The Art of Search Applying the lessons of ancient Chinese wisdom to modern search, we’ll show how Sun Tzu’s classic ‘The Art of War’ sheds light on Search Marketing strategy in 2015.

1. The Art of Search
What we can learn from ancient Chinese strategic wisdom

2. A Brief History of Search
@_ShaunRusse
ll
1998 2015
@Adthena

3. We are great at our jobs

4. We are okay at our jobs
great
We chose the
wrong search term
We ran out
of budget Our PPC & SEO teams
ignore each other
Our user
experience is
poor We missed a time-sensitive
opportunity
We wasted
time targeting
an out-of-date
ranking signal
We let our A/B
testing go stale
We don’t
have a
mobile site

5. A Brief History of SearchThe Art of Search
500 BC 20151 AD
How can we use ancient strategic wisdom to become
better search marketers?
@_ShaunRusse
ll
1998 2015
@Adthena

8. Source: Adthena
Organic Search is Proactive

9. #WorldCup
Tweet Volume
World Cup
Ad Copy Traffic
World Cup
Ad Copy Traffic
Source: Adthena
Day (June 1st onwards)
Paid Search is Reactive

10. 0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
180000
1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41
Traditional English
over-optimism
Inevitable
early exit
Day (June 1st onwards)
Generic traffic
from tailored ad
copy
Paid Search is Reactive
Source: Adthena

12. Case Study: ASOS search dominance
Source: Adthena
Paid Share
of Voice
Organic Share of Voice
Competitor Market Share (Retail)

13. Case Study: ASOS search dominance
Source: Adthena
Paid Share
of Voice
Organic Share of Voice
- High volume, low intent generic
- High CPC, low margin
- Organic dominant page
Share by Search Term

14. Case Study: ASOS search dominance
Source: Adthena
Paid Share
of Voice
Organic Share of Voice
- More specific, higher intent query
- Paid dominant page
Share by Search Term

15. Case Study: ASOS search dominance
Source: Adthena, Google Trends
Paid Share
of Voice
Organic Share of Voice
- Leading fashion trend
- Highly seasonal
Share by Search Term

17. Case Study: ASOS Mobile Strategy
Source: Adthena
0.00%
2.00%
4.00%
6.00%
8.00%
10.00%
12.00%
14.00%
16.00%
18.00%
Mobile Paid
Impression Share
Desktop Paid
Impression Share

18. Case Study: ASOS Mobile Strategy
Source: Adthena
83% of their top mobile ads are Mobile only
Ads highlight their
mobile optimised site
Success built off the back of
well-known brands

20. Remember this from earlier?
Source: Adthena, Google Trends
Paid Share
of Voice
Organic Share of Voice
- Leading fashion trend
- Highly seasonal
Share by Search Term

21. “Market Conditions” means…

22. “Market Conditions” means…
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Hour of Day
Share of Voice
Source: Adthena

23. “Market Conditions” means…

24. Know
Yourself
Master
The
Art of
SearchKnow
Your
Competition
Know
Market
Conditions

25. Come talk to us
Get the slides: Adthena.com/BrightonSEO
Find us on Twitter: @Adthena