Search engine marketing

Search engine marketing 1

Online marketing planning PHASE 1 Current marketing situation analysis PHASE 2 Defining Strategy Setting Web Site Objective PHASE 3 Operational action programmes PHASE 4 Control and Measurement Customers Competitors Evolution trends about our business SWOT Analysis Set main marketing objectives Segmenting, Targeting, Positioning Business Model Branding issues Number of customers to be attracted What actions do we want our customer to do online? Actions programmes to achieve the objectives: -online product, pricing, promotion, place -web site design and content -search engine marketing Preparing a budget and monitoring performances Analysis (Online marketing research) Strategic decisions Operational decisions

Introduction IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, 2008. 3

U.S. search providers

Daily internet activities Activity Percent of those with Internet access 1. Use the Internet 70% 2. Send or read email 60 3. Use a search engine to find information 49 4. Get news 39 5. Look for info on a hobby or interest 29 6. Surf the Web for fun 28 7. Do any type of research for your job 23 8. Check the weather 30 9. Research a product or service before buying 20 10. Look online for news or information about politics or the upcoming campaigns 23 5

Search engine marketing We have already defined our business model and our value proposition We have performed segmenting, targeting, positioning How can we drive traffic from search engine to our web site? - Importance of having a web site indexed with the major search engines, as in a library 6

Search engine marketing Search engine marketing The practice of marketing a web site via search engines SEO (search engine optimization) or organic listing Using selected keywords and phrases so that a website s pages will rank high on result pages PAID LISTINGS Listings are guaranteed to appear in a search engine result page, with higher ranking obtained by paying more than other advertisers 7

Search engine marketing Paid listing Paid listing Organic listing 8

How do organic search listing work? In order to rank high on result pages through organic listing you need to: 1) get crawled 2) choose strategic Key Words 3) optimize web pages content 4) Increase inbound relevant links 9

Google PageRank PageRank: method used by Google to determine a page s relevance Each web has a PageRank score It s an algorithm based on the probability that a person surfing the Internet will find a given page More than 100 factors! (e.g. fresh content) Google: PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. Votes cast by "important" pages weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important. 10

Choosing the best keywords The site is indexed based on the keywords Title tag Meta tags - are hidden bits of text holding keywords of a web page - they describe the contents of a web page The same words must appear visibly on the web page with enough density to warrant a true relevancy factor: content is king! What worlds would prospective customers use to get to your site? Brainstorming 11

Choosing the best keywords 12

Content optimization Don't use images to display important names, content, or links. Crawlers do not recognize text contained in graphics. Spiders read only text http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl= en&answer=40349: e.g. Don't fill your page with lists of keywords.. If your site contains pages, links, or text that you don't intend visitors to see, Google considers those links and pages deceptive and may ignore your site 13

Organic search effectiveness Natural Search can be highly effective because results are posted in the most important part of a web site.

Paid listings Listings that search engines sell to advertisers, usually through paid placement or paid inclusion programs 1) Paid inclusion - pages are guaranteed to be included in a search engine's index in exchange for payment - no guaranteed ranking 2) Paid placement - the higher the fee, the higher the ranking - Advertisers submit bids to search-engine companies for words - An initial deposit is made and if the surfer is clicks on the link, the cost per click is deducted from the initial deposit 15

Paid listings Pay per click: advertisers pay each time the sponsored link is clicked. Cost per click: the cost to advertisers per click by a user Click through rate: the number of users who clicked on an ad divided by the number of times the ad was delivered (impressions). Usually indicated as a percentage. Cost per order? It is highly targeted traffic that companies are looking and paying for Sharp increase in the average cost per click! 16

Choosing the best keywords 7 words 6 words 1% 2% 5 words 6% 4 words 13% 1 word 19% 3 words 26% 2 words 33% Source: OneStat.com, February 2004 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Breakdown of the number of Words Used in Search Phrases Worldwide, December 2003 January 2004

Paid listings 18

Paid listings 19

Paid listings Pay per click: increasing competition, increasing costs It could be better to start a campaign at the end of the day or the end of the month, when other companies have finished their credit Look for less popular words/phrases: less clicks, lower costs Avoid highly competitive keywords ( long tail ) 20

Organic vs paid listings Paid search has a median order conversion rate of 3.4 percent, while organic search results produces a conversion rate of 3.13 percent (Source: http://www.clickz.com/) Marketing investments =>ROI? Internet web sites get the best results when they combine both. E.g. Organic and paid search may target different users 21

Organic vs paid listings

Google maps 23