SearchPath Articles May 2010

Why don't SEOmoz Start a Search Engine?

It's a point that just occurred to me - if SEOMoz have spent many thousands of dollars on building thier massive index fo the web (43 billion URLs at the last count), then why don't they go a stage further and build a search engine around it?

Despite the size of SEOMoz's index being well below that of the main search engines, I'm sure it would be possible to tweak the index to produce some sort of specialist search engine; one that was based around search engines or technology, perhaps?

Since SEOMoz stopped its SEO consulting services 6 months ago, it would make sense to concentrate on revenue streams that are linked but not central to their traditional business. Since the firm are now concentrating on making tools for SEOs to use, why not branch out into search?

Rand and the gang may have already posted and explained the reasons for this, but I can't remember seeing it, and I read the blog fairly regularly.

Any answers as to why they haven't already done this are welcome.

Weekly Tasks For Adwords

I thought I might give you some more pointers for Adwords management. Here is a list of tasks that we complete weekly on our Adwords accounts:

1. Check search query report for keywords and negatives. This report is now given in the main Adwords keywords screen, rather than being a seperate report. The report shows search terms, typically broad match, that you are being found for. Its good practice to add the keywords that are being found and have a good number of clicks and/or impressions.

Also check for negatives. and add them where you think it will be useful.

2. Check the "Opportunties" tab in the main Adwords navigation for new keyword ideas.

3. Check stats, including spend, CTR and ad rank. For CTRs of below 2%, think about making changes to improve.

4. Produce a spreadsheet of the mains stats for the past week. This will enable you to have the big picture for the accounts.

5. Pause poorly performing ke ywords. These can affect the overall quality score of your account, so be sure to trim the ones that are not generating clicks.

In addition to these weekly checks, there are more long term actions that you should be doing, such as restructuring the account(s).