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SEARCH & SOCIAL 101 AUGUST 2011

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Defining SEM Search Engine Marketing (SEM) typically refers to pay-per-click search advertisements ran through Google AdWords or Microsoft AdCenter. In reality, SEM involves all acts associated with researching, submitting and positioning a website in search engine results, including SEO. Source: www.orbitalmarketing.ca/services.html2

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Paid Search Engine Results on Google Paid Search ResultsPaid Search Results3

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Where Can You AdverGse With Paid Search? The Google Network – 70% Share of the Search Market Keyword Targeting Contextual Targeting Image Sources: www.netbooster-agency.co.uk/4 www.quinncom.net/

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Where Can You AdverGse With Paid Search? Bing & Yahoo! – 30% Share of the Search Market Partners Search Search and Contextual Targeting5

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Why Run a Paid Search Campaign? YOU CAN EFFECTIVELY… • Increase Website Traffic • Build Brand Awareness • Drive & Track E‐Commerce Sales • Promote a Facebook Page • Market a Mobile App • Promote a YouTube Channel or Video • Manage Brand ReputaHon & Crisis SituaHons • And More! REACH SEARCH USERS THROUGH TEXT, IMAGE, VIDEO, RICH MEDIA OR MOBILE ADS 6

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So That’s SEM…What’s SEO? Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of improving the quality and volume of traffic to a website by employing a series of proven techniques to help the website achieve a higher “organic” ranking with major search engines.7

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Organic Search Results on Google Organic Search Results8

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Why Is SEO Important? • A recent study on search behavior showed:  94% of users tested clicked on a first page search result. *  Only 6% of users clicked to the second page of search results. *  The #1 ranking result garnered around 33% of the total clicks. * • A separate study showed that 39% of search users link search ranking to company prominence. ** • So, ranking highly in search results has become very important for both site traffic and brand reputaHon! Sources: * - Chitika, Inc.9 ** - JupiterResearch

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What Determines Organic Search Ranking? • ≈200 signals are considered when Google ranks search results. * • A few of the signals most heavily weighted:  Inbound Links (links to your web page)  Quality, QuanHty, Originality and Freshness of Content  Content’s Relevancy to User’s Search Query • Social media is becoming more of a factor in search ranking. Sources: SearchEnglineLand.com10 DailyBlogTips.com

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The IntegraGon of Search & Social • Two ways users find informaHon online: Search & Social Networks • When ranking pages, search engines now count links shared on Twi_er, YouTube, blogs, social bookmarking sites and public Facebook pages. • Search engines are also trying to take social authority into account. • Social engagement online is also important in relaHon to search:  Social media messaging containing keywords can influence search volume around specific terms.  When the messaging spreads, users who search are then led to a page you opHmized for those keywords. Image Source: www.madcheapseo.com11

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Sharability, Embeddability & SyndicaGon • Along with links, social acHons (i.e. “Likes”, retweets or + 1’s of a web page) are now effecHng search results. • To search engines: “Likes”, Retweets & Recommenda4ons = Popularity = Quality Content • So, it’s now very important to make it easy for users to share or recommend your content.  Add bu_ons or widgets allowing for “Likes”, retweets, + 1’s and social bookmarking.  Consider syndicaHng content to other sites through an RSS feed (can increase links).  Provide an embed code for any videos posted, so others can repost to their sites. 12

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Sharability – Bing & Facebook • From search engine to recommendaHon engine? Social’s now influencing where searchers will click! • Pages “Liked” by Facebook friends are given more weight on Bing and appear first in search results. 13

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Sharability – Google +1 • Similar effect ‐ Google is now showing results that have been frequently “+ 1’d” 14

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Social Media OpGmizaGon (SMO) • Like normal web pages, social media properHes can also be opHmized…  Facebook – Including keywords in the URL, “about” box, “info” tab, photo & video capHons, event descripHons, discussion forum and status messages.  Twi_er – Placing keywords in username, bios, pictures, tweets and “favorited” tweets.  YouTube – InserHng keywords into video Htles, descripHons, tags, capHons, transcripts and comments. • And don’t forget about engagement!  Facebook pages with more interacHon and YouTube videos with more comments and raHngs will rank higher. Image Source: www.optisourceblog.com15

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Social Content OpGmizaGon (SCO) • Similar to SEO & SMO, but opHmizing all digital assets instead of just web text or social media embassies. • SCO includes opHmizing:  Documents/PDFs  Images  Videos  Press Releases  Blogs  Recipes  And More! • SCO can involve simply tagging images with keywords or can be more complex (e.g. Restructuring a recipe secHon so items appear in search with rich snippets). • See Edelman Digital’s SCO plan outlined in the following slide. 16

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Content OpGmizaGon Plan 17

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Structured Data • Consider structured data as a way to improve search visibility. • This is a way to markup language on the back‐end of your site to make it easier for engines to recognize what your content’s about and provide high quality results. • Structured data is rewarded and given higher priority in search results. Recipe and Product rich snippets taken from Google. • It has been very impacmul in improving organic search volume for companies such as Best Buy. • Products, reviews and recipes can all be marked‐up to create richer search results and increase organic traffic. 18

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Video SEO • Videos now onen appear at the top of search results. • Get ahead of the game by opHmizing your videos. • Find keywords using the YouTube keyword tool. • Add the keywords to your scripts, video Htles, descripHons and tags, and upload transcripts of the dialogue. • Engage on the site as you would any other network and encourage raHngs. • Link to other videos or websites in video descripHons. • Choose a great thumbnail image that will draw clicks. 19

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SEO Meets TradiGonal Media • Try and opHmize press releases whenever possible. • Don’t use industry jargon! • Instead, find high quality keywords and place them in the Htle and body of the release • You can also bold keywords or strategically include them in link anchor text. • But don’t sacrifice its quality or readability! • Link back to your website or social media properHes in the release. • Drive people to search for the keywords your press release has been opHmized for via social media. 20

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SEO Tips: Making a Site Search Engine Friendly • Give search engines plenty of text to crawl and not just images.  FYI – Text embedded within images or logos can’t be crawled! • Avoid a high adverHsement to content raHo. • Try to avoid using fancy features like Javascript and Flash that search engines can have trouble crawling. • Make sure each page is linked to from at least one other page if you want it indexed by search engines. • Don’t require users to login in order to access content. Search engines can’t get past that login point, so they won’t see that content. 21

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SEO Tips: Take Advantage of Your Digital Ecosystem • If you have a large number of websites and social media embassies, then use them to your advantage! • More sites means more opportuniHes to build links to different brand pages. • When appropriate, you can also use all your different social properHes to spread the message about a product or event. • Take advantage of opportuniHes to increase visibility on social networks. (e.g. Company X has Facebook pages for brands A, B & C. Brand A adds the pages of Brand B and C to its public list of favorites and vice versa) 22

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SEO Tips: Integrate SEO Efforts With Paid Search • Neither a paid search nor an SEO approach is be_er than the other. An integrated approach is best! • A past study done by Nielsen Research showed a 32% increase in click‐ through‐rate when a brand appeared highly in both paid and organic results. • Paid search has many complimentary advantages:  It gives you an immediate presence in search results (in case a new product launches or there’s a sudden PR crisis).  It lets you direct users to the page of your choice.  Data and key learnings can be taken from paid campaigns and help you prioriHze where to focus your SEO. Source: www.blizzardinternet.com23

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Helpful Search Tools: Google Keyword Tool Find keywords and search volume for brand-related queries www.adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal24

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Helpful Search Tools: YouTube Keyword Tool Find keywords for video SEO and ideas for new content https://ads.youtube.com/keyword_tool25

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Helpful Search Tools: Open Site Explorer Quickly see how many links you have to your site and who is linking to you www.opensiteexplorer.org26

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SEO Checklist  Is your content indexable? (i.e. Is it in HTML format and is every page linked to?)  Is there plenty of text for search engines to crawl and figure out if your page is relevant?  Are keywords used in page Htles, URLs or in the first 250 words of each page’s content?  Are all possible linking opportuniHes being taken advantage of?  Do a www and non‐www version of your site both exist? (Check for duplicate content)  Are your assets (videos, images or press releases) opHmized for search and are they sharable?  Are you keeping search in mind when engaging on social networks? Are your embassies opHmized?  Can content be further defined through use of structured data?  Have you considered how paid search can help you achieve your business goals? 27

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Glossary Search Engine OpGmizaGon (SEO): The process of improving the quality and volume of traffic to a website by employing a series of proven techniques to help the website achieve a higher “organic” ranking with major search engines. Search Engine MarkeGng (SEM): Search engine opHmizaHon is just a part of search engine markeHng with involved all acts associated with researching, submitng and posiHoning a website in search engine results. Typically SEM refers to paid, cost‐per‐click search adverHsements like Google AdWords ads. Organic Search Results: The unpaid lisHngs in search engine results. Results are ranked according to a large combinaHon of relevancy factors including linkage data, original page content, keyword usage and many more factors. Crawling: When search engines search for pages to include in their index. When a search is performed, search engines then crawl indexed pages for relevant content and then deliver search results. Indexing: Aner search engines crawl your site, they will index or store your content so they can recall it at a later Hme and return it as a search result. Some things can keep your content from being indexed such as a poor linking structure, non‐HTML text that is invisible to search engine or a require login that engines cannot surpass. Keywords: A word or phrase which implies a certain mindset or demand that targeted prospects are likely to search for. Inbound Links: Links coming into a website from other online sources (powerful in determining where a page ranks in search). Social Authority: Search engines now take into account links coming to a site via social media. They also look at the user’s social authority which can include things like number of followers or number of tweets. Structured Data: Structuring your data in a specific way in order to be_er explain the objects on your site in more detail to search engines. Search engines have banded together to create Schema.org, a site that provides language on how to markup your web content to meet their criteria and make it easier for them to provide high quality results. 28