Search+Engine+Marketing+Tips

Search Engine Marketing

Online Branding, SEO, Online PR, PPC Advertising, and Analytics.

04/12/23 [email protected] 2

The Four P’s Online

• Product

• Price

• Place– Web site that is fully integrated into the overall company strategy.

• Promotion – Online Marketing verse traditional advertising, sales promotion,

public relations, and personal selling.


A Brief History

• AOL Was The Original Portal.

• Organic Search Results From Google.– AOL Search is mostly used by AOL users.

• Paid Placement Results From Google AdWords.– Optimize for Google and you get AOL.


Yahoo!

• The Original Directory.

• Acquired Organic And Paid Search Companies.– Inktomi– Overture

• Today Is A Full-Service Portal.


Microsoft

• MSN Was Introduced As An Alternative To AOL.

• Organic Search Results From MSN Search.


Today

• Universal Search– Search results include news, images, maps…

• Evolution of the Portal.– Yahoo! > Browse– Google > Search – Facebook > Share


Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

• Why Do It?– To get into the Consideration Set, if a new customer

cannot find you online, they cannot buy from you.

• SEM Is Everything You Do To:– Get into the consideration set.– Get users to click through to your web site.– Reduce landing page abandonment rate and

increase hang time.




Directories Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Pay-Per-Click-Advertising (PPC)

Yahoo! Google Google AdWords


Market Share

• Google 55%

• Yahoo! 24%

• Microsoft Sites 12%

Source: comScore


Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Basics

• Online Branding

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)1. Choose Keywords2. Optimize Content3. Get The Site Indexed.4. Linking Strategy

• Online Public Relations

• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising– Google Adwords

• Web Site Analytics– Google Analytics

Search Engine Optimization

“Location, Location, Location!”


What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

• SEO Is The Process of Writing, Designing, Coding, And Your Web Site So That Your Web Pages Will Get The Best Visibility In Both Search Engines And Directories.

• Search Engine Visibility– Being listed towards the top of search results.– Organic searchers who click through are qualified visitors.

• Directory Visibility– Vertical Directories becoming popular.– Search engines spider all the major directories.


How Search Engines Work

• The Search Engine Spider Starts With A Search Index.– A database that holds a list of all of the words on all of the pages

on the web that have been indexed so far.

• Within The Search Index There Is A Seed List of URLs, That Include Directories, That The Spider Starts With.

• Matches The Search Query– The search engine analyzes the “key words” the searcher typed in

and picks the pages matches those words.


Ranks The Matches

• Ranks The Matches– The search engine then sorts the matched web pages so

the most “useful” results are displayed at the top.

• The Spider Follows Links To URLs.– The spider records “reads” a list of words and

phrases found on that URL.– Determines a word or phrases “weight” By using a

mathematical algorithm.– Stores URL, title, and a descriptive snippet.


Deep Crawls

• Google Does A Deep Crawl of The Web Approximately Once A Month Looking For New or Changed Content. – This deep crawl takes more than a week, and an undisclosed

amount of time to index new or changed content.– Google also skims the web regularly with less intensive fresh

crawls of important seed list web sites.

• Google Sitemaps– Provides fast updates to a web sites most popular pages with a

direct data feed to Google through a XML based sitemap.


SEO Basics

• Online Brands

• Choose Keyword Phrase.

• Optimize Content

• Get The Site Indexed.

• Attract Inbound Links To The Site.


Online Brands

• Simple, Memorable, And Easy To Spell.

• Intuitive Meaning That Attracts The Attention Of The Targeted Customer.

• Use Keywords Or Keyword Phrases If Possible.

• Test Your Brand Online Before Committing To See How Strong The Competition Is.


Choose Target Keyword Phrases

• Create A List of Keyword Phrases.– You are an expert, your customers are not.– WordTracker, KeywordDiscovery.com

• Local Search

• Test List– What is the competition doing?– KeyCompete.com– Don’t pick keywords that are too hot.

Michael O'Reilly

- Yahoo! keywrod Selector Tool > Gets keyword demand numbes mostly from Yahoo! properties such as Yahoo! Search, alltheweb.com, and AltaVista.

Free Resources

• Research List– Google Suggest

http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en– Google AdWords Keyword Tool

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeyWordSandBox– LowerYorBidPrice.com

http://www.loweryourbidprice.com/freekeywords/ – Yahoo! Keyword Selector Tool

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/


Good Content Trend

• Major Search Engines Are Now Measuring:– How often users visit you site, how long they are staying, entry

and exit paths, if they bookmark a page, and how often they return.

– The information is recorded by the Google Toolbar.

• Good Content Is Also Part of Making Your Site “Link Worthy.”

• Unique or Helpful Content Is An Additional Thing A Directory Editor Also Looks For.



Optimize Content

• Keyword Prominence– Title, subheading, first

sentence, and throughout the page.

• Keyword Density– Approximately 7%.

• Emphasized Text– Bold, italic, larger font size,

and color.

• Term Rarity– High weighted value for

rare words.

• Term Proximity– Keywords close to each

other.

Clean And Simple Layout

• Each Category Page Is A Potential Entry Point For Searching.

• Page Style– Newspaper

• 1,000 Words or Less– Strong topic sentence.

– Effective us of keywords.

– Call to action.



Layout

Home Page

Value PropositionContent Topic In The News Contact UsContent Topic FAQAbout Us

Future Additional Content

Success Stories

Chinese Home Page If Required


2. Product Categories

3. Product Index

4. Product 5. Shopping Cart 7. Thank You

Product Detail

Picture Detail

6. Checkout

1. Home Page

Content Topic In The News Contact UsContent Topic FAQ

Future Additional Content

Chinese Home Page If Required

Special Offers

About Us


Home Page

• The Objective of the Home Page Is To Overview The Company, It’s Products, And Services.

• By Far The Most Important Page For Customers, Search Engine Spiders, And Directory Editors.

• The First 100 To 250 Words Are Critical.

– Use the keywords in the domain name (if possible), in the title (bold), sub-title (italic), topic sentence, first paragraph, throughout the text, and in the conclusion.


Title Tags

• Title Tag– Title Tag <html><head><title>Google News</title>

– Use keywords if possible.

– Searchers spend 30% of their decision time scanning the title tag before deciding to click the link.

Source: Human-Computer Interaction Group Cornell University


Snippets• The Two To Three Line Page Excerpt That Search Engine Use to

Show Where The Query Words Were Found On The Page.

• Typically the Search Engine Takes The First Full Sentence of Page Text That Contains The Keywords.

• Searchers Spend 43% of Their Decision Time Looking At The Snippet Before Deciding To Click The Link.

Source: Human-Computer Interaction Group Cornell University


Meta Tags

• Google Rarely Uses The “Meta” Description Tags For Snippets But Yahoo! And MSN Search Still Frequently Do.

• Place Your Important Keywords Together At The Beginning of The Description Tag.– Snippets are typically 100 to 150 characters.– Balance quality traffic verse quantity traffic.

<*meta name=“description” content=keyword in your description”>


Anchor Text• The Words That Are Shown On The Page In The In The Hypertext

Link.

• Search Engines Use Anchor Text To Infer The Subject Matter of The Page Linked To.

• Keywords In Anchor Text Significantly Improve Click Through Rate.


California Online Privacy Protection Act

• Privacy Statements Are Required By Law In California As Of 07/04 For Any Web Site That Collects Information About California Residents.

• Basic Requirements:– Conspicuously post.– Disclose the type of data you collect and share.– Provide information to consumers on how to opt out.


Local Search

• Google Has Pioneered Local Search Using IP Addresses, Zip Codes, And City Names To Allow Consumers To Locate Local Small Businesses.

• Online Yellow Pages Trends– 66% of web surfers use search engines rather than

Internet based yellow pages.Source: ComScore


Local Search Strategy

• Google Local/Maps– Getting your SMB listed in

Google Maps is an essential part of a local search strategy.

• Yahoo! Local– Indexes InfoUSA.

• MSN Local– Indexes Citysearch.

• Industry Specific Directories

• Infospace– Indexes Verizon and

SuperPages.com


Online Yellow Pages

• Yahoo! Yellow Pages

• MSN– Indexes Verizon SuperPages.com.

• Verizon SuperPages.com

• AOL Yellow Pages– Yellow Pages ads from SBC/Bell South joint partnership.

Directories

Directories Use Human Editors.


How Directories Work

• Directories Don’t Index Web Pages, They Index Web Sites.– Sites are assigned to categories, categories contain web site title

and basic description information.– The original idea was customers could browse through categories

like an online yellow pages, then “drill down” on the most interesting site descriptions.

• Most Directories Today Are In Fact Hybrid Directory/Search Engines. Hybrids Get There Primary Results From A Directory And Its Secondary Results From A Search Engine.


Home Page Design – Directories

• The Most Important Keyword Page For Search Engine Spiders As Well As The Most Important Credibility Page For Directory Editors.

• Include These Credibility Pages For Directory Editors:– Company name, logo, and tag line prominently displayed.– A link to Company Contact page.– A link to About The Company page.– Privacy Statement, Customer Service Section, Money Back

Guarantee, Return Policy, Customer Feedback, FAQ…

• Additional Things A Directory Editor Also Looks For Unique Content.


Get The Site Indexed

• Directories Are On The Seed List Of All Search Engines.

• Yahoo!– Paid Inclusion – http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/– http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request

• Open Directory Project– Volunteer Editors– http://dmoz.org/add.html

• MSN


Submitting URLs

• Submit Only The Home Page, Your Site Map Will Allow The Spider To Find Everything Else.

• Google/AOL– www.google.com/addurl

• MSN Search– Primary results from Overture, Inktomi, LookSmart, and Alta Vista.– http://search.msn.com/docs/siteowner.aspx?

t=search_webmaster_ref_gettingsiteindexed.htm– http://search.msn.co.in/docs/submit.aspx

• Ask Jeeves/Teoma– https://sitesubmit.ask.com/Main/login.jsp


Vertical Search

• Search > Local Search > Vertical Search

• Focused Essential Verse Exhaustive Results.– Alternative to multiple keywords.– Organized by content and audience, example LookSmart.

• The Web is Starting To Organize Itself.

• Creates The Opportunity For Communities To Form.– View most popular.

Linking Strategy

PageRank


Why Is Linking Important?

• Web Pages With High PageRanks Appear Closer To The Top of Google’s Search Results.– Google maintains the quality of it’s search results by

focusing on web pages that have Backlinks pointing to them as essentially endorsements of the site.

• Link Popularity Measures Both PageRank And Adds A Relevance Factor.– Just like with keyword spamming, the Google

algorithm penalizes you for numerous non-relevant links.


Why Is Linking Important?

• Getting Listed In Google Is Much Easier And Faster By Pursuing A Linking Strategy Than By Submitting The Site To Google or The Open Directory Project.

• With No Incoming Links You Are An Unreachable Island As Far As The Google Spider Is Concerned.

• Estimates Are That About 25 High Quality Back Links To Your Site Will Significantly Increase Your Search Rankings.


Who Are Other Sites Linking To?

• Start With Searches Based On You Keyword Phrases And Check Their Backlinks.

• Google Back Links Tool– Advanced Search > Links– Google Toolbar > i > Backward Links

• Google Will Only Count And Display The Highest Quality Pages In Its Index That Are Linked To The Page.


Linking Opportunities

• Suppliers

• Strategic Partners

• Business Associations

• Business Directories

• Media Coverage

• Vertical Directories

• Government Publications


Contact The Linking Partner

• Why You Like Their Site.

• What They Should Link To You.

• How The Link Helps Their Visitors.

• Exactly Where The You Think The Link Should Be On Your Site.

• Suggest Keywords To Use In The Link Anchor Text.– Consider sending the actual HTML for the link.

Online Public Relations

Credible, Free Promotion


Public Relations 101

• What Is It?– The proactive management and placement of

information in the media to enhance a brand or reputation.

• Why Do It?– PR can achieve your promotion objectives at

a fraction of the cost of paid advertising.


Additional Advantages of PR

• PR Has More Credibility Than Advertising.– The audience does not think of it as a sales pitch.– Like advertising, PR is effective in it’s ability to motivate a desired

behavior.

• In An Extremely Cluttered Advertising Environment, PR Is Very Effective At Breaking Through The Clutter.

• PR Is Win/Win.– Helps busy journalists get their jobs done, and the same companies

are usually chosen to be quoted when articles are written about their field of expertise.


Online PR Strategy

• Use BusinessWire For High Priority Press Releases.

• Use PRWeb For Low Priority Press Releases.

• Email Press Releases To A Targeted Media List.

• Press Releases Need To Be Optimized For Search Engine Visibility.

• Press Web Page Is Part Of Backlinking Strategy.


Press Friendly Web Page

• Effectively Serves Secondary Audiences:– The Press

– Strategic Partners

– Potential Investors.

• In The News Article Library.

• Press Release Library.

• Press Kit– Company fact sheet.

– Product information and images.

• Complete Press Contact Information.


PR Linking Strategy

• Always Ask Reporters For Links To Your Site For Articles That Are Going To Be Published On The Web.

• Hyperlink References To You Company And Product Back To Your Site.

• The Number of Links To This Particular Type of Content Is Not As Important, The Content Is Expected To Be New And Has No Time To Gather Links.


Online Press Release Resources

• BusinessWire.com

• PRNewswire.com

• PRWeb.com– SMB

• WebWire.com

• 24-7PressRelease.com

• Pluck.com– PR clipping service.

Google AdWords

Targeted Advertising And Measurable ROI.

Three Types of Online Ads

• Search Linked Ads– Google AdWords

– Sponsored Links, Promoted Ads

• Context Linked Ads– Google AdSense

– Linked by textual analysis.

• Banner Ads– Loosely related to the content.



Ad Performance

• Rank = CPC x CTR

• Bid Price (CPC)– AdWords Discounter, you pay the minimum necessary to keep your

position.

• Click-Through Rate (CTR)– Clicks divided by impressions.– The higher your CTR the lower your CPC for the same position on

the page.

• Hang Time– If searchers exit your site to fast you get penalized for irrelevance.


Keyword Phrases

• Look At Both Popularity And Competition.

• Computer– Too expensive.

– Strong competitors.

• Computer Hardware– Less expensive.

– Weak competitors.


Keyword Matching

• Broad Match– Default setting.– Display’s ad whenever the keyword appears anywhere in the user query.– Shows ads for similar terms, including plurals and synonyms.– Best For: Multi-word keyword phrases.– Advantage: Expanded reach.

• Phrase Match– Display’s ad when search term matches the phrase’s exact sequence.– Manually assigned using quotation marks.– Best For: Keyword phrases including general terms.– Advantage: Allows your ad to appear when additional terms precede

or follow the keyword phrase.


Keyword Matching

• Exact Match– Displays ad only on the exact keyword or phrase.– Advantage: Reaches precisely targeted viewers.

• Negative Match– Do not display ad if query contains negative keyword for a campaign or

ad group.– Advantage: Fewer impressions and higher click through rate.

• Embedded Match– Used Phrase or Exact Match with Negative Match keywords.

– Displays ad for every variation of the keyword phrase except the exact match of that keyword phrase.


Location/Language Targeting

• IP Address– Includes location information.

• Internet Domain– By country.

• Query Location– Query parsing, for example

“hotels in Los Angeles”.

• Language Preference– You can write English ads and

have them target Chinese language preference users.


Web Site Translation

• Start With The Just The Home Page.

• Keyword Phrases– Translation

• Strategic Rethinking– Cultural Customization

• Technical/Business Specific Translators.

• Localization of Content:– Translation of HTML.– Resolution of text

expansion/contraction.– Adapt graphics.– Maintain links.


Google Analytics

• How Visitors Interact With Your Web Site.

• Integrated Into Google AdWords.– Conversion Tracking – CPC is more important than CTR.

In 7 Seconds They Stay or Go.


Split Testing

• Use Ad Variations

• Rotate Equally

• Test Results– www.askhowie.com/split


Search Engine Marketing

SEM