introduction to search_marketing

Copyright © 2011 Bill Hunt All rights reserved.

Introduction to Search Engine Marketing

Bill Hunt Back Azimuth Consulting

SES New York 2011


What do you want to get?

• 3 silver bullets that rock my world!

• 1 killer tool that does it all – so I don’t have to!

• A Magic Wand that I can wave over my program and it works like a charm!


What will you get?

• 100+ slides that will change your thinking

• Overview of Search Marketing

• Suggestions for sessions to advance your knowledge

• Just enough knowledge to make you dangerous yet productive!


Traits of a Great Search Marketer

• Curiosity of a 5 Year Old

• Sherlock Holmes’ Deductive Reasoning

• Lance Armstrong Competitive

• Bill Clinton Communicator

• Madelyn Albright Diplomat

• Thomas Edison Innovator

• Student of your Craft


Paid SearchOrganic Search


News!

Wikipedia

YouTube!

Reseller

Reviews

Blog!

Corporate Site

Apple iPhone Paid Ads

Universal SearchUniversal Search


Video Content

Real Time Search

News Content


Personalised search

Personalised search delivers results based on the things you’ve searched for on Google and the sites you’ve visited.

“

“Google - December 2009


Search Engine Marketing


Search Terms & AcronymsSearch Terms & Acronyms

• SEM - Search Engine Marketing or Paid Search in Europe

• SEO - Search Engine Optimization

• DAO - Digital Asset Optimization

• SMO - Social Media Optimization

• SERP(s) - Search Engine Results Page

• Link Juice - Search Engine Optimization

• Link Bait - Search Engine Optimization

• PPC - Pay-per-Click (also referred to as Paid Search)

• CPC - Cost per Click – How much is the cost of each click?

• CPA - Cost per Acquisition – How much for a new customer?

• CTR - Click through rate – What percent are clicking?


Search Engine Optimization

11

Making changes to your site to ensure it maximizes the key elements used by

search engines to score and rank pages


How Search Engines Work1. Spiders (crawlers, robots) crawl the Web and extract

information from each page2. Information helps to build an Index

– What the page is about (number of times words appear)– When was the page last updated (if visited before)

– Where on a page the word appears – How are words emphasized (capitalized, punctuation, bolded, etc.)

– Who links to the page (number of links, quality and context of linking pages)

3. Encodes, weights, ranks, then stores information4. Displays the results in relevancy weighted order


How does the Algorithm Work

• Spam and Inflation Detection– Verifying that no unethical tricks are being used– Verifying that there are not duplicates or redirections

to custom pages for search engines – Verify there are no hidden content just for spiders – Is the content for human consumption and relevant?


How does the Algorithm Work• Keyword Phrase Inclusion/Content Relevancy

– Does the exact phrase occur on the page?– Location and proximity of keyword and/or keyword phrase– What is the relationship of the keyword to the content?– How many other similar or relevant pages on the site are

connected to this page? – Does the content use proper language syntax?– Are there any weightings to any content making it more important

or relevant to the main theme?


How does the Algorithm Work

• Internet Relevancy & Authority– How many other sites/pages are linked to this site and page?– How “relevant” to the topic are the pages/sites linking to the

page?– How relevant are the other links references which point to the

page?– Based on inbound links, is this site considered an authority?


4 Fundamentals of SEO

16


Indexability

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Ensuring that all of the pages on your site are able to be detected and indexed by the

search engines.


Indexability

• Is the site created in a way to enable the spiders to get to the site, into the site and capture all the pages within the site?

• Do you have spider traps and barriers to indexing– Improper redirects– Incorrect robots coding– JavaScript and DHTML navigation – Multiple dynamic variables & Session ID’s– Session ID’s or cookie restrictions

18


Inclusion Test• Test how many pages in the indexed

site:www.yourdomain.com

19


Robots.txt Syntax• Common protocol for blocking bots to all or part of your site

– Available at www.yoursite.com/robots.txt– Keeps spiders from specific sections of the site – scripts or user profiles– Done wrong, can block bots from entire site

Tip: Unless you need to block them always allow all bots access to all contentUser-agent: *

Disallow:

Tip: Unless you need to block them always allow all bots access to all contentUser-agent: *

Disallow:

User-agent: *Disallow:/cgi-bin/Disallow:/go/Sitemap: http://www.mysite.com/google-sitemap-index.xml


Complex URLs can be a challenge• Can inhibit or prevent crawling• Can result in duplicate pages for

same products with different attributes

• May not be linked so no way to find and index them

• Leverage XML site maps by category or classification to monitor inclusion and index rate.

https://avnetexpress.avnet.com/store/em/EMController/Audio-Amplifier/Maxim-Integrated-Products/DS4420N/_/R-7392976/A-7392976/An-0?action=part&catalogId=500201&langId=-

1&storeId=500201&listIndex=-1

https://avnetexpress.avnet.com/store/em/EMController/Audio-Amplifier/Maxim-Integrated-Products/DS4420N/_/R-7392976/A-7392976/An-0?action=part&catalogId=500201&langId=-

1&storeId=500201&listIndex=-1


Canonicalization• Home pages can be accessed many ways. Example:

– dell.com– www.dell.com– http://www.dell.com/us/en/gen/df.aspx?refid=df&s=gen

• Results in link dilution and content duplication.

• Use “Canonical” tag for page to page – V1 - http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-r-series.aspx?c=us&cs=19– V2 - http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-r-series.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs– V3 - http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-r-series.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn

– Canonical Tag Selects one version as the primary page: – <link rel="canonical" href="http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-r-series.aspx?cs=19" />


Design Challenges Design issues can impact ranking – educate

developers workarounds

– Flash– JavaScript Navigation– AJAX & Flex– Dynamic Content – Cookies, custom plugins– Slow Loading Pages– Graphics vs. text


XML Sitemaps Protocol to inform the search engines of your pages. Google and Bing report “issues” with URLs. Site Map Protocol - www.sitemaps.org


Barrier Checking Tool

FireFox Webmaster Tool https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/web-developer/

Check for cookies, page size, JavaScript and other key barriers


How Fast is Your Site?• How quickly do you deliver

content?– Dirty code– Unnecessary files– No compression– Oversized images– Server speed & pipe

Don’t waste the spiders time!

Test with Speed tools Yslow Google Speed Tool


Site Speed Testing Example

Test indicates multiple areas of improving load speed


Sessions on Indexing

Session Name Data/Time

Info Architecture for Modern WebSite Today 1:30pm

Intro to Information Retrieval on Web Today 1:30pm

SEO 101 Wednesday 9:30am

Technically Speaking Wednesday 3:45pm

Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues Thursday 2:00pm

Work Effectively with your IT Department Thursday 2:00pm


Relevance

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Ensuring that your pages are relevant to the query by placing keywords in locations that send strong signals to the search engines.


Relevance Questions

• Do your on-page elements align with the search industry’s understanding of the algorithm scoring model as represented by accepted best practices?

• Is the desired keyword included on the page? • Is keyword included in key elements on page like title

and heading?• Is the keyword phrase used in the body copy?


Relevance Competition

11

22

33


How a user sees a website


How a spider sees the site


Optimal Keyword Placement• Title Tags are the MOST IMPORTANT attribute

– <title> Supply Chain Management Consulting - TCS </title>

• Heading Tags - <H1> and <H2>• First Paragraph – Proper sentence wrapped keyword• Body Copy - Keywords appearing throughout page

content• Anchor Text - The keyword phrase appearing in a

hyperlink to your site or within it pointing to this page


Optimal Keyword Locations Illustrated

Overlay Source: SEO xRay from SEO for FireFox tool bar


Optimal Keyword Locations

Overlay Source: SEO xRay from SEO for Firefox toolbar


Title Tag: Your Secret Weapon• Every page should have a unique title• Each unique title is built around target phrase for that page

– This will be a two or three word phrase– “Keep it short, attractive and enticing.– Relevance and Clickability

• Most important phrase as far to the left as possible– <title> Business Process Outsourcing – TCS</title>– <title>Phoenix Dog Bite Attorney</title>– <title>Laptop Computers – Dell</title>


Titles Serve a Dual Purpose

<title>IT Services: Offerings: TCS </title>


Monitor Dup Title Tags – GWT


Page Headings• Search engines consider Page Headings and related sub-headings

to be important signals.

• Headings act like a Table of Contents with sections and subsections.

• Each page should have one main header tag marked as <H1> and may be followed by subdivision with <H2>


Content Is King

• Feed the Spiders– Content is the food of search engine spiders. – Keywords integrated into the page helps the spider to understand

the topic and relevance of the page.

• Opening Paragraph– The first 25 words on a page are important to search engines as they

begin to formulate an idea about what the page is about. – If there is interesting content at the beginning the user will be more

compelled to dig deeper. Start general and get specific.


Page Level AuditsPage Level Audits

• Identify all of the elements which are preventing the page from ranking for the desired keywords

• Compare your page to top ranking pages to identify gaps


“THE” Cisco LAN Switches Page

1 mention of “lan switches”


Cisco vs. Top 3

SEO for FireFox or WebCeo


Optimize Templates for Scale & Global ReachOptimize Templates for Scale & Global Reach

Sony.de

Sony.fr

Etc.

Page Title and Meta Data recommendations

Fully indexable navigation?

Ensure all parts of the page are indexable

Correct use of Header tags

Can search engine’s follow all of the links?

Enhancement of cross-links to distribute link equity


Not Spam, But Bad for Rankings• Splash pages, content-less home page, Flash intros• Title tags the same across the site• Error pages in the search results (e.g., “Session expire

d”)• "Click here" links• Superfluous text like “Welcome to” at beginning of

titles• Spreading site across multiple domains (usually for

load balancing).• Content too many levels deep


• Hidden or small text• Keyword stuffing• Targeted to obviously irrelevant keywords• Automated submitting, resubmitting, deep submitting• Competitor names in meta tags• Duplicate pages with minimal or no changes• Spamglish• Machine generated content

Spamming in Its Many Forms …


Sessions on Relevance


Info Architecture for Modern WebSite Today 1:30pm


Developing Great Content Today at 3:00pm


Panda, The Aftermath Wednesday 1:00pm

Creative Keyword Research Thursday 12:45pm

Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues Thursday 2:00pm


Authority

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Ensuring that your pages are considered relevant and authoritative by other

authoritative sites via links and anchor text.


Why is “Authority” Important?• Inbound links are “Votes of Authority” for a site

• Search Engines look for clusters of thematically similar content.

• Link Popularity - Number of links pointing to site• Link Authority – Quality of links pointing to site• Link Relevance - Anchor Text & Linking Page Relevance

– The keyword phrase appearing in the hyperlink to your site

– The keyword phrase appearing in prominence on linking page


Votes – website backlinks

A webpage with little or no authority

A webpage with some authority

A webpage with lots of authority

Internal web pages

Externally linked web pages


Why are links important? • Links are the foundation of the Internet

– Links allow users to move site to site seamlessly– Links connect pages with similar and relevant information

• Links are a source of targeted traffic. – Links from similar themed websites drive relevant and targeted

traffic.– Links create exposure and a “referral” scenario from the other site.

• Relevant links raise your natural search engine rankings. – Links connect you to search engines for inclusion. – Search engines use links in their relevancy algorithms as a means

of determining “relevance” and “authority” of your site within the peer sites of a similar topic.


Link Popularity / PageRank Google proxy score of page’s link popularity

– http://toolbar.google.com easy way to see this

Each link on a particular page gets a portion of that page’s overall score– 10 links, each gets 1/10; 100 links, each gets 1/100…


Quality Not Quantity of Links

PR0 PR1 PR2 PR3 PR4 PR5 PR6 PR7 PR8 PR9 Total PR6+ %PR6+

app server 450 15 149 96 537 148 23 6 0 1

1425 30 2%

Google #1

701 27 204 57 63 96 41 23 4 0

1216 68 6%

Google #2

223 10 45 31 36 145 143 30 11 28

702 212 30%

Google #3

613 38 120 191 100 121 35 3

0 0 1221 38 3%

• While the IBM page has more links than anyone, only 2% were links from high-quality sites.

Compare your links to those in the top positions of Google or Yahoo!


Age – how old is your site?• Google gives great weight to

sites that have been around for a few years or more. This makes them seem to be more legitimate.

• New sites will find it very hard to compete in mature markets


A Closer Look at Link Value• Popularity:

95 Pages linking to this page• Authority:

3.9% are quality links (PR>5)• Relevance:

74.7% of the links are relevant


Current State Assessment

• How many links do we have to:– Home page (and variations)– Key categories– Specific pages

• How many links do we have that are: – Linking to broken pages – Linking to the home page vs. category or

page


Link Popularity Analysis - Tools

Subscription based tool from SEOMoz that gives you all of the details you need to analyze both a site or an individual page for link authority and link

opportunities.


Link Popularity Analysis - Tools

MajesticSEO – www.majesticseo.com

Also a subscription-based too that allows for site and page level link analysis.


Why should they link?

• Does your content provide topically relevant and trusted?• Does your content solve a problem, save time or money?• Is your content interesting or relevant to an audience?• Is your content timely, relevant and/or entertaining? • Would you read your content if it was not yours?

– If not, then you don’t deserve links!

• Are you an Authority?• Are you well known in your field?• Are you active in committees, forums and blogs?• Have you been quoted in articles, press releases?


Popular Content Ideas

• How to & Beginner Guides related to your products and services

• Top 10 ways to... [Number + Adjective + Keyword Phrase]

• Surveys & Polls and Survey Data

• Handy Web Tools & applications that streamline tedious tasks.

• Expert Interviews on relevant and timely topics

• Awards or Recognition for your industry or customers

• Develop your Asset Matrix of valuable content


Develop Content to Satisfy Needs

How To related searches

80,000 monthly


Key Link Acquisition Concepts

Quality vs. Quantity• Better from Relevant sites & Authority sites than many non-related or poor

quality.

Contextual Relevancy• The measure of how well two sites are related in content and Theme

Authority & Trustworthy Sites• A site highly rated by a search engine: size, importance, & relevance

• Age and perceived “trustability” of the site


Submission OpportunitiesDirectories• General: Yahoo! & Open Directory Project (Google) Business.com

Local Directories• Google• Yahoo!• City Search• AOL

Yellow Pages• Super Pages• City Search• Info USA and Info USA Business• MSN Yellow Pages• Yahoo! Yellow Pages


http://ontolo.com/link-building-tools/LinkBuildingQueryGeneratorV2


Link Quality Worksheet

http://ontolo.com/link-building-tools/link-building-worksheets


Leverage Business Relationships Business partners

Review special deal partners, vendors, and channel partners

Conduct training or share linking best practices

Trade & Industry associations

Identify reputable industry associations, especially the ones where your currently a membership.

Review the links you get to ensure they are relevant

Industry Events

Participate in industry events to get content exposure and links

Bloggers and online bios are often great places to get links


Start with Google

Review the top positions for key phrase and what links do they have!


Press Releases Prime the Pump

Release sent via digital announcement – 11,300 sites pick it up and reference “exact” title of release – resulting in 100,000 references to “free online photo editor” in less

than 3 months


Integrate Search/Social Media/PR

70

Priceline release announcing destinations for Valentines day and Presidents Weekend

1.20,300 pick ups in Google 2.2,589 inbound links to release3.3,043 new links to blog4.1,500+ new links to destination pages


Buying Links

• Simple answer – Don’t buy them– Ever from a link broker or link builder

– If your business depends on traffic from Google

• Complex answer – compensate when…– You negotiated the direct link from a highly

relevant site where you would benefit primarily from traffic and there is not mention of the sale or tracking.


Avoid Link SpammingWhat to Avoid• Link farms• Content farms • Non-Relevant Reciprocal links• Mass produced articles and/or poorly written articles• Inconsequential or repeatedly used press releases• Paid links• Hidden image & text links• Blog spam • Forum spam• Site wide links


Best Practices Recap• Link Building is hard and cannot be faked

or rushed – build links naturally

• Quality content generates links

• Clean up and fix current links

• Find quality links from relevant sources

• Leverage digital press releases

• Leverage social media for real time impact


Sessions on Authority



Basics of Link Building Today 4:15pm


Panda, The Aftermath Wednesday 1:00pm

Search, PR & Social Butterfly Thursday 3:15pm


clickability

76

Ensuring that your SERP Snippets are relevant and compelling to searchers to

encourage more clicks.


Example: Dove

• Bad snippet is often primary source of lack of traffic for top ranking pages

77


Review your Snippet Periodically


Maximizing your SERP Listing• Description comes from one of the following:

– Compiled from content on the page – Taken from Meta Description– Open Directory Listing– Anything else the engines can find (Alt, navigation) to form a snippet

• Optimize the Snippet by: • Place keyword at the beginning of opening paragraph• Place benefit statements near your main keyword phrases at the top of the

page. • When an engine takes a snippet for the SERP page, your description will

boost your benefits.


SEO Best Practice Key Takeaways

1. Reduce barriers to entry for search spiders

2. Keyword phrase in far left of title tag

3. <H1> heading tag includes primary keyword phrase

4. Emphasize the primary keyword early in the content and include secondary phrases as you write

5. Create strong and relevant content

6. Use relevant keywords in the anchor text for all links

7. Contextually relevant inbound links from quality sites

8. Consolidate links and pages to form clusters

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Search Engine Marketing

81

Paid Search is matching highly relevant ads to specific search queries and only paying

when the searcher actually clicks on the ad.


Paid Search Advertising


Benefits of Paid Search– Only pay when your ad is clicked – Nearly instant exposure to your target market – 1 to 1 message to keyword flexibility – Increase and decrease budget as necessary


CampaignsCampaigns

Ad Groups Ad Groups

Ad Groups Ad Groups

The basic anatomy Paid Search

Ad TextAd Text

KeywordsKeywords

“best banking software”bank software

[banking software]-cheap

Ad Management ToolAd Management Tool Banking Software Campaign

Banking Software Campaign


Targeted Ad

Higher Clickthrough

Rates

More Qualified Leads

BetterConversions

Good User Experience

Create an effective campaign

Relevance is the key to a successfulcampaign


Keyword Match Types

• There are multiple ways to match keywords

– Broad Match– Modified Broad Match (new)– Phrase Match– Exact Match– Negative keyword


Broad Match Example

For the broad-matched keyword used books

• used books dealer • buy used books• used and rare books• second hand books• cheap used books

Ad can appear for any of these

queries


Exact Match Example

Ad will only appear for one of

these queries


Negative Keywords

• Prevent ads from appearing on irrelevant search queries

• Eliminate unwanted impressions

Negative Match: -cheap

Keyword: used book


pets

buy dog food

Purina dog chow

vet

dogs

canned dog meals

dog food recipes

Example – Selling Dog Food


• Ad text distinguishes you from the competition

• Communication, appearance, and style are important

• Be persuasive and informative

• First thing the user sees

• Optimize your landing pages

• Goal: Attract, Engage & Retain Searchers

Write Effective Ads


Keywords in Ad Text

figurinesCollector Dolls 40% Off

The Anastasia Collection -Porcelain Dolls, Doll Stands, & More

www.AdWordsExample.com

Discount FigurinesUnique Collectibles, Gift Ideas,

Figurines & Miniatures. Buy Online!www.AdWordsExample.com

Catch your customer’s eye by making sure your headlines match the keywords.

Matching terms show up in bold text on the Google results page.


Include a Call to Action

Click Here Visit Us

Examples: get info, research here, download free white paper, order our catalog, buy now, save money

Avoid meaningless slogans and gimmicky language


Send Chocolate GiftsSave 10% on all chocolate orders.

Free shipping over $50.

Differentiate Products or Services

Save 50%

$10 Off

Seasonal Sales

Free Shipping

Free White Paper


Map your keywords to the buy cycle

crm software

Search

Users searching

for solutions

Awareness

crm software

crm software solutions

crm software case studies

Understand searcher intent to maximize their need to our content

Interest Consider Purchase

crm software vendors

crm software consultants

Automotive crm software

IBM crm software

best crm software

crm software reviews

crm software sale

crm software wholesale


Align Creative to Buy Cycle

Search

Example Keywords:

Awareness

Business printing

Stages of the Buying Cycle

Interest Consider Purchase

Varieties of Laser printers

Laser printing comparison

HP LaserJet Printer

ExampleCreative:


Relevancy Decreases Your Cost

• The ad rank depends on the relevance of the ad and your maximum bid– Rank = Quality Score * Maximum CPC

• It is possible for the higher ranked ad to have a lower cost per click than its competitors

• If your ad is more relevant, you can still compete against someone with more money


Quality ScoreQuality Score =

» Keyword CTR » + ad text relevance » + historical keyword performance » + landing page quality » + other relevancy factors

Landing Page Quality Factors– Link to the page on your site that provides the most useful and accurate information about

the product or service in your ad. – Ensure that your landing page is relevant to your keywords and your ad text. – Try to provide information without requiring users to register. Or, provide a preview of what

users will get by registering. – In general, build pages that provide substantial and useful information to the end-user.


Creative Don’tsAvoid Slogans

– “It’s better with the Butterfly”Avoid Questions

– “Need Enterprise Software?”

Don’t mislead users or exaggerate– Don’t mention “10 Free White Papers” if only

3 are available– Don’t say “Download Now” if users have to

register and wait 24 hrs for access


Inter-capitalize Display URL

Inter-capitalizing your display URL may make your ad stand out more and lead to better clickthrough rates


Use multiple ads to test messages and see which on works best

Including Multiple Ads


Regional and Local TargetingYou can target ads so they appear only in locations of interest to you – your neighborhood, your service areas, your city or your state.

Select from pre-defined geographies

Countries

Regions

Cities

Define the area, customize the targeting

Within a defined radius Within defined borders

OR

Copyright © 2011 Bill Hunt All rights reserved. 105

AdWords for Content - AdSenseReaches millions of users as they read content online

Google scans a page, interprets its content and

serves relevant ads

Relevant ads Targeted in real-time


Ads on Relevant VideosAds on Relevant Videos

Place Text Ads on Videos


Integrating Paid & Organic Search

[Co-Optimization]


Balance Organic with Paid Search

• Key Motivators to Integrate:– Paid Search is expensive – Leverage collaboration of both listings

• Long Term Objectives– Maximize Advertising Efficiency– Maximize ShelfSpace


Integrated Keyword Performance Modeling

• What keywords are really converting in paid and organic?

• What are “low-hanging fruit” that can be optimized?

• What is the cannibalization effect of paid and organic?

Fixing copy on #1 organic listing saved $24k in 1st month


Example: Poweredge Servers

• What is the collaborative impact of having the #1 PPC listing, and the #1 and #2 organic listing for this phrase?


Sync Messages• Double the exposure

of single entries

• Make them complimentary

• Leverage “Partners”

• Leverage “ShelfSpace”

112


Keyword Research


Keyword Research • Keywords are the lifeblood of any search

marketing program. It is essential that you understand the universe of keywords related to your products and services.

• From this understanding you can understand the needs, wants and intent of the searcher to more effectively map your content with their query.


Generate Keyword Review Matrix

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Keyword Related Keyword Demand Rank Data CPC Site

Search Type Comments PLP

diabetes 375,567

diabetes supply 58,731

Diabetes symptoms 48,148

Diabetes diet 22,133

Type 2 diabetes 21,393

Diabetes mellitus 21,038

Gestational diabetes 19,755

Diabetes treatment 18.999

Diabetes information 17,345

Juvenile diabetes 17,125

Initial KeywordInitial KeywordResearch gives

you related words

Research gives you related

words

Number of searches last

month.

Number of searches last

month.

How is are the words

performing elsewhere

How is are the words

performing elsewhere

Research?Purchase?

Service?

Research?Purchase?

Service?

Good word? Bad? Issues? Recommend

Good word? Bad? Issues? Recommend

Landing page URL

Landing page URL


Brainstorming Keywords

Brainstorming words are your starting point. We take these top-level, general keyword phrases and use them as the basis of the next set of actions.

Start the process by answering the following questions:

1. Make a list of your products, services and categories of each2. What do your potential visitors search for when trying to find your

product/services/information?3. When you search for your own site, what do you search for4. What do you want to be #1 in the search results for?5. What terms are currently driving visits to your site (analytics)6. What are people searching for currently on your site? (site

search)


WordTracker

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Subscription-based keyword research tool that offers a wide selection of keyword variations and relevance weightings for keywords.

- www.wordtracker.com


Keyword Discovery

118

Subscription-based keyword research tool that offers a wide selection of keyword variations and relevance weightings for keywords.

Can save and recall keyword research projects

- www.keyworddiscovery.com


Google Keyword Results

119

Select what you want and “download” to Excel or CSV


Map to Specific Relevant Pages

• Match keywords to the best page for that phrase. 120


Brand Awareness via need

97,880 related searches


Digital Asset Optimization


Digital Shelf & Digital Content Optimization


Digital Asset Optimization• Is my content linkable?

• Does this product, news release, event create interest where someone would link to it?

• Have you clearly articulated the proper destination URL for more information?

• Is my content portable?• Do you have anything you can pass along? PDF? Video? Widget?

• Have you included “forward to a friend” or other social media capabilities on the page?

• Is my content findable?• Have you given it a relevant name?

• Have you included relevant meta data?

• Have you syndicated your portable content?• Has it been submitted or shared with key influencers

• Have you included the content in your Pressroom?


Image Optimization

Filename: use a descriptive, keyword-associated filename

– Example: “ibm_servers.jpg” NOT “dsc_11-11-89.jpg”

• Alt tag: use the alt tag attribute and descriptive text to describe the image

– Example: “ibm servers are offered in any configuration you need”

• Consider other sources for image hosting

– Flickr

– Wiki Commons


Video Optimization• Filename: use a descriptive, keyword-associated filename

– Example: “ibm_linux_server_commercial.wmv”

• Title: use an appropriate, keyword-associated title– Example: Linux Servers from IBM – Running Scared

• Description:– Use keywords in description

• Video Sitemaps (supported by Google)• Use proper tags:

– Example: ibm, server, linux, commercial, tv ad,

• Share with bloggers and sites – embedded video links to YouTube is significant factor in ranking well


Measuring Success


Organic Diagnostic MetricsOrganic Diagnostic Metrics

Key Metrics Description

Pages in Index By understanding how many pages you have in the index any increases or decreases can show improvement or problems

Pages in Top 5 By understanding how many pages in the top 5 will help identify changes in the algorithm and on your site

Traffic from Search Engines

By understanding the traffic volumes from search engines you can detect problems in specific engines


Organic Performance MetricsOrganic Performance Metrics


Traffic by keywords Measure increased traffic volumes for each keyword to demonstrate the impact of specific optimization activities

Conversions Measure conversions of visitors from organic search

PPC vs. Organic Traffic Measure the collective traffic from paid and organic search. Analyze on a keyword level to find opportunities for improvement and cannibalization


PPC Performance MetricsPPC Performance Metrics


Click Rate by keywords Measure click rate of paid search terms. The higher the rate the more relevant the message

Bounce Rate What percentage of search visits did your page not connect with the searcher?

Conversions Measure conversions of visitors from PPC visits.

Average Cost Per Click What is the average cost per click across all of our words

Cost Per Sale or Action What is it actually costing us to acquire a new customer?


You cannot build a house in a day...

• SEO takes time to identify the issues make the changes and wait for reindexing and scoring.

• Educate the wider team to help integrated into the existing content creation workflow

• Paid Search is not a crutch for bad or lack of SEO

• Never employ black hat solutions or risk the negative consequences

• If you invest now SEO and DAO will deliver long term quality traffic for the future!

• Start small and do what you can as well as you can then expand.


Key Takeaways

1. Reduce barriers to entry for search spiders

2. Match Keywords to Searcher Intent

3. Emphasize the primary keyword early in the content and include secondary phrases as you write

4. Create strong and relevant content

5. Identify the consumer need and message accordingly

6. Go forth and learn all you can and ask questions!

132


SEMPO

• Best Practices

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• New lower membership $125.00

• Stop by their booth and Networking at 5:15


Get a Handy Reference

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again.” --Chris Sherman, Search Engine Watch

• Helps guide you through developing your program

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2nd Edition 3 printing updates


Thank You.

eMail: [email protected]

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