Implementing SEO as part of a complex Marketing

Strategy Harpinder Sohal

Head of Online Marketing (UK Mail)

Profile overview

• 10 years in Online Marketing/Digital/eCommerce • UK Mail since 2011 • ipostparcels.com – Pure play start-up (Sept 2011)

Key takeaways…

Key takeaways

• How to assess and implement changes to improve your SEO visibility.

• How to integrate SEO as part of a complex Marketing Strategy including PPC, Email, Social and Affiliate Marketing

• How content is the key to expanding search visibility

The beginning…

Where we started

• Brand launch of ipostparcels.com in late 2011 • SEO campaign targeting a link building

strategy • Quantity vs. quality • Short and sharp progress • Google’s un-natural link profile warning in WMT

Link building

One Off SEO Work iPostParcels 

KEYWORDS 35

PAGES FOR CONTENT & META 7

PAGES FOR META ONLY 5

INITIAL SEO FRIENDLY DIRECTORY SUBMISSIONS (one off) 250

BLOG INTEGRATION YES

PR SECTION YES

Monthly SEO Workflow

FREE DIRECTORY SUBMISSIONS 300

BLOGS X 250 WORDS 6

BLOGS PUBLISHED TO WEBSITE 6

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING SUBMISSIONS 120

ARTICLES X 300 WORDS 2

ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS (TOTAL) 100

PRESS RELEASES TO 100 PORTALS 2 then 1 alternate

PRESS RELEASES SUBMITTED TO SITE 2 then 1 alternate

NEW DIRECTORY SUBMISSIONS 15

GUARANTEED DIRECTORY SUBMISSIONS 8

FREE BUSINESS DIRECTORY SUBMISSIONS 15

THEMED LINKS (PR 0) 7

PR 1 LINKS 6

PR 2 LINKS 3

CONTEXTUAL BLOGS 3

PROFILE CREATIONS 1

The plan?

Backlinks & referrals

Backlinks & referrals

Bad times…

How we reacted

All change

• SEO landscape turned upside down – Penguin (April 2012)

• Effect on keyword rankings • Change of agency (iProspect Manchester) • Change of SEO strategy • Matt Cutts blog on buying links

A new plan

• Strategising SEO to customer (and Google!) needs with Vertical Leap

• Focus on unique, high quality & relevant content

Content that is

genuinely sharable…

Sprouts of success

The way forward

• Strategizing SEO to customer (and Google!) needs with Vertical Leap

• Focus on unique, high quality & relevant content • Keywords are so last season! • Diversifying content strategy & engaging social

media • Integrating SEO into the Marketing mix e.g. PPC • Impact on search visibility

On the up…

Organic traffic growth

Search visibility

Search profile

Where we are now

Conclusion

• Identify specific activity that could be detrimental to SEO

• Diversify your content output & ensure its engaging

• Incorporate SEO into ALL your marketing channels • Content is still very much…

questions

Harpinder Sohal

Dave Colgate

Head of Online Marketing @HarpsSohal

Search Specialist @SEODave