In part one of keyword research for social media we went over what a keyword is and what to look for when performing keyword research on social media. This process is a vital role in understanding trending content and help you weave out the correct terms and phrases to be able to monitor or engage with your target audience. Read more →
Posts tagged: Keyword Research
Keyword Research for Social Media Pt. 1
Conducting keyword research for search marketing is critical to achieving success with organic and paid search advertising. Conducting keyword research for your social media presence is critical in reaching and analyzing your audience. Performing keyword research helps you understand what your audience is saying about your brand, products, Read more →
Content and Keyword Ideas from Google’s Contextual Targeting Tool
Generating content ideas for your website, and the keywords to target within that content, can be a consistent challenge to SEO campaigns, bloggers and webmasters alike, especially if you are dealing with a less-than-exciting industry like say… cardboard boxes (shout out to The Simpsons for this random industry selection). Read more →
2011 Top Search Queries and Shared Content
By: Ryan Miller
Search engines, data aggregators and social websites are in the midst of releasing the most popular searches and most popular content for 2011. So what did 2011 look like on the worldwide web? Let’s take a look!
First up is Google, who have updated their Google Zeitgeist website for 2011.
Google Zeitgeist has an unbelievable amount of data sliced-and-diced any way you want it, but their 10 fastest-rising global queries are as follows:
- Rebecca Black
- Google+
- Ryan Dunn
- Casey Anthony
- Battlefield 3
- iPhone 5
- Adele
- 東京 電力
- Steve Jobs
- iPad 2
What struck me as fascinating was the number 8 search, being the Japanese kanji for the utility company Tepco in Fukushima that was damaged during the earthquake in May. Google notes that the search interest “rose so quickly and at such high volume that the keyword landed a spot on our fastest rising list, despite Japanese-language representing only 4.7% of total Internet users.”
Yahoo has also released their comprehensive Top 10 lists as well, all of which can be found on Yahoo’s Year in Review.
Yahoo’s top search terms for 2011 in the United States were as follows:
- iPhone
- Casey Anthony
- Kim Kardashian
- Katy Perry
- Jennifer Lopez
- Lindsay Lohan
- “American Idol”
- Jennifer Aniston
- Japan Earthquake
- Osama bin Laden
Diving in deeper in Yahoo’s data, the top news stories search for in the United States were:
- Casey Anthony Trial
- Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
- Royal Wedding
- Death of Osama bin Laden
- Unemployment
- Arizona Shooting
- Death of Amy Winehouse
- Arab Spring
- Libya/Death of Moammar Gadhafi
- Occupy Wall Street
In addition to data provided directly from search engines, we wanted to show you what Experian Hitwise has compiled. Hitwise is a “search intelligence” marketing company and has as usual provided a year-end wrap up of data to sift through. You can get some very granular data covering 2011 search data through their blog post here but here are two high-level data points worth checking out:
Facebook continues to dominate online usage, taking the number 1 spot for most visited website for the second year in a row and commands four varations in top search queries.
Also of note is the disappearance of MySpace both as a Top 10 search query and a top 10 visited website.
Lastly, Facebook has revealed the most shared articles for 2011. These are all news-based content so it would appear that content like YouTube videos or images are not part of this list.
1. Satellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami (New York Times)
2. What teachers really want to tell parents (CNN)
3. No, your zodiac sign hasn’t changed (CNN)
4. Parents, don’t dress your girls like tramps (CNN)
5. (video) – Father Daughter Dance Medley (Yahoo)
6. At funeral, dog mourns the death of Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan (Yahoo)
7. You’ll freak when you see the new Facebook (CNN)
8. Dog in Japan stays by the side of ailing friend in the rubble (Yahoo)
9. Giant crocodile captured alive in Philippines (Yahoo)
10. New Zodiac Sign Dates: Ophiuchus The 13th Sign? (The Huffington Post)
You can see Facebook’s full list of more shared articles here.
What will be in store for us in 2012? Somewhere in the 4th dimension lies in wait the next Rebecca Black, the next scandalous trial and the next world-shaking death. For current events and news oriented websites, knowing what has come before will help for the future in terms of keyword research, title optimization and social sharing. Prepare yourself!
Ryan Miller is the SEO Manager for Advance Digital, and provides best practice techniques for improving your search visibility. You can follow him on Twitter @cromiller and add him to your circles on Google+.
Google Adwords Simplifies Competitiveness Ranking for Keywords
By: Ryan Miller
Yesterday Google updated how they present their ratings for a keyword’s competitiveness in their Keyword Tool from the green bar (wherein the more green in the bar, the high the competition) we’ve come to know and love has been simplified to a text categorization of “Low”, “Medium” or “High”.
The categories of “Low”, “Medium” and “High” are broken down into percentage of thirds, so that:
- Low is a competitiveness under .33
- Medium is a competitiveness between .33 and .66
- High is a competitiveness over .67
Fortunately for those that want to have a more granular understanding of just how competitive a keyword is, and remember this competitive ranking is strictly for paid keywords not organic, the numeric value of the competiveness is available when you download the keyword information in excel.
The content and how it is displayed in the CSV file you can download appears to be unchanged at this time.
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