Executive Offices Group: A Social Media Optimisation & Social SEO Case Study

Executive Offices Group Social SEO Case Study http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk March 2010 Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Introduction • Executive Offices Group is owned by Morgan Stanley Real Estate and operates four unique serviced office brands: Argyll, Palladia, Corpnex, and Grosvenor • We began working with them in August of 2009 • They provide London serviced offices, virtual offices in London and London meeting rooms (plus the same services in other major cities) • We provided an all-round Social Media and content optimisation package, including on- page SEO work, content creation, content promotion and consultation • All of the work described herein was executed in tandem with EOG’s web design and implementation agency Catch Digital (http://www.catchdigital.com/) • When we started, their search overall search visibility (how often and how high they appeared in Google search results) was low and they wanted to improve their ROI for organic customer acquisition from search and other sources • In this report we will detail where they were before we started, what we did, and where they stand now Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 2 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Our Brief • To increase traffic • To increase rankings • To improve sales and ROI from the website • To achieve this using on-page optimisation and Social SEO techniques Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 3 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Our Strategy • Identify best fit search and Social trends • Improve on-page optimisation, Social content and user experience • Improve overall awareness and coverage of the Executive Office Group brand • Deliver relevant Social Media properties and effectively use them to promote our content Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 4 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 5 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Achievements • Online bookings of virtual offices, meeting rooms and serviced offices have increased considerably since we started our work • We took the EOG website from ranking for very few (and very specific) pages to appearing in the top 50 Google results for over 50 terms, in the top 20 for 13 terms, and in the top 10 for 8 terms • The site is now far more ‘discoverable’ and acquisition and conversion rates are increasing • The site is also now appearing in more than just standard Google searches. It can now be found through Google News, Blogs, Video, and Local searches. Traffic is now also being driven from a variety of new Social Media sources • Through creating useful, interesting and informative new (Social) content, users now spend more time on each page, click through to view more pages than before and convert with greater regularity • The company also has a broad content footprint across the Social web, which has increased brand visibility and provided customers and prospects with new opportunities to engage. This content now acts as a traffic funnel - moving people from Social Media platforms to key areas on EOG’s site Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 6 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Background Why do ‘Social SEO’? Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Why Social SEO? • In order to deliver a richer, more relevant service, Google is tightly integrating Social Media content and ‘Social user behaviour’ into its its results • Google's algorithm is becoming more complex, and taking more notice of social content when choosing what it ranks. Different content formats - video, images, etc. - status updates, reviews, and media/blog coverage are all regularly featured in Google search results. Owning and optimising Social Media profiles which deliver content that is active, respected, commented upon, shared and capable of ranking for these types of results is crucial • Google is also taking more notice of user on-page behaviour and experience when choosing pages to rank. Traffic, bounce rates, time on site and click-through rates are important. Thus, on-page content and its effect on user navigation and ‘stickiness’ is important - and Social Media-based content can be used to radically improve on-page user experiences • Google has also started taking more notice of user search behaviour when choosing which pages to rank. In this context, user brand awareness and search patterns are important • As an example, if a person searches for 'Men's Clothing', but doesn't find anything useful in the results that Google provides, then that same person might then search for a related, and more specific term afterwards (e.g. 'Top Man'), and then click on the most useful result. In Google's eyes, this page will then become a candidate to rank for the initial search (in this case, the 'Top Man' page becomes a candidate for the term 'Men's Clothing'). These types of extended search patterns can be influenced by using Social Media content to align brand-based content with broader search categories Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 8 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Why Social SEO? • Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media channels are complimentary, and mutually beneficial • On-page SEO increases the indexibility of a page by providing Google with keywords and content • Social Media is an effective channel for raising awareness of this content and encouraging SEO comments, conversations and links • Google increasingly looks at traffic levels, Social presence and branded searches when considering the best pages to rank • Effective use of Social content can increase Social brand awareness, traffic levels, ‘footprint’, and presence amongst branded search results Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 9 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Why ‘Social SEO’? SEO Research Keywords Content / Metadata Page Design Indexing Internal Links Analytics Comments / Sharing Brand Awareness Traffic Social Presence Mentions / Status Updates Linkage Reviews Positive Sentiment Social Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 10 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Why ‘Social SEO’? • Google regularly includes Social content in search results • The results below appear for London-based searches: Maps and Images News Results Blog Posts and Images Video Results Timeline Results • Creating this content - and submitting this content to Google in the relevant format (e.g. XML sitemaps) - will help content to rank and increase traffic levels Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 11 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Our SEO Tactics and Results for EOG Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Page Optimisation Optimised URLs and meta data Blog Optimised copy and page headers Embedded videos Embedded Social Useful content profiles (Google Maps) Optimised Social profiles linking to pages Rich (Social Optimised links Media) content to key pages Fresh RSS content Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 13 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Rankings Before... • When we started working with EOG, the website had a very low level of search visibility, appearing in the Google top 50 only for the term ‘Serviced Offices’ Old Terms and Rankings • This table shows the terms that EOG was optimised for at the time and where Keyword Position Monthly Searches Serviced Offices 8 49,500 they ranked for those terms. Terms that Virtual Offices +50 14,800 sit outside of the top 50 are generically Virtual Office +50 60,500 Virtual Offices in London +50 390 recorded as +50 London Office Address +50 9,900 • The website had a relatively low number of incoming links (679), a metric by which Google judges the popularity and relevance of a site Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 14 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Rankings Today... • In order to get the site ranking, we carried out extensive keyword research. We found that the terms that EOG had been working with for were not optimal, and they should be focussed with a more specific ‘London’ slant • We selected our own key terms based on analysis of search volumes, trends over time New Terms and Rankings and overall competitiveness Keyword Today Monthly Searches Serviced Offices 10 49,500 • With these new terms, their website now ranks London Serviced Offices 8 8,100 in the top 50 for over 50 targeted, highly London Serviced Office 12 4,400 searched terms, and on the first page for 7 of Serviced Offices in London 5 1,000 19 6,600 these terms Serviced Office Space Virtual Offices 16 14,800 London Virtual Offices 8 3,600 • The table on the right indicates the terms that London Virtual Office 16 8,100 the site now ranks for in the top 20 of Google Virtual Offices in London 6 390 London Office Address 12 9,900 UK London Office Space 18 49,500 London Office Location 4 1,000 • In order to improve these rankings, we London Office Locations 4 720 overhauled key site pages and produced original content that was optimised for key terms Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 15 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Rankings Top 10 rankings over time Top 20 rankings over time Before After Before After 1 7 1 13 • Search rankings have increased dramatically since we began work Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 16 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Backlinks • Over the course of 6 months, we have more than doubled the amount of backlinks to Executive Office Group’s website, and radically improved the quality of those links • When we started, the site had 679 backlinks • There are now 1,295 links to the site. This is very important, as the number of links to a site is one of the main metrics by which Google judges where to rank a page Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 17 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Page Improvements • Time spent on key pages that feature new content has increased, and continues to rise • This metric is one that Google is considered to factor in when ranking pages alongside other user- experience metrics such as click-through rates, traffic to pages and bounce rates • Therefore, improving user-experience - using Social content - also helps to increase rankings • We have increased positive on-page user experience and continue to do so. This improvement has contributed towards an increase in rankings Don’t Panic! 18 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Page Improvements • By optimising internal links and making pages more attractive to the user, the percentage of users who exit the website from key pages has decreased Site Overlay Data • This means that people are exploring more of the site and clicking through to deeper pages. In this case, it means that people are clicking through to look at the specific office locations under each category • This was achieved by pushing location specific (and content-rich) aspects of the brand: we created an improved Google Map content area and overhauled the page design so that users could see the office and local area before visiting Don’t Panic! 19 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Content Improvements • As well as focussing on SEO actions, we also made individual pages more attractive and useful for users. By producing engaging and informative content, we hoped to increase the amount of time a user spends on a page, decrease bounce rates, increase revisits and increase the likelihood that the user would want to share or link to page • We produced visual content in the form of videos hosted on YouTube and images on Flickr (as shown above). These were then embedded on the page, so that clicking on them would keep the user on the site, rather than directing them away from it Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 20 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Local Listings • We optimised submissions to Google Local business listings and other niche Google services. This means that anyone searching for terms such as ‘Virtual Offices London’ will see results for EOG not only on standard web page results listings, but also on the ‘local business’ map results as displayed at the top of the results page • In some instances this allowed us to deliver up to four first page results (as above) • Combined with other web page (and other content format) results, this means that EOG can appear 5 or 6 times on a single Google results page Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 21 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Social SEO Tactics and Results for EOG Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Channel Overview • We used the following Social properties: 20m daily visitors* 5m daily visitors 800k daily visitors 1.7m daily visitors • Accounts on each profile were optimised for key search terms, with optimised content and links back to key site pages *figures from Google Trends for Websites and Compete.com Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 23 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 24 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Social Optimisation • Each Social Media profile was optimised based on the search terms we identified. Links were also included to key pages on the EOG site Optimised video titles (video tags also optimised) Optimised video title Optimised video description Link to EOG site • This encourages content to rank for search terms and increases the traffic to and visibility of key EOG pages Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 25 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Executive Offices Group: YouTube • The existing Executive Offices Group YouTube channel was optimised with our keyword recommendations to increase search visibility • The property is the main place on the web for all video content produced in the course of our content actions • Housing video off-site in this way increases visibility of both brand and service offerings, as well as giving the individual videos the opportunity to rank in relevant Google searches • This content is also re-aggregated on EOG web pages to enhance on-page optimisation Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 26 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Executive Offices Group: Flickr • EOG has a large volume of images produced for brochures and promotional packs • This content was previously only available in limited amounts and locations on the main website • Hosting the images off-site increases chances of brand and service offering exposure, particularly in such a community-focussed site like Flickr • Flickr images can also rank in relevant Google searches • This content is also re-aggregated on EOG web pages to enhance on-page optimisation Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 27 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Executive Offices Group: Scribd • There is a large volume of promotional and informative PDF content hosted externally, greatly increasing visibility for both brand and service offerings. Previously all PDFs were on-site, with extremely limited exposure • These documents attract traffic on the Scribd platform through sensible keyword optimisation in descriptions and title copy • PDFs can also appear in relevant Google searches • This content is also re-aggregated on EOG web pages to enhance on-page optimisation Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 28 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Executive Offices Group: Slideshare • Slideshare houses the three main service offerings as PowerPoint presentations for EOG • These presentations previously had no online exposure at all • In the same way as Scribd, this platform offers increased chances of brand and service offering exposure through searches both on Slideshare and Google • This content is also re-aggregated on EOG web pages to enhance on-page optimisation Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 29 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Social Media Bulletins • As well as producing on-site content, we also create supporting content in the form of Social Media bulletins • These bulletins announce company news and feature embedded videos and links to the site. They are viewed in relatively large volumes and serve as a very effective way of increasing brand presence Press Releases • A key reason for the high number of views for these Social Media bulletins is that ‘shareability’ is built in: using publishing services like PitchEngine, users can tweet a link to the release from the page itself Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 30 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Social Search Results • In addition to the EOG pages ranking well, we produce content that has begun to rank well within Google Search Engines (such as Google News) News Content Video Content • When external pages rank, it can also encourage traffic to key site pages through links, helping to increase rankings Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 31 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Blog Content • As well as producing video content, Social Media bulletins and press releases, we created a new ‘London Hotspots’ blog to allow the brand to deliver even more valuable content in relation to its office location, such as travel, shopping, eating and drinking reviews and information • The page is structured like a traditional blog, with regular posts, categories and tags - all keyword rich sources of indexable content • It gives users of the EOG site a reason to come back after their first visit, and also invites sharing and user comments • A prime function of the blog is to allow us to optimise and rank for ‘long tail’ (i.e. very specific) search terms such as “virtual offices in Mayfair” Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 32 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Future Content • We plan to optimise the EOG site even more over the coming months, in order to enhance user experience, coverage, mentions, traffic, backlinks and - ultimately - rankings • One such development is the integration of Google Streetview embeds, which will be added to key pages and promoted in influential Social Media hubs • This will help SEO by increasing the usefulness of the page, and increasing positive user experience such as time on page - metrics that can be used by Google to rank pages • Users will also be more likely to link to the page if it’s useful, and we can link to the page when promoting new page developments Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 33 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

Conclusions • Online bookings of virtual offices, meeting rooms and serviced offices have increased considerably since we started our work • Through identifying relevant and highly searched for key terms, the EOG website now appears in Google with much more regularity, outranking previously better positioned competitors on a larger number of search terms • The number of inbound links to the site has doubled over the six months that we have been working with them • EOG’s brand presence has increased dramatically through use of Social Media properties such as YouTube, Scribd, Slideshare, Flickr and PitchEngine • Their website now offers reasons to return after the first visit, with regularly updated blog posts and videos, and a resources hub for City business people • Through creating useful, interesting and informative new content, users now spend more time on each page and click through to view more pages than they previously did • All of this information is viewed as positive by Google, and has contributed to the site ranking highly for a much wider range of search terms than before Don’t Panic! http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/serviced-offices/ http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-meeting-rooms/ 34 http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/london-virtual-offices/

http://www.contentandmotion.co.uk	374
http://socialwebthing.com	86
http://www.slideshare.net	7
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Executive Offices Group: A Social Media Optimisation & Social SEO Case Study

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Executive Offices Group: A Social Media Optimisation & Social SEO Case Study — Presentation Transcript