Mkt 460 Week 6

What is search engine optimisation
(SEO)?

SEO “is the process of improving the
visibility of a website or a web page in
search engines via the ‘natural’ or un-
paid (‘organic’ or ‘algorithmic’) search
results”. (Wikipedia)

Also called natural or organic
optimisation
Image credit: creative commons,IconTexto

Search engines use complicated
algorithms to determine relevance
and ranking and these are always
changing.

So keeping your website in shape to
be ranked well by these algorithms is an
ongoing process!

1. Because the higher up your website
is on the SERPs, the more likely you
are to get traffic to your site
2. Search traffic is qualified traffic
(users are explicitly looking for
what you have!)
3. You don’t pay for each click (as you
do with paid search)

In the early days of search engines,
meta data was used to index and rank
websites.

But this left the results open to
manipulation

Hence the complicated algorithms
that are used today.
Google says it uses more than 200
different factors.

These algorithms use page rank –
simply put, the more a website is
linked to, the more likely it is that the
community considers it an authority.

So search results today are determined
by on page and off page factors.

On page factors are the structure of
the website (HTML code, content etc.).

Off page factors are elements which
build links to the website.

Search engines look for:
1. Relevance
2. Authority
3. Popularity

White hat SEO works within the
parameters set by search engines.
Aims for long-lasting success

Black hat SEO refers to someone trying
to game or manipulate the search
engines.
Aims for massive short-term traffic

1. Search engine friendly website
structure
2. Well-researched list of key phrases
3. Content optimised to target key
phrases
4. Link popularity
5. Usage data

1. Creating a search engine friendly
website structure

Remember, if spiders can’t find your
website, then users won’t find it via
search engines.

Use best practises
Search engine friendly design =
usability and accessibility

Remove technical barriers
Ensure there are direct HTML links to the
pages you want indexed.

Some barriers to visibility:
•Flash
•Frames based design
•No XML site map
•AJAX
•Video
•Dynamic URLs

2. How to research key phrases

These are the foundation of search

Users enter words they think are
relevant to their searches.

Aim to use keywords in your website
content that your target audience is
likely to use.

Finding keywords means understanding
search psychology.

•Search volume: how many searchers
are using that phrase?

•Competition: are other websites
targeting that phrase?
Vs.

•Propensity to convert: How likely is
the searcher using the phrase to
convert to your site?
Consider which term will lead to more
conversions.

•Value per lead: What is the average
value prospect attracted by the
keyword?
‘Budget Durban hotel’ vs. ‘Luxury
Durban hotel’

Brainstorm
•What is your
core business?
•The needs of
your customers?
•What do they
search for?

Also consider misspellings and
synonyms

Keyword search tools can offer
suggestions:
•Similar keywords
•Common keywords used with that
keyword
•Common misspellings
•Frequency of the keywords in search
queries

•Industry related keywords
•Keywords sending traffic to your
competitors
•Number of sites targeting your
keywords

Use a keyword spreadsheet to store
information:

Aim to get the right mix:
Low volume terms with low levels of
competition are good in the short-
term.
But high volume terms with high
levels of competition can improve
revenue over time.

3. Optimise content for key phrases

We need to ensure the site contains
content to target those phrases.

Website content must:
•Provide information to visitors
•Engage with them
•Convince them to do what you want

On top of that it must send signals of
relevance to the search engines.

Each web page should be optimised for
two to three key phrases:
•Primary
•Secondary
•Tertiary

Guidelines:
•Title tag: use the key phrase in the
title
•Header tags: use H1 tag, and other H
tags (H2, H3 etc)
•Body content: use key phrase three
times, more if it makes sense! About
350 words of content

•Bold: use <strong> tags around
keyword
•Alt tag for image: use at least once to
describe an image
•URL: use a URL rewrite so it appears in
the URL
•Meta description: Use keyword at
least once

Optimise images and video with the
relevant keywords as well.
You have to rely on how the image is
described.

If images are correctly labelled,
search engines can index them.

•Use descriptive filenames
•Use ALT tags and title attributes
(Make sure websites make sense without
images)
With image displayed Without image displayed

•Ensure meta information is relevant
•Use descriptive captions, and keep
relevant copy close to the relevant
media
•Make sure the header tags and
images are relevant to each other

•For video, consider converting the
script to text and making this available
to search engines
•YouTube offers an auto-captioning
service that makes this easier to do

4. Links are vital to how the Internet
works

They are there to allow a user to go
from one web page to another

They help build signals of trust

They help to validate relevance
Relevant!

The content sends a signal of
relevance; the link validates that
signal.
e.g. A link with the text ‘Durban pet
friendly hotel’ sends the message that
you can trust the destination site is
relevant to the term ‘Durban pet friendly
hotel’.

Search engine spiders follow them

Pages with higher page rank
themselves, will give you much more
value when they link to you than pages
with a lower page rank.

More votes = more trusted = more
important = better rank on search
engines

<a href=”http://www.targeturl.com/targetpage.htm”>
Anchor Text</a>
(HTML code for a link)
http://www.targeturl.com/targetpage.htm
(Page the link leads to)
Anchor Text
(The text that forms the clickable link
displayed to users)

But you can include more information
<a href=http://www.targeturl.com/targetpage.htm
rel=”nofollow”>Anchor Text</a>
rel=”nofollow” – can be included when you
don’t want to vouch for the target URL.

So, how do you get more links on a
website?

Create valuable content people want
to read

Position yourself as an expert in the
field

Use infographics –
they’re popular and useful

Create tools and documents that
others want to use:
•Host interviews on your website
•Think outside the box

Create games that people want to play.
Make sure the theme is based on the
key phrases of your website!

Create widgets, browser extensions
and useful software.

Use WebPR to provide valuable links
to your content.

Use competitor analysis to find out
who is linking to your competitors and
which non-competing sites are
ranking highly for your key phrases.

Usage data is the most effective way
of judging the true relevancy of a
website.

How do search engines access it?

They use cookies to record search
activity:
•Keywords used
•Websites visited from the search
engine
•Clickthrough rate
•Bounce rates

Most provide other services too.
Some of Google’s services:
•Google AdWords
•Google AdSense
•Google Checkout
•Google Analytics

Websites must:
•Be valuable enough to attract both
visitors and links naturally
•Retain visitors and make sure they
return to the website
•Convert visitors

Social media is important too!

Social content can appear in SERPs
and is growing increasingly influential
in search rankings.

Use social media properties to
dominate brand SERPs.

Remember that real-time search relies
on social media.
e.g. Twitter

Links from social sites are used as
signals of relevance.

Personalised results are influenced by
your online social network:
e.g. If you are logged in to Google while
searching for blogs, you might be more
likely to see a friend’s blog.

Optimise your content for social
search engines.

Mobile SEO is a little different to desktop
SEO but the fundamental principles
remain.

•Search engines can deliver precise
location-based results to mobile
users
•The importance of usability in sites for
mobile devices
•Search engines having less data to
work with in terms of site history, traffic,
and inbound links

So remember to:
•Create usable, crawlable sites
•Format content for mobile usage
•Use links from mobile to desktop and
vice versa
•Submit a mobile XML sitemap
•Use the word “mobile” so search
engines know this is the mobile version
of your site

Local search means that location
matters. ‘Claim’ your location to verify
yourself.

•Avoid hidden text or hidden links
•Don’t use cloaking or sneaky redirects
•Don’t send automated queries to
Google
•Don’t load pages with irrelevant
keywords
•Don’t create multiple pages,
subdomains, or domains with duplicate
content

•Don’t create pages with malicious
behaviour, such as phishing etc.
•Avoid “doorway” pages created just
for search engines or other “cookie
cutter” approaches

•If your site participates in an affiliate
programme, make sure that your site
adds value
•Avoid links farms and focus on
attracting quality, valuable links

At the end of the day, create content
that users want, and make sure that
content is accessible to both search
engines and users.

Pay per Click (PPC) advertising is where
the advertiser pays only for each click
on their advert.

PPC adverts
They’re easy to spot – on the top of SERPs
and on the right hand side.

They also appear on content sites and
social networks.

PPC advertising revolutionised the
online advertising industry and today it
generates 99% of Google’s revenue.

We will focus on PPC advertising on
search engines and social networks

PPC advertising is keywords based.

It is based on the search term a user
enters into a search engine. This means
that it uses a “pull” strategy rather than
a “push” strategy.

The beauty of PPC advertising on search
engines is that adverts are displayed
when potential customers are already
expressing interest.

Users are spoken to when they are
already in the right frame of mind, the
message is not pushed on to them like
TV advertising.

Usually runs as an auction model –
advertisers place bids to appear
based on certain criteria.

Then advertising platforms
determine when adverts are eligible
to appear.

So the advertiser:
•Creates the advert copy
•Determines the landing page for the
advert
•Selects the keywords or criteria
•Chooses the maximum amount they
are willing to pay per click

And the advertising platform:
•Checks the advert for compliance to
editorial guidelines
•Displays the advert for relevant search
criteria
•Determines the rank of the advert -
based on the advertiser’s maximum bid
and the relevance of the advert

The majority of PPC advertising spend is
on Search network PPC advertising –
this is the more targeted network.

They appear on SERPs and are mostly
text – but more formats are becoming
available.

But display advertising (on content
pages, like news sites) and social
networking advertising are important
growth areas.

More advertisers are now moving to the
display and mobile networks in order
to attract relevant traffic and
increase exposure.

Text advert format:
Heading
www.DisplayURL.com
Two lines of advert copy,
Which can be displayed on one line

Vanity URLS: The URL shown is not
necessarily the URL that the user will
click through to.

Roses for Valentine’s
www.flowers.co.za/roses
A dozen red roses for your love
Fast, free delivery in RSA

The display URL:
•What the user sees
•Domain must match destination URL
•Can use vanity URLs

The destination URL:
•Domain must exist
•One ad group per domain
•Domain must match display

Vanity URLs make them look appealing
and keywords can be used to further
increase the relevance of the ad to the
user’s intent.

When writing PPC adverts, the number
of characters are limited and
restrictions exist.

Google AdWords guidelines:
•Heading: max 25 characters
•Display URL: max 35 characters
•Line 1: max 35 characters
•Line 2: max 35 characters
•No repeated exclamation marks

•No word in capitals only
•No nonsense words
•No claims of “best”, “number one” or
superlatives, unless they can be
verified by a reliable third-party
•Product numbers may be used

Remember, there are usually no images
in PPC adverts – the copy is key!

To help, use dynamic keyword
insertion – inserting the search
keywords dynamically into the advert
copy.

Also use compelling calls to action or
mention special offers:
Buy now, sign up now, enter now, 10%
discount...

Advert extensions can be used to add
more information to text PPC adverts.

Google offers five text ad extensions:

Location extensions
Image credit: Google Adwords,
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=188235

Sitelinks extensions

Phone extensions

Product extensions

Seller rating extensions
Image credit: www.adwords.blogspot.com

Not all extensions are supported in
all countries – look to see if you
country is included in the AdWords help
forum.

Facebook PPC adverts are based on
the interests a user enters into their
profiles and their demographics.

They can be used to drive traffic to
assets on Facebook or to an external
site.
They contain images as well as text.

How do you target PPC adverts?

There are an estimated 200 million
searches performed each day and nearly
50% of all searches are unique.

It would be impossible to find all the
terms searchers use so there are
different keyword match types.

Broad match: keyword
Phrase match: “keyword”
Exact match: [keyword]
Negative match: -keyword
Modified Broad match: +keyword

Broad match – i.e. Tennis shoes.
Your advert will be found when any of
or all words are searched for.
Also includes some synonyms and
misspellings.

Search includes:
tennis shoes
red tennis shoes
tennis sneaker
history of tennis shoes

Phrase match – i.e. “Tennis shoes”
Your advert will appear when the
phrase appears complete or in order.

Direct match extension – i.e. red
+sneakers
Your advert will appear for any search
containing red and sneakers and
variations of sneaker (the marked
keyword).

Modified broad match – i.e. Tennis
+shoes.
Each word preceded by a + must appear
in the user's search exactly or as a
close variant.
Close variants will include:
misspellings, singular/plural forms,
abbreviations and acronyms, and
stemmings.

Modified broad match has the broad
match reach, the exact match
precision, and the phrase match
flexibility.

Specify languages and locations your
advert is targeted for.
Include country, city and postal code

Use Facebook advertising to target
based on:
•Gender
•Location
•Relationship status
•Age group
•Likes and interests
•Brand interactions

Advertisers must decide the maximum
they are willing to pay per click - max
CPC bid.

But every time there is a search, there is
an auction for the adverts for that
search term – a Generalised Second
Price Auction (GSP).

Each advertiser pays the bid of the
advertiser below them, plus a
standard increment.

The bid and other factors are taken into
account = Quality Score (QS)

Quality Score is determined by:
•The bid amount
•Relevance of keywords to search term
•Relevance of advert copy to the search
term
•Relevance of the landing page to the
search term
•Historic performance of the advert

Conversion rates and click-through
rates

Those adverts nearer the top of the
page (best ranked) attract the highest
CTRs.
They also have
a higher cost
per click.

More clicks aren’t necessarily better

Set up goals to track conversions

Goals can be:
•Buying a product
•Booking a plane ticket
•Filling in a form
•Sending an enquiry
•Making a phone call

Click-through rate (CTR) is clicks /
impressions (each time the advert is
shown) %

Click-through rate tells you how well
your copy is performing.
Conversion rate tells you how well
your campaign is performing.

You need to know the value of each
conversion so that you don’t pay too
much per click.

With this info you can adjust
accordingly:
•Change keyword match types
•Change bids
•Change ad copy
•Change budget allocations
•Improve website conversion rate

Use Adwords conversion tracking to
report on campaigns

Google AdWords offers conversion
tracking tags.
But for other networks use third-party
tracking.

Set budgets to:
•Daily
•Monthly
•None

This is subjective and most large
advertisers run PPC campaigns on a
number of platforms.
The key is testing!

Use the long tail of search to figure
out low volume, niche searches – it can
do wonders for a PPC campaign!

The sum of the unique searches is the
same as the sum of non-unique
searches.

So, low volume, niche search terms:
•Are more targeted
•Have less competition
•Can have a lower CPC
•And a higher conversion rate
•May have a lower quality score so can
take a while to get traffic

Aim to create landing pages that keep
the user focused on the conversion
goal – the home page gives them too
many options to consider.

Create dynamic landing pages to
simplify the process

1. Do your homework – conduct an
online and offline analysis of the
business

Identify:
•A clear brand
•Identity
•Unique selling point

What do you want users to do once
they click on your advert?

How much are you willing to spend?
Determine your target CPA.
Keep in mind, it can take months for a
campaign to stabilise.

What keywords are potential customers
using?
What words indicate undesirable
clicks?
•Free
•Cheap
Similar or related keywords.

•Write compelling copy
•Make your headings and display URLs
stand out
•Use keywords in your copy

•Target the landing page to adverts
•Adverts need to be worded differently
for the different platforms – different
types of user behaviour

Tweak them as you test your campaign

Get your tracking tags in place

8. Measure, analyse, test, optimise!

•Use conversion tracking
•Test text vs image/video
•Test different landing pages
•Test different networks/platforms
•Test different demographics
•Test different bidding strategies

Media designed to be shared (written,
visual, audio, audio visual, etc.)

Also called Web 2.0, consumer
generated media (CGM) and new
media.

Traditional media has adapted to keep
up with audiences.
e.g.
•Newspapers are published in print and
online
•TV adverts are available online

What are the social media channels?

•Bookmarking and aggregating
•Content creating
•Social networks
•Location based social networks

Bookmarking and aggregating:
Storing a website’s URL so that you can
locate it again easily.

Use chiclets to make it easier to submit
and share the articles.

Social bookmarking: Delicious
(www.delicious.com)

Aggregating sites where users can
vote on content:
Digg (www.digg.com)
Muti (www.muti.co.za)
Reddit (www.reddit.com)

Select categories of your choice to
‘stumble’ through the web:
Stumbleupon (www.stumbleupon.com)

How can you use these as marketing
tools?

See how your brand is perceived:
•Tags
•Mentions
•Likes
•Etc.

Create free content to share:
•Articles
•Video
•Images

Share videos
On YouTube over 65 000 videos are
uploaded daily.
Tap into existing online video
audiences.

2 ways to market through YouTube:
•Promote content through YouTube
•Advertise next to content on YouTube

e.g. www.youtube.com/Sienna
Customise your own YouTube Brand
Channel

(www.youtube.com/BMWSouthAfrica)
If an advert is good enough, people will
want to watch it

Place Google AdWords on YouTube
videos

•Create and update documents
•Review versions
•Community-oriented tools

Available to all:
www.wikipedia.com
www.wikitravel.org
Or for specific groups:
geekdinner.pbwiki.com

www.pbwiki.com
Create your own wiki.

•175 000 new blogs created daily
•Over 1.6 million posts updated every
day
•That’s a lot

Include the basics:
•Author
•Blog post title
•Tag
•Comment
•TrackBack

Make it easy for readers by including:
•RSS feed to subscribe
•Categories
•Blogroll
•Archives

RSS = Really Simple Syndication
Instead of visiting various websites for
updates, information is packaged and
sent to your RSS reader.
Image Credit: Creative Commons, Maja Bencic

Use Corporate blogging to
communicate with staff, investors,
customers etc.

Keep them
•Relevant
•Appealing
•Transparent and honest
•Personal and entertaining

List your blog in directories.
e.g. Google’s Directory
(www.google.com/dirhp)
and BlogCatalog
(www.blogcatalog.com).

Use blogging as a marketing tool by
listening and engaging in the
blogosphere – comment on relevant
posts.

Set up a blog:
•Wordpress (www.wordpress.com)
•Tumblr (www.tumblr.com)
•Posterous (www.posterous.com)
•Blogger (www.blogspot.com)

Use microblogging to broadcast news,
improve customer service and market a
brand’s profile.

To do this use:
•Instant Messaging (IM)
•The web
•Mobile text messaging
•Facebook applications
•Or Twitter (www.twitter.com)

Get content out without using media
channels.
Create a podcast

Have your own radio show – which can
be listened to at any time.

Why? Because they’re:
•Targetable
•Measurable – you can see # of
downloads
•Controllable – it’s your content
•Relatively inexpensive
And they can be distributed via RSS.

But always make high quality, real
content!

Build relationships through social
networking

Social networks can be for general
audiences: www.facebook.com
or for niche audiences:
www.linkedin.com.

You can build your own social
network
•Ning (www.ning.com)
•Motribe (www.motribe.com)

Or use existing platforms like Facebook
which offers different ways to connect
with potential customers.

Use pages to create profiles for
brands.

Introduce branded applications to
create experiences.
Include
viral
sharing to
expose the
application.

Use engagement ads and ASUs.
Engagement ads are large and
interactive.
ASUs are small and simple.

Facebook also offers:
•Promotions
•Facebook connect
•Like button
•News feed

But how successful is your social media
campaign? Track it to find out!

Use:
•Facebook Insights
•YouTube Insights
•Twitter analytics

If you’re not a Twitter advertiser use:
www.hootsuite.com
or
http://www.twitalyzer.com/

Use click tracking with URL
shorteners.
An easy way to share long links by
providing a short URL that redirects to
the original link.
•bit.ly
•goo.gl
•ow.ly

e.g. If we want to tweet a link to a
blog post...
The URL before:
http://www.gottaquirk.com/2011/02/08/
the-future-of-online-reputation-
management-software/
That’s 89 characters!

The URL after using goo.gl:
http://goo.gl/wQXMo
Only 19 characters, and can be
tracked.

For further tracking use web analytics

In Facebook, tracking script can also be
inserted in pages served through an
iFrame.

iFrames allow you to draw information
from other websites to display. For
example, a YouTube video.

Finally, the Rules of Engagement

•Market to bloggers (they’re influential)
•Go to where your consumers are
•Use chiclets and easy to share URLs
•Use targeted advertising

Use social media to engage with
audiences in a channel they have
selected and prefer.

Establish direct, personal contact on a
level not available to traditional
marketing campaigns.

Mkt 460 Week 6

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