Search Marketing: 2011 SEO & PPC Update by Shari Worthington, Telesian Technology

ISA Marketing & Sales Summit Workshop:Taking Your Search Marketing to the Next Level, 20101
September 7, 2011
Shari L.S. Worthington
Telesian Technology

Search Market Share, July 2011
Google
65.1% US search share 2011, 11.2 billion searches
65.8% July 2010
Yahoo
15.9% US search share, 2.8 billion searches
17.1% July 2010
Microsoft
14.4% US search share, 2.5 billion searches
11.0% July 2010

Google 1998

Autocomplete

Instant

Agenda
Eye-tracking studies
Google Analytics
Universal Search
Google’s Quality Score
SEO: Search Engine Optimization
SMO: Social Media Optimization
PPC: Pay Per Click Advertising

Eye Tracking Google vs Bing
User Centric 2011

Eye Tracking Conclusions
All searchers look at organic results
Google gaze time is 28% longer
Almost all searchers look at top sponsored results
There is no different between right hand sponsored results
About 25% of searchers will look
Advertisers should place their ads above the organic search results
Hit rate is 3x higher
Gaze time is 5x longer

Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web
Google Updates
Used to be every 4-6 weeks
Now is continuous
Panda Update
New algorithm update every 4-6 weeks
Major update February 24, 2011
Focus on higher quality content for individual searcher
Reduce rank of poor quality sites
Increase rank of high quality sites
Block unwanted domains
http://www.youtube.com/google#p/u/2/J5RZOU6vK4Q

What Gets a Site in Trouble?
You must dig deep to find issues
High % of duplicate content
Low amount of original content
High # pages with low amount of original content
High % of boilerplate content on each page

High amount of inappropriate adverts that don’t match search queries
Page content & page title tags that don’t match search queries a page does well for
Unnatural language, e.g. heavy-handed SEO

High bounce rate on page or site
Low visit times on page or site
Low % of users returning to a site
Low click-through % from Google SERPs

Low or no quality inbound links to a page or site
Low or no mentions to a page or site in social media

July 2011 Google Benchmarks
Site Metrics

Geographic breakdown

Bounce rate by country

Avg time on site by country

Breakdown by source

Goal conversion rate

Traffic sources

Google’s Universal Search

Analyze the Competition

Search Engine Optimization
What can go wrong?
Trying to hard
Expecting too much too fast
Lack of knowledge/experience
Not thinking about the site visitor

SEO: What Does Google Want?
Relevance: give user exactly what they want
Comprehensiveness
Index billions of pages
Universal Search: content, images, video, news, books, blogs, etc

SEO: What Does Google Want?
Freshness
Continually crawl the web
Realtime Search: Twitter contract expired July 2nd
Speed
Autocomplete search box
Google Instant results

SEO: The Core
Keyword rich content
Identify top keywords
Use them naturally in visible content
Tweak keyword density for top keywords
Search friendly site architecture
Easy to navigate, easy to crawl & index
Optimize site code

SEO: Page Title
Page / browser title
Most important on-page factor determining ranking in eyes of search engine

SEO: Page Title
Is your title less than 70 characters?
Only 70 are displayed in search results
Does it include your primary target key phrase?
Unique title for each page
Is keyword one of first words in title?
Does your title make sense?

SEO: Page Title
Put keyword first, not brand
Keep title short, sweet, simple
Ensure each page targets a relevant keyword
If you duplicate page titles, Google thinks your pages are similar and it won’t include them in the index
Page titles have to read well & make sense to your customers
EXERCISE: Go to your home & main products pages & rewrite page title

SEO: Page URLs
Use a CMS that allows you to customize URLs on a per page basis

SEO: Page URLs
URL should not include spaces or special characters
Google considers hyphens to be spaces
Ensure the URL relates to your site structure
Sections, sub-sections, pages
Keep URL simple & memorable

SEO: Meta Description
<meta name=“description” content=“A description of the page content goes here” />
Include the target keyword phrase of that page
Ensure the description accurately describes the page & presents your brand the way you want
Keep it short and simple

SEO: Meta Description
Do not stuff keywords or load description with every variation. This is for your users, not the search engines
Do not write too much. Only displays first 155 characters
By not including it, you are missing an opportunity to talk to your customers
EXERCISE: Go to your home & main products page & rewrite description

SEO: Header Tags
Page content should always start with an H1 tag
Use the headers in order: H1, H2, H3
Use your primary keyword phrase within your headers, but don’t force it

SEO: Header Tags
Don’t use more than 1 H1 per page
Don’t skip the H2, H3 tags
Use page specific keywords within all headers
Avoid generic phrases, such as “About Us”

SEO: Page Content
Have a minimum of 350 words per page
Write naturally, with users in mind
Target keyword phrases in top of copy & use throughout
Be aware of keyword density
Most prominent words on the page are your target keywords
Vary the word order and use synonyms
Don’t overuse bold & other text formatting

SEO: Review Meta Keywords
Has no impact on rankings
Reflect your primary target keywords
Use primary keyword phrase & variations
No more than 5-6 keywords
Keep keywords unique for each page of site

Social Media Optimization
Create shareable content
Encourage links
Make sharing easy
Embed buttons & widgets
Reward engagement
Use promotional or content offers

Social Media Optimization
Proactively share content
Syndicate articles to other partners or platforms, Slideshare or Scribd
Encourage “mashups”
Encourage others to take and remix your content so it becomes user generated

Cisco’s Aggregated Services Router Product Launch
Second Life
3D Game
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDi0FNcaock
Facebook
Social Media Widget
Blogs
Twitter Chat with CEO John Chambers

SMO: What to Test
Scour analytics, use testing…
Which sharing activities & promos lead to leads, sales, or changes in brand preference?
SMO is an SEO ranking activity so encourage backlinks
What is the optimum frequency for initiating sharing?
What are the best methods for identifying influencers & seeding content?
How can we integrate sharing of content via social platforms, web, mobile, & email?

PPC: Google’s AdWords Quality Score
Increase reach – how many times your ad is viewed by searchers
Increase clicks – higher positions which means more visits
Decrease spend – maintain current positions at lower cost vs competitors

Google’s AdWords Quality Score
AdWords calculates a QS for each of your keywords
Evaluates variety of factors to measure relevancy to search query
Updates frequently
High QS means keyword will trigger ads in a higher position at a lower CPC

PPC: What is Quality?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7l0a2PVhPQ

How to Boost QS
Click-through rates are crucial
Product smaller, highly targeted ad groups with relevant ad text & offers
Beware of too much reliance on broad matches
laser level sensors – broad match
which sensors use laser level
[laser level sensors] – exact match
laser level sensors
“laser level sensors” – phrase match
who has new laser level sensors
Google does not include Display Network in this calculation

How to Boost QS
Make sure you have relevant ad text
Ad headlines and descriptions should contain same keywords as search terms
Also an issue with landing page copy
Ensure keyword relevance
Degree of match between keyword triggering ad and search term entered
Maintain a good history of QS within your account
Remove poorly performing keywords or ad groups
Brand bidding increases quality

How to Boost QS
Peel & Stick
Look for keywords with highest number of impressions and lowest QS
Is ad is relevant to search terms? If yes…
Is ad directing to relevant landing page? If yes…
Move keyword to new ad group
Create new ad or update ad-text displayed
Create new landing page or update content

PPC: First Things First
Creat a Traffic Map
Collect site wide statistics
Identify the most popular page on your site
Find out how most people get to your site
Identify follow up pages
Repeat for your sales funnel pages
Identify any “cross-feeders”
Calculate theoretical CPA

Traffic Map: Site Wide Statistics
Pick a date range that covers a few thousand visits in your analytics report
Total visits
Total absolute unique visitors
Site wide bounce rate

Traffic Map: Identify Most Popular Page
Usually your own domain “/” – internal linking
Unique pageviews
Bounce rate
Exit rate

Traffic Map: How People Get to Site
Most through homepage, but landing pages are preferable in many cases
Top landing page
Entrances
Bounce rate

Traffic Map: Identify Second Step Pages
Focus on top 5 pages
Unique pageviews
Bounce rate
Exit rate
NOTE: Look out for cross-feeders
A funnel page that receives significant traffic from two or more pages

1,977 entrances
(55% of all visits)
Unique pageviews: 2,038
Bounce 54.5%
Exit 54.8%
Top Landing Page
File: xxxx
UP: 843
Bounce 63.0%
Exit 48.2%
Second Step Pages
File: xxxx
UP: 32
Bounce 100%
Exit 25%
File: xxxx
UP: 175
Bounce 37.3%
Exit 26.1%
White Paper
Thank You Page
The more clicks it takes to get to a page, the fewer
Visitors, but the ones that make it there will be
very motivated

How Long Should Your Conversion Funnel Be?
Free and low-prices goods require shorter check-out processes
Gather data from your competitor sites, the good and the bad
Case history landing page
Technology page
Product page
Make request

The Path to Conversions
Single conversion goal
Does every page in your sales funnel have a primary call to action?
Can the purpose of the page be understood by a typical visitor in less than 5 secs?
Is the intended goal of the page clearly spelled out in the headline?
Is the purpose of the page clearly visible “above the fold”?

Eyeline
Do the shapes and colors of the page clearly lead the eye to the desired call to action?
Are you using no more than 2 columns in your layout?
Anxiety
Are you asking for data the visitor may not want to give?
Are you offsetting user’s anxiety with a payoff?
Can you use testimonials?
Can you use third-party trust seals to improve credibility?

Friction
Are there too many elements on the page?
Arer there too many links or navigation elements?
Is there sufficient white space on the page?
Are you sing an appropriate font?
Are form fields aligned with one another?
Are links and buttons used appropriately?
Are you asking for unnecessary information?
Remember the stages of the buying process
Are you limiting the use of Flash & other 3rd party technologies?

Length
Is the page copy of the appropriate length?
Are there 10 or fewer form fields on the page?
Congruency
Does the page look similar to the ones immediately before and after it?
Is the page hosted on a third-party domain?
Load Time
Does the page load in under 5 seconds on IE & FF?
Is the page size under 150k?

Urgency
Do customers feel a strong need to not only buy your product but to buy it NOW?
If not, can you offer an incentive to boost response rates?
Is the incentive something that would be useful to your ideal customer?

Single Conversion Goals
ONE call to action per page
Subscribe to opt-in email newsletter
Add a product to the shopping cart
Accept a special offer
Complete a contact information form
Download a white paper
Watch a video tutorial or demo

Coverage
Maximize your coverage
Impressions don’t cost anything but can build brand awareness
Low coverage means you are overpaying for traffic

Increasing Coverage
Be careful with capped budgets
Is your ad appearing a small % of time but high up on page? Consider dropping bid, e.g. position 6, where you can better compete
If your ad has a 0.2% CTR but competitors have 0.05%, you’re doing ok. But if it’s opposite, your ad coverage will suffer
Craft an ad that’s as good as or better than theirs

Increasing Coverage
Improve ad copy only if the keyword is a good fit for your business
Examine your landing page & general web site content for quality
Are you relying only on broad match terms? Add “phrase match” and [exact match]

Click-Through Rate
Important component of your quality score
Quality score determines the share of impressions your ads receive
High QS can put you at the top of the search results page (at no additional cost) which can increase your click-through rates
CTRs do increase with average position of ad
Premium ad CTRs are higher but unpredictable

0-2.5% CTR
Up to 9.0% CTR

Click-Through Rate
Keep your action area above the fold
The closer the similarity of your ad copy to the searcher’s keyword phrase, the higher the CTR
Ad copy plays a more important role in position than the bid rate!!!

Look at Competitiveness of Keywords
Actual number of advertisers bidding on the term
Estimated CPC for top ad position
Competition level as reported by the search engines
Number of words in the phrase

Go for the Long Tail
It’s much better to target hundreds or thousands of niche terms than to target a handful of broad terms
Level of competition is lower
You get a bigger bite of the apple
Benefits of niche keyword targeting are higher for advertisers appearing in lower positions
Spend less
More qualified site visitor

Building Your Keyword List
You should have thousands of niche terms that are relevant to prospects
Minimum 5,000
Don’t rely solely on brainstorming
Leads to obvious keywords that generate lost of traffic but few sales
Usually don’t reflect purchasers intentions
Don’t rely solely on popular or free tools
Cuz everyone else is using them too
Remember to regularly update your keyword list

Keyword List
Brainstorm
Mine marketing collateral
Use keyword suggestion tools
Wordtracker (large db compiled over years)
Adgooroo (searches for competitors ads, does reverse lookup of keywords)
Expand horizontally with Google Adwords Keyword Tool
Reverse engineer competitors keyword lists
Weed out off target keywords

22 Best Practices from Best Ads
Include keyword phrase in ad titles
Respect your customers’ language
Localize your ads, e.g. [keyword] Chicago
Use endorsements & testimonials, e.g. “ranked #1 by Control Magazine”
Sell features & benefits
Use attention grabbers, how to
Use action words, learn, get, receive

Have a call to action
Get quote now
Request free white paper
Squeeze more text in using &, special symbols
TITLE: 25 characters
LINE1: 35 characters
LINE2: 35 characters
Visible URL
Capitalize Every Word In The Ad

Experiment with very short ads
Include a brand name if it’s known
Capture leads everywhere you can
Optimze niche keywords
Include www in domain name
NOTE: Tread carefully with {keyword insertion}
Don’t overrely on broad keywords
Spell check
Avoid superlatives as they generate mistrust

Questions?
Thank you!!
Shari L.S. Worthington
Phone: 508-755-5242
sharilee@telesian.com
Blog: http://blog.telesian.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sharilee
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sharilee

Search Marketing: 2011 SEO & PPC Update by Shari Worthington, Telesian Technology

by ISA Marketing & Sales Summit on Sep 21, 2011

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