Are You Sure You Should Use Dynamic Keywords On Your Landing Page?
Jan 14th, 2008 | By Kevin | Category: How To, make money, trafficI was talking to my good friend Robby LeBlanc from Las Vegas tonight about a project he is currently working on for a new client. One of the questions he had referred to a script we had created on Rentacoder some time ago during the adsense goldrush days that would display the search string your visitors used when they arrived on the page they clicked on. The idea behind this is you were magically giving them exactly what they were searching for like you were reading their mind.
This has also become valuable when running adwords campaigns. It is believed that customizing your landing page for each keyword will improve the quality score for your adwords campaign, especially, if the keyword you are using appears on the landing page.
There are a few ways to achieve this.
- You could create a different static page for each keyword. The keyword displayed on the landing page may not be correct for broad match keywords though.
- You could pass the keyword along through the url and pull dynamic content from a database or through an RSS feed to match the passed keyword, however this may also not be correct for broad match keywords.
- Another option that handles the broad match scenario is to pull the actual search string out of the header information passed by the search engines, either through PPC or natural search.
While the third option may seem like a good one, you have no way of knowing what your visitor may be searching for, so it may have the reverse affect. Ie., let’s say you are paying for the keyword Salt Lake Auto Dealer, and the person is searching for Salt Lake Auto Dealers That Suck. If you are under broad match in your adwords campaign, our your site is optimized for Salt Lake Auto Dealer, you may even come up under natural search.
Now the visitor either clicks on your ad or the search engine result, if you are using option three, your site now may be showing Salt Lake Auto Dealers That Suck. Not the kind of message you want to give prospective auto buyers now is it.
If you are running PPC campaigns, there are other factors you can use to improve your landing page quality score, other than using the keyword. Of the three options above, I prefer option two. It calls for a little work, but in the long run it is worth it, and you know what is showing on your landing pages.
I’ll get more into PPC landing page optimization in later posts.
Until then, go make some more money…
Kevin
Originally from Wisconsin, I moved out to Salt Lake City over ten years ago on a six month software development contract. I now have over 15 years in software development, and was introduced to internet marketing back in 2003. During the wild west days, our business focused on content sites for Adsense revenue. As it became harder and harder to keep up with the search engines, our business has evolved, and forced us to focus on building lists and creating products. We now have a list of about 5000 interested in goal setting, and a small internet marketing list of about 500.