In this fairly long video a Google Engineer talks about how to set up and configure URL parameters in the Google Webmaster Tools control panel. Although this video is not for every website, owners of websites that pull data from a database and have an e-commerce website will definitely want to watch this important video. It talks about how to filter out pages dynamically generated by your application that may create duplicate pages that Google may spider which may not be a good thing.
How to Know Which Search Terms Are Driving Your Website Traffic
Watch Alexi Douvas from Google explain how to know which search terms are driving traffic to your website in this video.
The first step is to make sure your website is verified in the Google Webmaster Tools control panel. Google gives some easy to follow instructions there, but you will need access to your source code and/or access via FTP to your server.
Once verified in the query section, you can actually see and sort data that shows how many times your website was shown for specific search queries, how many times readers clicked into your website and where on Google.com your site appears in the search rankings.
A high click through rate but low number of impressions is not a good thing. You’ll want to review your meta titles and content to try to boost exposure. By reviewing your search query list you can also evaluate how well your website is doing in regards to reaching a broad base of potential prospects. If all you see if your name or phrases that really don’t match your service offerings, now’s the time to carefully review your content’s focus.
What Google shows in the query list is based on historical data. If you see keywords that have a gambling or adult content focus and your site does not provide or sell these services, your website has most likely been hacked and needs a very careful review.
Will a New Website Win You More Customers? You Bet!
Here’s the scenario: No leads, a five page website with very little content, in Google Analytics only company name variations searches appear in the statistics.
Solution: Here’s how you re mediate this type of online visibility problem.
- Create landing pages quickly that reflect your true nature and put your products in services in a concise and clear light. Start AdWords ASAP with a budget high enough to get placement and clicks. This will get you in the game and stop the slide while you work to fix your website problems and exposure.
- Install a blog now and get blogging. Even if you don’t have the website you want you will benefit from great content on your blog and can be building links and providing value.
You can have number 1 and 2 done and rolling in two or three days!
Then dig in deep and work on resolving the real problem, your website content and website. It can sometimes take two to four months for a new website so by blogging and doing AdWords you stop treading water and start getting leads to fund your new design and content building project.
Take the time to build out great content while you are selling and blogging. People will forgive a poor looking website if it has great content. But they won’t forgive a great website with poor content.
If the scenario in paragraph one is yours, don’t buy into the approach that everything has to be perfect and I have to be getting lead conversions from my website before I start promoting it. The truth is the quality of the people who are on your website right now may never convert as they really are not looking for your products and services. These visitors may even be potential employees or competitors, you need to caste a bigger net and start getting the exposure that WILL get you business now to fund the things you want to do.
Why Venting on Your Blog Doesn’t Work Positively For You
I read an interesting blog this past week and winced when I read it. I would imagine that a junior staffer wrote it and if the president of the company saw it, it would be taken down immediately.
The blog post was a rant about why an unnamed competitor was stealing this firm’s thunder and online juice. The blog post details seven points that the writer was upset about from bidding on their firms name in AdWords, copying service offerings, imitating content, and blog post commenting with links back to their own website.
The title caught my eye, but when I read the blog post I thought “ouch, this rant should have been filtered”. When you rant on your own blog about a competitor or situation especially when you don’t name names (and you should not), you come off sounding like a whiner and a bad sport.
Yes, pretty sucky things can really happen in the world of business, but you don’t have to blog about them and take a black eye in the process. I recommend that sensitive and negative issues unless done as a case study in a thought provoking objective way be off topic for blogs. You may end up doing more damage to your own online reputation than you would think making your competitor howl for glee.