THE NEW SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO): USER BEHAVIOR, SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT & BRAND PREFERENCE

How to improve your site's search rankand capitalize on the changing search landscape

Marketing Planning and Analysis Conference

10 February 2012

Mary MacDigital Marketer and Strategist

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“OLD SCHOOL” SEOYour Google Search Results Were Affected by• Having a well-built website• Using converting keywords in the anchor text

(using keyword phrases that convert to action in the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink)

• Inbound links from authoritative sites• Other data collected by Google that you may

(or may not) have access to or influence

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THE NEW SEOYour Google Search Results Are Now Affected by• "Old School" SEO• User behavior• Brand preference• Social interaction

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User Behavior Is Monitored by

• Time spent on site when clicking through from a SERP• Bounce rate• Bounce rate back to a SERP• Use of the “block all results” button on Google SERPs• Time on site• Return visits• Data collected by people searching via the Google toolbar• Data collected by Google "Street View" cars that can

download browsing data from the wifi signals they pass

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Brand Preference Is Monitored by

• Brand mentions, shares and links in social media• Brand mentions and links on trusted sites• Searches with brand and domain names

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Social Interaction Is Monitored by

• Number of comments• Number of “likes”• Number of tweets• Number of +1s• Number of mentions• Number of shares

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Digital Marketing Project List

CONTENT

A

T

L

S

C

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Products / Services that I market

Product 1 Product 2 Product 3Projects

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USE CONTENT

• To describe service or product benefits -- what problem does the service or product solve?

• To describe products -- what does the service or product do?• For product procurement -- how do you buy the product?• For user success stories• For industry-related stories• For blog posts and posts to social media, such as LinkedIn,

Twitter, YouTube and Facebook

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Digital Marketing Project List

CONTENT

ANALYTICS

T

L

S

C

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Products / Services that I market

Product 1 Product 2 Product 3Projects

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USE ANALYTICS

Check Your Analytics for the New SEO• What are users doing on your site? • What is your bounce rate? How can you improve it?• What is the average time spent on site? • What are the average number of pages viewed per visit?

How can you improve these results?• What search terms are used to find your site?• What are the number of mentions of your Brand?

How can this be improved via content?

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Digital Marketing Project List

CONTENT

ANALYTICS

TESTING

L

S

C

M

Products / Services that I market

Product 1 Product 2 Product 3Projects

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USE TESTING

What to add to a page to test optimization for the New SEO• Social sharing icons to articles and to descriptions of services

or products• Online forum• Display of tweets or Facebook posts• Ratings from customers• Links to customer success stories• Videos related to products and services• Sidebar with clicks to top-converting pages on your site• Reiterate your company name in running text where appropriate

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Digital Marketing Project List

CONTENT

ANALYTICS

TESTING

LEAD NURTURING

S

C

M

Products / Services that I market

Product 1 Product 2 Product 3Projects

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USE LEAD NURTURING• The sales funnel is broken• Who owns the sales process?• Sales process is co-managed by Sales and Marketing• Sales process is owned by the customer

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USE LEAD NURTURING

“The art of marketing is to make people persuade themselves that your company is the best for their needs.”

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USE LEAD NURTURING

“People do not like to be sold. They like to buy.”

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USE LEAD NURTURING

How to influence potential buyers• Intelligent posts as Status Updates on LinkedIn. • A video posted by a happy customer to your site.• A useful and concise White Paper written by an industry

analyst that describes the advantages of your product or service.

• What else?

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Digital Marketing Project List

CONTENT

ANALYTICS

TESTING

LEAD NURTURING

SEARCH

C

M

Products / Services that I market

Product 1 Product 2 Product 3Projects

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USE THE NEW SEOYour Google Search Results Are Affected by

• "Old School" SEO• User behavior• Brand preference• Social Interaction

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Digital Marketing Project List

CONTENT

ANALYTICS

TESTING

LEAD NURTURING

SEARCH

COMMUNITY

M

Products / Services that I market

Product 1 Product 2 Product 3Projects

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USE COMMUNITY

Ways to build community• In your emails, include links to the special interest forums

you have on your site.• Invite existing customers to join your Facebook page

– give them a reward for doing so.• Follow everyone who follows your Company Twitter profile.• Use eCairn, Radian6 or other social monitoring software to

stay aware of communities that discuss your product and services.

• What else?

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Digital Marketing Project List

CONTENT

ANALYTICS

TESTING

LEAD NURTURING

SEARCH

COMMUNITY

MOBILE

Products / Services that I market

Product 1 Product 2 Product 3Projects

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USE MOBILE

• More purchases are made via tablets than via smartphones.

• Smart marketers send only the most relevant information to people on their smartphones.

• People like to shop on smartphones and buy in person, or via tablets or personal computers.

• Each business service and product is different. Marketers need to test and find out what devices readers are using-- and base segmenting decisions on that.

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Mobile CouponsNew options for mobile marketing• Punchh.com

Mobile coupons for restaurants and other businesses to give to customers to refer your business and to earn loyalty points for frequenting your business

• Ifeelgoods.comMobile way for a business to reward shoppers with Facebook credits (to use in Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc.) when they shop for your services and connect with brands on Facebook

• SpotZot.comMobile platform for "deals" whereby information is sent to mobile devices based on location and intent

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Career Potential forDigital Marketing Strategists

Because digital and social need to be built into corporate strategy, companies are increasingly adding a Digital Marketing Strategist to their Board of Directors to help the board make profitable business decisions regarding the company’s online presence.

“If a board wants…people who are on top of all the nuances of digital and the new trends, they’re…going to recruit people in for whom it may be their first board experience. Their perspective and ability to provide unique insight will help keep the company as an influencer in the industry.”

“Digital expertise on the board: An Interview with Dan Rosensweig”- article from Spencer Stuart Consulting

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Source MaterialThe New SEOhttp://bit.ly/new-SEO Panda Shorthttp://bit.ly/Panda-short Marketers Look to Integrate Email, Social and Mobilehttp://bit.ly/integrated-plan The B2B Marketing Manifestohttp://bit.ly/B2B-manifesto Sales Funnel is Brokenhttp://bit.ly/funnel-broken Why Sales and Marketing Alignment Really, Really Mattershttp://bit.ly/Sales--Marketing Why SEOs are Finding Themselves Reporting to Content Marketinghttp://bit.ly/SEO--content Silicon Valley Forumhttp://bit.ly/SV-Forum Board of Directors Adding Digital Marketing Strategists to Boardhttp://bit.ly/BOD-digital

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Follow the Best Web Strategy

on Twitter: @bestwebstrategyhttps://twitter.com/#!/bestwebstrategy

 on LinkedInhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/bestwebstrategy

 

THE NEW SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO): USER BEHAVIOR, SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT & BRAND PREFERENCE

How to improve your site's search rankand capitalize on the changing search landscape

Marketing Planning and Analysis Conference

10 February 2012

Mary MacDigital Marketer and Strategist