Are You Where They are Looking?

Originally published in E-Tailer's Digest. An excellent digest for the on-line retailer.

The recent run-up caused by Victoria's Secret Lingerie serves to show why it is important to watch the trends in search engine queries. Like all human driven surges in query topics, this one spawned not one query, but a number of variation which can be taken advantage of without stepping on trademark issues. More on how, below the lists.

WHAT HAPPENED

Victoria's Secret, maker of Lingerie, had a web party. ABC News reports that over one and a half million people mobbed the live broadcast on the net the week before Valentine's day. We saw this in a huge increase in search engine queries related to victoria, secret, lingerie, and related terms, and reported it to subscribers of our reports. (Current report at: http://www.mall-net.com/se_report/). Some On-Line retailers commented in E-Tailer's Digest that they saw a huge increase in page hits and sales.

A few of the queries below can suggest other terms and creative spellings. Heck, even "secret catalog show" will get you hits from this surge! (Though if you don't have anything striking, many will leave for the real thing.)

By the way, don't assume the spelling challenged viewers won't buy -- many of them don't use English as their primary language. And many don't have ANYONE in their area to buy from!

THE STATISTICS:

Based on about 1.5 million queries sampled that week:
Rank:#Q's:Query Text

10:899: victoria secret
14:842: victoria s secret
18:631: victorias secret
21:580: lingerie
34:422: victoria secrets
39:401: victoria
258:123: www victoriassecret com
397:94: victoriasecret
415:92: www victoriasecret com

... And a few odd selections:
 
1507:38: secrets
1811:33: secret
1978:31: lingerie models
1978:31: lingere 
5578:14: plus size lingerie 
6693:12: victorias secret fashion show 
7461:11: victoria secret fashion show 
8316:10: victoria secret homepage 
24981:4: victorias secreat 

24981:4: victoria secrets websight 
24981:4: victoria secrets home page 
24981:4: victoria secret catalog 
24981:4: sheer lingerie 
35408:3: victoria secrets catalog 
35408:3: victoria secret video 
35408:3: victoria secret store 
35408:3: victoria secret magazine 
35408:3: victoria secret live 
35408:3: victoria secret catalogue 
35408:3: victoria secet 
35408:3: victoria secert magizine 
35408:3: victoria s secret webcast 
35408:3: victoria s secret online langerie show 

Oh yes, do note how few of those 1.5 million queries are on this hot topic. The range of things people look for is immense! They are not all sex starved teenagers. Some are even into Linux

HOW CAN YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE?

Does not having the right page out there ahead of time mean you "missed the wave"? Yes and no. There are spikes and surges. Spikes don't last. Surges decay slowly, so that it is possible to get on to some search engines in time to get some hits... BUT

In the long run, you can't build a business on a single surge!

So what is the surge doing for you? Identify a Mind-Set, Yea Olde Psychographics or market segment, and the latest words that market segment uses to find what it wants.

These people were out there long before the surge, and will be out there long after the surge has passed. What they did learn, was another set of words to use to satisfy their desires. Those words are passed on to other people in their market segment. As you can see in the next week's stats, (below,) the words are still hot. You can bet that the same market segment includes other seasonal words like the top three on this list:

Rank:#Q's:Query Text

11:783: valentine
25:539: valentines
34:486: valentine cards
38:442: lingerie
50:389: valentines day
88:290: victoria s secret
91:288: victoria secret
111:255: valentine s day
163:197: victorias secret
172:190: valentines cards
184:183: victoria
323:124: lingerie
338:120: valentines day cards
350:118: victoria secrets
350:118: valentine card
448:102: valentine poems
553:89: free valentine cards
740:72: st valentine
909:62: valentine clip art
1053:56: valentine day
1080:55: valentine s day cards
1171:52: valentines poems
1234:50: valentine s

The way to take advantage of those changes, is to create NEW pages specific to the changing terms. And to watch what your existing keywords are doing, so you are ready for seasonal changes as well as able to respond to news items.

HOW CAN WE HELP?

We produce custom reports based on your keywords; as well as other weekly report products to let you know what the top 100, 200, and 1000 queries are each week.

The week's top 100 query list is always at http://www.mall-net.com/se_report. There are also pages based on some of the words used in the top 100 queries. It is a good place to go for ideas if you have a popular topic, or to see what people are looking for.

The week's top 200 list is available as a free subscription. E-mail webmaster@mall-net.com with the subject SUBSCRIBE T200 (your e-mail address) or subscribe via the above web page.

The weekly top 1000 is only $20 a year.

But if you are really serious about watching what is happening with words that mean something to your business, you need to subscribe to our $95 custom keyword tracking report. For speed, you can hit our wholesaler, www.wordspot.com with a credit card. Or if you e-mail me for a custom consultation, (and pay by check,) I will help you select the more important keywords for YOUR pages, and subscribe you to a custom six keyword report for the same $95. (That will soon include 24 hour spike and surge notifications.)

If you are a webmaster with clients, we have package deals and re-branding programs; things you need to help your clients make informed decisions, and help you provide your clients with the best services possible. (And perhaps another profit center.) When your clients see these reports, many will want to update their existing pages and create new ones to take advantage of how keyword usage changes over time.

javilk@mall-net.com ------------------ webmaster@Mall-Net.com ----------------------- IMAGINEERING -------------------------- ----------------- Every mouse click, a Vote ------------------- ---------- Do they vote For, or Against your pages? ----------- ----- What people want: http://www.mall-net.com/se_report/ ---- ---------------------------------------------------------------