Yahoo! Unveils “Open Search”

To encourage more third party development of its search engine results, Yahoo! is set to enable webmasters to more directly influence the way their content is displayed in the Yahoo! search engine. Instead of a simple text link with a short description, Yahoo! wants web developers to be able to publish feeds directly to the search engine results pages in the hopes that more robust results will result in a better user experience.

According to Vish Makhijani, senior vice president and general manager of Yahoo Search, “Our intent is clear — present users with richer, more useful search results so that they can complete their tasks more efficiently and get from ‘to-do’ to ‘done.’” The move is brilliant from the perspective of Yahoo!, because they do not have to worry about enriching their own search results. Instead, they allow the webmasters to add their own content and do the work for them. While other search engines are working to create improved search results, Yahoo! simply asks its users to do it for them.

This move brings the search giant Yahoo! one step closer to competing with Google for the top spot. A little known fact is that Google has allowed users to customize their own search engine results since 2006 with their Subscribed Links feature. This feature has existed in relative obscurity in part because it’s not all that useful to the average webmaster, but it is a useful tool.

Highly Specific Keywords = Better Adwords Results

Services like Google Adwords allow you to target keyword specific searches. You select what keywords your ad will appear for, and you are only charged when your ad is clicked. You will find that your results are much better when you target very specific keywords instead of broad keywords.

First of all, highly specific keywords are likely to be less populated with advertisers, which means it will be easier for your ad to get to the top of the bidding war without investing too much money. If your company sells shoes, but specializes in Birkenstock leather sandals, you will pay much less for clicks on Birkenstock leather sandals than you would on terms such as “buy shoes”, because more companies are competing for the broader term.

Because it is easier to get near the top, your click-through rate will be much higher for more specific keywords. Not only is this a great way to get more exposure, but Google actually allows sites with higher click-through rates to be displayed higher in the results pages than companies that are bidding more money, simply because they are more likely to get clicked on (which means Google is more likely to make money).

Finally, using highly specific keywords will allow you to focus your landing pages better. When users land on your page looking for Birkenstock leather sandals, you know exactly what they are looking for and you can design the page to meet their needs. If they are just looking for shoes though, you will have a much harder time focusing your landing page.

Threats to Google’s Supremacy

Rand Fishkin recently posted on the seomoz blog about the biggest threats to Google’s market share. Although his post was titled “The 4 Biggest Threats Google Faces”, he actually listed five threats (and numbered them 1 – 5).

Proficiently stating the obvious, Rand began by pointing out that Google is threatened by players already in the search engine market (Yahoo!, Microsoft, etc.). Continuing down the same track, he next observed that the threat to Google could come from outside the current search engine market. The first three paragraphs of his post were spent establishing that the threat to Google’s supremacy could come from… anyone.

Of the four scenarios presented by Rand that could threaten Google, number five was the most interesting. Could Google ever be overwhelmed by spam to the point that users would find its content irrelevant? SEOs everywhere outsmart Google every day, but there is more than a tinge of arrogance in believing that they will ever get so far ahead of Google engineers that the situation will be unrepairable. In fact, most SEOs would admit that they are always a step behind Google engineers, and that the only mode of survival is a balanced approach to search engine optimization for the benefit of useful, functional websites. SEOs are behind. Black hats become white hats every day.

So who could possibly threaten Google’s supremacy? Despite the general perception, Google is far from invincible. I believe the answer is “what”, not “who” will threaten Google. There are plenty of weaknesses that could be exploited by startups and potential competitors, a few of which are glaringly obvious. I’ll just look at one:

There is a ton of great content that Google cannot index. Google can’t index flash, javascript, or the content of videos. Google cannot even index the content of images except using alt tags and the surrounding text. Thousands of great websites are undervalued because Google cannot index this content. Google’s technology has a bigger impact on the webmaster toolkit than any other factor, because content is useless without visitors. We all know that Google has people working these problems, but imagine a search engine emerged that could index and describe these forms of content. Who wouldn’t use it? Video, flash, and javascript appeal more to the visual nature of our society, and the entire web would change if it were easier to find these sites. That seems the biggest and most obvious threat to Google’s supremacy.

Google Adwords Basics

Many companies owe their entire existence to Google Adwords. This simple, easy to use application allows companies to advertise in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) for a minimal fee. Your company will only pay when the link to your website has been clicked by a person who has entered your keyword into the Google search engine. This allows you to drive targeted traffic to your website at a relatively minimal price.

Begin using Google Adwords by selecting the keywords that you want to target. If your website sells dartboards, you would choose keywords such as “dartboards” and “buy dartboards”. Every time a user enters “dartboards” into Google, your ad will be shown to that user, but you only pay when the ad is clicked. Google calculates your cost-per-click (CPC) based on what other websites are bidding. If you are in a competitive industry, you may pay upwards of $20 per click, but most companies find themselves paying between $1 and $5 per click for industry-relevant terms.

The advantage of Google Adwords is that your company can instantly receive targeted traffic. There is no need to wait ages for the search engines to place your website at the top of organic results (this process usually takes 6 – 10 months for Google, and 12 – 16 months for Yahoo and MSN), you can buy traffic instantly.

Adwords can be a costly exercise. $5 per click can add up quickly and wind up costing your company thousands of dollars, so what can you do to ensure that you make the most of your pay-per-click advertising campaign? I have listed a few tips below:

1) Write honest advertisements. Don’t promise the moon to your Adwords clients if you cannot deliver. Inflated ads may result in higher click through rates (CTR), but that means nothing if the users leave as soon as they reach your website and realize that the ad was misleading. Be honest with your users, and you will only pay for legitimate clicks.

2) Optimize your landing pages. You need to show users that your website is legitimate within the first 3 seconds a user is on your website. Poorly designed websites with seasonal graphics are a great way to ensure that your advertising dollars are flushed down the toilet.

3) Focus your keywords. Make sure that you’re not paying to show up in the search results for keywords that are worthless to your company. This is by far the biggest mistake made by even the most serious eCommerce websites. You shouldn’t be paying to appear for search terms that will not result in sales.

Google Adwords can be a great tool for your company if properly utilized. Make sure that you take care to ensure that your advertising dollars are put to good use, as Google will not keep an eye on this for you. If necessary, hire an expert to maintain your pay-per-click advertising program and monitor your web traffic. The cost of such a service can pay huge dividends over time.