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?