Search Engine Marketing

Slide 1: Search Engine Marketing SEM

Slide 2: 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: 1. Get into the consideration set. 2. Get users to click through to your web site. 3. Reduce landing page abandonment rate and increase hang time. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 2

Slide 3: Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Directories Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Pay-Per-Click-Advertising (PPC) Yahoo! Google Google AdWords 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 3

Slide 4: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 4

Slide 5: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 5

Slide 6: Yahoo! • The Original Directory. • Acquired Organic And Paid Search Companies. – Inktomi – Overture • Geocities 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 6

Slide 7: Microsoft • MSN Was Introduced As An Alternative To AOL. • Organic Search Results From MSN Search. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 7

Slide 8: Today • Universal Search – Search results include news, images, maps… • Evolution of the Portal. – Yahoo! > Browse – Google > Search – Yelp > Browse and Share 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 8

Slide 9: Market Share • Google 59% • Yahoo! 22% • Microsoft Sites 10% Source: comScore 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 9

Slide 10: Online Commerce Ecosystems • eBay • Shopping Comparison Engines • Amazon – Shopzilla, BizRate – Shopping.com (eBay) – Nextag, Pricegrabber • Overstock.com (Experian) 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 10

Slide 11: Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Basics • Online Branding • Online Public Relations • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) • Pay-Per-Click (PPC) 1. Choose Keywords Advertising 2. Optimize Content – Google Adwords 3. Get The Site Indexed. 4. Linking Strategy • Google Analytics – Web Master Tools 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 11

Slide 12: Search Engine Optimization “Location, Location, Location!”

Slide 13: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 13

Slide 14: How Search Engines Work • The Search Spider is Constantly Crawling Links To Web Pages. – The spider records “reads” a list of words found, then by using a mathematical algorithm then stores the URL, title, and a descriptive snippet in a Search Index. • For Individual Searches The Search Engine Spider Crawls The Search Index. – Within the Search Index there is a Seed List of URLs, that include Directories, that the spider starts with. • Matches The Search Query – Analyzes the “key words” the searcher typed in and picks the pages matches those words. • Link Analysis Ranks The Matches – The search engine then sorts the matched web pages so the most “useful” results are displayed at the top. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 14

Slide 15: Deep Crawls • Google Does A Deep Crawl of The Web Approximately Once A Week 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 15

Slide 16: SEO Basics • Develop An Online Brand If Required. • Choose Keyword Phrase(s). • Optimize Web Site Content. • Get The Site Indexed By Search Engines And Directories. • Collect Approximately 25 Backlinks From Sites W Related ith Content That Have A PageRank of 4 or Higher. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 16

Slide 17: Online Brands • Use Keywords Or Keyword PhrasesIf Possible. • Simple, Memorable, And Easy To Spell. • Intuitive Meaning That Attracts The Attention Of The Targeted Customer. • Is Local Important, Keyword + Los Angeles? • Test Your Brand Online Before Committing To See How Strong The Competition Is. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 17

Slide 18: Choose Target Keyword Phrases • Create A List of Keyword Phrases. – You are an expert, your customers are not. • What Geo Are You Targetting? • Test List – What is the competition doing? – Don’t pick keywords that are too hot. – KeyCompete.com – SpyFu.com 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 18

Slide 19: 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/ – Trellian http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html – Yahoo! Keyword Selector Tool http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ – Paid Resources: Wordtracker, Trellian 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 19

Slide 20: Optimize Content • Keyword Prominence • Term Rarity – Title, subheading, first – High weighted value for sentence, and throughout rare words. the page. • Term Proximity • Keyword Density – Keywords close to each – Approximately 7%. other. • Emphasized Text – Bold, italic, larger font size, and color. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 20

Slide 21: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 21

Slide 22: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 22

Slide 23: Layout Chinese Home Page If Required Home Page Content Topic Content Topic About Us Value Proposition FAQ In The News Contact Us Future Additional Success Stories Content 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 23

Slide 24: Chinese Home Page If Required 1. Home Page 2. Product Content Topic Content Topic About Us FAQ In The News Contact Us Categories Future Additional 3. Product Index Content 4. Product 5. Shopping Cart 6. Checkout 7. Thank You Product Detail Special Offers Picture Detail 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 24

Slide 25: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 25

Slide 26: 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 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 26

Slide 27: 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 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 27

Slide 28: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 28

Slide 29: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 29

Slide 30: Directories Directories Use Human Editors.

Slide 31: 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. – Directories our on the seed list of all major search engines. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 31

Slide 32: Vertical Directory Trend • Search > Local Search > Vertical Search – Industry, Business specific directories. • 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 32

Slide 33: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 33

Slide 34: Local Search • Google Pioneered Local Search Using IP Addresses, Zip Codes, And City Names Allowing Consumers To Locate Local Businesses Online. • Advances In Map Technology Are Now Becoming An Integral Part of Local Search.

Slide 35: Local Search • Traditional Yellow Pages Are Infrequently Updated And Lack Key Information Like Hours of Operation, Products, Keyword Classifications, and Customer Reviews. – Update Visio to read Analytics/Updates. • User Generated Content – Scalable. – Teach them to fish. – Ask for a referral.

Slide 36: Most Popular Yellow Pages References

Slide 37: Site Submission • All The Major Search Engines And Directories. • All Local Oriented Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, And AOL Web Site Properties. • Local Search Resources Including But Not Limited To: – Online business directories. – Online map services. – Both online white and yellow pages. – Local consumer review web sites. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 37

Slide 38: Google Ecosystem 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 38

Slide 39: Web Ecosystem

Slide 40: Morgan Stanley’s Internet Trends Report - WIP • YouTube + Facebook page views > Google or Yahoo page views (and may be bigger than both combined) • 6/10 top internet sites are social (youtube, live.com, facebook, hi5, wikipedia, orkut); none were on the list in 2005 • YouTube has 258 million users, 50% visit weekly or more • >50% of Facebook users log in daily, 95% of Facebook users have used at least one third party application • Skype revenue is $1.67/user/year, up 9% Y/Y • 14 million photos uploaded daily on Facebook • Google + Yahoo = 61% of U.S. Online Ad Revenue • Google: $4.4b ad revenue in Q4, paid out $1.4 billion to partners • Yahoo: $1.6 billion in ad revenue in Q4, paid out $429 million to partners • http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/28/morgan- stanleys-march-internet-trends-report-social/ 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 40

Slide 41: Web Site Submission • Google – www.google.com/addurl – Google Directory – Google Local/Maps/Local Business Center • Yahoo! – http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/ $299 annual fee. – Yahoo! Search http://search.yahoo.com/info/suggest/ – Yahoo! Local • MSN Live Search – http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx – MSN Directory? – Live Search Local/Maps? 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 41

Slide 42: Business Submission • Whitepages.com • Infospace – Submit to – Paid submission. Superpages.com. – Index Superpages.com • Citysearch • Local.com – www.national.citysearch.com/connnections • InfoUSA 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 42

Slide 43: Yellow Pages Submission • Yahoo! Yellow Pages • Yellowpages.com – Indexes Yahoo Local. – AT&T – www.store.yelowpages.com/post • MSN Yellow Pages – Indexes Superpages.com. • Yellowbook.com – Call (800) 929-3556. • AOL Yellow Pages – Submit to InfoUSA. • DexKnows – R.H. Donnelly • Superpages.com – Appears to Index – Verizon (Idearc Media) Superpages.com. – You need to create an account. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 43

Slide 44: Online SMB Trends • Yelp – Online yellow pages with user rating/feedback. – GbaseLocal submits a review on the clients behalf. • Social Navigation • Merchant Circle – SMB self help resources. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 44

Slide 45: Mobile Submission • Google – GOOG 411 – Index by Google Local. • Infospace Mobile Platform 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 45

Slide 46: Linking Strategy PageRank

Slide 47: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 47

Slide 48: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 48

Slide 49: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 49

Slide 50: Backlinking Opportunities • Suppliers • Media Coverage • Strategic Partners • Vertical Directories • Business Associations • Government • Business Directories Publications 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 50

Slide 51: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 51

Slide 52: Google AdWords Targeted Advertising And Measurable ROI.

Slide 53: Types of Online Ads • Search Linked Ads – Google AdWords – Targeted ads. – Measurable ROI. • Context Linked Ads – Google AdSense – Linked by textual analysis. • Banner Ads – Loosely related to the content. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 53

Slide 54: Measureable ROI • AdRank = 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 54

Slide 55: Keywords • Look At Both Popularity And Competition. – Local is more expensive. • Computer – Too expensive. – Strong competitors. • Computer Hardware – Less expensive. – Weak competitors. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 55

Slide 56: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 56

Slide 57: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 57

Slide 58: Location/Time/Language Targeting • IP Address – Includes location information. • Query Location – Query parsing, for example “hotels in Los Angeles”. • Time of Day • Language Preference – You can write English ads and have them target Chinese language preference users. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 58

Slide 59: Split Testing • Use Ad Variations • Rotate Equally • Test Results – www.askhowie.com/split 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 59

Slide 60: Pay-Per-Call • SMBs Want Calls Not Clicks – Call based interaction and tracking could ultimately account for 30-50% of total local search transactions. • Only 42% of the SMBs In The U.S. Have A Web Site. • Local Search Is Also Going To Be Tightly Integrated With Mobile Applications. Source: Piper Jaffray 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 60

Slide 61: Google Analytics • Integrated Into Google AdWords. – Conversion Tracking – CPC is more important than CTR. • Omniture – Market share leader for larger companies. • Google Webmaster Central – www.google.com/webmasters/ 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 61

Slide 62: Online Public Relations Credible, Free Promotion

Slide 63: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 63

Slide 64: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 64

Slide 65: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 65

Slide 66: Press Friendly Web Page • Effectively Serves • Press Kit Secondary Audiences: – Company fact sheet. – The Press – Product information and – Strategic Partners images. – Potential Investors. • Complete Press Contact • In The News Article Information. Library. • Press Release Library. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 66

Slide 67: 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. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 67

Slide 68: Online Press Release Resources • BusinessWire.com • WebWire.com • PRNewswire.com • 24-7PressRelease.com • PRWeb.com • Pluck.com – SMB – PR clipping service. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 68

Slide 69: Web Site Translation • Start With The Just The • Technical/Business Home Page. Specific Translators. • Keyword Phrases • Localization of Content: – Translation – Translation of HTML. – Resolution of text expansion/contraction. • Strategic Rethinking – Adapt graphics. – Cultural Customization – Maintain links. 05/08/08 beachrunner@gmail.com 69

Slide 70: Search Engine Marketing SEM