Alan Boughen, Global Head of Search, Havas Media presentation at ad:tech London's Search Summit in September 2013.

1. FUTURE-PROOFING YOUR
SEARCH MARKETING
CAMPAIGN
ad:tech London Search Summit, 12th September 2013
Alan Boughen | SVP Global Search Director | Havas Media

2. FUTURE PROOFING
YOUR PAID SEARCH
CAMPAIGN

3. Precision targeting with Google Enhanced
Campaigns
 Structured test for mobile
bid multipliers
 Stack device/geo/time bid
multipliers to precision
target „always on‟ users
 Make the most of
upgraded Sitelinks
 Get ready for cross-device
attribution & offline
conversion tracking in Q4
 Check and double-check
your tracking

4. Everything is mobile
1/3 of all search will soon
be mobile

5. Competitive keywords – approach with
caution
 Google now allows bidding on
competitor trademark
keywords in all worldwide
markets (from Mar 2013)
 “Just because we say you can
do this, we‟re not telling you
that you should”
 Interflora vs M&S UK
judgement is very narrow
 Decide how risk averse you
are
vs.

6. Don‟t believe the eBay hype
 Search ads paused for branded & non-branded keywords
 In both cases eBay claims it saw little or no impact on traffic or sales
from ending the SEM campaigns.
 Branded keywords - eBay argues that the impact of ending branded
paid-search campaigns was negligible because people clicked on
eBay‟s organic links
 Non-branded keywords -The company found a marginal traffic
impact after discontinuing non-branded SEM but no impact on sales
 The company argues that SEM only works in instances where
consumers are nearly totally ignorant of a brand and its offerings
The Real Issue : eBay‟s Paid Search Campaign „sucks‟

7. FUTURE PROOFING
YOUR ORGANIC
SEARCH CAMPAIGN

8. How has Penguin 2.0 changed the SEO
game?
 In all honesty it hasn't changed much – you
either play by the „rules‟ or you don't.
 Pleasingly, many of the spammy tactics that
used to support rankings have reduced in
impact but unfortunately some still work and are
still used within the industry.
 This is a risky game of brinksmanship as we
expect Google to continue to shut down the use
of these techniques with further Penguin
updates, which will result in sites that use spam
SEO techniques being penalised or seeing
rankings fall dramatically.
 Ongoing algorithm updates from the search
engines highlight why it is vital to keep
strategies fluid.

9. SEO & Social – the perfect couple
 Critical to take an ethical
approach to SEO focused on
content and social media.
 The algorithm and link building
tactics are now much more on
marketers‟ radars
 Marketers have become wiser
to the 'rented' ranking game.
 Over the last 6 months,
authorship has become
increasingly important.

10. Video SEO increasingly important
 Video search is still very nascent but increasingly important
(especially as YouTube now ranks as the 2nd largest global
search engine).
 SEO for video is similar to the old days of SEO for websites –
optimising meta data is still the primary tactic.
 YouTube‟s Keyword tool enables marketers to understand
how content is being searched for and how to optimise
titles, descriptions and tags accordingly.
 As Google moves away from „10 blue links‟on the SERP, it‟s
also important to maximise the number of links to the video
and sites that embed the video to improve its ranking in
Google organic search.
 In addition to these basics, you can also explore video
sitemaps and uploading the video script to provide context to
the video content.

11. BRINGING IT ALL
TOGETHER

12. Integrating SEO & PPC
 Marketers are increasingly
focusing on SEO/PPC
integration
 Understanding the effect of
dialling down budgets in
particular areas of their paid
search campaign (e.g. branded
keywords) and re-deploying
budget in other areas (e.g. on
non-branded/generic
keywords).

13. Prepare for Search to get more natural &
conversational
“I wouldn’t be surprised i
year or two, we’ll see a m
broader conversation ha
within search — where u
can talk to a search engi
they’re talking to a perso
- Amit Singhal, Google

14. THANK YOU
alan.boughen@havasmedia.com
@alanboughen
www.havasmedia.com