Quick and dirty introduction to SEO & PPC

Barry Adams • Digital Services Director at Pierce Communications • Built my first website in 1995, started my career in all things online in 1997 • Dutch (yes, really) • Previous employers include;  Philips Electronics  Honeywell  Quotezone  Independent News & Media (Belfast Telegraph) • Editor for StateofSearch.com • Guest lecturer for University of Ulster, Digital Marketing InstituteCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Definition of SEO: Search Engine Optimisation Wikipedia: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Getting more relevant traffic to websites via search engines organic results.Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Why is SEO important? Worldwide Internet Usage Over 2 billion users online 150 billion searches a month (that’s more than 56,000 searches/second) UK Internet Usage 51.4 milion users (82.5% of the population) In April 2010, Google received 4.1 billion search page views in the UK The UK internet economy is worth £121 billion = 8.3% of UK gross domestic product Search Engine Usage 89% of all online purchases in the UK begin with a search 92% of all UK Internet users choose Google as their preferred search engine Organic search results receive over 75% of all clicks 91% of users do not look past the first page of search resultsCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

UK Search Engine Market Shares SE Market Share  Google 92 %  Bing 4%  Yahoo! 2%  AOL 0.5%  Ask 0.5%  Other 1% Google Bing Yahoo! AOL Ask OtherCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

The SEO process: Keyword  Find the right keywords to optimise for Research On-Page  Implement those keywords on the website Optimisation  Make the website search-engine friendly Linkbuilding  Build links to the website to increase its authorityCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

On-Page Optimisation Elements to be optimised: + Title tags + Meta Description tags + Headlines and paragraph structure + Body text + Image alt attributes + URLs + Internal links + Sitemap (HTML and XML)Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

On-Page Optimisation+ Title tag <title>Pierce Communications - Design, Marketing, Digital, Print</title>• Put your focus keywords in your title, and include your brand name (use separators like hyphens – and pipes | )• Keep it short – 65-70 characters• Unique title for every page on your websiteCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

On-Page Optimisation+ Meta Description tag<meta name=‘description’ content=‘Pierce Communications is a leading marketing services agency based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Services include print design, web design & build, SEO, PPC.’>• Not a ranking factor – but a very important click-through factor• SERPs only show 150 characters – but no guarantee they’ll actually show your description.• Try to include the focus keyword once (it’ll show as bold text)Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

On-Page Optimisation + Headlines and paragraph structure <H1> headline <H2> subheader <H3> subheaders <p> paragraphs• Allows SEs to understand the content and its context Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

On-Page Optimisation+ Body text• Write for users, not for search engines• More content = better for search engines Find the right balance• Less content = better for users• Minimum 200 words (rough guideline)• Include your focus keyword(s) and synonyms• Write naturally and make it readable• Don’t stuff it full of keywordsCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

On-Page Optimisation+ Image alt attribute <img src="http://digitalmarketinginstitute.i e/files/2008/11/ireland-map.jpg" alt="Ireland Map with pins">• Make images relevant to the content• Include a relevant alt attribute – preferably containing (part of) the focus keyword• Can you think of a better alt attribute than the one above?Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

On-Page Optimisation+ URLs• Bad URL: http://domain.com/default.aspx?p=43351&s=abx&ref=ps-2301-g&…• Good URL: http:// domain.com/wedding-rings/platinum-wedding-band.html• Don’t overdo it – no keyword stuffing• Use a logical structure that makes sense to humansCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

On-Page Optimisation+ Internal links• Link from top to bottom• Link sideways & diagonally• Use keywords in the link Wrong: To read more about wedding rings, click here. Right: Read more about wedding rings.• Use breadcrumb links:Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012 Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/diagrams-for-solving-crawl-priority-indexation-issues

On-Page Optimisation+ Sitemap (HTML and XML) • HTML Sitemap:  Webpage listing all (relevant) pages on the website  Allows users to quickly find the page they’re looking for  Allows search engines to index all pages on your website • XML Sitemap:  XML file containing all webpages on a website that you want to get indexed  Can also include images and videos  Gives more information to search engines: update frequency, importance, preferred URL, date of last change.  Never a replacement for a good indexable website!Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Linkbuilding• Links determine a page’s authority• Higher authority = higher ranking on SERPs• More links = higher authority• Not all links are equal;  1 valuable link from a high authority website > 100 links from low-quality sites• Link text is very important;  Branded link: Pierce Communications  Keyword-rich link: Web Design BelfastCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

LinkbuildingDifferent types of links:• Reciprocal links  Site A links to site B, and site B links back to site A  Not very valuable – avoid if you can• Link wheel  Site A links to site B, site B links to site C, site C links to site A  Not very valuable and a spam signal – avoid if you can• One-way link  Site A links to site B. The end.  Most valuable type of link – get lots of these!Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

How to build links?1 Directory Submissions• Online (business) directories such as:  Yelp  Qype  Lookaly  Business.com• The best directories are usually paid• Always check if a directory link is valuable  What is the PageRank of where your link will end up?  Is that page/category even indexed by Google?  Is the link nofollowed?• Usually good for building a base of branded links• Try to find vertical directories relevant to your industryCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

How to build links?2 Press Releases• Great way to build valuable links• Make sure your press release…:  Is newsworthy, relevant, and interesting enough to be worth reading  Contains a link back to your site (preferably with a keyword-rich link text)• Use professional PR distributors  PR Web: £40 to £200 per press release  PR Newswire UK: pricing per article  BusinessWire: pricing per article  MyNewsDesk: £0 to £590 per month• No guarantee it will be picked up by news outlets  But generally more money spent translates to more & better linksCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

How to build links?3 (Guest) Blogging• Find relevant blogs & news sites• Approach them and offer to write engaging, interesting, and relevant articles / blog posts• Include a link in your article to your site• Guest blogging:  www.myblogguest.com  www.bloggerlinkup.comCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

How to build links?4 Linkbait• Linkbait is:  Content (published on your website) that is so interesting / funny / newsworthy / controversial that people will link to it without having to be asked• Types of linkbait:  Great articles with valuable insights  Infographics  Breaking news stories  Top 10 lists• Spread via social media  Share on Twitter & Facebook  Submit to social news sites such as RedditCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Want to learn more about SEO? • Training (Digital Marketing Institute) • Read SEO books;  The Art of SEO • Read SEO blogs;  Search Engine Land  SEOmoz  State of Search • Start doing it • Hire a professionalCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Definition of PPC Pay Per Click Wikipedia: Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the hosting service when the ad is clicked. Advertising on search results pages to get more relevant traffic to your website.Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Why is PPC important? Worldwide Internet Usage Over 2 billion users online 150 billion searches a month (that’s more than 56,000 searches/second) UK Internet Usage 51.4 milion users (82.5% of the population) In April 2010, Google received 4.1 billion search page views in the UK The UK internet economy is worth £121 billion = 8.3% of UK gross domestic product Search Engine Usage 89% of all online purchases in the UK begin with a search 92% of all UK Internet users choose Google as their preferred search engine PPC adverts receive over 25% of all clicks 91% of users do not look past the first page of search resultsCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Corporate Spend: PPC versus SEO Spend (£m) Clicks2500 80%2000 60%1500 40%1000 20% 500 0 0% PPC SEO Paid Organic 2010 UK Search Marketing spend  PPC £2335m  SEO £436mCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

So why so much emphasis on PPC? Google’s SEO Results black box PPC Results PPC is the most accountable of all online marketing disciplines. Every penny spent can be tracked and its ROI calculated.Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Key PPC Terminology Clicks & Click Through Rate (CTR) A click (sometimes called a clickthrough) occurs when a user sees and clicks on your ad, leading them to your website. Clickthough-rate is measure as the percentage of impressions that resulted in a click. Impressions The "Impr" located on your reporting statistics refers to the number of "impressions" for your ad. The number of impressions is the number of times an ad is displayed. Conversion Rate Conversion is calculated with a user clicks on your advert and completes a pre-defined goal i.e. buy a product or sign up to your newsletter. Conversion rate is measured as the percentage of clicks that led to conversions. More terminology can be found in the Google AdWords Glossary: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=15464 Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Before you begin… Define what is to be achieved, set goals and Get Campaigns created key perfomance - do we do this in indicators house? Monitor and controlObjectives Channel Set up Manage Monitor What is the best What needs done to channel to use, based manage PPC ongoing on our objectives? What creative is required? Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

PPC on Google Search (i.e. AdWords) is aboutthree things: Keywords Find the right keywords to advertise on. Make sure your keywords, ad text, and landing page all match up. Ads Understand the expectations Create the right ad to get users to click of users who type in a certain on. query, and match & exceed those expectations in your ad text and your landing page. Landing Pages Don’t disappoint your users or the click will go to waste. Build a landing page that converts those clicks in to customers.Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Keyword Research Start with matching your goal to user intent What are you trying to make your website visitors do? What keywords would these visitors type in Google? Understand the three types of search query: 1. Informational – learning stuff 2. Navigational – finding stuff 3. Transactional – buying stuff http://www.seomoz.org/blog/segmenting-search-intent Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Match Types: Broad / Phrase / Exact Example keyword: red shoes Broad Match - Google will display your advert if your keyword is used in any query string - e.g. Query String match – ‘red dress and black shoes’ Phrase Match - Google will display your advert if your keywords are used in sequence within any query string - e.g. Query String match – ‘buying red shoes online’ Exact Match - Google will display your advert if only your exact keyword is used in any query string - e.g. Query String match – ‘red shoes’ Note: Google is Case Insensitive: red shoes = Red Shoes = rEd sHoEs Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Select the right match type• To start, stick with [exact] – easiest to work with• If you’re confident, go to “phrase” – but keep an eye on which keywords are actually used• When using “phrase” matching, be sure to refine your targeting with negative keywords  A negative keyword is a word that, when it is part of the query, your ad will NOT show up on.  Ex: “red shoes” is your keyword, and you have set ‘cheap’ as a negative keyword. Your ad will show: red shoes sale Your ad will NOT show: cheap red shoes sale• Broad match is best avoided, unless you’re VERY confident and have a good handle on your negative keywordsCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Create your first Adwords Campaign • Campaign Name • Locations and Languages • Networks and Devices • Bidding and Budget • Ad Extensions • Advanced Settings  Scheduling  Ad Delivery  Demographical BiddingCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Creating Ad Groups• An ad group is a set of keywords connected to one or more ads.• In theory you can have dozens of keywords in a single ad group• In practice, you’ll want to keep your ad groups small and focused Keywords Ads Landing PagesCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Select keywords for the ad group• Keep your keywords focused per ad group: Good ad group: Bad ad group: hairbrush hairbrush hair brush bristle brush hair brushes paddle brushes hairbrushes styling brush pro hair brush hair styling best hair brush combs• Too much keyword variation in one ad group makes it hard to match your keywords to your ads and your landing page Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Creating your first ad Headline: 25 characters Description lines: 35 characters each Display URL: 35 characters Destination URL: 1024 characters This is how it will look:Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Creating good ads• Include the keyword in your ad at least once  In the headline or ad text, also in the display URL• If you have a good price point or special offer, mention it  But be sure to adhere to Google’s guidelines• Proper spelling, grammar & punctuation  Make a good first impression• Use what you’re given, don’t be shy  Ex: your Display URL is also an opportunity, e.g. www.yoursite.com/Keyword-HereCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Keyword Insertion• With keyword insertion you can include the user’s search query in your ad exactly how the user typed it• As such only useful for ad groups using phrase and broad match keywords• Syntax:  {keyword: Default Keyword}  {keyword:} will make the text lowercase  {Keyword:} Capitalises the first word  {KeyWord:} Will Capitalise All Words• If the inserted keyword would break the ad limitations, the default keyword is used• Best used in the headlineCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Ad testing• Have at least two different ads running in every ad group• Test, test, test, and then test some more• Use the best performing ad as the basis for a new round of tests• Never get complacent, always keep trying new thingsCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Budgeting • Default bid: how much you are willing to spend per click  Set on the ad group level  A maximum CPC bid can also be set per individual keyword  Influences how high on the SERP your ad will show • Daily budget: how much you are willing to spend per day  Set on the campaign level  When your daily budget is used, your ads will stop showing • Automatic bidding (based on your daily budget)  Let Google do the work for you to optimise clicks/conversions  Not particularly efficient (yet)Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Quality Score• Your keyword’s quality score (1-10) influences how much you need to pay to get a high positioning• Quality Score is determined by the following factors:  Your account’s historical CTR  How well your keyword matches your ad and landing page• You can influence your CTR on a fresh account by setting a very high max CPC bid for a short while• After that it’s a matter of…: Keywords Ads Landing PagesCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Landing Pages Don’t send AdWords clicks to your site’s homepage! Find the most relevant page on your site Set that as the destination URL If you don’t have a relevant page – build it Be sure your target keyword is included on your landing page Include a strong call to action If your ad mentions offers/discounts, also mention them on the landing pageCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Monitor and Improve With a new campaign, monitor daily Are my ads on the first page? Is my CPC set correctly? Have my ads been disallowed? What is my Quality Score and how can I improve it? Should I include negative keywords? Is my targeting accurately finding my audience? Don’t make rash decisions More time = more data = more informed decisions Never less than weekly monitoring Surprises can always pop upCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Monitoring beyond AdWords Use your site’s web analytics to find out which keywords convert the best & focus your Adwords on these Don’t cannibalise your organic rankingsCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Top PPC Tips  The AdWords Help Centre is a very good resource: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/  Never lose sight of your goals – If there is no ROI, don’t spend money on Adwords  Remember that PPC supplements SEO – AdWords does not replace SEO  Don’t get complacent – Never stop testing – Try new keywords – Expand in to other channels – If something doesn’t work, try to find out whyCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Top PPC Tips Make proper use of keyword match types Use negative keywords to prevent ad spend on irrelevant keywords Make sure your landing pages are relevant to the keyword and match the expectation set by your ad text Match your AdWords campaigns to your offline marketing activities If the ROI is there, increase your spend Separate campaigns for Search & Display ads – Also separate campaigns for Search & Google’s NetworkCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Questions?badams@piercecommunications.co.ukhttp://twitter.com/badamshttp://www.piercecommunications.co.ukCopyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Quick and dirty introduction to SEO & PPC

by Barry Adams on Dec 17, 2012

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