Search Engine Marketing SEM Understanding search engines and

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Understanding search engines and how to market using them

More than results o First experience of your digital brand o About creating the right experience with your audience. 2

What you need to remember o Google considers ‘links’ a sign of trust o o All natural SEO strategies are based around the idea of increasing the number of external links Optimised pages perform better in Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns o o o Cost of the keywords will be less Adverts will rank higher Better click through-rate. 3

Organic vs. PPC o Two types of results generated by search engines o Organic - these are results from all pages indexed o o o Free! Users are more likely to click on the first organic result, than the PPC Pay Per Click (PPC) - these are results from advertisers who have paid to appear o o Integrate into campaigns o o Target by ‘keyword’ Give immediate results. Google Analytics and PPC analytics data can often differ 4

Understanding the anatomy of Google PPC Results Organic Results 5

Tip: Organic user behaviour About 90% of users do not go beyond the first page. User most likely to click first three results The likelihood that user will click on a link drops by 15% per result 6

Tip: Factors affecting ranking o Find out your page rank, download the Google Toolbar There are ‘thought’ to be over two hundred factors, which affect ranking in Google o Google, doesn‘t just consider structural factors: o o Domain age, Authorship o Speed o o Site layout, Page content Links It also considers behavioural as well: o o o Click-through rates Social signals Creates a quality score or ‘page rank’ o Low page rank = low perceived quality by Google o Pages should have a consistent rank through-out. 7

The Good news o You can get good search results by following the basics. 8

The Bad news o 90% of users do not go beyond the first results page o Users tend to click the first three links result o Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is difficult. 9

Controlling how your brand is found o Google, allows you to control how your brand is found in three ways: 1. Title tag 2. Site description - controlled by the sites meta-description, and/or your dmoz listing 3. Site links - controlled using Google Webmaster tools 4. Google Places. *site links are Google’s recognition of brand! 1 0

Controlling how your brand is found Title tag Site description Site links Google Places 1 1

Tips: For controlling your results o Title tag - make sure its simple and straightforward o Meta description - describes what you do o Site links - reflect your key goals. 1 2

Basic SEO strategies o Flat hierarchical structure o Expose as many pages as possible o Pages should be part of site structure, not stand alone o Quality/Semantics of mark-up o o o Use of title tag Correct use of heading, paragraph and other tags URLs o o URLs generated are meaningful and related to the document o Database should generate clean urls o o Use text links, rather than image links Links need to be present for at least one year About relevance of document o Not about keywords, keyphrases o Density of keyphrases o Concentrate on what phrases users will search on o Think what would be the primary, secondary and tertiary phrase searched for o Google understands synonyms. 1 3

Advanced SEO strategies 1. 2. 3. 4. Link bait Affiliates Feeds Other methods 1 4

1. Link bait o Google treats links as signs of trust o o Measures internal links, as well as external links Link bate o The “idea of creating a lot of natural links” - Washington Post o Possible examples of link bait o Free content e. g. tutorials o Research blogs from leading academics in their field, for example Word. Press o Sample podcasts on lecturers about interesting or challenging subjects o Useful and/or helpful information about starting university and how to prepare o Social bookmarking o Will increase number of social signals (+1) o Increase click-through o Increase user bookmarks. 1 5

Recommendations o Add social bookmarking o Develop a link strategy o o Develop a content strategy o o Specify how links are name Who to link to Encourage existing sites to link to the University of Bath. Identify sources of existing for promotion Identify sources of new content for promotion Identify methods of distribution Encourage deep-linking, when a page moves use a 301 redirect. 1 6

4. Other methods Expose search keyphrases on homepage. E-PR Press releases seeded with keyphrases Research blogs Media guide to expertise Survey & polls Brand monitoring. 1 7

Pay Per Click - PPC 1. Audience behaviour 2. How to identify audience behaviour 3. Understanding audience behaviour 4. PPC bidding and budgeting techniques 5. Integrating offline 6. Banner Ads? !? 7. Beyond Google 1 8

Audience behaviour Short tail phrases Long tail phrases simple phrases, most common, most competition , less intent as buyers ‘Browsing’ complex phrases, less competition, more intent as buyers ‘Researching’ ‘Completing’ Buying Cycle Undirected, exploratory Directory goal-oriented 1 9

Tip: How to identify PPC audience behaviour o Your advert has no value if it can’t be seen. Make sure that you know your audience, for maximum profile and impact. Before you begin a PPC campaign, it is essential you carry out a keyphrase analysis o Identifying audience behaviour: o What language do they search in? o What search engine are they most likely to use? o Do they search at a particular time of day? (dayparting) o What stage of the buying cycle are they at? o o o What keyphrases or synonyms do they use? How do the keyphrases or synonyms perform (in terms of search volumes)? What gaps or patterns exist in keyphrases or synonyms? o For example do users search on location, on type. 2 0

How understanding PPC audience behaviour can help o Understanding audience behaviour allows you to: o Target an audience depending on stage of buying cycle/stage of information journey o Using short tail keyphrases for ‘larger’ budget or high profile campaigns o Larger search volumes o Types of courses for example ‘postgraduate business courses’ o At the beginning of the buying cycle. o Using long tail keyphrases for ‘smaller’ budget or targeted campaigns o Smaller search volumes o Committed to a course or specialism, for example ‘MBA with a specialism…’ o At the end of the buying cycle o Exploit gaps or patterns in keyphrases or synonyms that competitors have missed. o Improve campaign performance o Increasing click-through and conversion rates o Extending your campaign budget and improving Return On Investment (ROI). Tip: Conversion rates vary, however, as an industry anything above 3% is good 2 1

PPC bidding and budgeting techiques o Highest position is not always the best o o o Higher positions tend to cost more and convert less As a rule target lower positions as these tend to convert better Use matching types o This give you more control where your advert appears o For example ‘postgraduate courses’ + ‘business’ or ‘computer aided design’ o Use negative keywords where appropriate - BA o Use dayparting o Buy your competitors name o o For example buy the keyword ‘Durham University’ Improve your quality score o Reduce fees o Increase conversions o Improve your return on investment o Manage your PPC account carefully. 2 2

Tip: Integrating offline. o Campaigns don’t have to be online o Can integrate PPC with offline as well o o Include reference to your brand or specific campaign message Considering coinciding with ‘dayparting’ o o Where prospects can speak to a trained member of staff conversion rates improve. To achieve profile and impact Possible examples could include: o Postgraduate recruitment campaign connected to unique telephone number o Number creates a measurable metric Take the next step and get a postgraduate qualification. Call: 0845 111 23

Tip: Banner Ads? !? o Individuals are more likely to click on images with faces and/or bodily parts such as the chest or groin Typically have a very low conversion rate Individuals tend to ignore images, which appear like adverts o Shouldn’t be used as a conversion tool o Used as a means to increase brand awareness o Shouldn’t underestimate there contribution to conversion. o 2 4

Beyond Google o Consider other advertising opportunities, applying the same principles of: o o o Identifying and understanding user behaviour Using PPC Biding and budgeting techniques Other search engines include: 2 5

Recommendations o Develop PPC strategy o o Including a profile of visitor types and behaviour, keyphrase dictionary, with information about keywords and search volumes o o English and foreign language versions Trial different types of campaigns on and offline Build market intelligence for HE conversion rates Experiment with regional search engines. 2 6

Bringing it all together – Effective PPC & Web analytics Pay Per Click Advert Analyse advert and landing page Performance Marketing & Communication function Visitor Landing page PPC/Web analytics 2 7