what in-house seo and ppc teams can learn from each other by mark munroe and evan waters

M A R K M U N R O E : @ M A R K E M U N R O E , M A R K M U N 9 9 @ G M A I L . C O M

E V A N W A T E R S : @ P P C B R O , W A T E R S E V @ G M A I L . C O M

In-House SEO And PPC: What You Can Learn From Each

Other, Optimally

About Us

Mark Munroe Director, SEO – Trulia Past sites: MerchantCircle, UsedCars.com, EverydayHealth,

Whattoexpect.com, SideStep (now part of Kayak), PeopleSmart @markemunroe Blog: www.seoradar.com, www.afterpanda.com Email: markmun99@gmail.com Up until last month, worked at Inflection with Evan

Evan Waters Search Marketing Manager, Inflection PPC Consultant for B2B and B2C companies Founder of Festival Transportation Business @PPCBro, blog: www.PPCBro.com Email: watersev@gmail.com

SEO Headache: Understanding the impact of on-page changes

Can SEM help?

SEO Experiments

• My Goal: test page changes across various long-tail templates to test impact on rankings, click-through, conversions.

• Small changes can make a significant difference (keywords, modifiers, calls to action).

• However, impact can be positive or negative. I want wins only! • What can SEM do to help?

SEM – Split Testing Infrastructure

Version A

Split Testing for SEO

SEM at Inflection has developed a sophisticated split-testing infrastructure.

The goal for SEM is purely monetization.

With some modifications, I have been able to use their methodology and infrastructure for SEO testing against long-tail pages.

SEO Split Test

For SEM – all versions run against the same URL.

For an SEO long-tail test, I need the specific URLs to consistently render the same test version so Google’s cache remains consistent for the time period of the test.

I define my different tests based on URL structure, so the webserver dynamically determines which version to server.

Example Title Test

“[keyword] | Find [modifier] [modifier] [modifier]”

Or specifically “[first name] [last name] Find Phone Number, Address & Email”

Things to test: Is the action verb (Find) hurting due to it’s prominent position

in the title?

Would I be better off attaching the primary keyword to a modifier?

What would be the impact of switching the order of the modifier?

Will an exact match with an H1 help or hinder due to over-optimization?

Test Results

We trigger an event for a landing on each different version. (Event can then be used to create segments).

We analyze the impact on rankings across all versions and control.

We analyze traffic, conversion, UX metrics and monetization across all versions and control.

Conclusion

By applying the same type of methodical split-tests typically done in an SEM organization, I am able to improve traffic and conversions on the organic traffic.

I can take known winners from SEM and apply to organic traffic to get conversion boosts while mitigating SEO risks.

In this case, my sample case, I achieved a 12% increase monetization by removing the action verb.

SEO Headache: Identifying Content Initiatives

To increase organic traffic – I am always looking for content initiatives, particularly long-tail.

The challenge: a long-tail content initiative is a lot of work! Need to quantify the potential before hand.

Content Initiatives? Can SEM Help?

SEM uses phrase match and broad match to effectively target long-tail searches.

Examining existing SEM campaigns reveal potential long-tail SEO opportunities.

SEM can also be a testing ground for brand new long-tail opportunities with test campaigns.

SEM uses tokenization tool to identify multi-word modifiers

SEO Headache: Increasing $$$ via Improved Clickthrough

SEO is not just about traffic but ultimately revenue.

SEO spends little time optimizing meta descriptions for better clickthrough (data in WebMaster Tools is suspect).

SEM and Optimized Ad Copy

SEM spends an extensive amount of time testing ad copy and sitelinks to optimize revenue.

Working together with SEM team, I can test out optimized meta descriptions to see if I can push traffic up independent of rankings.

Headlines can also help with optimizing titles for clickthrough (being mindful of traffic impacts).

From Keyword List to Content Plan

TopSEM Converting keywords

Organized them into a related groups

Each group became a content Hub

Hub is a good destination page and collection of

articles.

SEO/SEM Headache: Branded Search

I need to control the organic search results for branded search (promoting positive results).

SEO/SEM Challenge: Reputation Management

Challenge: Present a positive brand experience for a branded search term.

SEM needs SEO to control the organic results and push down negative results.

SEO needs SEM to control as much space as possible.

Social can help us both by taking up additional white space.

Can SEM Help with Branded Search?

SEM campaigns aimed at branded search can indeed help by controlling content above the fold with branded ads, further pushing down negative results.

SEM utilizes various ad extensions to elongate its presence

SEM can buy media on negative brand sites and in email inboxes to help control the message

SEO Headache

What Content To Use For Ambiguous Queries

Understand Intent on Ambiguous Search

What should a landing page consist of for ambiguous brand searches?

Reviews? Products? Customer Service?

Use sitelink extensions to find out!

SEM Headache

Grow ROI and Meet CPA Target

Monetization Problems

Define KPIs Profit, Conversions, Brand Exposure?

Not every keyword will be profitable

Determine best channel for profitability If at first PPC fails, SEO may succeed!

How Does Your Company Value Sales?

Few ConversionsHigh Profit

Many ConversionsNegative Profit

SEO For Poor CVR Keywords

SEM Headache

Drive New Campaigns to Profitability Quickly

How Can I Pre-Empt Wasted Spend?

Create content before running PPC campaigns

Utilize organic traffic queries to mine for negatives

Cheaper than doing keyword discovery through broad keywords

SEO Queries for PPC Negatives

SEM Headache

Grow Incremental Conversion Volume

Find New Traffic Sources

Good marketers segment efficiently

Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves

Check SEO data for PPC Geo Expansions

Don’t stop now!

Google Trends

Don’t stop at your own SEO report

Google Trends for GEO research

Event-Based Marketing Headache

When is the best time to spend our scarce resources?

When is the best time to create content?

Leverage Data to Plan Channels

For time-sensitive events, it is important to know where your customers are when and what they are thinking

How does query intent change as the event gets closer?

What does the purchase time line look at?

How does that data fit in with company planning?

Find Your Sweet Spot

SEM Headache

Achieving High Quality Score Through Landing Page Testing

Learning From Panda

Google favors results—duh!

Don’t make the user repeat search on site

SEO Focus on User Experience

In the Post-Panda world, SEO @ Inflection we developed a strong focus on the User Experience. Happy users from Google = good SEO!

We leverage user tests and survey tools (Survey Monkey, Qualaroo) to develop a deep understanding of why users came to different sections of our site.

SEM can leverage that data and use that insight to improve conversion: develop a deeper understanding of the user test alternate messaging based on user survey data and user testing market different products

SEM Headache

Image Ads Are Expensive with Last Click Attribution

Grow Sales With View-Throughs

What is the value of a View-Through?

Google Insights Study Expensive

Public Service Announcement Test Try Competitor Research Test

Attribution Model

Take Credit When It’s Due

Even More Evidence

Brand Spend For 1 Month

Cut Spend Entirely

Effect on Direct Traffic?

45% increase in direct traffic during test month

Don’t Trust Models?

Last Click Attribution

View-Throughs at 10%?

Avg CPC Cost Conv CPA View Throughs

$1.00 $3,000 100 $30 500

Avg CPC Cost Conv CPA View Throughs

$1.00 $3,000 150 $20 500

SEO & SEM Together is Money!

1 + 1 DOES NOT EQUAL 2

New Report in AdWords query performance reports demonstrate that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts!

What synergies are there for the two channels?

Is there a difference between brand and non-brand?

Brand Synergies

192% higher CTR on our paid ads when an organic listing was also present.

637% higher CTR on our organic listings when an ad was also present

Data is normalized to AD = 1.00%

Non-Brand Synergies

66% higher CTR on our paid ads when an organic listing was also present.

92% higher CTR on our organic listings when an ad was also present

Data normalized to AD CTR = 1.00%

Paid v Organic Case Study

Found top query without any ads running

Created exact match keyword and ad

Bid high to ensure impression share

39% Increase in CTR

0

0.5

1

1.5

CTR

Pre-Test

Test

SEO/SEM Working Together

• Organizationally, SEM reports to marketing and SEO reports to product• This is typical and can lead to limited informational sharing

of ideas• Regular cross team meetings where review of current campaigns

and strategies as well as new initiatives is key to establishing open communication between groups.

Thank You

Mark Munroe Director, SEO – Trulia

@markemunroe

Blog: www.seoradar.com, www.afterpanda.com

Email: markmun99@gmail.com

Evan Waters Search Marketing Manager – Inflection

@PPCBro

Blog: www.PPCBro.com

Email: watersev@gmail.com