he Google Feedback Loop For Quality Traffic
Monday, June 19, 2006
For this to work, you need some kind of tracking for your website/web pages that tells you which search engines send people to you for what keyword searches. Now truly, for a website owner there is nothing more fascinating than their own stats, so if you don't have good tracking software yet, do go out and get some.
There are many versions about, still many free ones available, and please, DO get started with tracking your pages and their performance.***
Now, let's get started.
The Google feedback loop works very simply and like this.
Let's say you have a website and you find out that a particular phrase turns up in those search engine referrals which sends you some people reliably, week in, week out.
It doesn't matter if it's only a few, what DOES matter is that this is ALREADY HAPPENING.
Therein lies the key!
As an example, I noted that just because there was a phrase that related to this by accident in one of my essays, I got some 14 people sent to me because they were searching for "symbols of eternal love". Down the list a bit further, there were another 9 who wanted "eternal love symbols", and then the many more single queries with random variations on that phrase.
A total of fifty visitors who would otherwise have gone elsewhere, every month, on that one key phrase.
That's nice and as it doesn't cost us anything beyond a little time and ingenuity, and ...
... and this is IMPORTANT! ...
... and as I can PROVIDE MORE INFORMATION on this key phrase because that is completely within the brief of my site and what I do ...
I can now begin to enter into the "Google feedback loop".
So now, I shall expand on this idea of "symbols of eternal love".
I'll keep the original article and reference just the way it is, but I'm going to HYPERLINK the phrase where it appears in the text, and make another page with USEFUL AND MORE IN DEPTH information on "eternal symbols of love", including images, references and natural language copy.
When I do this, the following happens:
Firstly, we don't lose what traffic we are already getting by NOT CHANGING THE ORIGINAL REFERRING PAGE.
That's important!
Secondly, we are now offering the visitors MORE AND BETTER information on what they are looking for, and this will be appreciated and can be used as a starting point for a further relationship with the visitor - they may go from there to download something, or perhaps bookmark your pages because you're on the right vibe, perhaps buy something or tell a friend or a group they're on, or a forum, to go check out your site - all sorts of things can and do happen from there.
Thirdly, and this is where the "feedback loop" happens, you now have MORE and MORE VARIED keywords relating to the topic to show, more content and this will BRING YOU UP HIGHER in the rankings for that search overall - which results in MORE people clicking on your site's link, which in turn helps with your rankings.
Well, perhaps I should have called this a feedback SPIRAL because what NOW happens is that not only do you get more than your original 50 people coming every month, but you also get that same effect again - there might well be SOME THING on your further page that brings in that first flow of visitors for ANOTHER specific keyphrase which can be treated in much the same way - hyperlinked to a new page with more in depth information and even better quality content.
Go on like this for a while with the FAVOURITES amongst your key phrases, and you really will:
1. Find whole new "markets" or groups of visitors you've never had access to before;
2. Get more people for the already existing content as your site moves up in the rankings;
3. EVOLVE your site and your web presence in a very safe and expansive way - and without risking being dropped for the orig!
inal content because that doesn't change.
A last word of advice before I go.
PLEASE stay within the context of what you're doing.
No-one is served by having visitors who are the wrong crowd for your services or plans or desires.
If you are selling sun flowers, there is NO POINT in going after keywords relating to audio engineering or motorway maintenance.
Ok so you might get a bunch of visitors, but they WON'T stay, WON'T buy and WON'T do anything other than pass through like a breeze in the night and leave you wondering why you get hits but no sales!
If you *do* stay within the brief or context of what you are doing, and you go after the keywords and key phrases that MAKE SENSE in the context of your site, on the other hand, the "Google Feedback Loop" is an EXCELLENT way to improve quality traffic long term, and reliably.
There are many versions about, still many free ones available, and please, DO get started with tracking your pages and their performance.***
Now, let's get started.
The Google feedback loop works very simply and like this.
Let's say you have a website and you find out that a particular phrase turns up in those search engine referrals which sends you some people reliably, week in, week out.
It doesn't matter if it's only a few, what DOES matter is that this is ALREADY HAPPENING.
Therein lies the key!
As an example, I noted that just because there was a phrase that related to this by accident in one of my essays, I got some 14 people sent to me because they were searching for "symbols of eternal love". Down the list a bit further, there were another 9 who wanted "eternal love symbols", and then the many more single queries with random variations on that phrase.
A total of fifty visitors who would otherwise have gone elsewhere, every month, on that one key phrase.
That's nice and as it doesn't cost us anything beyond a little time and ingenuity, and ...
... and this is IMPORTANT! ...
... and as I can PROVIDE MORE INFORMATION on this key phrase because that is completely within the brief of my site and what I do ...
I can now begin to enter into the "Google feedback loop".
So now, I shall expand on this idea of "symbols of eternal love".
I'll keep the original article and reference just the way it is, but I'm going to HYPERLINK the phrase where it appears in the text, and make another page with USEFUL AND MORE IN DEPTH information on "eternal symbols of love", including images, references and natural language copy.
When I do this, the following happens:
Firstly, we don't lose what traffic we are already getting by NOT CHANGING THE ORIGINAL REFERRING PAGE.
That's important!
Secondly, we are now offering the visitors MORE AND BETTER information on what they are looking for, and this will be appreciated and can be used as a starting point for a further relationship with the visitor - they may go from there to download something, or perhaps bookmark your pages because you're on the right vibe, perhaps buy something or tell a friend or a group they're on, or a forum, to go check out your site - all sorts of things can and do happen from there.
Thirdly, and this is where the "feedback loop" happens, you now have MORE and MORE VARIED keywords relating to the topic to show, more content and this will BRING YOU UP HIGHER in the rankings for that search overall - which results in MORE people clicking on your site's link, which in turn helps with your rankings.
Well, perhaps I should have called this a feedback SPIRAL because what NOW happens is that not only do you get more than your original 50 people coming every month, but you also get that same effect again - there might well be SOME THING on your further page that brings in that first flow of visitors for ANOTHER specific keyphrase which can be treated in much the same way - hyperlinked to a new page with more in depth information and even better quality content.
Go on like this for a while with the FAVOURITES amongst your key phrases, and you really will:
1. Find whole new "markets" or groups of visitors you've never had access to before;
2. Get more people for the already existing content as your site moves up in the rankings;
3. EVOLVE your site and your web presence in a very safe and expansive way - and without risking being dropped for the orig!
inal content because that doesn't change.
A last word of advice before I go.
PLEASE stay within the context of what you're doing.
No-one is served by having visitors who are the wrong crowd for your services or plans or desires.
If you are selling sun flowers, there is NO POINT in going after keywords relating to audio engineering or motorway maintenance.
Ok so you might get a bunch of visitors, but they WON'T stay, WON'T buy and WON'T do anything other than pass through like a breeze in the night and leave you wondering why you get hits but no sales!
If you *do* stay within the brief or context of what you are doing, and you go after the keywords and key phrases that MAKE SENSE in the context of your site, on the other hand, the "Google Feedback Loop" is an EXCELLENT way to improve quality traffic long term, and reliably.
