State of Search Marketing 2010
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Transcript of State of Search Marketing 2010
www.waterandstone.com
The State of Search Marketing 2010
The term search marketing encompasses a range of activities, from classic search engine optimization (SEO), to social media optimization (SMO) to management of pay-per-click (PPC) services for the purpose of promoting your site and making it more visible to searchers.
www.waterandstone.com
What Is Search Marketing? -- drivers
-- planning
-- execution
-- tracking
! what's new this year
The emphasis of real time results The renewed vitality of Microsoft (Bing) The success of SMO Facebook PPC Emergence of location search Necessity for mobile-friendly content
www.waterandstone.com
-- drivers
-- planning
-- execution
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! what's hasn't changed
The dominance of Google The importance of fundamentals The reward for excellent & changing content
www.waterandstone.com
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! key factors to consider for your site
The domain name (does it include a strong brand or relevant keywords?) Relevant Inbound links (quality, then quantity) Content of URLs (do they contain key words?) Amount of content, as well as quality & frequency of change Keyword density Internal link density The age of your domain Consistency of your search marketing efforts
www.waterandstone.com
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! formulate reasonable goals Yes, I know, we all want to be #1 on Google…
Remember that Google rankings are only a means to an end – the goal is an increase in relevant traffic. You don't have to be on page one of Google to achieve this goal (though it does help!).
Keep this in mind as it will shape your implementation and your tracking -- and without it, you are likely to waste your efforts.
www.waterandstone.com
-- drivers
-- planning
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! conduct an SEO audit
Identify areas of opportunity (keyphrases with more traffic and less competition) Where you rank now # of inbound links # of pages indexed Who currently dominates your chosen keywords Their inbound links & pages indexed & metadata Conduct content audit to assess suitability for optimization for your keywords Decide which pages to optimize
www.waterandstone.com
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! don't forget the long tail
The longer the keyword combination, the less competition, AND the higher the conversion rates! Generic keyphrases are highly competitive and require long term commitment (or PPC). The long tail is often the point of least resistance.
www.waterandstone.com
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! Make your site search friendly This is classic “SEO” One of the few areas where you really need an expert’s assistance. Key Issues:
Search engine friendly URLs (SEF) page titles XML Sitemaps metadata element attributes keyword density internal link density and link text Robots.txt file
www.waterandstone.com
-- drivers
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! The place of metadata
Metadata isn’t dead (though it is less important) It should not be ignored Key field => Description Key field => Keywords Key field => Robots Many optional fields here
www.waterandstone.com
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! Make your site search friendly - extras
Use a site map (front end) Implement effective handling of 404s Enforcement (and use) of consistent URL formulation (www or not www) Tags (taxonomy) : can have a positive affect on internal link density Internal links – use title attribute and use link text
www.waterandstone.com
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! now you are ready to register!
You must manually register on the key engines Automated software has a limited and secondary role Create & maintain XML site maps Set up Google Webmaster Tools account Set up Yahoo! Site Explorer account Set up a Bing Webmaster Center account Don’t be afraid to re-register if the site does not show up in a reasonable period of time – but don't overdue it!
www.waterandstone.com
-- drivers
-- planning
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! building links
The key: Relevant, high ranking sites Hit the key directories - Yahoo!, DMOZ, any niche market directories Look at your competitors’ links pages Build links to your key pages -- not just the homepage Use keyword-specific link text Are you willing to buy links? This takes massive amounts of time.
www.waterandstone.com
-- drivers
-- planning
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! increase the number of pages indexed
Create internal links Maintain a site map on your site Keep those URLs friendly! Keep XML site map updated Consider using "spider food"
www.waterandstone.com
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! what’s a “friendly” (SEF) URL?
Search Engine (& user!) Hostile: http://www.balitravelportal.com/index.php? page=main.php&action=ShowCategory&catid=56
Friendly: h/p://www.balitravelportal.com/south-‐bali/kuta
www.waterandstone.com
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! the role of PPC
When you absolutely, positively have to be on Page One -- today! There are several programs worth looking at. Google = no set up fees, daily budgets with no deposit Google has better syndication and site targeting Facebook PPC is relatively new
lower click costs than Google Better demographic targeting
www.waterandstone.com
-- drivers
-- planning
-- execution
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! Social Media Optimization
Digg & Newsvine can fast-track listing StumbleUpon – can drive traffic Exploit the increasing number of social
bookmarking sites Establish a presence on relevant niche
community sites. Don't forget Wikipedia. Content creation for Web 2.0 sites is
worthwhile – This is the New PR. Get bookmarking tools on your site If you have suitable content, offer RSS feeds
www.waterandstone.com
-- drivers
-- planning
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! SMO - Participating in Community
Seek out community sites frequented by your target markets.
Create a place to interact with them. Logical choices:
Facebook Ning Regional / Country Specific networks, like Hi5 other niche sites suitable to your offering
www.waterandstone.com
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! SMO – Twitter
Love it or hate it, but don't ignore it. Your Twitter profile will be indexed.
With Google's new emphasis on real time results, tweets get indexed quickly.
Effective at driving traffic into your site.
www.waterandstone.com
-- drivers
-- planning
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-- tracking
! special SEO considerations
(1) Site rebuilds must plan and manage migration! Identify your key indexed pages & put 301 re-directs on them
(2) In the sandbox… nothing to do but wait
(3) Blacklisted can petition for re-indexing get your Google Webmaster account set up
www.waterandstone.com
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! you have to track! Where do you stand now? If you don't know, that is the first issue to address. You must have some baseline to evaluate efforts. Ask: What’s working? Ask: What needs more attention? Feedback the knowledge into your efforts. Google Analytics is a great choice and the price is right! Programs like Advanced Web Ranking are also very useful. Check those PPC reports Check your Google Webmaster account
www.waterandstone.com
-- drivers
-- planning
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! Ric Shreves
www.waterandstone.com
www.WaterAndStone.com
Web:
eMail: Thank you for your time.