The document discusses strategies for improving search engine optimization (SEO) on a company website to increase conversions and business value. It recommends taking a top-down approach by first optimizing the most popular search keywords and analyzing landing page metrics. It also suggests a bottom-up approach like ensuring all site content is discoverable in search indexes and written with keywords. The goal is not just better search rankings but moving visitors through the conversion funnel from learning to buying.

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Don’t Just Change the
Search Engine!
Mike Moran
April, 2006
© 2006 IBM Corporation

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“This search engine stinks!”
 But a “good search engine” I didn’t find it
is not your goal.
and I always
 Your goal isn’t even to find it on
deliver good results Google!
 It’s to deliver the business
value of your Web site
 Search is a means to
an end
2 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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What are your Web conversions?
 Online sales  Download a
white paper
 Find a store
 Fill out a
 Find a dealer contact
form
 Find a partner
 Phone call
 Affiliate link
3 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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What are your Web visitors doing, anyway?
 Learn: Research IBM’s
products and services
Learn
 Shop: Compare offerings Use
and prices
Shop
 Buy: Check out and Get
purchase
Buy
 Get: Check order status
 Use: Get technical IBM’s Web
support Conversion Cycle
4 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Use your cycle to measure conversion value
 Finding the right product
Land
page puts the visitor in the
“Learn” stage.
Learn
 How many customers that
Use
view a product page put
items in their carts?
Shop  And how many check out?
Get
 Multiply by your average
Buy revenue and you have the
impact on revenue.
Increasing the success rate at any stage
increases the overall conversion rate
5 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Your search facility gets you conversions
If they can’t find it,  Answer research questions
they can’t buy it with informational content
Search
 “MP3 player”
Learn
 Respond to product queries
Use
with comparisons
Shop  “iPod”
Get  Provide detailed model and
Buy product pages for buyers
 “iPod nano”
6 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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What problems are you trying to address?
 “No result”
searches
 “No click”
searches
 “No conversion”
searches
7 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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ibm.com Web Strategy and Design
The Top-Down Approach
© 2005 IBM Corporation
8 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Work the most popular search keywords first
 Most search terms
are unique
 IBM’s 1000 most
popular queries
account for just
27% of all volume
 But it’s the easiest
improvement you
can get
9 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Follow the same process for each keyword
yes Audit the
no
OK? landing
Start page
next
keyword
Choose a Analyze the Improve
landing landing the landing
page for page’s page’s
keywords metrics content
10 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Choose a landing page for each keyword
 Where does your customer want to be?
 Be careful when choosing
the same page for
multiple keywords:
 “Product Lifecycle
Management” and
“PLM” is OK
 “Aerospace PLM”
and “Automotive
PLM”—no!
11 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Analyze the landing page’s metrics
 Search ranking
 Keyword density? In titles and body?
 Search clickthrough rate
 Titles and snippets call to action?
 Search conversions
 Interim pages compel action?
12 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Audit and optimize your landing pages
Acronym to Words
Image to Text
Add K
eywor
ds
Before: Google Rank: #175 After: Google Rank #1
13 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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If all else fails, cheat
 Most search engines allow “Best Bets”
 Be sure to maintain all hand-crafted results
14 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Use “product search” or other specialized search
 Use special
searches for
high-leverage
areas
 Choose the most
important feature
to you
Find your server
15 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Provide comparisons from product lists
 See your final
candidates
side-by-side
 Spot the
differences
Simpler purchasing
experiences increase
conversion rates
16 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Don’t forget to sell related items
Search engines can retrieve the right
merchandising spots based on:
 Knowledge of the customer
 The buyer's current context
 The seller’s situation
 What spots seem to be working well
17 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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ibm.com Web Strategy and Design
The Bottom-Up Approach
© 2005 IBM Corporation
18 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Get your site’s pages into the search index
 Push pages from your content management system OR
 Have a spider crawl your pages
 Remove spider
traps that prevent
crawling
 Use site maps and
country maps to
create spider paths
19 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Ensure content is written with search in mind
 Check keyword usage in titles and body copy using
 Your content management workflow OR
 Your content management pipeline
 Roll up each unit’s score
and publicize
Content Quality Scorecards
20 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Improve your content pipeline
Search
 Automated categorization Spider
 Subject
 Document Type
 Date Standardize Content
 Country Your Data Pipeline
 Language
 Linguistics
Search
 Custom dictionary or thesaurus Index
21 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Tune your search engine
 Do you have the right query  Have you tested your
defaults? facet names?
 AND/OR
 country/language filters
 Have you tested your
ranking algorithm?
 Using the right factors?
Clicks? Links?
 Using the right weights?
22 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Customize your search user interface
 Make search
easy to find
 Use drilldown in
search results
instead of
advanced
search
 Optimize what is
displayed for
product and
document lists
23 © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Apply the same ideas to search marketing
 “Buy this book, read it, and then
read it again.” --Chris Sherman, Search Engine Watch
 “Indispensable guide” --Kirkus Reports
 Develop a strategy that supports your
Web site’s goals
 Get conversions, not just rankings
 Raise your brand awareness
 For more information:
www.mikemoran.com
www.semincbook.com
24 © 2006 IBM Corporation