Search 2012 for small businesses

Richard Masters

Search: 2012for Small Businesses

07/04/20231Richard Masters 2012. www.rjmasters.co.uk

Why is Search Important?Search is all about looking for something

you want. In this context on the Internet.People search for all kinds of things on the

internet amongst the most important are goods and services to buy.

One of the most common reasons for small businesses to have websites, is for their goods and services to be found by people searching for them.

Getting found by easily and readily by search is therefore important for a large number of small businesses

2Richard Masters 2012. www.rjmasters.co.uk 07/04/2023

Small Business Search Strategies

Search is important for a large proportion of small businesses but not all. It is important to establish if search, and what type of search, is likely to be important before investing resources in it.


Types of Search StrategyThe next 2 slides (5&6) presents a flowline

for small businesses by type to determine if a search strategy is likely to be important and, if so, what approach is likely to be best.

Two basic types of search strategies are identified: Paid search and Organic search. These are not mutually exclusive but strategies usually favour one or the other.

The subsequent 2 slides (7&8) further distinguishes Organic Strategies, known collectively as SEO strategies, into unpaid approaches (DIY SEO) and commercial approaches (SEO Services). Also Pot luck strategy!

07/04/2023Richard Masters 2012. www.rjmasters.co.uk4

Is Search Important?


Types and ImportanceType Importance

Traditional marketing •Existing and target customers not online•Search unimportant. Directories maybe.

Nameplate/ Business card sites

•Tend to be personal branding sites•Exact name search used

Electronic Brochure sites •Well defined customer base•Small numbers of B2B customers•Complex and high value transactions

Paid Search (advertising) •Large and medium sized companies•Commodity/undifferentiated type products•Monetiseable business models and predictable RoI•Simple transactions often high volume

Organic search •Small and medium businesses•Differentiable products•Unpredictable RoI


Search Strategies


Search StrategiesCategory Characteristics

“Pot Luck” •By far the most common approach!•Website design/commissioning: No thought given to search

PPC •Links displayed for selected search terms•Payments triggered for every click•Can be effective. Adwords.

Display advertising

•Contextual Banner adverts placed on selected websites•Pop –up, pop-under or roll over etc. Adsense.•Revenue opportunity for popular websites

SEO Services •Third party services provided to improve organic SERPs positioning •Increase in GM covers the cost. Proven RoI•Decreasing effectiveness and popularity

DIY SEO •Uncertain RoI makes costs unjustifiable•Incorporate SEO principles into DM strategy and Web design•Increasing popularity


Search Engines

The core to all search strategies is a basic understanding of search engines. These are particularly important for organic SEO strategies.


Introduction to Search EnginesWay back in Web 1.0 times, it was assumed

people used their Browsers address bar to navigate the web!

In reality, most people use search engines to find information they require. The traffic to these is the largest traffic category on the internet

Users request information from search engines, increasingly using their own natural language and expressions rather than simple lists of search terms.

The search engine returns a list of information it thinks is relevant to the search. This is known as the Search Engine Results Page or SERP for short (see next slide).


The Anatomy of a SERPThe returned SERP

has paid links at the top and down the right hand side.

The organic search results are listed in the order of relevance as perceived by the search engine concerned

The nearer the top of the SERP listing you appear, the more visits you get.


Search Engine Market: June 2012

Google dominates search on a global basis

Bing is growing in importance especially in the US

Other search engines can be regionally important


Google is synonymous with the concept of Search Engines as it dominates the marketplace. It is important to understand how search engines work in general terms as a basis for understanding SEO strategies aimed improving an individual businesses search performance.


The power of

Data:1 Billion searches per dayCirca 90% of search engine trafficSignposts 40% of all worlds web trafficControls 50% of all world ecommerce

transactionsGoogle effectively controls searching the

webIf you want to understand how search

works you have to understand how Google works14

Richard Masters 2012. www.rjmasters.co.uk 07/04/2023

Where is coming from?Mission (2012) is: “to organize the world‘s

information and make it universally accessible and useful”.

To do this it classifies all of the pages on the web from which it derives a rank for all web sites.

Googles index is index called Page Rank Index(PRI) which summarises it’s view of the importance of web sites.

As with all classificatory systems it is based on a view of what is important and what it believes users are looking for.

To understand search and manage how you are found on the web it is useful to understand how page rank works.


Page Rank Index

Page rank is calculated by an Algorithm:The “ reducible and transportation matrices

of the Google vector”In Plain English

PRI= Visibility * Relevance * ReputationYou need to maximise each of these to

achieve a high scoringEach is examined in more depth below


1.VisibilityIf Google cannot see you it cannot classify

you!Google does not see what you see; it only

sees naked HTML!It cannot see: Flash, Javascript, Images, non-

HTML navigation etc.Google visibility should be a key requirement

in any website specificationThis is largely a technical issue not a visual

design issue.A key requirement in website design, if search

is of paramount importance ,is to design for the “Google eye” first and foremost.


Google’s View of a Web Page


2.RelevanceAttempt to measure usefulness to users of

the contentIt scans page content and deduces key

wordsIt assesses the uniqueness and

originality of the content (sometimes called authenticity)

Another key is “citations” which is a measure for reputation:-Measured by Links and their

trustworthinessIt recognises cheats and marks you down

and, in some cases, it now penalises you!19


3.ReputationMeasured by visitor traffic numbers and

the quality of the visitors.This is, in turn, driven by the quality and

originality of your content and credibility of your links

This is further informed by its perceived needs of its clients (searchers) i.e. what are they looking for ( the proxy

being Google searches).


The PRI Algorithm evolvesTo make the whole business more complex

the PRI algorithm is not static but changes over time(see next slide)

The pace has picked up recently with firstly the incorporation of “Social Signals” from social media and..

In 2011 and 2012 it introduced two major updates known as the Panda and Penguin updates (see later for details) which radically changed the ground rules by stressing the importance of content quality and natural links.21


Google Algorithm Changes1996-1999: On-page keyword usage +

meta data1999 - 2002: +PageRank -meta data2002 - 2005: +Anchor text + Domain

name2005 - 2009: +Domain authority +

Diversity of linking domains + Topic modelling

2010 :+ Social media stream+ Original content-duplicate content

2011:- Content farms (Panda updates)2012:- Link Spam (Penguin update)22Richard Masters 2012. www.rjmasters.co.uk 07/04/2023

Recent Changes: Good News!

2011 Panda Update2012 Penguin Update


Panda and Penguin UpdatesSince 2010 Google have made fundamental

changes to its search algorithms know collectively as the Panda and Penguin updates

The net result of these updates have been to increase the importance of original content and natural links and to decease some of the so called “black hat” techniques adopted by some commercial SEO suppliers

These are of fundamental importance to SME’s because they largely remove the need to employ specialist SEO services to get listed in search and explains the recent rise in DIY SEO.


Recent Matt Cutts (Google) quotes

“Even if you do brain-dead stupid things and shoot yourself in the foot, but have good content, we (Google) still want to return it," says Cutts. In fact, Cutts says that Google tries to make it so that sites "don't have to do SEO."

“We are trying to level the playing field a bit....

All those people doing, for lack of a better word, over-optimization or overly SEO – versus those making great content and great site. We are trying to make Google Bot smarter, make our relevance better, and we are also looking for those who abuse it, like too many keywords on a page, or exchange way too many links or go well beyond what you normally expect”

http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2011/12/googles-matt-cutts-good-conten.php

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Search Engine Optimisation

SEO is the process of getting your site listed favourably in SERP listings. It is useful basics to understand the basics, whether writing a specification to evaluate potential suppliers aginst, or defining the objectives of your own DIY strategy.


Search Engine Optimisation “SEO”SEO can be defined as: “SEO is the process of increasing the

amount of visitors to a website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine (SERP). The higher a website ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user.” Wikipedia 2012

Therefore in order to maximise visitors (potential customers) to it’s website a business must apply the basic principles of SEO.


http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/web_site.html

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/search_engine.html

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/SERP.html

Types of SEO Activities A useful working classification of SEO

activities is to divide them into “On page” and “Off page” activities. These can be defined as follows:

On Page On-page SEO encompasses all the techniques used in

the overall design and development of a website to make the website transparent and easily indexed by Internet search engines.

Off Page Off-page SEO encompasses the many techniques used

for creating inbound links to a website page to increase the perceived popularity of the pages with regard to search engine algorithms.


On Page SEO Keywords and their usageMeta data ( title tags, meta tags,

descriptions, site maps etc.)Heading StructuresDomain name and URL structureNavigation (simple and self evident)Image labels (image “alt text”)Content (quantity, variety and freshness)


Off Page SEOInbound links ( numbers, authority, anchor

text)Social IntegrationEmail integration

Fortunately there are some excellent basic free guides available which provide advice on both on-page and off-page SEO!

See SEO Resources Paper for detailed information and free guides on the next slide.


More InformationMost important thing is that basic SEO is not

rocket science and recent changes have made it even easier ( see below)

Good starting point is these two downloadable free guides:

http://www.hubspot.com/marketing-ebook/intro-to-seo

http://www.google.com/en//webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-start

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http://www.google.com/en/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-start

http://www.google.com/en/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-start

Essentials for getting SEO right

Clearly for search to be successful marketing strategy there are a large number of factors that are important and the devil is, indeed, in the detail. However, it is possible to suggest three things that must be got right to be successful.


Three fundamental things to get right

1. Metadata2. Content3. Social Integration

These are all covered in more detail below


1. MetadataThis is one of the key on page elements.

Simple to get right but often missed!( see Resources Paper)

It is amazing how many websites completely ignore Metadata.

For existing sites this can be checked easily using either:-Browser extensions/add-ons (such as the

SEOmoz toolbar)-Hubspots’ Marketing Grader tool

http://marketing.grader.com/

For new sites, plan to get these elements right from the start and plan your site around them. This way you are writing searchabilty into the design.


http://marketing.grader.com/

2. ContentThe last section discussed the importance of a

“Content Rich Website” in the context of the need to create dynamic websites where fresh content can be continually added

High quality, fresh and relevant content is vital to any organic search based strategy. That is why the section on websites above, stressed the importance of CMS and Website Builders in generating user content. Static websites simply do not hack organic search.

In fact, having a content strategy is of such importance, the next section is totally dedicated to the role of content and strategies to develop it.


3.Social IntegrationThe increased importance of Social Signals in

the Google search algorithm was outlined above. Every indication is that this will increase in importance in the future!

The previous section on “websites” also emphasised the view of a website as a “hub” or the centre of a content “ecosystem” with links to content generated on Social Media sites.

As well as helping with the PRI of a site they also drive traffic directly via links and referrals

As with content a whole subsequent section looks at Social Media and it’s key role in Digital Marketing.


Using External Resources

As with all aspects of Digital Marketing there are significant resource costs involved. Recent changes to the search algorithms have made the chances of DIY SEO much more likely to succeed. However, using external resources is still a viable option under some circumstances.


Using External SEO ResourcesHuge oversupply in the marketplace! Some

good but some very suspect. So choose carefully.

Two options: Outsource the work as whole to an Agency or take on freelancers and mange them yourself.

Small business SEO is very different from Big Brand SEO. Check experience and references.

Acid test is will agency guarantee increased GM to cover costs or work on a pay for results basis.

Don’t assume your web company can will, or can do it!

Write a clear specification and always go to tender.


Further Downloadable Resources

07/04/2023Richard Masters www.rjmasters.co.uk40

Document Title View/Download from Box.net

Google: Resources Document https://www.box.com/s/93e7df7dee66a50a1894

SEO: Resources Document https://www.box.com/s/533c1b89df0a29eda84b

External Suppliers: Resources Document https://www.box.com/s/4fe75ba0eec8e6dee53c

Content: Resources Document Not yet available

Social Media Integration: Resources Document Not yet available

Are Web Design and SEO companies reaching the end of their lifecycle?

https://www.box.com/s/dbfe31fa216fcd4b7ab1

https://www.box.com/s/93e7df7dee66a50a1894

https://www.box.com/s/533c1b89df0a29eda84b

https://www.box.com/s/4fe75ba0eec8e6dee53c

https://www.box.com/s/dbfe31fa216fcd4b7ab1

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