Keyword insights with Google Insights

Yesterday (August 5), Google announced the launch of Google Insights, which builds on Google Trends and provides a whole lot more data.

According to the official Adwords blog, which announced Insights for Search, this new feature is "a new product designed with the advertiser in mind. It provides more flexibility and functionality for advertisers and marketers to understand search behavior, and adds some cool new features like a world heat map to graphically display search volume and regional interest.".

The features should certainly help get an idea of macro trends, which search marketers should definitely factor in during the planning and execution of SEM campaigns. Yet, doubts will continue to linger on the accuracy and reliability of this tool. Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim points out precisely why, with a couple of examples.

Keyword Research with the "new" Google Keyword Search Tool

Keyword research for search marketing campaigns just got a bit easier, and dare I say, cheaper? The Google Keyword Research tool, which until now gave a visual indication of search demand with its green bar that hardly gave anything away, is now showing "approx" numbers for the most recent calendar month. In addition, it also gives the average monthly search volume over a "recent" 12-month period.

Even though these numbers are based on searches on Google and the Google search network, I'd like to believe that these numbers are probably more representative of potential demand for a search term than the numbers we get from some of the other keyword research tools. As the reaction in the SEM community shows, this enhancement to the keyword research tool was long overdue; I sense there is a sense of relief more than elation.

There are bound to be more questions and business issues for products like Wordtracker & Keyword Discovery, as suddenly these products become a lot more dispensable, particularly for the small business. Can these products bring in more value added features that can help SEO / PPC professionals? How will they differentiate themselves from the free keyword research tool to justify the prices they charge? I doubt if the argument that the Google tool is limited to showing search volumes from Google only will fly; there better be a much stronger value proposition.

The importance of search marketng for small businesses

I am basing this post on a recent news item from Hitwise that points out how smaller retailers drive a higher percentage of their overall traffic from search engines than the bigger retailers.

It is not exactly eye-popping news: that is exactly what most people would expect. Even though the story was about retailers [and many of the "smaller" retailers in Internet Retailer's Top 500 list are bigger than the average small business], the facts could apply to any business.

Small businesses (SMBs) have a lot less budget to spend on other forms of marketing and try to diversify their traffic stream. Hence their reliance on search marketing. On the other hand, larger companies have the wherewithal to spend on print advertising, e-mail marketing, outdoor advertising, affiliate marketing and what not. Depending on the nature of their business, they may also be able to run cost =effective affiliate marketing programs by attracting good affiliates. Therefore, the share of traffic from search engines is bound to be lower [in absolute traffic numbers, of course, one would expect the bigger players to significantly higher traffic].

The implication is for small businesses: search marketing works and can be very effective for both top line & bottom line. Try it not only if you are constrained by budgets or other resources but also because you could be losing out on a lot of relevant traffic to your website. Why leave money on the table, especially when you have a lot of control on what you are going to have to spend?

Optimization for the Search User (OSU)

Bryan Eisenberg in a recent ClickZ column talks of the new SEO: End Searcher Optimization. I am fully in sync with the End Searcher Optimization bit, but I am not quite sure if the concept is indeed that new.

I used the term OSU (optimization for the search user) about two years ago [not that it is the most popular acronym on earth!]; there was another term that did the rounds about a year ago-- I think it was called VEO [visitor enhanced optimization], and now this one, ESO. I suppose they all mean pretty much the same: focus optimization objectives on the end user; understand the searcher and try to provide the searcher with what they need and what they expect.

In the ideal scenario, there would be a total convergence of what one provides one's target visitors with and how the search engines see the utility of what you provide to your target visitors.

All this again comes down to understanding that SEO is really about marketing---the medium is a search engine, that's all. By all means, SEOs have to understand the medium that we are using to market and have to do everything necessary to ensure that we are getting the most out of that medium, but problem is when the entire focus is on the medium and the market itself is forgotten. It's a disconnect that happens far too often.