Successful Search Marketing

Dan RichardsonSeptember 2014

What is Search Marketing?

Pretty much this – organic (non-paid) and paid optimisationHowever, days of 10 blue links are over – there’s shopping, video, local, images all visible

Who’s this guy?

Nice enough chap – but you don’t want him knocking on your doorKeep him busy elsewhere – do these few things!

Quality

• Give the search engines a helping hand– Minimal errors, such as 404s– Informative, clear, non-duped Meta data– Preferred domain and geo-target set– Right parts of site crawled and indexed– Valid XML sitemap– Internal linking – overlooked often, promote best pages

• Use the site: operator– Does index count kinda match your actual count?

• Tools to use – Google/Bing Webmaster Tools

Speed

• Faster the better, is now a ranking factor• Check your hosting• Look at compression and caching• Are plugins, widgets and gizmos really necessary• Keep a close eye on those images!

• Tools to use– Gtmetrix.com– Tools.pingdom.com

Content

• How good is yours?– Does it help solve a problem– Is it the same all over the web– If selling, are you using manufacturer blurb– Think why Google should put your stuff first

• Ideas– Add new, fresh, quality content – blog is perfect– Reposition old stuff– Build better version of something useful

• Tools to use– Search for 8-10 words of yours in “ “

Local Search

• Not just for local companies – Google Venice• Get listed and be consistent– Yelp, Scoot, Touch Local, Yell, Manta, Opendi etc etc

• Remember NAP– Name – Address – Phone Number– Place same information on your website

• Often painful, but adopt Google Plus pages– Connecting and verifying with website helps authority

• Yelp for Apple maps – search for yourself• Ask for reviews, don’t ‘bribe’ people though

Links and link penalties

• Link-building toughest part of SEO now. Good content helps!• Even have to consider anchor text diversity• Tools to use:

– Majestic SEO, AHRefs

Cue mass panic

What happens if it goes wrong?

..and this is what it looks like

It’s a long and painful way back - £££ too if buying trafficCan disavow links but G wants to see some (a lot) of effort

Check yourself

• Search for “Panguin Tool” – connect to GA (safe)• If no GA – try “website penalty indicator”

Mobile

• Not just phones – there’s multi-device to consider• How ready are you – how ready is your competition• Tools to use: mobiletest.me and Mobile overview in GA

Don’t jump straight in

• August announcement from G about HTTPS• It’s not always as simple as you think…• Recent example from Buffer App• Avoid hysteria, think and plan

Paid Search

A quick Adwords primer

• Adrank determines position – not just budget• Helps to level out the playing field– AR = Max CPC Bid x Quality Score

• Therefore QS plays a huge part in a campaign

Advertiser CPC QS Adrank

1 70p 6 4.2

2 50p 9 4.5

3 80p 5 4.0

Value of Extensions• Previous calculation not entirely true…

• ..so now, it’s more like this

ExtensionsCount

BIG TIME

Extensions Examples• Various – one common factor – make the Ad

stand out. Google makes money on clicks…

More here:http://goo.gl/SkVnyE

Call Extensions great for mobile

Improving Quality Score

• Click through rate biggest factor (incl historic)• Use –ve keywords well to max impressions• Relevance of keyword to Adgroup – themes• Landing page quality, relevance & speed!• Relevance of your Ad text• Pause, change or remove <5 QS keywords• Continuously test Headline, Ad Copy, Display URLs and CTAs• Brand term campaigns can provide great CTR

– Low CPC usually, as well as extensions taking up space• Use extensions to boost CTR too

Brand Term Ads Example

GDN – Display Network• Run Ads on non-Google properties (lots of!)

– Good for brand awareness – impressions galore– Promotes visibility in new places– Can also be used for remarketing quite well

• Don’t stalk people though!– Set limit on frequency of impression if no click– If remarketing stop showing if recently converted

• Managed placements often used to good effect– Gmail specific campaign is good example– Ask me how to do this later if interested

• Separate Search and GDN campaigns for best practice

One happy guy

Remember

• For Organic– Quality– Fast– Good content– Mobile friendly– Link quality

• For Paid– Quality Score– Landing Pages– Extensions– Use GDN wisely– Test

Overall: Don’t panic – don’t cheat – do the right things right.

Thank You – Questions?