E-dreamz Company Blog

Google Adwords has many ways to match keywords to search phrases which work really well. These basic methods include exact match, to phrase, and broad match. Each has its place and can be selected by the user in charge of the account. You can also negative (or not display) keywords in this same fashion.

Now there’s a new kid on the block called “Session-Match” which falls under the broad match category. This is quite the annoying feature which you cannot control or opt out of. Session-Match doesn’t care about the negative you have in place nor if it’s a relevant search phrase. I have a client that has a very broad with randomly searched phrase so I am forced into using Broad match with some heavy negative (5,000+.)

The client now continuously gets hits with clicks from phrases I have exact and phrase negative out.

Example of how this might work*:

User searches “Safari Tours” which is an exact match I might target.

User then searches “Safari Tour Jobs” which is an phrase negative I have in place with “jobs” because this person is not a potential client, but someone either doing research or looking for a job.

Since I have a negative in place it should not display, but good ole Session-Match matches the user based on his or her previous search. This redisplayed the ad and gives them a chance to click. Money down the drain for the advertiser!

A simple Google search shows many people with complaints on this dating back to last year. Very surprised they have not implemented some kind of opt out or removal list. All of my clients would be first in line.

Note: I don’t have a client who does Safari tours as that is just a made up example, but it would be cool if I did have one. Any safari tour companies need some PPC help!?

Today SEOmoz’s Rand Fishkin had a great whiteboard Friday post which debunked the often talked about Domain Age myth. The myth is SEO’s often think that a new domain might not rank at all or a much older domain will always out rank it. I feel like I read this every day on forums and hear it at all of the local SEO meetups here in Charlotte.  The myth developed because Googler’s have actually referenced this as a possible factor, but would never confirm if it really was. They did mention if it was it would be a ‘tiny tiny’ amount.  The myth is alive due to the fact that you often do indeed see old domains ranking very high in Search Engines.

Rand smashed down that idea with some real reasoning behind it. Old domains have had all the time in the world to develop tons of links and influence on the search engines. Something else he mentioned was the decay of the internet. Apparently only 20% of data/websites survive each year. That 20% is the ‘powerful’ stuff which you again see ranking high because it’s probably a business making money.  Making money means they are getting press, have customers, etc. This in turn means they are generating links.

So finally the myth is done and everyone understands.. right? No. Scrolling thru the comments people just couldn’t believe it. I can confirm exactly what Rand is saying. New clients with new domains have gone viral or received tons of press which in turn generated amazing amount of links. Those clients skyrocketed thru the rankings easily beating domains with 10+ years of age.

Bottom line:  When selecting a domain just look for something easy to spell, say, and  possibly memorable. Don’t worry about history, backlinks, how many years it’s registered for, etc. Worry about the content you’re going to put on it.

Bonus Tip: Some people purchase old domains based on the backlinks - that is a unique SEO strategy that could give you a leg up on the competition. This is only providing a bonus based on the previous owners links - not the domain age or stats!

Vanity 301's have been around since the dawn of the Internet. Often used in commercials to help give customers a short and easy to type URL which can also be used to track the strength (or weakness) of that campaign. Recently I saw a brand new use of this while browsing a car forum at home. A user had posted a picture gallery of some very impressive looking high end cars. In these pictures the rim company branded it with their logo and a very unique and obscene URL. This URL really grabbed my attention and I just HAD to type it into my browser bar. Could that really be their website? It kind of was! They hit me with a vanity 301 URL which took me directly to their real web address. Now my attention was focused and I spent the next ten minutes browsing their website.

After the oo and ahhs of the amazing galleries of cars had worn off I then realized I just got link baited! As a guy who lives and breathes marketing I was really impressed by this setup. If their company brand was located on the picture I would have never taken the time to type it in nor would I have browsed around their website.

Seems like a good idea, but I know Analytics does a terrible job in tracking 301's. If I was to set something similar up for my clients how could I prove to them this unique idea was working? Without results even the best campaign can be a failure in the client’s eyes.

With some quick brain storming I realized I could create a 301 redirect from the vanity URL to a URL with Analytics information on it. Example:

http://www.Cool301Redirect.com

Directs to

http://mysite.com/?utm_source=Vanity&utm_medium=Images&utm_campaign=LinkBait301

This would not only show me how many people typed in this 301, but also I can segment them down and determine how worthwhile they are.

I wish I could link up the vanity URL that spawned all of this, but sadly it's just too obscene for the E-dreamz blog.

Anyone seen any other awesome uses of a vanity 301? Drop me a comment.