“Long Live the Press Release: Powerful New gTechniques Give It New Power”

Search Engine Optimization & Social Media

Inbound Marketing Summit – September 8th, 2008

Sylvie Harton Vice PresidentSylvie Harton, Vice President Eastern Region

What is Search Engine Optimization?What is Search Engine Optimization?

• Search Engine Optimization is the process ofSearch Engine Optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a press release or website via improved organic search resultsresults.

• Good SEO helps interested consumers, industry analysts, investors and members of the media find your news, your company website, and your products more easily.

Search Trends Among ConsumersSearch Trends Among Consumers• Search is the second highest activity online, only to email. • 92% of the online population visit a search engine, portal or community

site every month. • Top search engine rankings can generate up to 900% more traffic to a

site, potentially increasing exposure up to 80%. 93% f I f l k f i f i h h h• 93% of Internet surfers look for company information through search.

• 80% use search to make purchases on the Web.

Search Trends Among the Media• 98% of journalists go online every day.

76% of jo rnalists search for so rces/e perts• 76% of journalists search for sources/experts.• 73% of journalists search for press releases.

Sources: Marketing Sherpa – Nielsen/NetRatings

Are the media and consumer communities finding YOU?

How do Search Engines Work?g

Search Engines Look for Relevant Organic ResultsSearch Engines Look for Relevant Organic Results“Organic” results are those that are generated based on a search engine’s algorithm. All other results, such as those listed under “Sponsored Links,” g pare paid search results.

Organic Results

Among the top search engines, what are some of the most important “rules”?

1) Keyword location and frequency1) Keyword location and frequency 2) Relevance of a page’s meta description tag3) Relevance of a page’s meta keywords tag) p g y g4) Relevance of a page’s title tag5) Quantity and source of backward links to a page6) The actual text of the backward links

E h h i i h th i t f thEach search engine weighs the importance of these rules differently

SOURCE: Search Engine Watch, March 2007

Rule 1: Location and Frequency of the KeywordRule 1: Location and Frequency of the Keyword

• Search engines will check to see if the search gkeywords appear near the top of a web page, such as in the headline or in the first few paragraphs of texttext.

• A search engine will also analyze how frequentlyA search engine will also analyze how frequently search keywords appear in relation to other words in a web page.

Consider location and frequency of the keyword “Intersil” when looking at a press release

“Intersil” is located at the

top of the page, one of the firstone of the first words used.

“Intersil” is also one of the most frequent words q

on this page, mentioned 13

times!

Consider location and frequency of another keyword “Multiplexer ” when looking at this presskeyword, Multiplexer, when looking at this press release

“Multiplexer” is located in the headline and

th h t ththroughout the body

“Multiplexer” is also one of the most frequentwords on this

page

Rule 2: Relevance of the meta description tagp g

S h i ill l l k f l i th• Search engines will also look for relevancy in the meta description tag, which should be a brief and concise summary of your page’s content.y y p g

• The meta description tag can be found in the HTML source code.

Consider the meta description tag when looking at the HTML source code of the Intersillooking at the HTML source code of the Intersil press release

Rule 3: Relevance of the meta keywords tagy g

S h i ill l l k f l i th• Search engines will also look for relevancy in the meta keywords tag, which should be a list of important keywords on the page.p y p g

• The meta keywords tag can also be found in the HTML source code.

Consider the meta keywords tag when looking at the HTML source code of the Intersil press prelease:

S ifi k dSpecific keywords such as “multiplexer” and “DC-restore” are included in the metaincluded in the meta

keywords tag

Rule 4: Relevance of the title tagg

S h i ill l l k f l t k d• Search engines will also look for relevant keywords in the title tag of a press release or webpage, which should be descriptive text indicating the most p gimportant topic of the page.

• The title tag can be found in the HTML source code and is displayed at the top of browser windows.

Consider where the title tag appears when looking at the top margin of this press release:looking at the top margin of this press release:

S ifi k dSpecific keywords such as “Intersil” and

“Multiplexers” are included in the title tagincluded in the title tag

Here’s where the title tag appears in the HTML source code

Rule 5: Quantity and Source of Backward LinksRule 5: Quantity and Source of Backward Links

• “Backward links” are links from other websites pointing directly to your press release or website. The more you have, the more Search Engine Optimized your page can be.Optimized your page can be.

• In addition to the quantity, the sources (quality) of those backward links are also weighed by search engines.

Distribution of press releases with “backward links” to reputable third party websites

Let’s look at the company’s website: Intersil’s “Power Management” page

Note the URL of this page:

www.intersil.com/powerp

Search engine algorithms look to see how many other reputable web pages have a “backward link” to this page… The Intersil press release on Marketwire’s website has 1 backward link embedded behind the term “power management”

The same Intersil press release on Yahoo! Finance also has this link embedded behind theFinance also has this link embedded behind the term “power management”

We see the same thing on other major news websites such as CNN Money…

and on MSN Money…and on MSN Money.

Rule 6: The actual text of the backward linksRule 6: The actual text of the backward links

• Search engine algorithms not only look for a highSearch engine algorithms not only look for a high quantity of backward links from reputable third party websites, but also the text within the backward li klink…

• Remember the text “Power Management” was• Remember, the text Power Management was linked to www.intersil.com/power on several different third party websites.

When we think back to all 6 rules, Intersil’s website and press releases should be very Search Engine Optimized for keyword searchessearches.

Let’s test it…

A search for keywords such as “Intersil” and “Multiplexer” return the following organicMultiplexer return the following organic results

The “Multiplexer” product page on

Intersil.com

Intersil’s recent “Multiplexer” product

announcement on Marketwire.com

And a search for “Power Management” brings us the following organic results

I il’ “PIntersil’s “Power Management” product page

SEO Recommendations

1) Identify 5-10 keywords/phrases that describe your company’s products or ) y y p y p y pservices. Ask the question, “which search terms do I want to use in my website/press releases so they rank at the top of organic results?”

2) Use Google’s Adwords Tool to identify which of those 5-10 search terms ) g yare most popular now; look for ones that you can “own.”

3) Using those same keywords, work with your internal web team to search engine optimize relevant product pages on your website; follow the “rules” outlined in this presentation.

4) Include your company name and relevant keywords in the headline and first paragraph of every press release, as well as in the meta keywords tag.

5) To develop an increased “backward linking” program, include Marketwire’s SEO-enhanced press releases as part of the program.

6) Use Marketwire’s “Live Links” to connect your relevant keywords and phrases back to those specific pages on your corporate website. We distribute it, giving you more backward links!

Remember:

Your press release should be thought of as another corporate webpage. It must be written well and with the media in mind but also written for the search enginesmedia in mind, but also written for the search engines.

Always Search Engine Optimize your news and follow the “rules”!

SEO & Social Media

For years, search engines have helped hundreds of millions of people find text-based web content. But today, millions more are using search y, gengines to find photos, audio files, videos, and other multimedia content.

As the Internet becomes more catalogued and compartmentalized, soAs the Internet becomes more catalogued and compartmentalized, so do search engines.

Today’s search engine optimized website or press release should follow all of the standard protocols for text SEO but can gain furtherfollow all of the standard protocols for text SEO, but can gain further visibility by incorporating more images, videos and social media elements. And, as is offered by Marketwire’s Social Media 2.0 release, allows for in-release interaction and feedback via comments posted to your own Social Media Newsroom.

SOCIAL MEDIASOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words and pictures.

Social media uses the “wisdom of crowds” to connect information in a collaborative manner. Social media can take many different forms, including Internet forums, message boards, weblogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures and video. Technologies include blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, group creation and voice over IP, to name a few.

Examples of social media applications are Google (reference, social networking), Wikipedia p pp g ( , g), p(reference), MySpace (social networking), Facebook (social networking), Last.fm (personal music), YouTube (social networking and video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), and Flickr (photo sharing).

SOCIAL BOOKMARKINGSOCIAL BOOKMARKING

Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the Internet with the help of metadata.

In a social bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to remember and/or share. These bookmarks are usually public, and can be saved privately, shared only with specified people or groups, shared only inside certain networks, or another combination of public and private domainsprivate domains.

They also enable viewing bookmarks associated with a chosen tag, and include information about the number of users who have bookmarked them. Some social bookmarking services also draw inferences from the relationship of tags to create clusters of tags or bookmarks

del.icio.usrelationship of tags to create clusters of tags or bookmarks.

Many social bookmarking services provide web feeds for their lists of bookmarks, including lists organized by tags. This allows subscribers to become aware of new bookmarks as they are saved, shared, and tagged by other usersby other users.

SOCIAL MEDIA 2.0SOCIAL MEDIA 2.0

Social Media 2.0 gives you expanded reach to more than 200 Million users.

iTunes 70 Milli U

Facebook50 Million Users

Photobucket38 Million Users70 Million Users 50 Million Users 38 Million Users

Top Blog Sites24 Million Users

YouTube13 Million Users

Second Life9.5 Million Users

Twitter½ Million Users

Google Video8 Million Users

Flickr1.5 Million Users

MARKETWIRE’S SOCIAL MEDIA 2.0 PRESS RELEASEMARKETWIRE’S SOCIAL MEDIA 2.0 PRESS RELEASE

Multimedia ElementsAudio HeadlineSummary

DIGG,Technorati, Search Engine StatsBulleted

News Facts

Summary

LinkedIn/Facebook

Trackback and Friendly Permalink

Multiple Quotes

S i l B k ki

LinkedIn/Facebook(Social Networking)

Social Media Newsroom(Easy PR)

Corporate RSS FeedSocial Bookmarking

Links

Resources

Technorati Mashup

(Easy PR)

Moderated Comments

Corporate Web Site

Intelligent KeywordNavigation

Top 5 Takeaways1) Content is still king. Know who you are. Know the message/story you

wish to communicate.

Top 5 Takeaways

2) Write your release for both humans and search engines. Identify 5-10 keywords/phrases that describe your company’s products or services.

3) Incorporate “Live Links” and increase your “backward linking” program to give you and your company more credibility by association.

4) Frequency is key. The more your consistently communicate using these tips, the more you are training search engines to consider you a top authority in your business.

5) Use press releases as an extension of your integrated marketing program. Treat them as another page on your website. Think beyond “just 400 d ” d t diti l di t i l d di ti ith400 words” and traditional media to include new media options with multiple points of entry so as to engage multiple target audiences.

Questions?