to your website so you can critically examine its paid and organic performance

Assign: Your website a sales budget

Treat your website like a sales person. Set a budget and demand results.

Investigate why if it fails to meet the budget. You may have to invest to get results.

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Insights for Search is an interesting extension to Google Trends functionality showing the relative volumes of searches regionally in geographical ‘heat diagrams’ as well as Trends original time based graphs

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Frequently, and sadly we find Customers making poor keyword investments.

The Overture keyword database, the traditional free source for identifying keywords has been frozen, and although it may still produce output, the data is signfnicantly aged and irrelevant. 

Alternatives are expensive and until recently didn’t provide keywords filtered to the Australian marketplace.

Risk mitigation strategy:

• Ensure your keyword strategy is based on contemporary and relevant keyword information.

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Yet in my ongoing mission to convince South Australian businesses to invest in internet marketing, one of my greatest challenges is getting them to optimise their keywords.

In considering what a keyword is, there are really three manifestations of keywords and to be effective, each needs to be aligned with the next.  I’ve developed this simple model to illustrate their relationship:

Keywords are:

1. Client’s words
Words that your clients use to describe the products or services you wish to promote online. This is easy to determine – you just listen to what your clients say when they are talking about your products – you’re doing that already – right?

2. Current searches
Yes, it is possible to extract search history from Google. Its quite legal and VERY interesting to see what is actually being searched for.

You would be surprised (maybe horrified) at the poor use of grammar and the predominance of dyslexic-like searches. Interestingly, as we are all becoming more sophisticated searchers, so our search criteria is evolving from single words into a short phrases of three and even four words.
 
Search engine extracts are the ultimate reference for fine tuning keywords because they show exactly what your clients are searching for. Importantly they also provide search volumes (i.e. the size of the market) and results (i.e. your competition).

Handy indeed, and a critical consideration when selecting your keywords.

3. In your website
Ultimately your website is where your keywords need to reside.
Critically, your first audience for the site’s keywords is not prospective clients, but search engine spiders.  These programs trawl the internet scanning websites examining keywords for use by the search engine for your clients searches.

The spider will determine which words are predominate in your site. Configuring your website to achieve this is a challenge in its own right but fundamnetally ensuring those words are quite evident in your site.

As a result of this discussion, a more accurate definition for keyword might now be:

“A short phrase predominate in your website,
searched for frequently by prospective clients”

Keyword alignment, is a term I use to describe the relationship of these three keyword manifestations, and when optimal, maximises your site’s sales effectiveness.

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