Chapter 8Search Marketing: SEO and PPC

Learning Objectives:

By the time students complete this chapter they should be able to: Discuss the reasons why search marketing is so important. Explain the difference between a directory and a search engine. Understand how search engines work and what is a search algorithm. Define SEM, SEO, and PPC. Understand the basic process of optimizing a website for organic search. Identify the basic issues in keyword bidding.

Chapter Perspective

Search marketing and email marketing (Chapter 7) are both so important—and so complex—that they easily warrant separate discussions of an hour to an hour and a half. We created separate email and search chapters for this reason. Still, search is extremely intricate and students should understand that this section of the chapter only represents an overview from a marketing manager’s standpoint. Doing search marketing requires a lot of technical knowledge and understanding of how to work on multiple platforms. That’s the bad news. The good news is that both marketers and agencies are desperate for people who can do search marketing—and many are willing to train entry-level people. If there is an emphasis on Google it is because it is the most widely used search engine. Search engines are software and algorithms, or a website based on search software, that allows users to search for content based on keywords they provide. However, in a future edition with two chapters on search we would be able to include how to create paid search ads in other search engines and social media tools and discuss these tools in more detail.

Students in my classes have gotten jobs in search from the exposure in the basic course, although typically they develop their interests more fully in our advance marketing technology course, where we do AdWords Campaigns for the Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC) in the spring. Students there receive a $250 budget and run a paid search campaign for a firm or NGO that has never done paid search before. They learn a lot and can win a prize, which may involve a trip to California to Google Headquarters (my teams have never won). It is possible to do the Google AdWords challenge in this introductory course alone as a project, although it is quite all-consuming for the students and works better, for me at least, in a dedicated course.

When writing this chapter there was so much detail left out that we considered writing a technical appendix for search, which may appear in the next edition. I also think that organic and paid search might each warrant their own chapters. If you have no exposure to search marketing this chapter might be difficult to grasp at first. I recommend going into Google Adwords and at least looking at the tool. Since Google remains the browser with the largest market share, I speak about AdWords and Google quite a bit, although there are many other places to run paid search ads.

Search is primarily an acquisition technique, whereas email can be used for acquisition, but works better at customer retention. Search works because the customer is looking for exactly what your firm has to offer.

The Growing Impact of Search Slides 2-6

It is interesting to begin by asking students how often they search and for what. Most of us use search engines frequently and the reasons range from serious informational needs to being too lazy to remember URLs. Students may not have thought about how often they use search engines and how influential they are on their overall Internet use. The subject of search before purchase is especially interesting and you may find strategies that go beyond the two usual ones—search and research online then purchase offline or online search leading to online purchase. Do they consider themselves among those who “couldn’t live without” search engines? Are they among the 29% that search “daily?” I often tell them about the days of yore when you actually looked at a physical map or a phone book to find information. We often forget how ingrained our search habits are.

Data from search engine marketing agency iCrossing and from the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), which has a lot good information at www.sempo.org, shows that both customers and marketers use search for just about every conceivable purpose. These data make it clear why marketers feel compelled to include SEM in their marketing plans. It is a good idea to check these and other sources when teaching this chapter to get the most updated information. For example, as of writing this instructor section, Google has AGAIN changed its search algorithm (A set of structured steps for solving a problem, in this case, finding information on the web; search algorithms are proprietary to each search engine tool) to make it more like an artificial intelligence tool: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/174892/google-changes-search-moves-closer-to-becoming-ar.html. You will find that search, like all aspects of Internet marketing, changes on a daily basis. I keep up, or try to, reading the Google AdWords blog (http://adwords.blogspot.com) and other emarketing email newsletters as well as the Technology section of the Wall Street Journal. Lots of things at the search engines are in beta testing, the stage in the product development process in which a new product is released to a select set of users for testing.

It is easy to see why marketers like search. Since so many consumers are online searching it is a good way to reach their target audience. Most people begin their major purchase searches online these days. Organic search, although it requires work in web design, does not require payment every time the company name appears. You are also catching people right when they are looking for your service. This is a growing industry and growth is being fuelled by mobile applications as well. Search can help with branding, online sales, lead generation, driving traffic to the websites and just getting content in front of the right people.

The World of Search Slide 7

The first thing students need to be clear about is the difference between a search engine (e.g., Google) and a directory (e.g., Yahoo!, at least at the beginning). A directory is an aid in finding Internet websites; list of sites are usually arranged by category and the directory has a search

function. On the other hand, search engines rely on automated software (spiders or bots) to build their indexes. Most of the other sites with significant market shares (e.g., MSN, the other of the “top 3”) are search engines. This might be a good place to discuss Slide 12 (Figure 8.5) listing the top search engines. Telephone directories have moved onto the Internet, making the directory presence substantial. Search engines have expanded beyond the big 3 (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft) and into desktop search, local search, vertical search and personalized search. Essentially, when consumers are able to tag their own content, it qualifies as personal search. When I log in to Gmail and search for just about anything Internet related, I find MaryLou Roberts’ face next to a blog post on the subject as well as information other colleagues have posted on the subject, making my search quite personal.

Search Engine Marketing Slide 8

Directories have declined in importance as SEM (search engine marketing) has risen. There are two types of SEM. SEO is search engine optimization, which to confuse things is also known as natural search, organic search or sometimes even algorithmic search. The next type of search is pay-per-click (PPC) also known as paid search. The differences in the two are outlined in Table 8.1 (Slide 7). Paid search requires allocating a budget and managing the process intensely. Natural search seems free but also requires work to keep up in the rankings.

So here are two ways of achieving ranking on a search engine. The first is to optimize your site in order to obtain a high ranking in natural/organic search. The second is to take out a paid ad (PPC or pay-per-click advertising). SEO takes a while—as much as six months to a year, especially for a large, complex site. Paid search results begin immediately.

A good exercise is just to search for something common, like shoes, which the morning I did yielded 317,000,000 results. The goal in natural search is to rank in the top five or six results on the top of the first page. Since it is not always possible to rank high in an area organically, marketers often turn to paid search to improve their visibility. Google’s PageRank algorithm indicates how important a page is on the web and a high page rank is desirable, but the holy grail of search engine marketing is to be considered among the most relevant results.

Organic Search Slide 9

Keywords are key (pun intended) to optimizing organic search, although links and other factors are also important. Keywords are search terms, words or phrases, selected by the user when making a search in a search engine. The term keywords also refers to terms that are bid on in a PPC system such as Google or Bing. Keywords also refer to a section in the HTML code for a website where site developers put the terms that they hope search engines will classify the site as when users search for those terms on the web.

An example is given in Figure 8.2 of HTML code and meta tag keywords for a particular fictional website. Meta tags are HTML tags, or coding, that provide information about the web page, primarily for the use of the search engines. Meta tags are declining in importance but it is good for the students to see the relationship between search and HTML code. In Explorer, just select view and the page source to see the HTML code for any page and examine the keywords

used. In Chrome, click on the little wrench in the upper right, then tools, then view source to view the page source.

Students should be familiar at least with how HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) works. It really is a text markup tool that just helps websites display the way they wish to display. The meta tags are meant to help in SEO, but, as stated previously, are less important to search engines today than ten years ago. One of the reasons for the declining importance is that websites were using inappropriate keyword meta tags to get ranked in categories not relevant to their websites’ content. In general, it is good to limit keywords to 20 or 25 as spiders, if they are looking, will not generally look at more than that. Figure 8.2 gives a simple HTML example, below, if you don’t feel up to going online.

<HEAD><TITLE>Pink Handbag World</TITLE><meta name="description" content="Pink Handbag World has a huge selection of stylish, affordable handbags and purses for girls. Get the latest fashion trends and tips to look your best from phw.com. " /><meta name="keywords" content="Purses, Handbags, Purses for Girls, Pink Handbags, Pink Purses"/></HEAD>

Search Engines Slides 10-15

Students need to be crystal clear about two things in terms of search engines and SEO:

1. Each search engine has its own ranking algorithm, and they change constantly. The term algorithm is critical to understanding how search engines work. The search engines say that they are always changing their algorithms is to make them better, and that’s certainly true. It is also effective in making the job of search engine marketers more difficult, and the engines know that. They would prefer that results be completely “natural” and do everything they can to identify and discourage the activities of search marketers, even the entirely legitimate ones. There are sites that attempt to “crack” the various algorithms but we focus on some tried and true ways to get ranked in organic search.

2. The search engines are serious about manipulation attempts. They may first issue a warning to offending sites, especially if they appear to believe the offense was committed honestly. They have little patience for overt attempts to manipulate and they can ban a site for a time—until it cleans up its act—or permanently. Students look surprised and wonder if this is illegal. It absolutely is not. The search engines are clear about their policies and vigorous in policing them. See Google’s Webmaster Help Center, for example, http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35291.

Slide 9, Figure 8.3, explains how search engines work and is based on Google’s own published information. Behind the scenes crawlers or “spiders” develop lists of keywords from websites and these are brought back to the index servers that attempt to create indices of the relationships between various pieces of web information.

Figures 8.4 a and b show search engine spider simulator and a keyword density chart for a particular web page. These graphics and those in Figure 8.6 did not turn out well in the book but are well reproduced in Slides 12-14. I often have students run these tools (see Interactive Exercise 8.1) on a website they are working on for their project. Word cloud generators such as wordle let your students see what keywords are used most often on the page, which is necessary in optimizing organic search. Here is a nice list of some options for word clouds http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/waiting-for-wordle-free-word-cloud-options-to-use-now. I created the simple word cloud below for http://interactivemarketing.niu.edu. I used the TagCloud generator http://www.tag-cloud.de. The larger the word the more often used on the website.

Figure 8.6 (Slide 14) shows where paid search results show up in Google and should not need much explanation. However, Google is now putting some search results on the bottom of the page. So it is probably best, if you can, to do a few live searches in class and see where the ads turn up. I recommend doing the same searches in Bing and Yahoo! and comparing the results.

These tools are important because of the way that search engines algorithm’s work. Search engine algorithms are looking for:

The location and frequency (density) of keywords on the page—1-3% density is a good goal

The HTML title tag (the title you see in the blue bar at the top of the page)—should be descriptive of the website and include a branding portion

Site content, including quality and relevance—what you have on your site is important The number of other sites that link to the page—inbound and outbound links are noted The number of click-throughs generated by searches to that page—who is interested

enough to click

Optimizing Organic Search Slide 16-19

Keyword analyses using tools such as keyword density charts, spider simulators, and word clouds are important in optimizing organic search. As the text states, there are several steps in optimizing a website for organic search. Make no mistake, the website must usually be changed and this aspect of SEO is not free. We have optimized our interactive marketing site several times since I have been at my university and it has been a long process each time. Some good steps to follow are:

1. Define the target market—who is looking for your site; you can get some statistics from Google Analytics

2. Find out what they search for—look at Google Insights for Search to find trends3. Develop a search strategy: find keywords and phrases—use the Google Keyword Tool

and Traffic Estimator (Figure 8.7)4. Redesign site with those keywords in mind—rerun the word cloud, density tool, etc.5. Register the site with search engines—just Google is generally enough6. Implement a paid search campaign to complement or inform the organic search campaign

(optional)—this does help as seen below

Figure 8.8 and Slide 16 form my visual summary of how to approach SEO. There is a typo in the text (at tags instead of alt tags) that is corrected on the slide. Items that are usually included in the rankings for natural searches are also the ones that should be targeting for SEO. These items are considered the “low lying fruit” of SEO that can be easily added to a page:

The URL or Domain Name: The URL itself should be descriptive of the firm and consistent with how you want to be found. Being around a long time and having a search history will also help.

Title tag, also known as the HTML title tag (the title you see in the blue bar at the top of the page): Many companies ignore the title tag, which should include a company description and the most important search terms or keywords. A good example to follow would be to include the keyword portion first, followed by the branding portion or description of your firm, and to keep the title page short (35 characters or less) so it can be read when it displays on search engines.

Content: Includes quality and relevance to the desired search topic as well as the location and frequency (density) of keywords on the page. Decide what terms are important and rewrite the page content to reflect those terms. Do not just focus on written content, although this content should contain relevant references to your desired keywords. Videos and blogs are likely to improve the search ranking considerably.

Links: The number of other sites that link to the page, the number of pages the site links to, and their relevancy to keywords and search phrases are most important for the site. Not only the quantity but also the quality of the links are significant for search engines. It is easy to create relevant outbound links and less easy to get sites to link to you (also known as a backlinks). However, backlinks are more important to SEO. Authority links as previously mentioned, directory links such as Yahoo! Directory, real-time links from blogs, and social bookmarking links all increase the chances of a high search ranking.

Quality of links is important; a link from your cousin’s personal site is not likely to be worth much in terms of ranking. The title tag (bar at the top of each page) plays a prominent role in how the site information is displayed on the results page for some engines, including Google. Google has declared war on irrelevant/poor quality content as a determinant of ranking. As you might imagine, there is considerable discussion about exactly what Google means by “quality content.” Relevance is usually the first descriptor used. As listed above, search engine algorithms also take into account the number of click-throughs achieved by the listing. I know some search engine marketers who only optimize for Google, but Figure 8.3, Slide 10 suggests that this may not be a good practice. Students may be surprised that Google’s share is not larger, but remind them that portal use is an important determinant of first engine visited and so is licensing to other sites. Your school may, for instance, use Google’s search engine for internal search. It furnishes the functionality free to educational institutions, apparently in the belief that if students use it, they will continue to. I would suggest that marketing practices like making it easy to download the search bar to the user’s opening page may be a more important determinant of brand loyalty.

Figure 8.9 discusses whether the econsultancy site is optimized for organic search. Note that the title tag should include both a keyword piece and a branding piece. Their keyword|branding combination is “econsultancy.com|Become a smarter digital marketer.” The tag line is great but the keyword is a point of discussion. Do potential users search for econsultancy or digital marketing consultant? If econsultancy.com is little esoteric, included in Slide 26 the San Diego Zoo website from Chapter 12 for discussion. It is a great website but students can debate whether it is designed for search and what the user intent is in entering the site.

Finally, Figure 8.10 illustrates the major influences of organic SEO. Social footprint should not be discounted. Blogs, viral videos and other aspects of online social interaction play a key role in organic search rankings. We moved up in the rankings considerably after my students did a viral video campaign for an Internet marketing class (as documented in the book by Aaron Goldman, Everything I Know About Marketing I Learned from Google http://googleylessons.com ) .

Organic and Paid Search Work Together Slide 20

Natural and paid search often work together. If the paid ad runs next to the organic search listing, the customer might click on one, the other, or both, making analysis difficult but improving sales nonetheless. The phrase “search is search” emphasizes this point.

There is not a lot of academic work on this topic but a recent article found the LTV of customer’s acquired through paid search higher than those from other channels: http://mktsci.journal.informs.org/content/early/2011/08/24/mksc.1110.0658.abstract.

Lots of work needs to be done to see the value of search and how the paid and organic can work together. In my GOMC classes, students worked with small companies that often found the phone stopped ringing as much after the paid search campaign ended. That is why I suggest

using the keyword results from good research for an SEO campaign in a paid search campaign also.

PPC or Paid Search Slides 21-25

Although I recommend both paid and organic search, many marketers who don’t have the time, the money, or the expertise (and it takes all 3) to do SEO or who are in competitive search categories generally turn to paid advertising. I recommend getting a free coupon from Google; offers abound and running a campaign during class if you can’t do the GOMC. I suggest a PPC process in the text, which is similar to that for SEO, that you can use running your campaign. Honestly, search is a “learning by doing” type of lesson.

Go to Google AdWords (http://www.google.com/intl/en/ads), set up an account, and create an ad, for a product, or perhaps for your school or program. It’s instructive and free until you actually submit it but coupons are widely available for first time users. Whichever program you use, you have to identify the relevant keywords. Google has recently moved its keyword selector tool outside the account sign-in and the link is listed above.

The steps to run such a campaign are:

1. Investigate broad search categories and trends—Google Trends and Insights for Search are helpful

2. Narrow down keywords—Keyword Tool works outside the account sign in https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

3. Determine traffic and cost—Traffic Estimator (usually at least half the actual price)4. Select terms and match criteria—done in a spreadsheet usually and uploaded if you have

a lot of information5. Design ads—in whatever search engine you are submitting the ad; you will need to set up

an account to do so; your URL can be a site you have control over6. Run campaigns—closely monitor during the campaign7. Measure and refine—link analytics (like Google Analytics; just copy and paste a snippet

of code into the site) to your site before during and after campaign to measure

You need to select a number of things in the AdWords tool, such as the time of day to run the ad or ads, the daily budget, the reach of the ad, what type of device, etc. One of the really important choices is the type of match: broad, phrase, exact, negative (Table 8.2). We recommend phrase match for campaigns with small budgets such as the one you are running in class so you don’t blow your budget. Students often overlook the importance of negative keywords so don’t forget to emphasize.

One small note from when the chapter was written. Some of the ads do not look like Figure 8.11 and have the display URL, the URL that is shown in the ad that may link to another customized landing page for the campaign, underneath the Ad Title. Side ads have the URL underneath the title; top ads display the URL underneath the ad copy itself. Slide 19 shows how to enter the ad in Google Adwords and how it might display, with guidelines for the ad noted. You can use this version of the search results and I have included it in Slide 20.

There are some bad practices in search (referred to as “Black Hat SEO practices”—the opposite is, of course, acceptable white hat practices). These practices are similar to the bad practices for web design in Chapter 12 and include:

Flash entry pages (in fact, all images are a problem and need alt tags to make them visible to search engines)

Frames Lack of a usable site map Poor quality keywords (in meta tags, title tags, and page content) Poor quality links

There is such a thing as “link farms”—pages of links, created primarily to increase the number of links to a site. The search engines quickly caught onto that tactic and penalize sites that use them—surprise, surprise!

Any attempt at manipulation

The importance of not using banned techniques cannot be stated too forcefully or too often. Students often assume that they can do something clever and trick the search engines into a high ranking. Sorry, but the search engines are usually way ahead of the tricksters.

Specialty Search Slide 26

Google’s desktop search probably had the highest market share, although there are others. Some were willing to let a search engine index the contents of their hard drive; some are not. It has been discontinued because of both privacy concerns and the movement toward cloud computing

Local search is growing rapidly as indicated in the text and originated from the desire to meet the User’s Intent, What the searcher is really looking for when a keyword is typed into a search engine. Yahoo! Local is a good example of specialization although you can type your location or zip in after almost any keyword to get localized results: http://local.yahoo.com.

There are many vertical search engines springing up that specialize in a specific area—sort of like a business library as opposed to a regular public library. Technorati seems to be the largest blog search engine (http://www.technorati.com/pop), although Google has one also http://blogsearch.google.com.

Personalized search may be best represented by Yahoo’s deli.icio.us site: http://del.icio.us. Content site dig (http://digg.com) uses personal search as one of its key features.

If you find the world of search fascinating, you might want to read John Battelle’s book entitled simply The Search. It is non-technical and an interesting historical overview of the field. If you want to keep up on a daily basis, the premiere site is Search Engine Watch (http://searchenginewatch.com), which has a blog and free newsletters.

These are the specialized search categories supported by Google:

Blog Search Find blogs on your favorite topics—use to keep up to date in classCustom Search Create a customized search experience for your community—use Google on a websiteProduct Search Search for stuff to buy—use to illustrate points in classScholar Search scholarly papers—set up your own profile of your research http://bit.ly/ISa5sqAlerts Get email updates on the topics of your choice—Set up alerts for the class topics to keep updatedTrends Explore past and present search trends—Use this tool for this class to set up a search campaign

There is also the ability to do specialized search on patents and finance news on Google.

Some of the other types of specialty search engines are as follows:

Topical search: such as WorldWideScience.com, WebMD Industry search: such as business.com, chemindustry.com Image search: such as PicSearch, Yahoo! Image Search News search: such as NewsNow, onlinenewspapers.com Social real time search: such as Twitter Search

It is fun to look at these types of search engines in class and look up specific topics. As users become more sophisticated in search, searches will become more localized and specialized.

The Relationship between Search and Social Media Slide 27

The best way to use social media to expand SEO is to expand your profiles on social media so they show up in searches. The next step is to monitor social media conversations and then use the keywords and terms in your SEO campaigns to increase your rankings. Finally, you can drive inbound links through targeted postings on social media outlets.

There are lots of free social media monitoring tools and I recommend using them to develop keywords. These tools might be helpful if you are doing an ad campaign in class or the GOMC http://www.socialbrite.org/2011/01/11/guide-to-free-social-media-monitoring-tools.

Summary Slide 28

Search is a key focus of Internet marketers at present and has two aspects, paid and organic. Both need to be managed separately and require a different focus. Web pages need to be written with algorithms in mind for SEO and PPC requires bidding on the most relevant and cost-effective keywords. Both processes require research on the web using readily available tools. Social media monitoring can be helpful in the keyword selection process.

Since the size of the web increases by many pages each day, the importance of search to users, B2C and B2B alike, can hardly be overstated. Because it is important to Internet users, marketers and advertisers are close behind. You can expect two levels of change that affects SEM in the years to come. At a granular level, the search engines themselves will continue to tweak their algorithms to provide more relevant results. Search engine marketers will continue to scramble to keep up with those changes. At the level of the overall search marketplace, innovations like vertical search and others yet unseen will continue to proliferate for years to come.

Search marketing has great impact whether it is optimizing a website so it is easily visible to the search engines or placing paid ads on search engine results. Search engines are also increasing in variety of use with local and vertical search engines becoming important in specialized markets. They can streamline the user experience and make search more useful and accessible to niche and small business marketers.

SEM is a “never done” process and we have only been able to look at the tip of the iceberg here. The field of search will continue to be a rapidly evolving one for Internet users and marketers alike.

Discussion Questions

1. Why do you think search has become such an important part of the life of Internet users?

I don’t have any data on “why,” but there seem to be at least two reasons:

1. The web is so huge, and it gets larger every day. There are many things we’d never find if we didn’t have a search capability.

2. Search is continually being improved, although differences one day to another are small and may not be visible to the casual user. The search engines are engaged in a never-ending quest for “relevance” in their search results.

2. What options do marketers have when it comes to developing a search marketing strategy?

The intent of the question was to get students to think about organic/natural vs. paid search results and to be able to clearly define each. If it needs to be reinforced, going to a search results page and identifying the organic listings and the paid ads would be a good thing to do.

Since it is obvious that SEM is a specialized area, the question could also lead to a discussion of using a services agency, an interactive agency or a specialized search marketing agency, as opposed to doing your own search in house. The very small or very new firm may not have any financial alternative except to try to produce a little visibility on its own. A low-cost, but not cost-free alternative, is to use a search engine service or the services offered by most hosting firms. Network Solutions www.networksolutions.com, which hosts my business site, usually has promotions for search services on its home page.

3. What are the most impactful elements of a website in terms of optimizing a site for organic search?

You can center the discussion around either Figure 8.8 or Figure 8.10 or both. Students should understand and be able to explain the importance of title tags, links, relevant keywords and their density (1-3%), images and video, as well as domain name authority , web traffic, and website architecture.

4. How come the major search engines do not publish their algorithms?

First, algorithms can be seen as a competitive advantage. Second, the companies don’t want firms “gaming” the system. You can discuss whether this is “fair” and the best way to run the search industry. Does it give one firm an unfair advantage? Is there a danger of monopoly power in Google’s case? The company is often called upon to defend its way of doing business to Congress.

5. Compare the two searches in Figure 8.6. Which produces the better results in terms of quality and relevance? Why?

This is a matter of opinion and discussion. I personally find the Google searches to be generally more “unbiased,” especially if I am not logged in and looking at all my friends’ recommendations! There is a sense that I am getting the most relevant results in Google. I think others feel the same way and that is why Google is number 1. Bing apparently is quite good for travel searches and students may have other favorites.

6. Why do paid and natural search work so well together?

It is simple: Both involve understanding the user intent and what they search for and creating an appropriate keyword strategy.

7. How do search strategies differ for mobile devices?

There are fewer ads on mobile searches, making keyword bidding more important. The size of the device means it is harder to read and the first few searches are the most relevant. There is also the trend to be in a store and search for a better price elsewhere. This video discusses whether Best Buy is Amazon’s “showroom”: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000062073.

8. Why is local search likely to be important in the future? What other trends are likely in organic and paid search?

Search engine users are becoming more demanding and want their searches to be seen as relevant to them so local is likely to expand. You can ask students how they use local search and which engines they use to do so.

Internet Exercises

1. Internet Career Builder Exercise.

This is another growing category and students should have no trouble finding job listings in this area. Many students go into search marketing after this class.

2. Choose a well-known branded product with which you are familiar. a. Brainstorm and identify at least 10 keywords that a person might use to

search for the product or the brand.b. Search for the product on at least two different search engines.

i. What is the product’s position in natural search?ii. What is its position in paid search?

c. Use the Google Adwords’ keyword tool to learn how good your keyword choices were. Were there others that should have been in your top 10?

d. What recommendations would you have for the managers of the product to help them improve their organic search rankings on the search engines you studied?

This is based on the material in the text, especially the section in which the keyword tool is discussed. As is mentioned, the keyword tool is now external and you don’t have to open an account to use it: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

Point out that a. is better done with the aid of customer research than just the judgment of the marketer. The results are often surprising. The b. activity often produces surprising results in that well-known marketers often do not rank high in either. They just haven’t caught on yet. If they rank high in natural/organic search, should they spend more on pay-per-click? The two work together but PPC might be wasting money if organic ranking is high. Should companies do PPC advertising while optimization activities take place? Quite probably. Should they do PPC alone? Yes, if they can’t afford or do not have the expertise to optimize their pages.

3. Using the branded product above, imagine that you have the opportunity to market that product through paid search. Select keywords and develop at least two different ad groups with two different ads underneath them. Design two of the ads and be prepared to discuss in class which might be most effective.

Students can create AdWords ads as noted in the text and in the PowerPoints. They can open their account and create ads without spending any money or just create ads in word of PPT for class discussion. Students will be surprised how difficult it can be to create

We did not discuss ad groups in detail in the text but this exercise allows students to see that the can run separate campaigns using ad groups. Campaigns are set up and under them ad groups with different themes and under them the ad itself. So Pink Purses Promotion might be a campaign and one ad group might be for those travelling to warm weather places and another for those who think pink is the new black. Under these ad groups different ads can be tested and refined. Often marketers use A/B testing of different ad treatments and this is possible in search advertising as well.

Google says an ad group is:

“A set of keywords, ads, and bids that is a key part of how your account is organized. Each ad campaign is made up of one or more ad groups.

An ad group consists of one or more ads, keywords, placements, or other targeting methods. You also set a default bid for each ad group.

We recommend that you create a separate ad group for each theme such as for each product you offer (like wedding catering and party catering), selling points (like free consultation and gourmet menus), or ways to describe your business (like caterer and on-site food service). The ads and keywords in each ad group should directly relate to that group's theme.” http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6298

Just as in good email marketing, emphasize a good offer, call to action and time deadline in the ads.

Key Terms

broad match all search volumes for that keyword idea, including synonyms and related words.

CPC (cost-per-click) the cost of the paid ad campaign divided by the number of clicks.

CPM (cost-per-thousand) the amount paid in purchasing advertising; in this case, means the cost per thousand impressions, or the cost divided by the total number of impressions.

directory aid in finding Internet websites; list of sites are usually arranged by category, and the directory has a search function.

display URL displays in ad but has link to another page.

domain name authority the extent to which that domain name is considered to be a reputable website in a particular category.

exact match search volume for that particular keyword.

index server stores the information index, which has categorized websites as a best fit to certain keywords.

keywords search terms, words, or phrases that are selected by the user when making a search in a search engine; also refers to terms that are bid on in a PPC system, or a section in the HTML code for a website where site developers put terms that they hope search engines will classify the site when users search for those terms on the web. keyword density percentage of times a particular word is used in a website page in comparison to the number of words on that page.

local search using local search term in a search query.

meta tag a section in the HTML header section of a website that can be used to describe the site in more detail, including content and keywords; also known as meta name, or metal element.

negative match key term that you do not want to be considered in your search.

page rank a mathematical algorithm named after Google co-founder Larry Page to indicate how important a page is on the web; used as a metric used when evaluating websites.

paid search the paid aspect of SEM based on an advertising model where firms seeking to rank high in specific search categories will bid on certain terms or “keywords” in the hopes of a lucrative ad ranking; also known as PPC (pay-per-click).

phrase match search volume that includes that entire phrase.

search engine website that works to help users to find the things they want to find on the Internet.

search engine algorithm displays the search engine’s “best guess” at which pages are most relevant to the user’s search and in which order they should be shown. SEM (search engine marketing) process of getting listed on search engines.

SEO (search engine optimization) process of designing the site and its content whereby search engines find your site without being paid to do so; also known as organic search, natural search, or algorithmic search.

spiders programs that “crawl” the web and follow every link or piece of data that they see and bring this information back to be stored; also known as robots.

title tag the title you see in the blue bar at the top of the web page; also known as the HTML title tag.

universal search the inclusion of search results from multiple content sources such as videos, images, news, maps, books, and websites into one set of research results.

user intent what the user is actually searching for.