The SEMisweet Side of Digital Branding (SXSW V2V)
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The document discusses how HomeAdvisor rebranded from ServiceMagic and recovered from a risky domain name change through search engine optimization and paid search best practices over several years, including testing brand preferences in paid search, closely tracking performance, and focusing content and links to drive organic rankings back up after an initial 45% drop following the domain switch.
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The SEMisweet Side of Digital Branding (SXSW V2V)
- 1. THE SEMISWEET SIDE OF DIGITAL BRANDING @ColoradoCraig #SEMside
- 2. @ColoradoCraig #SEMside WHO IS HOMEADVISOR?
- 3. @ColoradoCraig #SEMside 1999 2000 2004 2012 2013 1M+ Reviews 10M Users 2008 EVOLUTION OF THE BRAND
- 4. “Service is appropriate for home maintenance and repair but Magic is not. Magic suggests fraud or trickery.” ServiceMagic isn’t a good name for a home repair and maintenance company, even less so for a design and remodel company. “ServiceMagic is too general. I would change it to something better.” “I don’t understand what kind of service is provided.” “Sounds like a cleaning company.” @ColoradoCraig #SEMside STUCK IN MUDDY MIDDLE
- 5. @ColoradoCraig #SEMside Distinctive & Unique Descriptive & Unique AVOID THE MUDDY MIDDLE
- 6. A Web Retailer Buys the Perfect Domain. Then Comes a Letdown. Golden’s ServiceMagic becomes HomeAdvisor in risky rebranding strategy DEATH BY DOMAIN @ColoradoCraig #SEMside
- 8. SUCCESS! Rebranding: How HomeAdvisor Quickly Recovered In Search Engine Ranking, Paid Search How One Brand Switched A Million URLs & Lived To Tell About It: 5 Questions For HomeAdvisor.com
- 9. HOMEADVISOR REBRAND PAID SEARCH PERFORMANCE DEC 2012 FEB 2013 STARTED DOMAIN CUTOVER FULL RECOVERY 24% MORE CLICKS +15% CLICKTHROUGH RATE (CTR) +5% CONVERSIONS DOMAIN CUTOVER SEM IMPACT @ColoradoCraig #SEMside 5 Month Recovery SEP 2012 COMPLETED DOMAIN CUTOVER
- 10. History Build Strong Domain & Account History First 1. Tier keywords by quality 2. Launch high quality score first 3. Delete low quality score @ColoradoCraig #SEMside SEM BEST PRACTICES Structure Eliminate Waste Frequently 1. Poor performing keywords create account & domain drag 2. Create tight intent / content driven ad groups Tracking Track all elements of performance closely 1. Track the difference between maxCPC & avgCPC 2. Track impression share 3. Track keyword match type margin Testing Use SEM to validate brand preference assumptions 1. Test CTR and conversion of various brand options 2. Track repeat use by brand
- 11. @ColoradoCraig #SEMside SEO BEST PRACTICES
- 12. DOMAIN RECOVERY: SEO 2014 2012 2013 1-2 months 6 months +1 year -45% -5% +22% 8 Month Recovery @ColoradoCraig #SEMside@ColoradoCraig #SEMside 8 Month Recovery
- 13. EXTERNAL FACTORS Algo changes, competitors, usage data, context, location, et al. can affect rankings, risk and opportunity. @ColoradoCraig #SEMside SEO BEST PRACTICES CONTENT How can we enhance our strongest content and expand into weaker areas? LINKS How can we increase the number of unique quality domains linking to us, internal site architecture, et al.? USER EXPERIENCE How happy are users with your site vs. competitors? Engagement, time on site, customer satisfaction, task completion.
- 14. @ColoradoCraig #SEMside KEY TAKEAWAYS A Good Brand Matters Do Your Research Early – cheap surveys, ask friends, test in SEM Avoid the Muddy Middle- choose either a distinctive or descriptive domain (but make sure it’s unique)
- 15. @ColoradoCraig #SEMside Q&A / RESOURCES Google's recommendations for site migration: https://support.google.com/webmasters/topic/6029673?hl=en Crawler: Deep Crawl: http://deepcrawl.co.uk/ (paid) Rank checkers: Authority Labs: http://authoritylabs.com/ (paid) Domain Selection Sites: http://www.bustaname.com/ Social Media Name Check: http://namechk.com/
Editor's Notes
- Need to add a line on the left in chart for Started Domain Cutover. Month should be Sept 2012 Need to 5 Month Recovery text somewhere on slide
- A few talking points: Overall: 3% YoY Profit Growth (2012 vs 2013) 5% YoY MSR Growth (2012 vs 2013) History: If you start kickstart an account with only high QS keywords, your account will a QS benefit to all newly introduced keywords. To get a read on all new keywords, introduce all keywords into the account on paused status, download quality score details in Adwords Editor, then tier your keywords based on their QS & delete all keywords from the account. Reintroduce only the highest QS keywords & let it run, then continue to delete out the lowest QS terms. Next, reintroduce the next tier of keywords, we saw that about 1/7 of the keywords were introduced with higher quality scores than previously. Testing: Testing indicated we should expect a 100% CPC increase on Brand Terms Day after cutover. Tracking: Difference between max & average cpc decreased by 50% the day after the cutover GDN saw 100% increase in # of placements that keyword contextual bidding qualified
- Need to add X months recovery somewhere on slide
- Add title SEO Best Practices
- Add title SEO Best Practices