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Thanks Dana, that is not the first time I have read that someone had that experience. Nothing compares to "hand-optimizing" each keyword one at a time

OK Mozers! Here's the situation (my parents went away on a weeks vacation...)

• I am managing an online furniture retail website Infurn .com

• Our budget is 500 euro per day and we need basically 20% cost per sale and im hovering at 30 - 35%

• I recently was given the opportunity to participate in The Conversion Optimiser which allows you to set a desired CPA and Google works its magic geting you that target by adjusting your bids accordingly using historical campaign data.

• Is this something I should use? Or should I continue to hone my ad groups, bids, products, landing pages, and ad copy until I reach my 15 - 20% CPA goal?

Thanks!

I have never heard of Yext. I will see what that is.

When you are optimizing Google places campaigns what do you find to be a better way to appear for more searches?

No, all customers come to the business location

or

Yes, this business serves customers at their locations

(45 mile radius)

**? **

I don't understand how it works. from what I can tell it merely finds websites that MIGHT be good candidates for getting links? If that is the case I can't imagine it's worth even 50 cents, I can use Google now to find link prospects. what does the wordtracker tool actually DO?

I have been using Wordtracker for about 10 years for my keyword research. They have recently unveiled a new link builder tool. I was wondering if anyone had used it or could give me some feedback on it

I still see that stuff too in the more competitive markets. I get the feeling Google simply cannot keep up with all of it even with all of its resources.

So, ever since Google "went nuclear" a few weeks ago I have seen major fluctuations in search engine results pages. Basically what I am seeing is a settling down and RE-inclusion of some of my web properties. Basically I had a client affected by the hack job initially, but about a week later I not only saw my original ranking restored but a litany of other long tails appeared. I wasn't using any shady link techniques but did have considerable article distribution that MAY have connected me inadvertently to some of the "bad neighborhoods."

The website itself is a great site with original relevant content, so if it is possible, Google definitely recognized some error in their destructive ranking adjustment and is making good on it for those sites that did not deserve the penalty.

Alternatively, it could just be random Google reordering and I got lucky.

What are your experiences with the updates?

Always start with Keyword research. Since you have experience with PPC this should be no problem. Then move on to keyword targeting and selection. Once you have your targets mapped. Make a plan for how you implement them once you are set. Begin changing and updating yout title tags, h1, body copy and meta descriptions.

Then, start looking at website architecture, how the site looks to google etc.

You will also want to make sure you have measurement coding in place. Analytics (with goals) Webmaster tools and an xml sitemap.

If the company has very local targeting you will want to do a google places clam and verification

Clients fire you because no matter what you tell them when they sign up, they do not understand what is truly involved, get impatient and do not want a 6 month+ campaign with no guarantees. It is not because I fail to inform and educate them about the process but mostly it is like explaining Algebra to an ANT. In the rare cases I get clients that TRUST me and DO understand the process have the budget and patience for it, they ALL have success and are my long term clients who know I get results. This is why I get so much referral business.

They way I mitigate the problem is by reinforcing at the outset that if they want targeted qualified traffic NOW, we must invest in a PPC campaign.  Basically this has solved most of the issues with patience but there is always one or two.

Also "Most clients understand that SEO is long term; try sending them referral traffic while you are working at link building."

They SAY they understand this but when month 3 rolls around they are clenching their teeth even when I show 40% increase in traffic they want to be one space above their competitor or some dumb thing like that.

After all of the uproar with Google's recent updates in link building penalties, I am hearing even more from the Nuns of SEO about White Hat techniques and how if you just have great original content all will be right with the world. The truth of the matter is that it is impossible to remain competitive in difficult search verticals without SOME use of link purchasing or SEO aimed link campaigns. If you simply make a great site and wait for people to link to you naturally, your client will fire you before you get link #1. It is what it is, if I'm wrong tell me how.

I do it in basically the same way I do facebook pages for clients. I set up a band new personal Google account for the client, set up a G+ account THEN setup a business page from there. This way the client can maintain ownership of the account if you part ways and will not be connected to any of your properties. I believe this is considered a "best practice".

That is my expertise so I never have had to hire one. The most basic thing to remember is

1. MAKE IT AS EASY AS POSSIBLE TO SEPARATE YOUR VISITOR FROM HIS MONEY OR INFORMATION

2. ASSUME IT IS THE FIRST TIME THE PERSON VIEWING YOUR WEBSITE HAS EVER USED A COMPUTER

Follow that to start with and you will double conversions. That was free the rest well...:)

"I seek a page-level review of a specific area of my site. "

send me something to look at

Always start with Keyword research. Since you have experience with PPC this should be no problem. Then move on to keyword targeting and selection. Once you have your targets mapped. Make a plan for how you implement them once you are set. Begin changing and updating yout title tags, h1, body copy and meta descriptions.

Then, start looking at website architecture, how the site looks to google etc.

You will also want to make sure you have measurement coding in place. Analytics (with goals) Webmaster tools and an xml sitemap.

If the company has very local targeting you will want to do a google places clam and verification

Clients fire you because no matter what you tell them when they sign up, they do not understand what is truly involved, get impatient and do not want a 6 month+ campaign with no guarantees. It is not because I fail to inform and educate them about the process but mostly it is like explaining Algebra to an ANT. In the rare cases I get clients that TRUST me and DO understand the process have the budget and patience for it, they ALL have success and are my long term clients who know I get results. This is why I get so much referral business.

They way I mitigate the problem is by reinforcing at the outset that if they want targeted qualified traffic NOW, we must invest in a PPC campaign.  Basically this has solved most of the issues with patience but there is always one or two.

Also "Most clients understand that SEO is long term; try sending them referral traffic while you are working at link building."

They SAY they understand this but when month 3 rolls around they are clenching their teeth even when I show 40% increase in traffic they want to be one space above their competitor or some dumb thing like that.

David,

I have heard this theory before. If you have adsense on a page, google must visit it in order to determine the content to set the ad properly. But as you said ther eis no evidence for this directly.

It sounds to me like you can just have GA on ALL pages and simply drill down to your subset for testing on what ever group you are interested in in the content view and compare accordingly. No need to get too tricky.

Social media as a variable annoys the %$#@ out of me honestly. Being a 12 year SEO vet I frequently think back to simpler times...

I think it is a waste of time and resources. Focus on quality content link building and fresh content. You will see better results spending your resources there.

No I don't mind I think it is funny. I don't believe "Ethics" and "Marketing" belong in the same sentence frankly.

When you are optimizing Google places campaigns what do you find to be a better way to appear for more searches?

No, all customers come to the business location

or

Yes, this business serves customers at their locations

(45 mile radius)

**? **