When you use Google Analytics to track your blog’s traffic, you may see (not provided) on your list of keyword searches. Simply put, this is Google’s way of encrypting keyword searches in the name of privacy and security.

If you heavily rely on keyword analytics for the content you produce, you may be in a bit of a panic. What was once a quantitative measure to strengthen search engine rankings is now much more qualitative. As a blogger, you want to see every piece of analytics behind every keyword, but in 2013 that’s just no way to do business.

The Web is the only medium where people write for machines instead of people. You get so caught up in keyword density, you may forget actual humans are reading the content.

This Is Good

The first point to understand is this is an improvement for the Web. Adjustments and transitions will take time, but in the end, the general quality of content is about to increase. Imagine if off-Web content was written to fulfill SEO and keyword standards. What would an Ernest Hemingway novel look like if it needed to rank for “great American author” on Google? Hemingway didn’t write for Web crawlers and neither should you.

“Content is king” and all those wonderful cliches still apply, but there’s a little more work to be done now. Digital marketing agencies are looking ahead on this. The marketing blog at iAcquire recommends implementing a “content system” to create content that is both high-quality and consistent to get the jump start on life after (not provided).

Creating a Content System

A content system is an efficient way for bloggers to produce high-quality content while staying organized and consistent. The switch to (not provided) keywords is seen as a restriction by some, but really it’s an invitation to rock some of the best and most-effective content the Web has ever seen. You just have to add the layers to form one delicious cake. What does a content system look like? There are a few elements:

• An editorial calendar that is both active and consistent. Follow it and use it to keep up with consistent social media and blog posts.
• When you’re constructing blog posts and social media, keep the themes consistent. You can thoroughly cover a topic and keep readers engaged through all social media platforms.
• Stop writing for keywords and start writing for people — your audience.

Authors with Authority

Gaining Google Authorship or collaborating with a writer with Google Authorship can be a big asset to your blog’s rankings. Google’s most recent update may give more power to authors who use Google+ and Google Authorship.

Who writes a post could be as important as the site on which it’s published, in the eyes of Google’s web crawlers. This makes the relationship between the author and the publisher mutually rewarding — the publisher will get stronger rankings from quality authors and the author will drive up his or her own authorship ranking with each post.

Not Everything Changes

Keep in mind, just because Google isn’t providing raw data on keywords doesn’t mean its algorithm doesn’t count them. So don’t throw the whole strategy out the window.

These changes are designed to refine existing strategies, not rewrite them. If your work help boost rankings in the past, keep doing them. The addition of better, more consistent content will help rankings in a more organic manner, even if you can’t see feedback from specific keywords.

Bloggers Have It Best

While marketers are scrambling to adjust methods for better rankings, bloggers are good to go. Chances are, you were always writing for an audience first and search rankings second. This method of organic content is going to pay off now that Google rewards both concepts and authorship more than ever before. It’s time for players who cut corners to step back in second place. Bloggers who do it the right way, have been doing it the right way, are about to take the lead.

What do you think? Will the new Google strategy help or hinder your blogging?

Jim Burch is a copywriter from St. Louis. Jim has spent the last 2 years specializing in writing for SEO and helping some of the worlds biggest brands build out their content marketing strategies. He specializes in advertising and marketing and also covers a variety of health and fitness topics. 

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Life After Keywords (Not Provided): What’s Next For Bloggers?

@ProBlogger

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How is this for a claim to fame – earning at least $ 200,000 a year for the last four years straight online. That’s what Courtney Tuttle has achieved.

A long time ago I was researching what top level keyword phrase I wanted EJ to rank for in search engines. I decided to try the very challenging phrase “Internet Marketing”.

I searched Google for this phrase to see who was at the top and the name “Courtney Tuttle” kept appearing. I had never heard of this Courtney person (I thought it was a girl initially for obvious reasons!), but she certainly knew how to rank for a competitive search phrase.

It turns out Courtney (Court) is a man and yes, he is very good at SEO.

What is surprising about Court’s story, which you will hear in this interview, is that he entered the world of search engine optimisation with absolutely no background in it. His friend had a job at an SEO consulting firm, Court was interested in what he was doing, used his friend to get an interview, convinced them to give him a job just because he promised to be hard working, and within two years was a manager.

During that time Court not only helped other people with SEO, he practiced what he preached, launching a cellphone website using his knowledge of keywords. The site eventually became a money maker, earning as much as $ 5,000 per month.

From there Court quit his job, launched more sites, made more money and then started teaching. However instead of teaching online, he started running small workshops at home in the evenings just to local friends. This spawned a blog and eventually the keyword academy training site.

Listen to this interview and you will be inspired to see that you really can enter the world of online marketing without needing any skills beyond knowing how to use a computer and the internet.

Which Keywords Make Money?

Be sure to stay tuned to about one third through the interview where Court breaks down his keyword research system to find what phrases make money.

He also explains his formula that uses the CPC (Cost Per Click) values that the Google Keyword Tool provides if you are logged in, to figure out how much money per month he should make from a given website from adsense.

For more details about this system, including pictures and screen recordings, check out Court’s training site, The Keyword Academy.

The Courtney Tuttle Story

• How Court landed his first role as an SEO consultant (prior to this he worked at Radio Shack)
• Court explains how he started his first website while working the job to prove to himself that his techniques worked
• After success to the tune of $ 5,000 a month with his website, Court quits his job and starts producing more websites using his system
• During evenings Court teaches workshops to family and friends on how to do what he does, this leads to starting CourtneyTuttle.com, a blog about what he does
• Next with a partner Court formalises his training into The Keyword Academy, which goes on to have as many as 1700 paying members

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Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

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Don’t sweat it, every new person learning Internet marketing has these questions… and some veterans too! So here’s some quick tips and tricks that can solve huge headaches for you in the future:

Keywords:

1. You need to kill ANY keyword that isn’t profitable. I basically try to give a keyword a couple hundred clicks, but it really depends on the cost. If I spend more than the potential payout of a sale on one keyword, then I typically bail.
2. If a keyword is getting a TON of cheap clicks… converting BADLY… but STILL profitable, then you definitely want to keep it (I know this is obvious, but I’m trying to cover all the bases here).
3. When a keyword IS profitable, then make note of how much you are spending… and what your average cost per sale is for that keyword. Now up the bid a little bit (hoping to get more traffic) and see if you make more or less per sale than you were before.
4. If a keyword IS extremely profitable, then try to think of other similar keywords that might convert well. Think of every variation of that keyword. (Use a thesaurus). SO many people don’t do this… and using a little brain power can go a long way.
5. Do your research and find long tail keywords. There are TONS of free keyword research tools available. Check out our video section where we walk you through a few of them.

Ad Groups:

1. Remember, Ad Groups are all about RELEVANCY. All the keywords in an ad group should be related in some way and paired with ads that match your keywords… or match the general theme of the keywords in that ad group.
2. Create at least two ads per ad group. Yahoo, Google, MSN… they all have an ad split test feature. USE IT. Write one ad that’s similar to the competition and another ad that’s more creative so that it stands out. (Always split test ads).
3. When creating an ad group, start with about 20 keywords. Add MORE keywords once you get an idea of the ad group’s performance. So start small… but go BIG when you find a profitable market.

Campaigns:

1. If a campaign is profitable, then you obviously want to keep it (and ramp it up by adding more keywords). You can also CLONE your campaign to possibly double your rate of success.
2. If a campaign is NOT profitable, then I typically don’t pursue it anymore. Move on… there’s plenty of fish in the sea.
3. If the campaign has a proven history of breaking even (or almost breaking even) then the SMARTEST thing to do would be creating a similar product for that market. Keep ALL the money. This way you could instantly make this “break even product” a money maker. Having a better sales copy will make you MORE money too.
4. Make sure you’re not wasting clicks on countries that aren’t BUYERS. Use the geo-targeting feature. START with the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Australia, but check to see what other countries would be good prospects for your product.
5. Set up “content network only” campaigns for Yahoo and Google and budget them separately. Content traffic tends to be CHEAPER and sometimes even converts better than search. (Actually the content network is how I got my foot in the door when I began Internet marketing.)
6. Be sure that your MONEY-MAKING campaigns are NOT turning off towards the end of the day, because your daily budget is too LOW. (Trust me… it happens.)

Alrighty… that’s about all for today, but here are some closing thoughts: Remember, Internet marketing is a NUMBERS game. Put a system in place that’s in line with your budget and allows you to test multiple offers. Don’t put ALL your eggs in one basket.

And if you make any changes to your PPC campaigns then make a note of WHAT you did and WHEN you did it. Because when you wake up one morning to find a campaign is suddenly making BIG money… you’ll REALLY want to know what you did to make that happen. 

Keep at it!
Mitch Sanders

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