Reader Question: How can I be sure that my search engine marketing firm registered my site with a particular keyword phrase?
Answer: The answer to this reader question is twofold. The first issue to address is registration, or submission. How can you be sure that your site has been submitted to the search engines? The second issue is the use of keyword phrases. If you are targeting specific keyword phrases, how can you be sure that your search engine marketing firm has used your targeted keyword phrases for your site?
Keyword “registration” is going to be unique for each type of search engine. A qualified search engine marketer understands the differences and nuances among human-based search directories, spider-based search engines, and search engine advertising networks (pay-per-click).
Directories
A directory uses human editors to manually categorize Web sites or Web pages. A directory is commonly referred to as a “human-based” search engine. Examples of directories include Yahoo!, Open Directory, and Business.com.
Since it is very difficult to modify a directory listing, always have your search engine marketing firm prepare a list of: (a) selected categories, and (b) suggested descriptions for EACH major directory.
Each directory has unique characteristics and submission guidelines. Therefore, in all likelihood, the categories and description length (i.e. number of words) might be different.
Before I submit a site to the directories, I always have the following information prepared ahead of time in an Excel spreadsheet:
… Name of directory
… Category selected
… Description
… Name of person submitting (from the company)
… Contact information (physical address, phone number, fax number, email address)
… Dates of submission
… Dates of acceptance
Before your search engine marketing firm submits to the directories on your behalf, make sure that you approve all submissions in writing or via email. When your site has been accepted or modified in a directory, your search engine marketing firm should contact you right so you can view your site listing in the directory.
Crawler-based search engines
Technically, you cannot register keyword phrases with the crawler-based search engines (Google, FAST Search, Inktomi, Teoma, etc.) In reality, the responsibility of placing keyword-rich text on Web pages ultimately falls on the Web site owner.
However, Web site owners can ask their search engine marketing firm for an index count at each of the major search engines. An index count is the number of pages that are “in” the search engine index. The index count tells you the number of pages on your site that the search engines were able to read.
People commonly confuse the difference between being “in” a search engine index with being “ranked.” A Web page cannot rank in the search engines until it is “in” the search engine index. However, a Web page can be “in” the search engine index without ranking. The simplest way to determine an index count is to do an inurl search. For example, on Google, a simple inurl search would look like the following:
- inurl:www.companyname.com
The number of pages shown on the search engines results page (SERP) will give you the index count.
Pay-per-click (PPC) search engines
Keyword registration with the pay-per-click search engines (Overture, AdWords, FindWhat, etc.) is a little more complicated.
With PPC engines, there are different options for keyword purchases. For example, in Google, you can have broad matches, phrase matches, exact matches and negative matches. In Overture, you can have standard, phrase, and broad matches. Details of the different types of keyword purchases are available at the URLs below:
… https://adwords.google.com/select/faq/account.html#keywords
… http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/adcenter/index.jhtml
If you are working with an advertising agency, they might purchase a large amount of keyword phrases and design hundreds or thousands of landing pages. You can always ask them to show you:
(a) the list of keyword phrases they purchased, (b) the list of ads they have written, and (c) the URLs of the landing pages they designed.
Some ad agencies are not as forthcoming as others because they feel that revealing this information is revealing their trade secrets. So only work with an agency or search engine marketing firm that you feel comfortable with. You should know how your site is being represented at all times.
Just as with a directory campaign, you can require that you sign off on all ads and keyword purchases before the PPC campaign begins.
Keyword Purchasing
I just received a sales call recently from an Internet marketing firm, and I would like to share my experience with readers. Personally, I feel this type of keyword registration is not worth the time or investment.
This type of marketing is similar to RealNames. If you purchase and install the software, then you can type keyword phrases in your browsers “Address” bar and a site will appear. If you purchase specific keyword phrases, such as “tennis clothing,” when someone types in “tennis clothing” in the address bar, your site will appear.
This is what bothers me about the whole thing. First, I asked the sales rep how they found my company. His reply? He found that my site ranked in the top 10 for a specific keyword phrase on Google. So my question to him was if my site already ranked well in Google, then why did I need his services?
Second, this keyword purchase only works if other people have installed this software in their browsers. Now, I have three computers in my office (two PCs and a Mac), and I just happened to be on the Mac. The software does not work on a Mac. When I look at site statistics information for a variety of my clients and see that 20 to 30 percent of their traffic comes from Mac users, I do not discount those numbers. Technical support’s answer? They did not know what I was talking about.
Finally, when I look at site statistics, I always evaluate the domain name strategy. Even though I market only one domain to the search engines, people might misspell a domain name, using either the singular or plural version. I look at how many people actually misspelled the domain name through site statistics software. Then I can make recommendations on renewing the domain. Nowhere in my Web analytics tools do I see these keyword purchases.
Needless to say, I did not purchase their software, nor did I purchase any keywords.
In conclusion, to be sure your search engine marketing firm submits and optimizes your site with selected keywords, just put it in the contract that you must sign and approve all campaigns.
Take care,
Shari Thurow
Webmaster/Marketing Director
Shari Thurow is Marketing Director at Grantastic Designs, Inc., a full-service search engine marketing, web and graphic design firm. This article is excerpted from her book, Search Engine Visibility (http://www.searchenginesbook.com) published in January 2003 by New Riders Publishing Co. Shari can be reached at shari@grantasticdesigns.com.
Shari Thurow Answers SEO Questions: Click Here For Free Answers
