I periodically analyze something called a “web log,” which gives us information about how many visitors we have to our sites and how they arrive there. One of my primary interests is in the analysis of search terms, as this is a good indicator of how potential customers are seeking us out.

Recently the logs indicated that someone had found one of our sites using Google, with the search phrase “tape“. We’ve been selling tape for a long time and score really well with search phrases like “gaffers tape” and “Permacel 665” but I never even considered that we could be found through a search term as broad as “tape”. After all, when you search for “tape” in Google you get over 147,000,000 returns.

Imagine my surprise when I searched for “tape” and buytape.com came up as no. 5 on the first page. That’s truly amazing, especially when you consider how many kinds of tape there are and how many different companies sell some kind of tape.

I never cease to be amazed at how diligent, if somewhat boring, search engine optimazation will return truly amazing results. There is really no substitute for attending to the details of what Google and other search engines look for in a well-optimized page. A company of our size and with the resources we have at our disposal should not be able to go head-to-head with companies like 3M and Polyken and come out on top in web search. This can’t even really be called “leveling the playing field”.

Still, we are pleased to get this sort of recognition and hope that we can hold onto our ranking for a long, long time.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and tape.

We’ve made some changes here recently that have meant that I now have additional web developer responsibilities. It is work that I enjoy, but it can be complicated. The learning curve is steep.

One of the new tasks that has landed on my desk is managing our Google Adwords account. Most of our search engine traffic comes from non-paid search since our web sites score well for lots of keywords, but we still feel that Adwords is worth the trouble.

New, at least to me, is that Adwords gives some additonal value to your site if the landing page (the page that the link in your Adword actually takes the user to) is relevant to the text in the ad. Its hard to believe that this isn’t obvious to anyone who is spending money on Adwords or any keyword driven online advertising.

Why would anyone pay good money for an ad for the keyword “gaffers tape” and then take you to a web page selling paint when you click on their ad. Their site may offer tape somewhere in its pages, but someone doing an online search is not likely to drill down in the site far enough to find it. They will simply click on a competitor’s site.

The amount of time needed to create a custom landing page that has useful references to the actual keyword used in the search is small when compared to the wasted money spent when a keyword-driven search does not provide the information that the user hoped to find.

Google has made tons of money on Adwords and they are to be applauded for being willing to forego some revenue in order to improve the customer experience. Giving less value to a landing page that is not relevant to the search terms is another reason why Google will probably continue to rule in online search.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands, and other useful products.