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© Jellyfish 2012

Exploration, serendipity and the art of SEO & social

#digitaljourneys

by Matt Owen | 18 July 2012

Digital Journeys | Exploration, serendipity and the art of SEO & social | 18 July 2012

Matt Owen (@mattlloydowen)

Head of UK Agency, Global SEO & SocialMatt has 20 years’ experience in sales and marketing and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM). Joined Jellyfish in 2010 after a three year stint as Group Account Director with iCrossing UK.

As Head of UK Agency, Matt leads the UK teams forward, working with key clients such Fidelity, Berkeley Group and Pfizer. Matt plays guitar in a punk-folk band, supports Nottingham Forest, drives a Volvo and cooks great roast potatoes (goose fat is the secret!)


Explorer, pioneer, leader


Key facts

› 37,560 miles, 3 years› 18 survivors from 237› One ship from five› How did they get there?


Magellan – the pitch


Best data available at that time


A pioneering achievement

‘The idea of the voyage itself had relied on the not-undisputed idea of a spherical Earth. The circumnavigation completed by Magellan’s expedition thus confirmed the conception of the world as a globe’


Today’s explorers


Good data = Good result?

"Magic is an elusive force," admits John Hegarty. He came up with "Vorsprung Durch Technik" when he saw it on a faded piece of old publicity material on a visit to an Audi factory.

Even then, the market research came back negative but Audi bosses eventually ran the slogan. "Another example of how much advertising research is useless," says Hegarty.


Serendipitous PPC data – UK dating site

› i married an arsehole› olly murs tickets cardiff concert tickets› i m lonely› was adolf hitler married› olympic games dates*Serendipity – unexpected coincidence (Jeff Jarvis)


And some more...› Share my girlfriend – financial title› Nursing bra - online nursing degree lead› rubbish investment tips - financial title› solar f**k*ng panels – energy supplier› Online stopwatch – doctoral degree programme› pat butchers wallpaper – lifestyle title› do they have jellyfish in cyprus – leading UK online agency


Data reliance ≠ innovation, growth


Journeys - the traditional marketing model


Google Study 20112.0

Google asked Shopper Sciences to do a comprehensive study of 5,000 shoppers across 12 categories, from groceries to cars to financial products.

The goal: show where influence takes place as shoppers move from undecided to decided.

The data revealed that the average shopper used 10.4 sources of information to make a decision in 2011, up from 5.3 sources in 2010. Yes, that number nearly doubled in one year!


User journeys - the new mental model


The new sources of information ZMOT› Talked with friends/family about the product

› Searched online, used a search engine

› Comparison shopped products online

› Sought information from a product brand/manufacturer website

› Read product reviews or endorsements online

› Sought information from a retailer/store website

› Read comments following an article/opinion piece online

› Became a friend/follower/”liked” a brand

› Watched videos about product online

› Read/visited a blog that discussed product

› Searched for information with my mobile phone before shopping

› Talked to a customer service representative online

› Searched the web for information with my mobile phone in the store

› Saw product mentioned on a social networking website like Facebook

› Received a referral notice from a friend online

› Commented on a product mentioned on a social networking website

› Commented on a blog that discussed product

› Searched for a coupon with my mobile phone before shopping

› Saw an ad/coupon sent to my mobile phone

› Looked for coupons on a retailer/store website

› Participated in a chat or discussion online about product


The new sources of information ZMOT

76%

Stimulus ZMOT FMOT

84% 77%


What does this mean?

Every brand needs to considerthe role of the Zero MomentOf Truth, and build effective strategies and processes tomaximise this impact on success


Complex journeys, hard to measure, predict


Mapping SEO & social objectivesDigital Journeys | Exploration, serendipity and the art of SEO & social | 18 July 2012


The art of SEO forecasting – in practice

Request from major UK high street brand, value driven fashion sector:

‘Our objective is to achieve no. 1 rankings across all key products. Please supply a one year MOM forecast which will achieve our annual traffic and turnover targets’


Not too much detail requestedSEO Generics SEO Brand

Month

no. of

Visitors Costs

Conversion Rate

% no. of Orders

Expected

Revenue

Average Order

Value

no. of Visitor

s Costs

Conversion

Rate % no. of Orders

Expected

Revenue

Average Order

Value Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul

Aug

Sep


Stage one – rankings predictions


Rankings predictions – some detail


Rankings predictions – more detail


Rankings predictions – even more detail


Rankings predictions – accuracy check!

› How many keywords? 100, 1,000, How much effort?› What about the ‘halo’ effect?› And of course: › Competitor activity levels › Algorithm changes › On-site challenges


Stage two - traffic predictionsPercent Of Traffic by Google Result


Traffic predictions – generic CTR, #1 = 30%


Traffic predictions – brand, CTR #3 = 10%


Traffic predictions – hang on…


Traffic predictions – accuracy check!

› Search volume estimations are inaccurate› CTR will vary depending on: › Brand or generic keywords › Brand strength / association with search term › SERPs environment (text, universal results) › Seasonality


The art of SEO forecasting – in practice

› ...is absolute guess work› It will be inaccurate› Potentially misleading› Only valid for single keywords, very narrow keyword group, with good knowledge of SERPs challenge and actual traffic data


Game over;or think like MagellanDigital Journeys | Exploration, serendipity and the art of SEO & social | 18 July 2012


Would we have achieved this?

Keyword URL Pos. Search volume

cheap flights www.skyscanner.net/ 2 694250 cheap flights to new york www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/nyca/cheap-flights-to-new-york.html 2 59541 cheap flights to india www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/in/cheap-flights-to-india.html 2 25205 cheapest flights www.skyscanner.net/ 1 21533 cheapflights www.skyscanner.net/ 2 20850 cheap flights to amsterdam www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/ams/cheap-flights-to-amsterdam-airport.html 3 15516

cheap flights to australia www.skyscanner.net/flights/uk/au/cheapest-flights-from-united-kingdom-to-australia.html 4 15441

cheap flights to turkey www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/tr/cheap-flights-to-turkey.html 3 15350 cheap tickets to india www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/in/cheap-flights-to-india.html 2 13991 cheap flights to malaga www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/agp/cheap-flights-to-malaga-airport.html 2 13441 cheap flight www.skyscanner.net/ 1 13208 cheap flights to tenerife www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/tene/cheap-flights-to-tenerife.html 2 13033 cheap flights to paris www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/pari/cheap-flights-to-paris.html 2 12258 cheap flights to cyprus www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/cy/cheap-flights-to-cyprus.html 3 11327 cheap flights to dubai www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/dxb/cheap-flights-to-dubai-airport.html 1 10736 cheap flights to dublin www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/dub/cheap-flights-to-dublin-airport.html 1 10047 cheap flights to alicante www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/alc/cheap-flights-to-alicante-airport.html 2 8919 cheap flights to spain www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/es/cheap-flights-to-spain.html 3 8725 cheap flights to bangkok www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/bkkt/cheap-flights-to-bangkok.html 2 8575 cheap flights to barcelona www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/bcn/cheap-flights-to-barcelona-airport.html 1 8011 cheap flights to pakistan www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/pk/cheap-flights-to-pakistan.html 1 7450 cheap flights to rome www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/rome/cheap-flights-to-rome.html 3 6841


Or tackled this?


Social media impact..?


Correlations are helpful - Twitter

› After 5,000 tweets the average ranking of URLs improves considerably

› URLs receiving over 7,500 tweets almost always rank inside the top 5 results

› Average rankings are heavily correlated to the number of tweets about each URL


Google+ correlation


Authorship correlation

› Analysed the author integrations in the SERPs for a million keywords in google.com

› So, 17% of searches delivering first page content which featured a rel=author signal


Ranking factors UK


Observations› It’s a complex (digital) landscape – expect the unexpected› SEO and social is tough to predict› Signals becoming increasingly diverse and subtle Correlations can help, but don’t rely on data, especially for long term planning› Challenging for ‘traditional’ digital thinking (acquisition focus)› Opportunities exist, pioneering approach required

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