Search Marketing: SEO and PPC
Advantages of SEO (natural/organic search)
- better response since majority of clicks are organic/natural - more returns traffics - lower cost - LT marketing solutions - brand recognition and loyalty
Keyword match
- broad match - phrase match - exact match - negative match
Disadvantages of PPC (pay-per-click)
- easy to lose ranking or spot - daily budget can be expensive depending on keywords - unqualified clicks
What does a page rank indicate?
- how important a page is on the web - how important search rankings are on the web - how important a search term is on the web
negative match
- key term that users do not want to be considered in their search - uses a minus sign and prevents ads from appearing
key terms for organic search (SEO)
- keywords - meta name - algorithm - title tag
off-page factors
- link popularity ("votes" for your site) - adds credibility - anchor text
How to rank high in SEO (in order)
- links - content - URL - tags and title
The right keywords are:
- relevant to your business - popular with searchers
Disadvantages of SEO (organic/natural search)
- results are not immediate - ranking is difficult to predict - initial time investment and time is major cost - takes time for results to be displayed
exact match
- search volume for a particular keyword - most precise method, enclosed in brackets - [pink purse] will trigger an ad but not pink purse store
phrase match
- search volume that includes an entire phrase - must be in exact sequence, enclosed in quotes - ex: "pink and purple purses" in that order will trigger an ad
fat head keywords
- target broad terms aimed at a large market - provide major exposure and high search volume which means the highest level of traffic - even though the traffic fat head keywords offer is often less relevant than the kind brought by more specific long tail keywords - example: sofa
On-page factors
- title tags <title> - header tags <h1> - ALT image tags - Content, content, content (Body text) <body> - hyperlink text - keyword frequency and density
keyword cannibalization
- what happens when you have multiple pages on your website that all target the same keyword - end up competing with yourself
Paths to high rankings
1. Get your site fully indexed 2. Get your pages visible 3. build links and page rank 4. leverage your page and keyword(s) 5. Encourage click-through 6. track the right metrics 7. avoid worst practices
spiders
aka 'robots' are programs that 'crawl' the web and follow every link or piece of data they see and bring it back to the index server
meta name
also known as meta tag or meta element and is in the header portion of a site's HTML code
Advantages of PPC (pay-per-click)
-immediate results based on bidding system in which there are charges for click received - daily budget can be limited - gives definite search volume - easy to change focus - unlimited keywords - ability to test (keywords, ad copy, landing pages, etc)
search engine optimization facts
- 6 times more effective than a banner ad - delivers qualified leads - most user sessions begin at the search engines - most online purchases are made on sites found through search engine listings
Benefits of SEM
- 85% of all traffic on the internet is referred from a search engine - 90% of all users don't look past the first 20 results (most only view top 10) - many websites aren't even indexed, most are poorly optimized and get very little traffic from search engines - cost-effective advertising - clear and measurable ROI
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- SEO is NOT paid advertising also known as natural or organic search - involves optimizing websites to achieve high ranking on search engines for certain selected key phrases
What SEO (organic/natural) is not:
- Search engine submission only - "Submit your website to only 5,000 search engines" - An overnight process (because it typically takes 3-4 months to show significant results) - A one-time process (because in many cases it requires a continual, LT focus for best results)
broad match
- Used in paid search campaigns, meaning to accept a search match containing keywords in any order. - reaches widest audience and not in the same sequence - ex: sale purse = purse sale and ad will appear
long tail keywords/phrases
- a better way to connect with customers - general cheaper and lead to a higher rate of conversions - but you will need to use a much larger number of them to make up for the lower traffic volume that they generate - example: elm wood veneer day-bed
search engine marketing (SEM)
- a type of web advertising whereby companies pay for keywords that are used to catch consumers' attention while browsing a search engine - encompasses both SEO and PPC
Paid Per Click (PPC)
- ads appear as "sponsored listings" - companies bid on price they are willing to pay "per click" - typically have very good tracking tools and statistics - ability to control ad text - can set budgets and spending limits - Google Adwords and Overture are two leaders BASICALLY: - paid search advertising on a pay-per-click basis. The more you pay, the higher your placement. Stop paying = stop receiving traffic
SERP
Search Engine Results Page. (What shows up in organic listings when you conduct a keyword search in Google).
algorithm
displays the search engines 'best guess' as to which pages are most relevant
SEM operates under this assumption
more (relevant) traffic + good conversion rate = more sales / leads
index server
stores information previously categorized
title tag
title in blue bar at top of web page; important for SEO Rankings
query
user-initiated search term
keywords
words or phrases selected when making a search (can also be used in other contexts)