The dependably excellent Larry King gives a thorough and effusive review of the changes to the Google Keyword planner and how its new features represent a fantastic upgrade on its predecessor. Moreover, he highlights how it articulates what Google feels the direction of search marketing is going to be…
What’s interesting to me is how this kind of article sits in contrast to the broad message of modern search marketing – that providing authoritative content and engagement will, in the end, be enough to win out (and that, in this way, small sites can battle big brands as Matt Cutts was articulating this week here).
The article from Larry revitalises the attitude regarding what makes search marketing different (and in some ways, better) than its traditional relations.
It’s in the ability to drill down, mathematically, to what works and what doesn’t; and to perfect one’s strategy with confidence in the outcome. An approach that is also in evidence in this great article from Lunametrics on precisely identifying keyword value.
What smaller sites need to do is be smart about their targets, using resources such as the new Keyword tool and, more broadly, Adwords (as demonstrated very well by Rebekah Diedo and by Larry Kim again) to find the most effective markets for them and to target them efficiently. And, moreover, they still need to focus on the basics – content growth and link nurturing
However, I’m not knocking the emphasis on high quality content as a driver for authority. Far from it. The reality is that this enhanced expectation of sophistication in content development is a good fit with the level of analysis that the maths geeks amongst us like to see as evidence of a good campaign strategy.
Moreover, link nurturing needs both the analysis to develop the strategy and the articulacy to demonstrate your expert knowledge to them and work to generate user engagement, brand mentions and social reach.
And, to beautifully demonstrate the marriage of science and art, I’ll leave you with a superb analysis of the mathematics of viral content here.
Have a fantastic bank holiday weekend everyone. And if you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you – either below or via our social media…
