When you’re planning marketing communications, it is increasingly important to optimize every outlet that might populate or affect your company’s search results or “digital shelf space.” As social signals become more and more prevalent in determining organic search results and rankings, it’s essential for companies you to create a dynamic keyword strategy for social media campaigns. In this 451 Marketing webinar, our Executive Vice President of Digital Marketing Francis Skipper outlines: - The increasing impact of social media on search engine results - How to define the top keywords for your social media campaigns - How to craft and execute your brand’s strategy to enhance posts’ rankings in search engines

1. How to Create a Social
Keyword Strategy

2. Francis Skipper
EVP of Digital Marketing
617.259.1605
francis@451marketing.com
linkedin.com/in/francisskipper
@fskip

3. Agenda
• State of Search Marketing
– Overview
– Google Hummingbird
– Social signaling
• Social Keyword Strategy
– Defining keywords
– Executing keyword strategy
– Content marketing

4. STATE
OF
SEARCH

5. Worldwide, 1,873,910,000,000 searches
conducted on Google last year.
5,134,000,000 Per Day

6. Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
Search
Query
Paid
Results
Organic
Results

7. Search Engine User Behavior
• 75% don’t go beyond the first page
of results (positions 1-10)*
• Over 40% of users click the
first ranking site on search engines*
• 39% of customers come from a
search engine**
* http://ipoint-tech.com/surprising-seo-statistics-2013/
** http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/search-engines-growing-source-of-customers-for-onlinemerchants-21781/

8. . . . is Constantly Changing

9. circa 2000

10. circa 2010

11. Today

12. Major Algorithm
Changes
User features

13. PANDA
Feb 2011
Rank of “Low-Quality”
or “Thin” links
Rank of “High-Quality” links
PENGUIN
HUMMINGBIRD
April 2012
September 2013
Rank of websites violating
Google’s Webmaster Guidelines
Fulfill complex search requests
through semantic search

14. Semantic Search
“Real” or “Conversational” search queries

15. Semantic Search

16. Semantic Search

17. Semantic Search
Pomegranate vs cranberry juice

18. December 2010 . . .
“We do use Twitter and
Facebook links in ranking as
we always have in our web
search rankings”
-Matt Cutts

19. Concept: Digital Shelf Space
YOUR
BRAND
YOUR
BRAND
YOUR
BRAND
YOUR
BRAND

20. Digital Shelf Space: Maximized
YOUR
BRAND
YOUR
BRAND
YOUR
BRAND
YOUR
BRAND
YOUR
BRAND
YOUR
BRAND
YOUR
BRAND
YOUR
BRAND
YOUR
BRAND
YOUR
BRAND

21. Evolution of Search and Social
Indirect
Social
Media
Direct
Social
Media
Social
Signals
Queries
SEO
Search
Traffic
Pre-2010
Search
Results
2010
Likes,
Shares,
Follows
Social
Media
Page
Ranking
Today

23. A few months ago . . .
“Sike! Suckers…”
-Matt Cutts

24. But we’ve seen the correlation

25. Traditional Ranking Factors
Link
Building
Keyword Research &
Targeting
Content Quality
& Accessibility

26. New Social Ranking Factors
Social
Link
Building
Keyword Research &
Targeting
Content Quality &
Accessibility

27. Social Ranking Factors
•
•
•
•
•
•
How many social followers/fans
you have
How many re-tweets, likes,
shares, +1s, embeds
Who is sharing your content:
their authority, their reputation
Popularity and quality of
content
Timeliness and “trust” of
content
Patterns

28. With Semantic Search and Social
Signals in mind …
There is no silver bullet.

29. CHOOSE
THE
RIGHT
KEYWORDS
OPTIMIZE
ALL POSTS
ENCOURAGE
USE
PORTABLE
CONTENT
SOCIAL
KEYWORD
STRATEGY

30. • Come up with a list of 10 keywords that
includes:
• 5 static terms you would like to rank
for throughout the year
• 5 flexible terms that change with the
content on your site or blog.
• Start this process by checking your Google
Analytics account and finding your top
keywords
• Round off your list with “must win”
keywords. These are terms you would like
to consistently rank higher.

31. Google’s Keyword Tool has been
replaced by Keyword Planner.
With Keyword
Planner, we research
keywords as well as
get performance
statistics and traffic
estimates

32. Choosing Social Keywords
• Before you solidify your list, you
should enter your keywords into
the Google Trends tool.
• If the graph shows very little
activity for “head” terms, you
may want to reconsider using
them.
• Low activity on “long tail” terms
may be an avenue of
opportunity

33. Page Ranking
“Low-hanging fruit”
Level of Effort

34. How to ID “LHF”

35. *Optional – tag keywords as LHF and watch growth

36. Send these to
social!!

38. Optimize Blogs

39. #Rugs
Make a space feel instantly cozy with an
8x8 rug – learn how in our latest blog
post http://bit.ly/3hQYj
#rugs #homedecor #smallspaces
#arearugs #8x8rugs
Check out how our signature 8x8 rugs
pull together a room in our latest blog
post http://bit.ly/3hQYj
#Homedecor tips on floor coverings from the
experts – our #8x8 #arearugs are a warm
addition to any space! http://bit.ly/3hQYj

40. Rewarding Social Sharing

41. •
•
•
•
Informational
Queries
Answers
How to’s
Top 5’s

42. “Ride the News” –
Trending Topics
But be careful…

43. Links to social properties on website
Share buttons with content

44. Case Study: Pine Cone Hill

45. Case Study: Pine Cone Hill
Matelassé Quilts
•
•
•
•
Pine Cone Hill featured “matelassé” “quilts” in
content throughout early summer across multiple
social platforms
Kwd -specific posts were promoted through midAugust and resulted in social shares
September 1st –keywords see an increase in rankings
Incremental Sales Increase during this period

46. Takeaways:
• Despite Google’s constant changes, strong social signals and
content marketing can create tangible business value
• Having and implementing a relevant and social keyword strategy
to enhance search efforts makes sense
• Focus on content that provide solutions to your customer’s
questions and needs.
• Always be optimizing. Constantly be using your social keyword
strategy, as well as updating your flexible keywords based on
trends

47. Questions?

48. Francis Skipper
EVP of Digital Marketing
617.259.1605
francis@451marketing.com
linkedin.com/in/francisskipper
@fskip

49. How to Create a Dynamic
Keyword Strategy