SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible Book Review

May 19, 2008 – 10:19 am

SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible by Jerri L. Ledford
SEO - Search Engine Optimization Bible Book

So a co-worker of mine bought this book because he wanted to learn more about SEO and asked me to review it for him to see if it was any good.  Man – was I disappointed.  It was so bad I actually told him to not even waste his time reading it and to get a different book.

First off almost all the book is about PPC, not even about SEO – and they are totally different online marketing strategies, similar but very different.  I was expecting it to be only about SEO with maybe one chapter on PPC, but as I flipped through I kept seeing PPC everywhere. 

Next most of the advice is very dated.  There were a few chapters that were good, but they were the exception.  Also it lacks specific examples and pieces of advice.  It goes over topics in such broad detail if you were not familiar with SEO it would leave you sitting there to wonder “thats great, but how in the world do I actually implement some of this advice?”

 If you are new or experienced to SEO this is not the book to buy.  It is too vague, jumps around from topic to topic too much, and should be titled “The SEO and PPC Bible” since it covers so many topics specific to PPC.

Posted in Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization | 7 Comments »

Google Adwords Campaign Optimizer Review

May 12, 2008 – 10:28 am

I have used google campaign optimizer in adwords now for several different websites and have also spoke with many other marketers who have utilized the service as well.  So far the results have been much less than impressive and appears to be a system for Google to suck more money out of advertisers than before.  Here are the results of three campaigns and the statistics relating to them.  Each test only lasted about 2 weeks and in all cases the before and after time period of running ads was much more profitable for the website or business than during the 2 weeks that google optimizer ran. In all three cases the biggest noted change to the PPC campaigns was increased CPC for keyword phrases.

Campaign Optimizer Campaign 1:
* Conversion ratio went down by 126%
* Overall spend increased by 21%

Campaign Optimizer Campaign 2:
* Conversion ratio went down by 243%
* Overall spend increased by 19%

Campaign Optimizer Campaign 3:
* Conversion ratio went down by 64%
* Overall spend increased by 17%

To say the least I have not met anyone who has had positive things to say about the Google Adwords Campaign Optimizer tool. Although it could possibly be useful for those who know absolutely nothing about PPC campaigns, for those who have even a little experience will end up doing much better by setting up their ppc campaigns on their own. If you do plan on testing it out I would highly suggest making a backup of your Google Adwords account so you can restore it later if the results are not what you were looking for.

Posted in Pay Per Click | 7 Comments »