As a copywriter, I get a lot of “make sure you get my keywords in, because I want to rank”. And, because I wrote the copy, I even sometimes get “hey, my site isn’t ranking - what did you do wrong?”

Let me tell you the truth about Keywords and Search Engine Rank: Keywords are almost meaningless when it comes to ranking in the search engines. 

Now, before anyone gets all up in arms over this let me explain what I mean by that.

To start, let’s establish something: Keywords are immensely powerful in getting a page or website ranked. In fact, on their own, they can propel a site to #1 on Google within hours. That’s how powerful they are.

But wait Dan… didn’t you just say they are meaningless?

Yes, I did. They are both meaningless, and incredibly powerful. I think you’ll understand this better if I just show you the test I did. 

Last week, I ran a test with keywords. The two posts that preceded this one were test posts that I put up on 2/11/2010.

The first post was about Dracula smoking cigars with Godzilla. And within two hours, that post was #1 on google. Really, if you typed in Dracula Godzilla Cigars, that post is #1 (this one will likely eventually beat it, too.) Here, see for yourself

Let me repeat that - within two hours, it was NUMBER ONE on Google. You didn’t even need to put quotes around it or anything - just those three words.

Man, that’s serious power. If you had a business that people used those terms to search for, you’re gold.

Then I did a second post maybe 15 minutes later. This one was about home based business advice. I don’t need to post you the Google link - I’m likely still waiting for it to show up in the top 1000. Never mind the top 100, or the top ten. And forget #1. It’s been a week, and that post simple doesn’t show up.

So, one post shoots to number 1 within two hours. The other doesn’t show up at all. Interesting, huh? So, what’s the difference?

Could it be that maybe, just maybe, there’s ZERO competition for the dracula/godzilla/cigars one? That nobody out there is using those combined words for any of their webpages? (which, by the way, saddens me - I’m a huge Godzilla fan, I like cigars, and Dracula was cool too!)

And for the home based business one there’s… I dunno, maybe FOUR MILLION competitors? (or so - I lose count.)

So that’s why I say Keywords are Meaningless. Most of us are in businesses with ample competition. It goes without saying that almost all of the competition is going to use the same popular keywords. Even if you get creative and use some odd keyphrases, everyone has access to the same keyword tools - it’s unlikely you will be the Godzilla outlier. Plus, it’s the popular terms that get used the most.

Look at it this way - if you are a Houston carpet cleaner, you and probably 100 other businesses use “houston carpet cleaning rug cleaning shampooing drape upholstery” etc etc etc - all the expected stuff is going to be used by all of the businesses in the area. So just using the keywords isn’t enough.

Now let me be clear - I’m not saying you can ignore keywords. You can’t. Not using them would be a killer. But using them is probably not going to help you rank high either. Keywords are one of many ranking criteria search engines use. Thus, you’re generally using the keywords simply to pull you even with everyone else on that particular ranking criteria. 

That’s what my home based business post did - it pulled me even with other home based business pages in regards to page title and opening keywords. But it lost heavily on “the other stuff”. So it’s lost amongst the sea of competition. But the Godzilla one… well, that scored a clear knockout. NOBODY out there has more information about godzilla and dracula and cigars ALL ON THE SAME PAGE. There’s no need to look at anything else - put Dan #1. Yay, I win!!!

But I won nothing, really. Nobody else was even playing. Understand what I mean? Keywords are necessary, but they aren’t particularly helpful, either.

Now this always leads to the question of “ok Dan, just how DO you rank?”  

Well, to answer that, I’ll start by saying I’m no SEO expert. But I do have a high natural ranking on some competitive keywords, so I do know a little. But I think I’ll save it for another post.

So to sum this up, I essentially wanted to dispel that keywords are IT when it comes to ranking. They aren’t (unless your name is Dracula Godzilla and you own a cigar shop, of course!)

Ok, this isn’t so much a post about Dracula smoking cigars with Godzilla as it is to prove a point. In other words, this post is a test. A test that has to do with business and marketing. More to come in a few days.

And now, I’m off for the long weekend (I may even smoke a cigar… although not likely with Godzilla and Dracula. That would be kinda cool, though…)

Enjoy your President’s Day Weekend, everyone. I’ll return to this test next week.

For anyone hoping that I was going to spill details of a date gone bad, well…. let’s say I never had a date go bad.

Regardless, this little essay does indeed involve dates - calendar dates and similar. It’s mostly directed at websites, but the lesson learned can be applied to almost any business.

In very simple terms, if you are going to “date” anything, you’d better make sure you are dedicated enough to stay on top of it. There is no more certain way to say “I don’t give a @#$%” than having Mother’s Day stuff still up on Father’s Day.

Or still having your “Winter Blowout” on April 9th.

Or having a dated news item on your home page that is six months old.

Or posting the date you updated your blog, and the last update was four months ago.

Seriously - what would you think if you came to my blog, and the last entry was written four months ago? Would you wonder what happened? It may seem trivial, but it’s a big negative.

Because it essentially says you let the little details slip.

The same goes for brick and mortar businesses. How many times have you seen one that keeps sale prices up after a sale is over? Or has the big sign outside advertising last week’s bargain?

In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say that “most” things with dates end up just like what I describe above. They get neglected, then forgotten. Most people and companies are great starters. But there are very few finishers.

Be a finisher. Take the Mother’s Day stuff down the day after Mother’s Day. Post to your blog regularly. Your quarterly newsletter should come out four times a year, not three. And your “recent news” needs to be…. well…. recent.

Neglecting updates is a killer. It really is. No matter how nice a website is, if people see “old” things on the front page, or they see a blog that was last updated last season, it puts a tiny sliver of negativity in their heads. And that’s something no website (or business) wants. This is partially why I don’t recommend that companies put “company news” right on the homepage, because after a short burst of updates, that’s the first thing to get neglected. I’d rather not know any of your news than know that your last noteworthy thing happened at 2008’s Spud Show.

It’s on my whiteboard next to me right now: “12/21 - 1/4 - VACATION (don’t be too lazy, though - change the websites dates.)”

Yes, it really says that (except that I don’t write in italics). If you have dates on your website, put changing them on your planner right now.

I heard a talk recently by some higher up in a marketing company about the loss of communication skills (or skillz) by the younger sect, because they use U instead of “you”, etc. He probably mentioned 10 examples or so.

That would be fine and all if the company’s brochure didn’t have ”B2B” in big letters, right on the first page.

Oops.

I’m a big believer in the power of words (being a writer and all!) This goes both ways, though - words have the power to do good, and words can have a detrimental affect on what you do. And sometimes the damage is very difficult to undo.

Now I’m not talking about saying bad things or sending an angry e-mail and such. I’m talking more about unintentional damage. Damage where the words you used actually undo (or harm) your message or intent.

I’m going to use the phrase Global Warming as an example.

The big mistake the environmentalists made was calling it “Global Warming” to start with. Why was it a big mistake? Because it pigeonholed them. All it takes is a cold day in May for people to say “yea, where’s that global warming I’ve been hearing about?”

In other words, the argument gets completely caught up in being about the word “warming”. “Global Warming” is a definitive name. “Climate Change” (which is what they are now starting to use) is MUCH less restrictive.

See what I mean? “Climate Change” doesn’t have an easy, built-in opposite at the ready.

I came across this example because I am somewhat a believer in the phenomenon. While I’m not sure of a lot of things, I am pretty convinced that we, as a species, have some effect on our environment. But whenever I’m in a discussion about it, the “cold day/week/winter” argument always arises.

Side note: this is just an observation on words - I don’t want you to think I’m some environmentalist nutjob. I’m not (nor am I against such, either… listen, I’ll happily recycle the bottles, but I’m not going to lose my mind over losing a species of insect. Nor am I buying a puny little electric car…)

Truth be told, I think Global Warming is probably inevitable, and will be nature’s way of thinning us out a little… ok, back to the business part of this post. 

Another aspect of this is business names. Naming your business “Bills Bug Killing” prettymuch limits you to killing bugs. Which is fine if that’s all you do. But most guys like this also handle other pests, like rodents. Naming your business “Bills Pest Services” is much better.

There are exceptions to this. But they are usually due to popular conventions. For example, I expect “Joe’s Pizza” to have Calzones (and a guy named “Joe”.)

And speaking of which, it’s time to eat.