Introduction to search engine strategies: search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimisation (SEO). Updated presentation.

1. Search engine strategy introduction
Wednesday, 19th August 2009
Version 1.0

2. Discussion
• Search introduction
• Search engine marketing
− Measuring search engine marketing
− Bringing a campaign to life
• Search engine optimisation
• Key take outs
• Summary

3. Search introduction

4. What does a search engine do?
• From a user’s perspective:
− Ask a question
− Receive an answer
• From a search engine perspective:
− Get asked a question
− Find all the answers
− Give you the best ones…RANKED
− Measure the human interaction with it’s logic
If you are not the answer, someone else is

5. Visited Google & searched for
digital cameras

6. Paid placements outlined in
green: top & right

7. Natural placements outlined in
green: centre

8. Search statistics
• Information & Communication Technology sector (ICT’s) is expected
to increase search budgets:
− 57% of Consumer ICTs to increase their search budget
• 47% increase it by 10-30%
• 29% by 30-50%,
• 6% will increase it more than 90%
− 43% of Business ICTs to increase their search budget
• 54% increase it by 10-30%
• 15% by 30-50%
• 8% will increase it by more than 90%
• Of these extra budgets the planned allocation is as followed:
− 62% increase search engine keyword budgets
− 31% increase online directory budgets
− 28% increase contextual search budgets
− 16% increase mobile search budgets
Source: Frost & Sullivan (Australian online search study 2008),

9. Searcher strategy
• Search is more than just campaign activity, it needs to focus on
all aspects of a client: their products, offerings & brand.
SEO SEM
Products
Accessories
Offers
Retailers

10. How most businesses approach search?
Campaign activity
Most clients view search as being very on/off, but consumers don’t just search
because our clients have a campaign in market. It is a key driver, but not when
they are out of market

11. How businesses should approach it?
Base line activity
(consistency & presence in market 365 days)
Campaign activity
Search must be on 365 days a year. With insurance, consumers search on
average for two weeks a year, but not all consumers are searching at the same
time. This means insurance companies need to be there 365 days a year.

12. Keyword bible
Baseline activity
Brand terms
(Canon, IXUS, PIXMA, EOS, sub-brands)
Generic terms
(Camera, digital still camera, DSLR, video, etc)
Campaign 2 IXUS
Campaign
Tell your story
Campaign 3
Campaign 4
Campaign 5
Campaign 1
Photo5
MDS
A keyword bible should be developed for all clients. It should cover a range of
their specific brand & sub-brand terms, as well as generic terms. The campaign
activity will come in & out dependent on the offers & T&Cs attached.

13. Google’s Golden Triangle
Prior to Google introducing Universal search, eye tracking studies suggested that
the users eyes always went up to the top left. Meaning that it was extremely
important to try to get the top position.
Note: Google Eyetracking study prior to recent updates & the introduction of Google Universal

14. Google Universal
As soon as Google introduced Universal search, it pulls in images & content from
a variety of different sources (YouTube, maps, images, reviews, etc).
Note: Google Universal was introduced in late 2007

15. Google’s Universal Eye Tracker
After Google Universal was introduced, the eye tracking studies suggested that
the users eyes went to the images first & then the copy next to those images &
above then below.
Note: Google Eyetracking study showing that most people focus on the image before looking at text.

16. Google’s Universal Eye Tracker
The ideal placement now is for anything above the image. User’s eyes are drawn
to the image & then they are pushed up.
Note: Google Eyetracking study shows the image is the first visual reference and then the eye is directed up to the content above.

17. Google Flights
Google are always looking to introduce new things & Google flights has been on
the cards for a year now. It allows users to search for flights within a specific
time frame & check the travel sites for prices – everything is updated
automaticaly.

18. Google Teleporting
Google teleporting is also called ‘search in search’ & this is dictated by the site
map & the structure of the site.

19. Miserable Failure
For over two years, Google had miserable failure connected to George Bush’s
profile in the search results. Unfortunately this has changed, but it’s a great
example of creating a word/phrase, creating content & owning it online.

20. All segments search on generic terms
It doesn’t matter what the age, gender of socioeconomic profile of consumers,
they all search on generic terms & keywords (eg camera, mobile, insurance)

21. Different types of Search Engines

22. Shopping Search Engines

23. Kids Search Engines

24. News Search Engines

25. Multimedia Search Engines

26. Specialty Search Engines
• Answers Searching
• Computer Search Engines
• Domain Searching
• Financial Search Engines
• Government Search
• Invisible Web
• Legal Search Engines
• Mailing Lists
• Medical Search Engines
• Newsgroup Search
• Science Search Engines
• Shopping Search
• Travel Search Engines
• WAP Search Engines
• Other Specialty Services
Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156351

27. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

28. SEM Methods
• There are a two different search engine marketing methods:
− Paid for Performance (P4P)
− Contextual placements
• P4P is what we have already touched on

29. P4P Search Listings
• P4P is also known as Pay Per Click (PPC) or Cost Per Click (CPC)
search listings.
• They appear at the top & right-hand side of the search results.
• Benefits
− High level of control & security
− Low level of click fraud
− Highly accountable
− Great ROI
• Disadvantages
− Poor venue for some industries
− Not suitable for branding campaigns
− Increasingly competitive with inflating CPC’s

30. Contextual Search
• Contextual search takes your search listing beyond the search
engine & onto sites with matched content.
• Benefits
− Few…
• Disadvantages
− Lack of control
− Expensive
− Most exposed to click-fraud

33. Bringing a Campaign to Life

34. Basic Search Strategy
• The key elements in setting up a basic search strategy:
− Refine customer goals
− Select methods (P4P, PI, SEO)
− Keyword Research
− Tracking set-up
− Rules based bid-management
− Creative rotation & optimisation
− Landing page strategy
− Organic site review & recommendations

35. What does a campaign look like?
Advertiser (campaign) Campaigns (brand, Ad Groups (copy) Keywords (brand, Creative (test 1, test 2)
campaign) campaign)
Competitors
Travel News
syd
General KWs
lhr
Destinations
Travel Airport Codes gtw
Airport Names jfk
Reward names etc
Rewards programs
Travel News Provider
General terms
Car Rental Cos
Cheap flight
Transport Bus / Train Cos
General terms Discount flights
Hostels
Train to
Accommodation Hotels
Car hire
General terms
Travel guide
Airline names
Airlines
Classes, tickets
Source: Downstream www.downstreamonline.com.au

36. What is involved in developing a SEM campaign?
landing
keywords bid price ad copy
page
sourcing
position
headline
product specific
categorising
CPA
kw insertion
general
matching
ROI
brand integration
education
tactics
testing
volume
offer
navigation
purging
testing
call to action
relevance
conversion tracking
combine, test and learn
optimal rule implementation
Source: Downstream www.downstreamonline.com.au

37. Average CPC within the industry
Keyword
CPC
Searches /day
(Rank 1-3)
Broadband
$6 - $9
4,250
Coke Zero
$5
2
Home Loans
$10 - $16
5,000
Hotel
$4
8,500
Skin Care
$2
2,000
Used Cars
$2.40
1,500
Credit Cards
$7 - $15
7,000
Note: Figures are only approximate and from early 2008

38. Brand Terms: Do you buy your brand name?
• Benefits:
− Integrated Marketing messages
- Tag lines
- Price or offer changes
− Control over top placement
− Search Volume grows with brand awareness
• Disadvantages:
− Cost when you have “built” that term eg Nike.
− Engine doing a good job then you should be the most relevant right?
− Competitor terms
Key times to buy:
Strong offline brand campaigns.
New product launch or offering.
While SEO is poor

39. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

40. Search Engine Optimisation
• Definition
− The process of choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a site, and
ensuring that the site places well when those keyword phrases are part
of a web search.
− Source: www.marketingterms.com
• The process has two major components:
− “On page” optimisation
• site technology & accessibility
• site content
− “Off page” optimisation
• link popularity
• link reputation

41. “On page” optimisation
Site accessibility
• Make the site accessible to search engine crawlers
− HTML is better than Flash
• Multiple files rather than one large file
• The absolute minimum:
− Robots.txt file
− Correct HTML coding
− Meta tags with relevant information
− “use text” visible information should be in text (html) not embedded in
graphics such as .jpg or flash
− Site navigation that the crawler can follow i.e. site map
• For dynamic (database driven or Flash sites):
− Ensure the URL structure is crawlable by the engine
− Have a browse function as well as a search function
− Consider static pages for key content (terms)

42. “On page” optimisation
Site content
• Start with researching which terms that you want to get found for.
• Build genuinely useful content relevant to someone searching for that
topic.
• Make that content accessible & readable.
• Meta tags
− i.e. keyword = car insurance are important but the search engines check for
“visible” text that is relevant, not just the html source code.
• Consider offering additional content other than that which is strictly
required to sell your product i.e. mortgage calculator, hotel information
& facilities, whitepaper’s on industry etc.
• The more useful your content & the more that consumers appreciate it,
then the more that the search engines will want your site to rank well
for relevant terms.

43. “Off page” optimisation
• In order to provide more relevant results, the search engines
look further than the content of a particular page/site.
• Google led the trend, they measured “link popularity”
− If lots of other sites have links to a site then the site must have some
value to consumers
• The more recent extension of this is “link reputation”
− If sites link with a tag that includes terms, then the page is more likely to
be relevant for those terms:
• For example, “click here if you want information on car insurance”
• Beware artificially boosting link popularity is now being
monitored by the engines & will be penalised.
− Use a genuine strategy of contacting relevant sites and request
appropriate reciprocal links.

44. Best Practice SEO: Design
• Several on page elements are taken into
account by Spiders (not limited to):
• Page Titles
• Meta Description & Keywords
• Page Copy (Body Content)
• Image Alt Text
• Internal Link Anchor Text
• File names
• Search Friendly Navigation
• Site Map
• Heading Tags
• A clearly distinguishable site architecture &
navigation structure can help with inclusion &
improving rankings.

45. Best Practice SEO: Content
• Content is King!
− The Internet is mainly a source of information & that is what search engines
look for. So the more content the better.
• Consider how people would find information
− By brand
− By product capability
− By Issue
• Develop content around the selected keywords
− (Or Augment the existing content to cover target terms)
• Fresh content is favored by search engines
− Blogs, Press Releases, community areas

49. Keyword in title 
Keyword in directory 
Content tab 
Keyword in H1 
Keyword body spread 
Hyperlinked text 
Keyword meta tags 

50. Measuring Search

51. Tracking Paid Search
What to look for from the Media Company?
• From Search Tool:
− Actual term clicked
− Click count audit (click fraud filter)
− Site side conversion event (count, dollar value, id)
− Search portal (ninemsn or Yahoo?)
• What does this tell you?
− The conversion rate of the term, creative & landing page
− The ROI on the term, group of terms, Search Engine or campaign
− Audit trail to check search engine costs
• What can you do?
− Optimise bids, creative & buy type
− Compare Search Engines

52. Tracking Search
What to look for with organic listings?
• No data from Search Engines (in most cases)
• All tracking is site side (log files) or SEO tags
• Manual log file tracking ok for very low traffic sites
• 80%+ of the time a tracking tool will capture:
− Search portal
− Search term that led to the visit.

53. Tracking Paid Search
What is the end result of this tracking?
• Useful & meaningful reports
• Campaign strategies can be informed by the data &
optimisation strategies implemented
• Bid management can be automated for so that the ROI of
individual terms can be maximised

54. Closing thoughts

55. Things to remember
• Google doesn’t automatically reference offline patents, TM or
R brands online.
− All clients must registered their TM & R status with Google if they want to
exclusively own the terms.
• Ask you clients if they have done this?

56. Register your trademark

57. Submit your site

58. Five key Search take outs
1. Constant
− Search isn’t just a campaign, it must be on 100%
2. Nurture
− Search must be nurtured, whether it is paid or organic
3. Integration
− Search must be integrated into campaigns. Only 2% of people remember
URLs shown in TVCs or other activity.
4. Optimisation
− Search can be optimised real-time, campaigns can be tested & learnings
taken out immediately
5. Measurement
− What does success look like? What were the take outs from the
campaign (ATL elements)?

59. Thank you!