Author Archive - Andrew

Making a name for itself as a niche-busting keyword research tool

I have to admit, I was completely unaware of Google’s Wonder Wheel keyword research tool until fairly recently. It made its debut almost a year ago in May 2009 as part of Google’s new Search Options suite – “a collection of tools that let you slice and dice your results and generate different views to find what you need faster and easier,” according to the search giant.

With these fairly new Search Options, you can chop your search results up into several different segments – from recency to geographic location. Of course, we’re interested in Google’s Wonder Wheel for the purposes of aiding us in keyword research.

Google’s Wonder Wheel – “A graphical representation of related search terms”

That describes the tool in a nutshell. Basically, it’s a way to find more terms related to your original search term. What’s cool is the manner in which it displays and the interactivity with which you can expand your Wonder Wheel-ing.

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Well, Your Last Tweet May Have Jacked Up Your Home Insurance

Please Rob Me. Wait, hold on. PleaseRobMe.com. That’s more like it. In the new era of social media privacy concerns, the folks at ForTheHack pretty much exposed popular/next-big-thing Foursquare (the location-based, social media…ummmm, game, I guess) as a giant “Please Loot Me Silly” target on your house or apartment.

PleaseRobMe.com cleverly takes the updates of the Foursquaring masses and repurposes them as “opportunities” to access an empty abode. For example, let’s say Bob announces on Foursquare that he is at the grocery store. Well, Carl sees that and knows now that Bob ain’t home – he’s cruisin’ the produce section. That’s a potentially empty home/apartment that is now a target.

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Google’s Personalized Search Results & Other Links Between On- and Offline

SEOMoz posted recently about how “Personalization of Google Results Creates a Huge Advertising Opportunity.” As usual, Rand Fishkin is on to something.

Essentially, the concept involves using offline (or traditional advertising mediums) to tell people to take a specific action online. In this case, Fishkin suggests that directing viewers/listeners to Google a brand name that will “bias” future related search results towards that brand. And it’s all possible thanks to Google’s personalized search results – the now default search mode where expressions of brand preference or brand affinity “influence” future searches in favor of the brand’s domain. (more…)

With a Little Creativity, Paid Search Ads Can Have Real Effects on Organic Campaigns

I’m brand new to the wonderful, fascinating world of Pay Per Click advertising. I was nudged from the SEO and Social Media side of things over to paid search a couple of weeks ago.  Through my experience with SEO and social media, I had grown to understand that those two disciplines and PPC were naturally opposed to each other.

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Wordze Keyword Tools Are Simple, Basic And Not Really That Awesome

Check around the blogs and review sites and you’re bound to see dozens and dozens of glowing reviews about Wordze – the self-proclaimed “King of Keywords.” I can sum up Wordze in two words: affordable and….OK, just one word.

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Changes In SEO For Video and Explosive Online Video Trends

It’s pretty safe to say that the future of Internet video marketing is bright. Some (*cough*BruceClay*cough) even suggest that if you don’t have video on your website, you’ll have a tough time getting the attention of search engines. In other words, online video and video search engine optimization are becoming the norm, it seems. Just how effectively you can implement SEO for video remains to be seen, but the groundwork is has certainly been laid. (more…)