Search Engine Marketing
A universal framework for measurement & optimisation.
August 2007.

Search Engine Marketing / Think
Does your current Search Measurement framework work?
Where do you start and end with measurement?
Are your metrics set?
Have you identified the process steps required to create a
customer centric communication vehicle?
This presentation aims to help you achieve these goals by
providing a universal measurement framework for Search
Engine Marketing
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Search Engine Marketing / From Search to Purchase
In an intensely competitive
marketplace it is essential to
optimise the entire customer
journey not just the click
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Search Engine Marketing / A state of mind
Think like this Not like this
• The SERP is a bustling marketplace where you must fight for the
attention of your customers; it is not a place for creating a 1-1
relationship. That comes later.
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Search Engine Marketing / Mastering customer intent
Met my expectations (clear
Didn’t meet my expectations
(too much clutter) content, pricing matched ad)
• Understanding customer intent means knowing when, how and
why your customers are searching. The landing page is where
your relationship begins; poor experience = wasted investment.
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Search Engine Marketing / Bounce rate
• Bounce rate tells us users
leave our landing page without
exploring more content.
Reducing bounce helps to
increase confidence in content
relevancy.
Didn’t meet my expectations
(too much clutter)
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Search Engine Marketing / Measurement Framework
Search Engine Brand Website
SEARCH ENGINE KEYWORD / LANDING PAGE LANDING PAGE CONVERSION
AD COPY TESTING
SELECTION PHRASE SELECTION OPTIMISATION OPTIMISATION
AWARENESS INTEREST QUALIFICATION ACQUISITION
IMPRESSION CONSIDERATION RESPONSE ACTION CONVERSION
ATTENTION BUILDING RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
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Search Engine Marketing / Engine Selection
SEARCH ENGINE KEYWORD / LANDING PAGE LANDING PAGE CONVERSION
Using data freely available from Quantcast we can see differences in the
AD COPY TESTING
SELECTION PHRASE SELECTION OPTIMISATION OPTIMISATION
profiles of search engine visitors. Knowing your segments will assist with
selection of search engines and management of those engines.
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Search Engine Marketing / Choosing keywords
SEARCH ENGINE KEYWORD / LANDING PAGE LANDING PAGE CONVERSION
AD COPY TESTING
SELECTION PHRASE SELECTION OPTIMISATION OPTIMISATION
As customer intent changes, so does their choice of keyword. SEM best practice teaches this approach -
ensure that your metrics are aligned with this approach to ensure an effective test and control process to
match keywords / phrases with customer expectations.
CONSIDERATION
INTEREST
PURCHASE
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Search Engine Marketing / Ad Copy testing
SEARCH ENGINE KEYWORD / LANDING PAGE LANDING PAGE CONVERSION
AD COPY TESTING
SELECTION PHRASE SELECTION OPTIMISATION OPTIMISATION
With the intense competition for attention on the SERP there is no magic button or formula that determines
what ad copy works. The approach required for search copy writing is different from other ad formats -
thankfully developing a test matrix is simple provided performance KPI’s have been agreed.
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Search Engine Marketing / Landing page selection
SEARCH ENGINE KEYWORD / LANDING PAGE LANDING PAGE CONVERSION
AD COPY TESTING
SELECTION PHRASE SELECTION OPTIMISATION OPTIMISATION
Identifying the most effective landing page is vital to the engagement process (without even considering campaign
landing pages) there could be dozens of candidates to choose from. Each page will need careful analysis in the
selection process. Eg an online store product page might be limiting if that customer is not set on that product
Online store category landing page? Online store product landing page?
Corporate category landing page?
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Search Engine Marketing / Landing page optimisation
SEARCH ENGINE KEYWORD / LANDING PAGE LANDING PAGE CONVERSION
AD COPY TESTING
SELECTION PHRASE SELECTION OPTIMISATION OPTIMISATION
Multivariate testing of hundreds of combinations of a working landing page can yield incredible improvements
in site conversion rates from seemingly insignificant changes in creative, copy, images or positioning.
If we were to test just 3
versions of each of the 5
content areas
highlighted we’d have
243 combinations (35) to
analyse.
Multivariate testing can
analyse all those
combinations (full factorial
analysis) in a matter of
weeks.
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Search Engine Marketing / Conversion optimisation
SEARCH ENGINE KEYWORD / LANDING PAGE LANDING PAGE CONVERSION
AD COPY TESTING
SELECTION PHRASE SELECTION OPTIMISATION OPTIMISATION
Once you have overcome the challenges of getting customers to click on your ads and engage with your
landing environment your challenge then comes one more typically associated with web analytics - ensuring
that your web experiences are aligned with your customer needs
Keyword > Conversion
Tracking the event funnel
metric definitions
not conversion funnel
A Few Key
Cross media attribution
Multi click attribution
analysis Considerations
Final Mile - don’t forget Non standard conversion
offline conversion events (visitor intent)
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Search Engine Marketing / Aligning multiple dimensions
AUDIENCE GROWING THE WEB ANALYTICS EXPERIENCE
RELEVANCY MATCH COPY TO CONTENT
MANAGEMENT LONG TAIL PROCESSES ANALYSIS
SEARCH ENGINE KEYWORD / LANDING PAGE LANDING PAGE CONVERSION
AD COPY TESTING
SELECTION PHRASE SELECTION OPTIMISATION OPTIMISATION
LP #1
MSN?
ONLINE
PURCHASE
OFFLINE
YAHOO?
AD #1
PRODUCT
Test Cell #1
LP #2
ENGAGEMENT
GOOGLE?
Test Cell #1
BRANDED
MEDIA
AD #2
ATTRIBUTION
Test Cell #n
BAIDU?
CATEGORY
LP #3
The point?
The point is that all of these dimensions interact with each other and
ASK?
contribute to overall programme success. Your selection criteria at
AWARENESS
each stage should interact with other stages in the process -
integrate thinking.
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Search Engine Marketing / Measurement Framework
AUDIENCE GROWING THE WEB ANALYTICS EXPERIENCE
RELEVANCY MATCH COPY TO CONTENT
MANAGEMENT LONG TAIL PROCESSES ANALYSIS
SEARCH ENGINE KEYWORD / LANDING PAGE LANDING PAGE CONVERSION
AD COPY TESTING
SELECTION PHRASE SELECTION OPTIMISATION OPTIMISATION
BID / PRICING STRATEGY
“STANDARD” CONVERSION ANALYSIS PROCESSES
The Final Framework
MEDIA MIX
CONVERSION
CONVERSION
Bringing in all of the dimensions discussed we ensure that
OFFLINE
(DISPLAY / SEARCH)
ONLINE
ANALYSIS
programme elements are combined into a holistic framework
that is centred on the programme goals and allow us to monitor,
optimise and improve effectiveness.
AWARENESS INTEREST QUALIFICATION ACQUISITION
This works because we focus on customer needs not tactical
measures like CPC and CTR.
IMPRESSION CONSIDERATION RESPONSE ACTION CONVERSION
INCREASING COMPLEXITY (AND VALUE) OF ANALYTICS
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Search Engine Marketing / Measurement Framework
AUDIENCE GROWING THE WEB ANALYTICS EXPERIENCE
RELEVANCY MATCH COPY TO CONTENT
MANAGEMENT LONG TAIL PROCESSES ANALYSIS
SEARCH ENGINE KEYWORD / LANDING PAGE LANDING PAGE CONVERSION
AD COPY TESTING
SELECTION PHRASE SELECTION OPTIMISATION OPTIMISATION
BID / PRICING STRATEGY
“STANDARD” CONVERSION ANALYSIS PROCESSES
MEDIA MIX
CONVERSION
CONVERSION
OFFLINE
(DISPLAY / SEARCH)
ONLINE
ANALYSIS
AWARENESS INTEREST QUALIFICATION ACQUISITION
IMPRESSION CONSIDERATION RESPONSE ACTION CONVERSION
INCREASING COMPLEXITY (AND VALUE) OF ANALYTICS
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Search Engine Marketing
A universal framework for measurement & optimisation.
For further information please visit www.slicecast.com
James Dutton www.slicecast.com/jamesdutton