Promoted Search Results for Onsite Search

Linda CaplingerGlobal Search Lead @ NVIDIA Corporation

PROMOTED SEARCH RESULTS FOR ONSITE SEARCH

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INTERNAL SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION:

iSEO“The process of optimizing your site’s internal search results

to help users find information via a query

as fast as possible AND

to take them to the most relevant (or highly converting) results.”

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WHY FOCUS ON INTERNAL SEO?Up to 30 to 45% of visitors will use search

Many users just start with search

Users that use your site search convert higher: 1.8XSite issues

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POTENTIAL PROBLEMS WITH THE SITE

• Issues with Main or Global Navigation • Confusing UX, IA, or Organization of Content (“Friction”)• Company language <> Customer Language • Dead End (or “Cul de Sac”) Landing Pages• General Impatience with Speed of Finding Information on Your

SiteMultiple Domains – User Doesn’t Know Where to Find Content (SYM Issue)

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3 AREAS OF FOCUS FOR ISEO:1. Site Content:

• What can the internal engine or crawler find and display?

2. Refining Results:• What can the user do with the results?

3. Overall Design & UX• Where is the search box? • How does the user decide where to click?

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LEVERAGE EXISTING SEM SKILLS:Optimizing for Internal SEO harnesses:

1. Paid Search Skills2. SEO skills

3. Awareness of User Intent4. Analytics

5. Data Cleaning

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WHAT’S DIFFERENT HERE?

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PROMOTE WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANTPromoted Search Resultsaresearch results that show up on TOP of your site’s internal search results

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WHY BUILD PROMOTED RESULTS?25% of your visitors will CLICK on promoted results!!Control search results placement & “look – feel” on your siteBubble up most relevant resultsDirect users to eCommerce or other domains Drop into sales funnel FASTER > higher conversionsResults are trackable & scalableIncrease time on site; page consumption make for happier site visitors

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ADDED BENEFIT FOR YOU?

IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION+

IMMEDIATE CONVERSIONS

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7 STEPS TO OPTIMIZING PROMOTED SEARCH RESULTS

1. Get ahold of internal search query data (keywords + instances)

2. Scrub your data (stop words, characters)3. Cluster or categorize “like” terms4. 80:20 Rule: terms that cover the most queries5. Write targeted ad copy (“paid search” skill)6. Identify most relevant URLs7. Add conversion tracking

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1. GATHER QUERIES & VOLUMESGet Your Raw Data:

Google Analytics (search queries)Weblogs

Export your query data as:Full query string, Instances (of the query)

Span of time for collection?More = irons out variations, seasonality (1 year)

• Less = campaigns, holidays, events

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2. SCRUB YOUR DATAIf your internal search engine ignores them, remove:

Stop WordsCharacters:`-=[]\;’,./~!@#%^&*()_+{}|:”<>?$ is usually NOT one to remove

Convert everything to lowercaseSort a > zDedupe: excel or use a macro

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3. CLUSTER LIKE TERMS

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Lots of very close queries where you can tell user INTENT is the same

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3. CLUSTER LIKE TERMSCreating a single promoted result for each query is time intensiveUse your Paid Search skills here. Think: “broad match”Find queries that contain a similar keyword to hone in on:

Deep LearningDeep Learning graphics cardDeep Learning supercomputerDeep Learning hardware

Write once, use multiple times.

Cluster these into “Deep Learning” category

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4. KNOW YOUR HIGH VALUE QUERIESDetermine: what construes a conversion to you?

Downloads (e.g., driver, whitepaper, SDK, trial software)Lead gen formsWatch videoOr focus on high value products or AOV

Consider marketing to:Differing parts of the funnel (“fastest”, “compare”, “buy”, “support”)Personas

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80:20 RULERaw Internal Search Query Data

Cleaned Search Queries

Promoted Search Results

Continue to Refine

What’s

Left

First project:Projected sales of $1.2-

1.4MM in Year 1

Figuring out what’s left is the hard part – we used Access

+ VB

50,000

Queries

Focus on Top

200 Terms

Covered about 24K

Queries

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5. WRITE TARGETED AD COPYJust like Adwords:Incorporate keywordQuery in: title, descriptionUgly URL? Use a vanity or shortener

If your URL doesn’t include the keyword, you can use a shortener and get same effect.

Include CTAImages help CTR

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6. RELEVANT URLSThink: Adwords Quality ScoreAlignment between:

Keyword > Ad Copy > Landing PageAre you taking the user to the most relevant landing page?If you’re showing more than 1 promoted result, are they different enough to keep from confusing the user?I nearly always prefer to display the destination URL.

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CHALLENGE: MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDERS AND DIFFERENT URLS

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7. TRACKING CONVERSIONSProve valueAdd conversion tracking to your promoted result URLs

Digital River: CID tagAmazon: use your affiliate IDGoogle Analytics: tag pages for GA and conversion script on confirmation page

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SOME HOUSEKEEPING

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WHAT TO DO WITH ZERO RESULTS PAGES?

Zero Results Pages are MISSED OPPORTUNITIES!

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ANOTHER UNUSEFUL ZERO SEARCH RESULTS PAGE

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USEFUL EMPTY SEARCH RESULTS PAGES

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INTERNAL SEARCH ANALYTICS

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GOOGLE CUSTOM SEARCH (CSE)

You can view meager data in this view –

best to integrate Google

Analytics and view more in depth

insights there.

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GOOGLE ANALYTICS (FOR GCS)

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GOOGLE ANALYTICS

Results page views

# exits#

refinements

Post search dwell time

depth

What happened AFTER the user did a query?

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SUCCESS CRITERIAReduced bounce rates after search results pageLower repeat queries as evidenced by path analysis (user selects a search result on page 1 and no subsequent search occurs)

Query 1 > Landing Page > Query 2 > Landing Page 2 > Query 3 (etc…)Query 1 > Landing Page > Conversion (better!)

Increased clicks and conversions from internal searchIncreased time on site AFTER doing a search Reduction in visits that END on a search results pageIncrease in average page depth > Increase in engagement?

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ONGOING MAINTENANCE:Test variations on ad copy, images, and landing pages to find highest convertingPeriodically compare your promoted KeyMatch terms to your search logs to find new opportunities for promoted results Revisit top 200-300 queries – ensure tight results - 80/20 rule!Look for ZERO results queries > customize your empty search results page (sitemap, include query, offer similar content, etc).Use a script to compare your site search terms vs. your promotions to see what’s left unaddressed.

LATHER > RINSE > REPEAT

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KEY TAKEWAYS1. Clean your query data of stop words and characters.2. Use your SEM skills to create compelling, highly converting

ad copy3. 80:20 rule! Focus on the top 200-300 queries, then expand.4. Tracking parameters – prove value.5. Seek out & address zero search results queries.

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QUESTIONS?@LINDACAPLINGER

LCAPLINGER@NVIDIA.COM

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EXTRA STUFF

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WHAT TERMS ARE LACKING PROMOTED RESULTS?

Compare the terms you have created promoted results for against ALL queries done on siteI do this with Access (Visual Basic script)Remember: some queries cover multiple permutations:

Promoted query: “antivirus”Promoted result may show for: free antivirus, antivirus definitions, enterprise antivirusMay NOT show for: “anti virus” (space makes it unique)Ask: Is this result EXPECTED or NORMAL for this query?

You need to start by cleaning your data.

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CLEANING YOUR INTERNAL SEARCH QUERY DATA

Normalize by doing the following:LowercaseRemove repetitive spacesRemove stop words & ignored characters

Sort A > ZRemove DuplicationsRepeat as Required

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ADDED VALUE FOR INTERNAL SEARCHAuto-compete suggestionsImages for Autocomplete &/or iSERPsImage search results pageMeta data for pivoting / filtering results:

By ProductBy YearBy Document Type (HTML, PDF, Video)

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2 SITES – NO CONNECTORS

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PIVOTING OR FILTERINGSAP results let user pivot on:

Content Type:HTMLPDFAudio / VisualPress Release

Industry or BULine of Business (LOB)Customer’s Company Size:

Small businessMedium businessEnterprise

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PIVOTING OR FILTERINGTime intensive to add lots of meta dataGoogle can do “entity recognition”Other pivot points:

Year of PublicationLanguage

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QUICK LINKSUses?Bubble up most popular site sectionsMost popular query categoriesReplicate footer content

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CROSS DOMAIN APPLICATION

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GOOGLE RESOURCESGoogle Search Appliance (GSA): http://www.google.com/enterprise/search/support/Google Custom Search Engine (CSE):https://www.google.com/cse/ Google Site Search:http://www.google.com/enterprise/search/products/gss.html GSA vs. Site Search: http://www.google.com/enterprise/search/products/

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DATA CLEANINGOlder version of excel to remove dups:

http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/213355Email me for a copy of LindaWork1.mdb (Access VB script) and instructions for running it.

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FURTHER READINGeConsultancy: Site Search for eCommerce: 13 TipsGoogle: How Site Search Metrics are CalculatedGoogle Dev: Structured Data and GCSeConsultancy: Four Reasons Why Site Search is Vital for Online RetailersDownload this: http://sitesearch.sli-systems.com/eBook-2013-01-01-BBoSST-USA.html