Post on 29-Jun-2015
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The A-Z of Search for Retailers
Stephen PratleyMD - Shine Marketing
The A-Z of Search
• The importance of search marketing for upmarket brands
• A Four Part Approach for Long Term Search Success– Keywords– Structure– Content– Links
• Case Examples
The importance of search marketing for upmarket brands
• Over 75% of the UK population now online at home• 72% use the internet to research high value
purchases regardless of where they buy them • 42% of respondents cited search engine listings as
the most common way they search for products and vendors (Jupiter Media Matrix)
• Put briefly, everyone in the UK who has a credit card can now find out about your brand online, and will do so, at your site or elsewhere
How do you achieve good search rankings?• Keywords• Structure• Content• Links
Keywords
What phrases do you want to rank for?
Browsers
Shoppers
Keywords
Generic terms
Eye CreamHigh Volume
Low conversionLong term SEO Goal
Brand Names
ElemisMedium Volume
Medium conversion
Mid Term SEO
PPC to test
Brand + Generic Elemis Eye
CreamLow Volume
High conversion
Short Term SEO
PPC to test
Product Names
Buy Elemis Pro Collagen Eye Renewal Cream15ml
Lowest Volume
Very High conversion
Site structure and overall link profile
PPC to test
Keyword Research Tools
• adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
• Wordtracker.com for alternative terms (e.g. handbag/tote/purse)
• SpyFu.com (competitor terms - free)
• Hitwise (competitor terms – expensive!)
Keyword Research
Keywords
• Choose keywords that will drive buyers not browsers• Check your assumptions using Google’s tools
• Accept that you can only optimise one page per term– Home page– Category pages– Product Pages– Content Pages
Structure
Site Structure
How Google Uses Your Text
What You See
What Google Sees
Does your website make any sense when all that is left is text and links?
Getting Google to Every Page
Method 1
1. Google Starts at the top
2. Works down through links
3. Leaves a little ‘juice’ at each step
Method 2 – Index files
Indexing Tools
• XML Sitemaps• Google
Webmaster Tools• RSS Feeds
– New products– Blogs & News
• Feedburner
Content
How do you achieve good search rankings?• Content on your site that relates to the search terms
you want to appear on Google for.• Content which is either useful to others or shows you
as an authority• Content which is newsworthy and likely to attract
attention
Editorial
Show your expertise
Text = Search terms
Blogs
Allows more feedback
Cheap and quick to set up
Put it at: yoursite.com/blog
Press
Stores
Local Search Terms
Combine with Google Maps
&
Google Local
Content that Gets Editors Talking
• In order to get other people to talk about you, you need something worth talking about– Interviews– Opinions– New products– Celebrity endorsement– Event appearances
Content
Google is still essentially a TEXT search engine
Use copy and other editorial to be found
Interesting editorial is more likely to attract attention than sales landing pages
Links
Good Links
High traffic site
Page dedicated to one site
Few other links on the page
Some unique editorial
Bad LinksSeveral sites
Overall site has little relevance
Same text repeated on many directories
Links – Press Releases
Links – Forums
Links – Forums
Links – Forums
Link Building
Building Links is an Exchange of Value• Reciprocal Links• Content & Copy• Breaking News• Product Samples• Hard Cash
Link Quality
Bad• Submit your own links• Lots of links per page• Site is relevant to you• New sites with little traffic
• Good• Editorial Checks• Pages dedicated to you• Site has no relation to you• Established ‘authority’ sites
“I’m doing it for SEO”
Forget about Google
Where would you want visitors from if Google didn’t exist?
Google follows popular sites It doesn’t create them
Finding sites that will link to you
– Google Alerts : email alerts when your brand is mentioned (or competitors)
– Yahoo Site Explorer: sites that link to you or your competitors
– Technorati: Blogs talking about your sector
– Hitwise: detailed analysis of UK traffic patterns(paid for service)
Case Studies
On site optimisation only
Good structure
Sitemaps submitted to Google
Product feeds sent to Google Base
4,000 pages indexed in approx 2 weeks
Buy Beauty Brands
Lanson Running
Lanson Running
Same on site principles used• Standards compliant HTML code• Google sitemaps• Google base• Fewer products – only 600 pages
Lanson Running
Over 600 relevant links built into the site over 9 months• Forums• Events• Local directories
Regular new content in the noticeboard area
Lanson Running
Summary Your checklist for SEO Success• Decide on 3-4 phrases to target which will bring large
volumes of buyers to your site• Test Conversion rates using PPC• Accommodate these phrases in page titles and
content• Create content about that subject either on product
pages or on a more editorial section of your site• Tell other websites about yours
Questions?