Google Keyword Tool Is Broken

It’s a shame that Google can’t get its own keyword tool right.

Sure, it’s an awesome search engine. But come on guys, with all of that money, you would think you could make sure your keyword tool work correctly.

I’ve been doing some keyword research about teen issues and basic keywords show no search data.  “Teen jobs” yields no search data. And that’s not the only phrase.

Get some background at Search Engine Land.

Businesses Sometimes Ignore SEO Strategies

I speak with a lot of small businesses and they have some wild ideas about what it takes to be successful online.

Periodically I’ll dive into their thinking and offer ways to work through the issues they face.

One problem is they don’t understand search engine optimization – SEO. I can explain that it involves selecting keywords and integrating them into a web site (source code and text). Some of them wonder what that really means.

When I share that the words should be on the web site (it really doesn’t happen without touching the web site), they wonder what that might mean to the design.

One business wasn’t real keen on disturbing the design with words (apparently everything is supposed to be pretty with text a part of images). I made the case for appropriate sections, touches of text. The business rejected SEO. I think it’s just because the overall look mattered more and the executive was not able to grasp what text and SEO could accomplish within a nice design.

Instead of welcoming SEO, the start up ignored it.

Later, the executive asked for SEO after the design went ahead with a design that didn’t favor SEO.

Now I’ll try to work with the design with the possibility that the design will need to be modified. It’s just a shame that SEO wasn’t given a chance in the first place.

When companies are all about the visual and skip the SEO strategy, they basically declare: “I want to limit my search engine visibility and let others get the visitors.”

Great Internet Marketing Book by Jim Kukral

My friend Jim Kukral keeps cranking out great stuff with a new book, “Internet Marketing for Business Answers – Small Business Expert Interviews (Internet Marketing for Business Answers, 1).”

Among the many experts Jim interviewed is Andy Sernovitz, CEO, GasPedal and author of  “Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking.”

Here’s a little bit of what Andy told Jim:

“And the other big success is it’s got to be more than just going to work, there’s got to be some meaning to it above and beyond whatever you do or sell. For us here at GasPedal, what we do every day, the bigger idea, is that we can help companies survive and do well and thrive, and they don’t need to have a nick off their name. There is something you can do to make it better and we love that kind of clever easy innovation that just changes people’s lives and opens their eyes.”

I like that kind of thinking, that attutude.

The businesses Jim explores have been through a lot and tried many Internet strategies. We can learn from what they do well and be inspired to develop our own approaches based on our values and priorities.

FREE Guide: Search Engine Optimization – SEO – Tips for Accounting, CPA Firms

I justed created a new guide for accounting and CPA firms: “How Accounting and CPA Firms Can Succeed with SEO.”

Get  your copy of the accounting and SEO guide today.

It’s from World Synergy and Accountants and CPA Firms.

Here is an excerpt:

Accounting firms have many options when it comes to marketing. They can start with traditional efforts like generating leads through networking and following up on referrals from existing clients.

For a moment, you might think that no one would hire a professional services firm just by searching online.

But it happens that way – all of the time.

Yes, individuals and companies check with friends and business associates to find an accounting firm that could be a good fit for their interests and needs. They also rely on directories and search engines like Google and Bing to identify potential firms. Here’s a quick sampling of monthly searches on Google:

And that’s just the broad, national data. Here’s a cross-section of local searches:

In this guide, we’ll look at key ways accounting firms can leverage search engine optimization (SEO) to connect with prospective clients:

SEO has been around since the early 1990s and people still seem bewildered by SEO like it’s some kind of special magic that only some marketers understand and few master. It is complicated and based on many variables. But it can work if you’re smart about your strategy.

If your accounting firm wants to succeed with SEO, you need to start with a simple reality – your web site’s viability. It can change over time, but each web site at any given time has certain strengths and an ability to rank well on major search engines.

You can’t just pick keywords like you’re a kid in an apple orchard. It’s not that simple. Take stock of your situation and get a handle on what your web site has going for it.

Search engine rate all sorts of information for every single page, including:

• Domain name
• Domain age
• Number of pages
• Inbound links from other web sites, newsletters, blogs, magazines, directories, etc.
• Keywords in title tags
• Keywords in page headers (like headlines)
• Keywords in subheads
• Keywords in the core content
• Keywords in and around links between pages on a web site (also called anchor text)
• Keywords in the navigation
• Keywords in URLs (page names)
• Amount of content on each page
• Keyword themes throughout a web site
• Keyword density (percentage of keywords in relationship to other words on a page)