Hi Everyone

 

Starting from today, Google has added 3 - 4 lines of description on searches more than 3 words.

 

see 2 lines...

 

see 3 lines...

 

see 4 lines..

 

Pretty neat huh?

 

Whats the second thing? Well it's fairly exciting, they are now suggesting long tail searches. eg i search for cats and it suggests at the bottom of the page, cats for sale, funny cats, 8 different long tails in total.

 

This is great for useablility for the user, not sure what it means for me though.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

linky to Google Blog

For me it shows 2 things:

 

1. That Google is really stepping-up it's content analysis and that deeper, richer content is going to be needed for SEO - longer tail, deeper context, related terms etc. (Like I was saying in another thread - must find link).

 

2. The article I wrote on SEO copywriting and SERPS is even more relevant - even search engines appreciate an exquisite tart!

 

It's just another example of how Google are trying to match their robots to how real people want to search - folks want more information before they click through and dig it out... it's much quicker and easier to skip down the SERPs than it is to click through each site to see if it's the best. This will encourage this even more - so I'd say the description is going to be ever more important in 'selling' the click-through.

 

Thanks for this snippet Andy. Also, the keyword tool seems to be working again now.

yay for google....

 

Hip Hip... Hooray

awesome thanks for that gareth, i can see if what i quoted a few days ago is possible.... :-S

 

Wizely, I dont really understand what you mean. Are you suggesting that Google will start to only take into account some fancy writing over the amount of back links? Wont this be open to abuse from spammers?

 

I dont see it as matching their robots to real people, more making it easier for people to find what they are looking for by suggesting long tails.

 

Its going to be interesting to see if their is a rule and then some tools released to manipulate the new feature. I am still looking around to find if google are taking their new snippits from meta or content...

Wizely, I dont really understand what you mean. Are you suggesting that Google will start to only take into account some fancy writing over the amount of back links? Wont this be open to abuse from spammers?

Um... yes! 'Fancy writing' or 'quality content' as I like to call it, with ever-increasingly sophisticated analysis from Google, is a lot harder to fake than spamming the internet with backlinks. Whenever a single aspect of 'SEO' gets seen as the most important ever then you get all the ways in the world to abuse it. Links are definitely a highly abused aspect of SEO.

 

I'm just saying that IMO Google is drawing on more-and-more information from user behaviour, search preferences, trends and 'deeper' content to evaluate the relevance and credibility of a whole website. There's so many factors in their current algorithm, so much information they're gathering, so much computing power now and things cooking up in their labs for future algorithms to be so dependent on one factor and not try to follow human behaviour.

 

I dont see it as matching their robots to real people, more making it easier for people to find what they are looking for by suggesting long tails.

But suggesting long tails is trying to give people what they want now that Google has amassed a billion tonnes of 'relevance' data. It's just a visual change at the front-end - but to display it means they've gone deeper to get it?

 

Or it could all be on random!

I totaly understand the quality content argument but I just have trouble understanding how to apply it. eg to a site selling mirrors, do they need a blog as well? Maybe you could help understand that? Also a local plumber, does he need a pro copywriter or a nice site with some good photos of his work and some customer testimonials? And onpage is the easiest to manipulate hense why titles, H1 etc have minimal relevance to SERPs anymore.

 

I have been thinking about this over night, well the long tail search suggestions, and I have a theory. Google makes it's money from adwords. PPC companies are highly targetting these adwords now in order to pay the lowest price possible. So basically what it appears to me like Google is doing is sending more traffic towards the highly targetted adwords, resulting in more competition eg higher CPC, and more profits to google. or they're sending the traffic to the keywords with the highest CPC and competition. hummm. I will look into that today and let you know what I find.

I think you'll find that it is BOTH that they want to serve better results AND they want to make more money... and if they can do both by introducing one new feature...well you can be pretty sure that feature will get added!

 

Google has to make money just like the rest of us. If they didn't & went bust what would we all do? We rely on them for SO MANY services now.

 

I think it's unfair to say that they are just sending traffic towards more highly targetted adwords... what they are doing is sending traffic towards more highly valued keywords, and therefore in all likelihood where that traffic wanted to be in the first place.

I totaly understand the quality content argument but I just have trouble understanding how to apply it. eg to a site selling mirrors, do they need a blog as well? Maybe you could help understand that? Also a local plumber, does he need a pro copywriter or a nice site with some good photos of his work and some customer testimonials? And onpage is the easiest to manipulate hense why titles, H1 etc have minimal relevance to SERPs anymore.

What colour would you suggest gets a plumber more sales?

What photos would convince potential customers that the guy is trustworthy and not some charlatan who will flood their bathroom and rip them off? That's the kind of thing you need words for - to overcome resistance to buying/ negative perceptions, to build trust/ credibility, to engage the visitor so they actually read and stick around, to say what the guy actually does, why he's better than competitors, to guide the visitor through the site (sales funnels), to get a response with the right call to action etc. etc.

You can't do that with a 'nice' site and some photos. Get the best content, nail the layout to present it in the best way and then add any functionality... after that 'design' is optional and, from a lot of what I see, all about the designer and not much use to the poor plumber!

 

 

I have been thinking about this over night, well the long tail search suggestions, and I have a theory. Google makes it's money from adwords. PPC companies are highly targetting these adwords now in order to pay the lowest price possible. So basically what it appears to me like Google is doing is sending more traffic towards the highly targetted adwords, resulting in more competition eg higher CPC, and more profits to google. or they're sending the traffic to the keywords with the highest CPC and competition. hummm. I will look into that today and let you know what I find.

That's not the wildest theory in the world is it?!!! I've no doubt they're doing that - just like Eris says... if it gives the people what they want and happens to boost revenue.... who wouldn't?!!! It'll be good to see what you uncover. I've already seen the effect in the 'niches' that I regularly check - in even the most thinly related searches the most competitive keyword phrase is there every time.

wizely have u heard about the big red arrow? the concept is basically a video on the left with a sign up form on the right with a big red arrow pointing straight at it. this was tested against fancy words and fancy designs, the plain big red arrow got the most sign ups. I did have a quick look for the site but i have lost it.

 

What colour would you suggest gets a plumber more sales?

Blue, what words would you suggest?

 

What photos would convince potential customers that the guy is trustworthy and not some charlatan who will flood their bathroom and rip them off?

One with him smiling, clean and looking good. Which words would you use? Did you know twitters who are smiling in their avatars get more followers and ones not smiling, on a site about words that's quite interesting.

 

Photos, colours and design are more effective than words. This is why billboards are massive pictures with a few words, this is why we watch tv rather than read a book, its why we have gone from a website, to a blog, to twitter to share our thoughts, its why a logo is an important part of brand identity. Ok sure words do matter, and they are important, but how are you going to get anyone to read what you have written without a nice or effective design?

 

I think it's unfair to say that they are just sending traffic towards more highly targetted adwords... what they are doing is sending traffic towards more highly valued keywords, and therefore in all likelihood where that traffic wanted to be in the first place.

Highly valued keywords, or the ones where the advertisers are spending more money just means that people are spending money when they search for that keyword, it doesnt mean its what people are looking for.

Guess you're not going to be hiring a copywriter any time soon then?!!!

I say burn the books, delete 90% of the internet's content, sack salesman with their effective sales pitches and just develop nicer suits...

Will be difficult to express everything that needs to be said and answer what people are searching for without words - but we'll develop some kind of graphic-only means of communication... I think they called it cave-painting!

 

Design matters, copy matters - the trick is putting them together in the most effective way. When I write copy for an existing site I inevitably tweak the design (or make wholesale changes) to get the most from it - the best results come from copywriter and designer working in tandem. It's how the big multi-million pound creative agencies work and it's how I work.

 

On your site Andy there's more text than anything else so you obviously recognise the importance of it - why not just have that video/ big red arrow you're talking about and nothing else? And on my site it's not just text (and my next version is even more 'designed')... copy and design working in tandem is the key - why exclude such a vital part of a website?

 

I am not saying we dont need you, I am just trying to say that its not any more important than any other part of a website. I am saying that having a nice suit is also a major part of the selling. The copy, the photos, the design, they all need to work in harmony to create the feeling and lead the customer to action. What I am saying is I have trouble applying that to every situation eg the plumber.

 

how does a plumber work? well he either gets a referral from 1 neighbor to another, or gets found in the yellow pages, he then tells you when he can fit you in and either gives a quote for a new boiler or fixes the problem you called him out for.

 

Why does he even need a website then? well because no1 under 40 uses the yellow book, we all use google. This is how we will find our services very very soon. So, a plumbers site. I feel the optimal plumber site would be nicely designed, a nice photo of him and some work he has done and a few reviews. Would this get him natural links? no. Would there be any need for a paragraph or so copy, well no... I just want to know what he looks like so I can get a feeling for if I like him or not, or if I trust him and some reviews/testimonials of his work. oh and a massive phone number or contact form.

 

The same for a site selling mirros, I think people want to know what the mirror looks like, and an example of how it will look in a room, not read about how nice it looks. well maybe read how it will make their friends think the are rich, but mostly I think a photo is more important and more likely to sell.

It's nice to see Google are really stepping up, and improving the benchmarks for search engines. They have absolutely no competition at all in my opinion, it's just that some companies have a similar site, and no ability to do it as good as them!!

The copy, the photos, the design, they all need to work in harmony to create the feeling and lead the customer to action.

 

What I am saying is I have trouble applying that to every situation eg the plumber.

 

Well it's the same for any kind of site really... it depends on what potential customers are looking for. If I were to write for a local plumber then I would try to get into the head of someone looking for a plumber:

 

I want an honest, straightforward and reliable plumber - the language had better match. Not too poncy but not too Sun-reader either. Professional but with personality and honesty.

I want a friendly 'real' person coming into my home - this is where a 'story' narrative is much more effective than coldly listing services.

What does the plumber do? - more than listing services this needs to make sure people know, understand (but without being patronised) and see the benefit of each, or why things cost what they do etc.

I need someone now it's an emergency - straightforward quick call to action.

I'm refitting my kitchen, investing a lot of money so don't want it ballsed-up - this is where those smiley photos and testimonials need backing-up with soothing, credible and trust-building copy not a hard sell 'click here now' approach.

Every plumber I've tried is a toerag - focus on accreditation, guarantees, satisfied customers etc. Testimonial 'quotes' are everywhere and so people tend to mistrust them unless they can see a real person behind them.

I don't want to pay a fortune but I don't want cheap and nasty - there's a skill in conveying cost-effectiveness without sounding cheap.

Why pick this plumber and not the dozen of others? - some kind of hook, some differentiator or USP.

How about a time-limited offer and strong call to action - when I work for someone they're not just getting a copywriter... I worked for many years as a Business Analyst and in marketing (it's how I got into copywriting) and so I help them come up with offers, marketing, advertising etc. to boost the site's performance.

SEO - there's more to onsite SEO than keyword stuffing - well written content, semantically coded, well-structured and linked with optimised landing pages, sales funnels, calls-to-action - all targeted at different kinds of visitors make the most of higher search engine rankings. Especially important for a plumber where huge amounts of organic links aren't going to happen and where a blog, fresh content and all that isn't likely either.

 

That's without looking into it. Then there's the structure, layout, focus and navigation dictated by the content before the 'design' even starts...

 

Even on small sites design and copywriting matter and will get more business for the client. Obviously the balance between images and copy in the content depends on the site. But like I always point-out Amazon has about a million times more text than it does product shots because the only reason to buy online is price/convenience - most folks would prefer to see the thing in the flesh and have the security of a bricks and mortar shop. So to tip people over the edge Amazon uses UGC to reassure people and help them decide - the plumber's site would need to do this too.

 

Imagine a really nasty 'blackhat' keyword-stuffed spammy plumber site (can be beautifully designed if you like) that's just trying to grab high SERP position - we've all seen them and they make you click back like crazy because you don't trust them.

 

Even plumbers deserve to sell more! The closest I've got to writing for a plumber is for a builders - they loved what I'd written and response rates went up and bounce rates down - the design stayed the same.

 

Just think what combining our powers could do - moohahahahahah!!!!