state of search marketing 2010

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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.

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What Is Search Marketing? -- drivers

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!   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

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!   what's hasn't changed

  The dominance of Google   The importance of fundamentals   The reward for excellent & changing content

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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!

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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.

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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"

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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  

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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  

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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

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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

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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.

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!   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

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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

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!   Ric Shreves

www.waterandstone.com  

www.WaterAndStone.com

ric@waterandstone.com

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