In my previous blog I spoke about developing an optimisation team and how this is more difficult than it first sounds. Now we're going to start to look at keywords themselves.

The purpose of a keyword is to more accurately map an advertiser to a domain's traffic. For example, I have a domain called mp3raid.co.uk and it has music related traffic going to it. If I put "games" as the keyword then my click through rate (CTR) is likely to be really small therefore driving down the RPM (Revenue Per Thousand). This is not good. On the other hand if I put "music" as the keyword then my CTR is likely to go up and reflect a higher RPM. This is a REALLY simple way of looking at keyword optimisation.

Now for a reality check. Keyword earnings per click (EPC) vary dramatically between keywords in a related area. For example, I may get 5 cents for "music" while I'll get 20 cents per click for "jazz music". Therefore, not hunting for the best keyword for your domain that gives a combination of the highest EPC and CTR means that you're leaving a lot of money on the table.

If it was only as simple as setting a keyword and just letting the cash flow in we'd all be very happy but it's not. Due to the advertising auction system for keywords established initially by Google keyword payout rates fluctuate over time. This means that great keyword you set today paying out an EPC of 20 cents may be paying out 3 cents tomorrow.

It gets even worse....the rates paid by Yahoo and Google vary as well as the payout rates for the various geographical regions and PARKING COMPANY! Oh know! At this point I feel like my heads going to explode! Too many variables, across time that are constantly fluctuating causes me to look for a long drink down the pub :-) But then I stop and say....it could be worth it.

In my next blog I'm going to begin to unpack some of this complexity and show what we've done at Park Logic and our own domains to make it easier to manage it all.

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