Get Real with your Search Engine Optimization; Practical Advice to Drive Traffic
I’ve been managing multiple SEO campaigns (mostly Philadelphia area based) recently because clients have asked, and I do it well, and in my observations of the practice, I have a word of advice: Get Real.
I say that because the goal of search engine optimization is to drive increased unbranded (terms that do not mention your company name) quality traffic to your website that converts into a desired action; nothing more; nothing less. That’s my goal with clients. It’s why you always have to track and optimize your efforts, think about what keywords you are optimized for, and what keywords you SHOULD be optimized for. It’s time to get real with this task, but not over-think it.
When I first assess a client’s strategy, I first have to really understand what the client does, what the goal of the website is, and what the conversion goals are. Following up on my recent post on keyword research, it’s important to match the search intent of your desired audience with your keywords and website content. Examples:
- Query type: Research
- Search query “information on how to __________”
- Website theme: Provide information, articles, and advice; provide educational content
- Website goal: Content-heavy with the goal to drive traffic and sell advertising on your site, bait audiences to a newsletter or a product (or affiliate)
- Query type: Service or business solutions
- Search query “looking for companies that do __________”
- Website theme: Promotional with benefit content; provide evidence of your services
- Website goal: Provide a business case that solves problems; and persuade audiences to convert as an inquiry
- Query type: Purchase
- Search query “I need a ________”
- Website theme: Showcase your products; provide content that reassures audiences of your quality, value, and expertise
- Website goal: Generate quotes or purchases, and minimize cart abandonment
The proper list of keywords you need all must follow these criteria:
- Align with what you do as a company. The words you identify for 1st page rankings must be aligned with your services and website goals. As you review your keywords, simply ask yourself- “why would a prospect click my listing for that keyword?” and “will the destination URL on my website align with that query in order to optimize conversions?
Get Real statement: It’s not what you rank for (because many terms may be irrelevant or are rarely searched), or how many terms you rank for, but are you ranked for the appropriate terms that would generate quality clicks to your website (and low bounce rates).
- Have decent search traffic. You could have a great product or service, but SEO doesn’t work if no one is searching for it or you choose the wrong keywords. This is where you do a comprehensive keyword assessment in order to identify what terms people use that need you. If your goal is to increase traffic, and your current website traffic is flat, then we need to re-think the terms you currently optimize for, and that means re-doing some of your website content.
Get Real statement: Stop thinking about what you do or what your content says you do if there are limited search queries for the keywords you are currently optimized for. Step out of the box and refocus your efforts and content on what prospects DO search for. Example- if you are a financial firm, and you provide wealth management services, and “wealth management services” has low traffic, you’ll need to re-optimize your content strategy if you get more and better quality traffic for “retirement planning services”
Caveat: If you are in a specialized business or have unique services with less competition, terms with low traffic counts may be appropriate if the conversion rate for those terms are proven profitable.
- Moderately or less competitive. Evaluating competitive rankings via Google’s keyword tools or 3rd party tools like SEOMoz, SEMRush and others can certainly give you guidance on how competitive your chosen keywords are and the opportunity to be on Google’s first page. Besides the tools, Google your keywords yourself, review the competition, and make note on how to differentiate yourself when your SEO firm writes meta titles and descriptions. If your keyword, although it may have high search volume, shows to be heavily competitive, you’ll have to invest in lots of time, funds, content, and resources to achieve a high ranking. This is why long-tail terms and geographic terms are much more achievable to achieve that 1st page rank; less competitive.
Get Real statement: Choosing the right keywords is an art and a science. Use tools and analytics to determine the traffic and the competition, and then be smart about the selection. Maybe instead of “Accounting software small business” you choose “Accounting software for law firms” if there’s decent monthly traffic for that term, and it’s not as competitive.
Typically we look at a ratio, comparing how many web sites include the keyword, and how many searches are done for that keyword. You have a better chance at 1st page ranking with a high ratio percentage. Formula:
Google searches per day / competition (websites that include your keyword term) = search ratio
So here’s an example for a title insurance company located in Pennsylvania.
| Keyword |
Searches/Day |
Competition |
Ratio |
| mortgage title insurance |
19 |
104,000 |
0.02% |
| title insurance companies |
525 |
292,000 |
0.18% |
| title insurance pa |
56 |
10,600 |
0.53% |
“Mortgage title insurance” is too broad. Even though there’s a fair amount of monthly traffic, the searches per day for just that term is very low, so it’s not worth optimizing for that phrase.
“Title insurance companies” is being indexed at a higher level according to Google (more website competition), but it also is a popular search term. The ratio is .18%. I usually eyeball a ratio of over .10% as a target keyword for clients. This is a good term to optimize for if I were a national company.
“Title insurance pa” is an ideal term to be optimized for, since the company is in Pennsylvania. The ratio is .53% which is really strong. Although the searches per day may be light, it can be assumed that all of those searches come from Pennsylvania, meaning traffic is targeted, and conversion rate would be positive.
Get Real statement: Choosing keywords to rank for on Google’s 1st page has to be strategic; I’ll say it again- it’s not about current rankings; it’s not about high searched terms; it’s about terms most likely to bring you engaged traffic and increased conversions.
In summary, proper SEO efforts work best when you have a keyword and website goal strategy working together. The process of optimizing website copy, and the art/science of back linking and guest blogging, means nothing if your website isn’t optimized for conversion. Choosing the right keywords, by matching your products and services with the keywords most likely to drive traffic by obtaining 1st page position, is what an SEO firm is supposed to do for you. Are they?
The Intersection of SEO and Content Marketing. It’s the Unique Message That Generates Backlinks.
SEO isn’t easy, and as Google’s Panda and Penguin updates continue to evolve, the SEO art form has changed.
In the past it was more science; write generic or re-purposed articles, submit to article and blog directory engines, and capture backlinks. There’s a lot more to back linking of course.
There are a zillion of articles and debates on the Internet on SEO tactics and factors that contribute to high ranking. That’s what makes it interesting; no one went to school and earned MBAs in SEO. Even the top professionals in the field work to stay ahead of Google; what of article submission services, what of social signals and bookmarking, how do I attract bloggers to pick up client articles, and on and on.
Content Marketing is now at the forefront of SEO; more so than ever. Writing interesting articles and posts that target audiences that want to read them; articles that problem-solve; articles that explain complicated things, articles that showcase a solution in an interesting way and urges commenting and sharing. This, my friends, is what will drive back links…
So here is a list of significant issues to keep in mind with regard to today’s (and tomorrow’s) search engine optimization tactics (forget what you think, or go ahead and debate me!)
- Link building is time consuming, and ongoing. It’s a process of analysis, relationship building, and attention-to-detail
- Paid link services and link exchanges are generally not worth the effort especially with today’s Google.
- Stop distributing generic content to article directory submission services, and instead write quality, well-thought out content, and submit to high quality article directories or industry vertical ones if you find them. Distributing “article spam” may still work today, but does it really make sense to continue to fight Google in the long run?
- Stop or limit blog network distribution for guest posts. Here’s an idea, let’s research blogs you want to be a part of, contact the blogger, follow the blogger, and create a relationship. Guest posting is a great way to achieve back links because you’re being exposed to a new audience, and you’re becoming involved in a community. Guest blog research and outreach can be a job all in itself, which is why I employ s specialist for this task. It’s more than SEO, it’s old-school PR.
- Take advantage of Google Authorship. Blog posts that are linked to your Google+ Page that includes your photo drives more traffic than those not linked.
Linkworthy Content
Content that attracts links need to be original, unique, useful, and timely. Think about the kinds of topics you can write about. I brainstorm with clients frequently as we build blog editorial calendars. Examples:
- Product Comparison
- Research Reports
- Survey Recaps
- Industry News; Opinions
- Case Studies
- Tools and Tips
- Glossaries
- Checklists
- Unique Features or Services
- Executive Q&A or Interviews
- Free Widgets or Calculators
- Guest Contributors
The Content Challenge
The next step here is to put together an editorial calendar. I work with my SEO and content team to formulate two segments:
- On-site blog. Topics of interest to website visitors of our clients, all with unique URLs, page titles and descriptions, with a promotion plan (newsletter, social, email)
- Off-site SEO content. Topics of interest to third party blog sites or communities; those we are creating relationships with. We review each topic and determine the best approach for a specific content asset, whether it is a pitch to a blogger, an online editor, or an online press release distribution service. Usually this is planned content, but every so often we have to act quickly for any trigger events that occur. When these incidents happen we alert our client with the opportunity and then implement/promote the content event.
This post describes my brief approach to SEO and Content Marketing. Both strategies need to work together seamlessly for proper backlink strategies, which will eventually drive traffic to your website. If you’re SEO firm is automating most of its backlinking process, then I’d be concerned. We take a “human” approach to SEO. Like any lead generation program, it starts with the message.
I look forward to a discussion.
SEO, Meta Descriptions, Content, and Generating Leads
Hi, It’s Paul Mosenson, President of NuSpark Marketing. I welcome a guest post from our chief SEO tactician, Elizabeth Donkus. You’ll find this interesting.
Most SEO people aren’t marketers. They may be great technicians, but we need help when it comes to writing compelling content that drives leads. I am NuSpark Marketing’s chief SEO strategist, but I rely on the NuSpark content team to review my content recommendations and implement content within the SEO framework. An example of our SEO and content director integration is when writing meta tags and meta descriptions.
Meta description tags, though no longer as important as they once were believed to be in terms of achieving top search engine ranking results, still have incredible significance.
First, what exactly is the Meta description? A Meta description is a few sentences or a short paragraph that briefly highlights the content of the page. This tag is located in the <HEAD> section in the page code and is not visible to the visitors when they are on the page.
Oh so long ago, the Meta description could help a page rank in the search engines for the words that were contained within it. It’s no longer used by the top 3 – Google, Bing or Yahoo! as a factor for ranking.
Nowadays, whether you use keyword phrases that you are targeting in your Meta description tag or not, your search engine results will not be affected. So why not leave it out altogether?
There are several significant reasons why the Meta description should be used:
First, the Meta description can be used as the description on the search engine results page. It’s not always what is used as the description, as many people believe, depending on the search query, the most relevant text from the page may be used in the search engine result.
Second, the Meta description can be used in Google’s ‘Extended Sitelinks’ – again, not always. But from my research a well-crafted Meta description will more often be used as the description along with the extended sitelinks.
Third, and most important, when the Meta description is used in the search results page, it can help increase the click-thru-rate.
However, there is a certain structure that needs to be followed to create quality Meta descriptions that will ensure the best results. Every description needs to be:
- Keyword optimized – targeted keywords should flow naturally and be used intelligently. They should not be stuffed or forced into the text.
- Compelling – the description needs to motivate the searcher to click while still providing accurate information.
- Unique – no two Meta descriptions should ever be the same, even if there is more than one tag for the same topic. All content needs to be original.
- Concise – the paragraphs need to be brief and should be anywhere from 150 – 160 characters in length. Any longer than this and search engines will typically cut content. However, just because the search engine will only display a certain number of characters, does not mean that you cannot include as many characters as you believe to be necessary. If the page is being optimized for 3 keywords, write 3 optimized, compelling, unique and concise sentences for each word. Google will pull the best content from your Meta description for the search query – and it may not be a complete sentence. In fact, Google will pull from the Meta description as well as from the visible page content – whatever combination they believe will best match the search query.
The Meta description tag may have lost its ‘SEO’ value, but it still has a great deal of value when used to influence a potential visitor to click through to your site.
Let’s take a look at a sample search for Purchase Requisition Software. You’ll get an idea on how these meta descriptions should be structured for lead generation.
Page 1:
Bellwethercorp- Sure they are ranked first. Because of the 2009 date, this page is a blog, so I would skip this listing. It may be interesting reading, but not my intent for this search.
Evron- Nicely formatted and compelling content. This is a good one.
Erequester- The meta description is just keyword stuffing. Poor structure. No reason to click. Next listing..
Assetpoint- I like the lead generation tactic with the free purchase report, as long as it’s still available.
Trackeroffice- Content is too long and is a pure description. Doesn’t persuade me to click.
Mikrofax- Yes they have keywords in their meta, but the message just is not enticing to me.
Page 2:
Bellwethercorp- They show again; this time with a video and a free demo. That’s better. Notice the power of keyword optimization in the video title.
Ariett- This firm does have a meta description on the site, but doesn’t use the word “requisition.” Therefore Google looks for that content on other parts of the site. That’s why the fragments are shown. Lost opportunity for clicks.
10seconds Software. Good benefit statement; nicely worded although a little long. They get a click from me if I have an SAP platform.
In summary, SEO and Content Marketing need to collaborate for proper meta description structure. That’s how we work at NuSpark Marketing. No matter how much keyword research and backlink management you do in order to optimize search engine positioning, it’s still about persuading prospects to click. Once clicked, the opportunity for conversion and lead generation begins. Go ahead and search for your solutions on Google, make pretend you’re a prospect, and ask yourself, would you click?
I look forward to discussion.
How Labels works in Google Adwords; benefits of the new feature
For those who manage multiple paid search campaigns for lead generation (like yours truly) with Google Adwords, or have others do it, I started testing a new feature that was rolled out this week, called Labels. The new feature allows you to organize campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords by label classifications, so that you can see what types of categories work better than others. This does not replace creating unique ad groups for quality score improvement, but allows cross-over ad group, keyword analysis. I don’t need to explain the how of implementing labels; I’ll let Google do that.
At this early stage, you really want to think about how you can use this feature. It speaks to search intent, and how users search for solutions via the purchase cycle. Here’s an example using one of my clients that sells training programs to sales managers to improve the effectiveness of their sales meetings:
Label: Research
Research represents ad groups and keywords that focus on early funnel activity; when prospects are researching needs just identified and looking to further explore potential solutions.
- Complementary keywords for the Research label: Ideas, solutions, programs, sales training (broad, phrase, exact matches)
- Examples: “sale training programs” “sales training solutions” “sales training”
- Ad Groups that represent research terms are also labeled as Research
Label: How-To
These terms get more into the problems of the prospect and terms used to find specific answers to those problems.
- Complementary keywords for the How-To label: Tips, techniques, skills, tools
- Examples: “improving sales skills” “sales techniques” “sales training tools”
- Labels vs. Ad Groups: Skills, Techniques, Tips, Tools are all unique Ad Groups, but same label.
Label: Outcomes
These terms focus on the end results of the solution.
- Complementary keywords for the Outcomes label: Performance, Effectiveness, Productivity
- Examples: “improving sales performance” “increasing sales productivity”
- Labels vs. Ad Groups: Performance, Effectiveness, Productivity are all unique Ad Groups, but same label.
Some other labels you might want to consider depending on your business, with example complementary keywords:
- Comparative: “Best” “Top” “Proven” “Reviews” “Opinions”
- Vendor List: “Directory” “List” “Guide” “information”
- Purchase: “Buy” “Costs” “Prices” “Quotes”
- Outsource: “Firms” “Companies” “Agencies” “Consultants” “Vendors”
- Industry: “Law firms, “Accounting” “Technology”
Labels are easy to add and adjust, so it’s OK to experiment with label groupings.
Here’s an example of a Label report by Ad Group, showing that the How-To Label performs the best in this scenario.
Here’s an example of a Label report by Keyword; again showing that the How-To Label is more efficient, even though the Research label gets more traffic.
Again, it’s a new feature, but I think I like classifying this stuff, and the feature does allow me to expand terms and research more “how-to” keyword and ad groups to further optimize the campaign.
I look forward to hearing from you and learning how you might classify labels for your own campaigns. If you’d like some guidance, please send me an email or call me.
New eBook: Pay-Per-Click for B2B Lead Generation; The Ultimate Guide to Paid Search
So I was reading with some interest the 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report from Marketing Sherpa because I always like to see B2B marketers’ top challenges in their businesses, which not surprisingly, is generating quality leads. 78% of their biggest challenge is generating quality leads. Second on the list is generating a high volume of leads; 49%. In general, their biggest priority is, of course, lead generation, and then converting quality leads into customers.
And then marketing firm WebMarketing123 put out a report, the 2011 State of Digital Marketing from a survey of just 500 marketers, of which two-thirds were B2B. The number one priority of B2B marketers? Generate Leads: 46%.
Of course, many times the numbers just don’t make sense, or perhaps it’s how the questions are asked. From the same WebMarketing123 survey:
How do you measure the success of your digital marketing program: #1- website traffic, #2 lead generation, and #3 click-through-rate! Bet if you ask top management the same question, you’ll get answers like ROI, Sales, and Profit metrics. Of course!
What makes the biggest impact on your lead generation goals? 57% say SEO. 25% Pay-per-click, and, 18% social media. This again is where numbers can be made to jade the picture. Are these B2B companies e-commerce or online catalogs, where a lead can be classified as a “request-a-quote” or are they complex products, meaning that multiple touch points via media and content have to occur before the prospect becomes a lead? If you’re a complex product, you’re going to get much of your leads from landing pages, and that’s pay-per-click or other media tactics that attract audiences to sign-up or download. I do wonder what mix is the audience in the survey, catalog vs. complex? Now I’m a big believer in SEO, as you should be, but how you answer all depends on the type of firm you are.
Same survey; companies 200-1000 employees. How do you currently allocate your digital marketing? 45% to pay-per-click. 24% to SEO. So the larger companies must know something. Pay-per-click is the fastest digital method to generate leads. SEO generates leads over the long-haul, and good-quality leads, but SEO does take time, and depending on level of competition, you can’t make Google’s first page on everything you sell. That’s where paid search enters the picture, and that’s why I wrote a new ebook, A Strategic Guide to Lead Generation Using Pay-Per-Click Search Marketing with Google Adwords.
This is the only eBook of its kind that attempts to focus on the strategies and process to manage paid search for B2B firms with complex products, or those firms whose prospects need multiple touches and lead nurturing throughout the funnel in order to become a valid sales opportunity. Other PPC books focus more on ecommerce firms but not lead generation. This ebook discusses purely lead generation, and the best methods to manage enterprise and large scale campaigns. Among the contents:
- Developing a search strategy via the buying funnel
- Utilizing Salesforce, marketing automation, and dashboards to measure cost-per-opportunities and ROI
- Keyword Strategy
- Bidding Strategy
- Quality Score Management
- Writing Effective Ads that Generate Leads
- Landing Page and Conversion Optimization
- Measurement and Analytics
It’s my pleasure to present the eBook. Let’s start generating quality leads and positive ROI, and respond to the challenges as described above. Here’s the download link: Pay-Per-Click for Lead Generation eBook.
SEO and Content Marketing Work Together
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the unique mix of art and science with the ultimate goal to showcase your firm on Google’s first page when users query a term that your firm provides as an answer to that query. However, from a lead generation standpoint, the mechanisms of lead capture for SEO are different from pay per click. Here’s the difference:
Tactic Theme Destination Key
Promotional ads Get content now Landing page/microsite Immediate leads
SEO Learn about Us Website Find us first, let content persuade to become leads
Our philosophy is this with SEO: Rankings are important, but not as important as the ability of your website to capture and engage audiences by persuading them to contact you because your message as written can solve their business problems. #1 ranking means nothing if audiences bounce and don’t perform desired conversions.
To understand how people search for your solutions is critical as well to understand. There are two kinds of searchers:
- Early stage buying cycle: Looking for information; initial research on what firms or products are out there. Search query is general. Starts off with a short, broad query, scans 1st page, uses Google Instant (those search query suggestions) to dig deeper. Also considers social media searches as well.
- Later stage buying cycle: Convinced of needs; looking for specific solutions; has already done initial research; closer to purchase. Search queries are specific, longer phrases. Uses social media to further validate solutions.
Here’s an example; using “inventory software:” as a business need:
- Early stage queries: Inventory software, Inventory software firms, , inventory software for warehouses
- Later stage queries: Most efficient inventory software applications, inventory software reviews, warehouse inventory software comparisons, Company X software opinions
This is an interesting method we typically utilize for keyword research. We look at keywords that are most likely to show high page rank across various buying cycles. For example, if we find that indeed a software solution with the term “reviews” has high search volume and low competition, then we would recommend the word “reviews” be included within client’s website strategically.
Content strategy affects so much of SEO, and we understand the importance of words and messages to optimize rankings for clients. Here’s a list of major SEO tasks that affect content:
- Keyword research. By combining popular but less competitive search queries related to your business with your value proposition, we create compelling, powerful messages that are also Google searchable.
- Title tags. Page titles are not business names; they are key searchable phrases that describe the content of a specific page. Page titles are content.
- Meta page descriptions, headlines, sub-headlines, captions, and image tags. All need to be based on searchable keywords relevant to your business and your page content.
- Changing content. Search engines don’t like stale sites. Better rankings come with updated content on a regular basis (hello blog)
- PDFs are also indexed; a valuable way to get white papers to appear on search results if optimized properly.
In summary, content marketing and SEO work together. Our SEO assessment includes utilizing all the best SEO tools and a review of your current site structure and content so that we can make recommendations to perform or enhance your SEO efforts, all in the name of leads.
Location Targeting Options: Google Adwords
There’s a new Google search setting option; worthy enough to write a summary about. It’s called Location Targeting. With Google’s new options, it gives me a chance to fine—tune how I want to target audiences geographically.
Three options are available:
a. By Physical Location
b. By Search Intent
c. A combination
There are also geographic exclusion options.
Let’s look at an example to see how the options work. Let’s say I am searching for a caterer in Philadelphia.
Target Method: Physical Location Only: Ads shown only to searchers in the target area. If a searcher includes a geographic term in the query, and those geographic terms do not fall into the market area of a searcher’s physical location, the ads won’t show.
• Adwords targeted location: Philadelphia metro area
• Keyword bidding on: “Wedding caterers”
• Searcher’s physical location: New York
• Searcher’s query: “wedding caterers in Philadelphia”
o Does the ad show?: No, because the searcher is in New York
• Searcher’s physical location: Philadelphia
• Searcher’s query: “wedding caterers”
o Does the ad show?: Yes, because you’re targeting the market area of the user’s location
Why should I choose this? I only want to target audiences in my geographic area.
What this means? Before, when searchers would include a geographic term in their query, your ads would show to them no matter where they were, besides the targeted Adwords location setting. Now, my ads won’t reach those “outside of market” searchers.
Target Method: Search Intent: Ads are only shown when geographic terms are used in queries, no matter the physical location of the searcher.
• Adwords targeted location: Philadelphia metro area
• Keyword bidding on: “Wedding caterers”
• Searcher’s physical location: New York
• Searcher’s query: “wedding caterers in Philadelphia”
o Does the ad show?: Yes, because of a geographic reference in the query
• Searcher’s physical location: Philadelphia
• Searcher’s query: “Wedding caterers”
o Does the ad show?: No, because no geographic reference was in the query
Why should I choose this? I only want to target audiences who include geographic terms in their queries.
What this means? No matter where people are, my ads and keywords need to target audiences looking for my product/service in my targeted area.
Target Method: Either of the Above: Ads will show in both scenarios. This is Google’s recommended setting to cover all options.
Exclusion Methods: Ads can now be targeted more specifically to audiences outside of physical locations or search intent.
Exclusion Method: Physical Location Only: Ads are shown to audiences outside of your excluded geography in Adwords.
• Adwords targeted location: New York and Pennsylvania, but Philadelphia excluded
• Keyword bidding on: “Wedding caterers”
• Searcher’s physical location: New York
• Searcher’s query: “wedding caterers in Philadelphia” or “wedding caterers”
o Does the ad show?: Yes, because the searcher’s location is outside of Philadelphia
• Searcher’s physical location: Philadelphia
• Searcher’s query: “wedding caterers in Philadelphia”
o Does the ad show?: No, because the searcher’s location is in Philadelphia
Why should I choose this? I don’t want to target my excluded area, but I do want to target audiences outside the area that use my excluded area in their search queries. (may be useful for travel or destination advertisers for example)
Exclusion Method: Physical Location or Search Intent: Ads won’t show to users in your excluded area OR won’t show to any user who uses a geographic term in their query.
• Adwords targeted location: New York and Pennsylvania, but Philadelphia excluded
• Keyword bidding on: “Wedding caterers in Philadelphia”
• Searcher’s physical location: New York
o Searcher’s query: “wedding caterers in Philadelphia”
o Does the ad show?: No, because of the geographic term in the query
But, if the query were “wedding caterers” your ad would show.
• Searcher’s physical location: Philadelphia
• Searcher’s query: “wedding caterers”
o Does the ad show?: No, because the searcher’s location is in Philadelphia
Why should I choose this? I don’t want to target my excluded area, I don’t want to target searchers who use geographic terms in my market area, but I do want to target my ads to everyone else or those who don’t use geographic terms in their queries.
The above will take a little time to get used to, but it does bring up some questions to consider when creating campaigns for clients. Ideally, we go through the above “checklist” with a client, and make sure our targeting objectives are met.
Must Read: Don’t Commit to SEO until you take these important steps
Hey, Not So Fast with that SEO or Search Engine Optimization.
I just wanted to address a few considerations when considering SEO for your website. Before thinking about SEO, let’s work backward and think about your website goals as it relates to lead generation.
Ok. You have a website. You promote products or services. That’s what websites do. Promote. Engage. Persuade. If your website were able to talk, it would say “Thank you for visiting me; I understand you’re looking for something that I hope to have or you’re hoping to solve a problem that I hopefully can answer. Enjoy your stay, and when ready, call us, request more info, or fill out this handy form so I can follow-up with some engaging content via email.”
The next step after building a website is to generate traffic to it. Advertising, direct mail, and PR are all good ways to build that awareness and promote your solutions. When it comes to SEO, first understand your product. Is it something that people look for on search engines? If you’re a new product that solves a problem, how would your audience know about you if they are not necessarily looking for you? For example, if you manufacture a new product that helps dental assistants clean the back of people’s teeth, and you have a website for it, you may not necessarily need SEO yet. Why? Much of the time, search engines are for people who are looking for a solution that they’ve read about, or for a topic they are somewhat familiar with.
Now, if you hire a PR agency, and write content, and start promoting your idea towards your target audiences either through advertising, PR, direct mail, trade shows, etc, then you’re now starting to create interest or demand for your new product. If your audience is aware of your product category then they will certainly research search engines. Now the need to find you. Hello SEO.
Next subject. Is your website ready to capture leads or generate conversions? Do you really understand the language your customers speak so? Here’s a list of steps before starting SEO:
- Define your conversion goals. Do you have goal conversion rates? Make a list of actions that will contribute to conversion and lead generation. Give each goal a value in your analytics program. Doesn’t make sense to invest in SEO until your website is optimized for conversions. It may make sense to utilize landing page A/B testing with pay-per-click in order to optimize your conversion tactics. You need to do anything you can to limit prospects from leaving you! Invest in conversion optimization first. All proposals we do for prospects start with the conversion optimization process.
- Keyword research. Do you really know what terms your prospect uses to find you? SEO people can do this, but it may help you to prepare this on your own first. Survey your customers? Do a Google search for “Google Keyword Tool” and enter some phrases . You’ll see some traffic figures as well as related terms. Type in your competitor’s website URL in this tool, and see what words they use on their site. Your research is an important stepping stone to starting an SEO program.
- Be prepared to change your website’s content. Yes, I know you spend funds, time, and resources creating your website. If your website’s content does not support the keyword research or your buyer’s language, it will have to be changed or updated. Website content is probably the single most important factor in 1st-page rankings. Additionally, engaging content builds trust, and that trust influences conversion rates.
- Be prepared to invest in other forms of content. Videos, PDF documents, podcasts, blogs, and press releases all need to be optimized for keywords, as those content elements also appear on Google’s organic pages.
In summary, 1st-page Google rankings generates organic traffic to your website. It’s an intricate process, and can take awhile, but the results in time will be positive, and contribute to lead generation, as long as your website is optimized properly to accept that traffic and convert those interested visitors into leads. That’s the bottom-line, isn’t it?
I’ll discuss the ROI of SEO in a future post. Please let me know your thoughts.
Google Pay-Per-Click Options; Enhancing Your Campaigns
Google Pay-per-click ads: More Than just text ads. There are ways to make Google work better for you!
So you’re looking at your Google pay-per-click program, and you scratch your head because you’re in a competitive field, and to be in the top three positions will cost you more than you wish to pay. Google has increased the importance of the top three positions recently with the advent of Google Instant, and the reorganization of how Google Places works. When searching for a local business, the map of companies now appears to the right of the search results, meaning ad positions 4+ are now shifted lower. Other than standard pay-per-click search ads there are other opportunities to market and stand out with your pay-per-click ads. Quoting Google….
Google Places
Google Places allows business owners to update and manage their physical business location information. This information can be used to update their business listing so that it appears correctly within Google Maps and associated Google properties and search and Display Network sites. Note the search for Flower Shops and the Google Places listings showing under the top pay-per-click ads and under the top 3 organic listings (hello SEO!). Note the map is now located at the top right of the search results. The rest of the pay-pr-click ads are under the map. This shows the importance of being in the “light purple” area; those ads are the most visible listings on the page.
Google Display Network
Previously known as the Google Content Network, the Google Display Network includes a collection of websites that have partnered with Google (display partners), YouTube, and specific Google properties that display AdWords ads. These ads, which can be in text, image, video, or rich media format, can be targeted automatically based on themes in your keyword list, manually (matching specific placements you select), or based on specific audiences you want to reach.
Ad Extensions
Ad extensions expand a standard text ad with one or more lines that provide additional information such as an address and phone number (location extensions and phone extensions), more page links (ad sitelinks), and product images (product extensions). Ad extensions help users easily find out more about your business and its offerings. Ads will appear just as they do now across Google and the Google Network, but the additional information may also appear on Google.com and its properties, such as Google Maps (for location extensions), in an enhanced format.
Here’s an ad for Light Fixtures showing additional “ad sitelinks.” These links aren’t available to all advertisers but ones that Google decides based on account history and other factors.
This ad shows the “location extensions” that emphasize the local location.
This ad shows a “phone extension.”
Google Merchant Center
Google Merchant Center is a tool which helps you upload your product listings to be used for Google Product Search and Google Product Ads. Google Product Search helps shoppers find and buy products across the web. As a seller, you can submit your products to Google Product Search, allowing shoppers to quickly and easily find your site. Product Search connects your products to the shoppers searching for them, helping you drive traffic and sales to your store. Your products will appear on Google Product Search and may even be displayed on Google.com, depending on your items’ relevance. By linking your Google AdWords and Merchant Center accounts, you will be able to surface your products directly in your Google.com search ads.
By appearing within the merchant center, your products are linked to Google Shopping, and can potentially be showcased on Google’s first page like this:
Google Checkout badges are icons that appear on your AdWords ads and Product Search listings to distinguish you as a Google Checkout merchant at no cost to you. Once you’re an established Google merchant and accept Google Checkout, you can showcase a badge into your ad and also offer a discount!
YouTube Promoted Videos
YouTube Promoted Videos is an online advertising program that allows YouTube users to promote their YouTube video content on the YouTube website. This service is offered in combination with the Google AdWords program through the Promoted Videos website at: http://ads.youtube.com.
Here’s one of my ads that overlay videos that I am promoting on YouTube
The Google Adwords Video ad section offers a number of video formats that can run on YouTube or the Google Display Network.
Google’s always adding new features, or updating old ones, and it‘s important to stay up-to-date with the ongoing tweaks to the Google empire. At NuSpark Marketing, we are always reviewing the Google blogs which help us understand what’s changed and what’s new.
For more information on what can be done to optimize your pay-per-click strategy, please contact us. What do you think?
Google Instant—Effects on Search Marketing
There’s already been a myriad of articles, analysis, and opinion on how Google Instant may affect SEO, pay-per-click, and overall search behavior.
I can imagine how many bloggers spent the night playing with Google Instant and writing about the experience to be the first one to offer an opinion. I thought I’d wait a few days. For those who don’t know what Google Instant is, or have an older browser, Google has implemented a new search option that’s based on a user’s predictive search, as he types his query. Results and pay-per-click ads are now shown as the user types, where before the search results would appear after SEARCH or ENTER are clicked.
For more information on Google Instant, click here
Google’s goal is always to provide a user an optimal search experience by providing the most relevant results possible. The biggest change I have noticed is it allows a user to revise a query during the query typing, rather than afterword. Google Suggest is still utilized, with 5 results, to help the user with his query. Let’s take a look at two examples: a B2B search for a product offered nationally, and a local search.
Example 1: B2B
Search for “Injection Molding Machine”
Query stops at “Injection Molding.” As you can see, Google gave me 5 suggestions. As a searcher, I could very easily type in the word “Machine” and get better results, or I might scan these listings first. If I did, I would find jymolding.com as a possible solution on organic listings, and KDCapital.com as a pay-per-click solution. KDCapital is bidding on the term “injection molding,” so if I did stop my query here, I would reward KDCapital for bidding on a broad-head term rather than a long-tail term.
Now I continue my query, type the letter M, and note the word “machine” is faded. Google is predicting that “Machine” finishes my query, and thus appropriate organic and pay-per-click listings appear.
Comments
Because of the 5 Google suggestions listed under the query box, and the listing of at least 3 pay-per-click ads, it pushes organize results down further. Depending on your monitor, you may only see 2-3 organic listings above “the fold.” If you believe that above-the-fold is critical, then SEO efforts need to be emphasized further to top page listings, rather than just 1st page listings. Depending on search behavior, I usually scroll down anyway, because I am searching for the best options for my solution, even if I go to Page 2.
The affect on pay-per-click with the above example does give credence to shorter head terms if a user scans and finds what he’s looking for before the long-tail term in mind is finished. Alternatively, Google Instant allows users to refine terms in mid-search, meaning that the best long-tail terms should still be effective. However, as the user finds his results in mid-query, some long-tail terms that are indeed long may not be effective anymore. In essence a happy medium search term between a broad-head term and a specific long-tail term may be the best keyword bidding strategy.
Google is giving 3 seconds now before a query is recorded as an impression. If a user’s query doesn’t support his solution, and he takes 3 or more seconds to evaluate, organic results and ads are still seen and recorded for that term. If the user takes less than 3 seconds, ads are still seen, but not recorded, so those impressions are considered free.
If the emphasis on broad head terms does increase, that could lead to increased competition for those terms, which means higher cost-per-clicks. It’s something to keep an eye on.
Here’s example 2:
Search for “new homes Chester County PA”
Query stops at “new homes.” Here Google gives a great advantage for those pay-per-click ads since Google knows my location based on their personalization search algorithms. That’s why Google Suggest shows options for PA, DE, and NJ. However, the organic listings are generic, not really localized. The pay-per-click advertisers are buying “new homes” as a keyword, as a broad-head query. Before Google Instant, I would go right to my long-tail search, but now I see potential solutions before I go that far. Ads get more impressions, but if my solution was not on this page, those additional impressions would lead to lower click-through rates, and perhaps lower quality score.
Let’s continue my search query.
Well, that’s more like it. I continued my query and received organic and pay-per-click ads that were relevant to my needs. The only difference vs. old Google was that I was exposed to listings and ads during my long-tail query process. Again, if I scanned mid-query results for 3 seconds, those impressions would count against my ad.
Summary:
Everyone searches differently, and you really need to study your analytics and web/keyword traffic over a period of time to gauge how Google Instant affects your SEO and pay-per-click.
Again, at this early stage:
- Users may start and stop with more popular queries rather than long-tail if they see their solutions early on. This has to be watched. I believe that it is of utmost importance that Google provides relevant results to user queries, and if you’re a serious searcher, long-tail terms remain critical for success.
- If CTR decreases, this can affect quality score and CPC. This impact will be felt by all advertisers, and so it remains to be seen how Google will approach this and adjust the scoring algorithm.
- SEO. Relevance and top ranking is more critical than ever. Page titles and descriptions need to be compelling and as persuasive as ever.
- Google’s intent is to provide faster results, but by offering the potential for additional queries until the optimal long-tail is reached, ad impressions increase with the potential for more exposure and more keyword competition (and Google makes more money LOL).
As more analysis is done over time, it will be interesting to gauge the challenges facing search marketers and business owners.
