Colin Woon - The bigger the business, the bigger the SEO challenge

SEO:In-house challengesat Telefonica Europe – ‘O2’_OstravaTelefonica Europe21.10.2016

Follow me on Twitter - @ColinDWoon

DISCOVER, DISRUPT, DELIVER2

2/61O2 owned by Telefonica is the second largest mobile network in the UK employing over 3000 staff at the head office in Slough_



3/61Telefonica is a large company, with equally large profit and revenue objectives with O2 entirely responsible for performance in the UK_


DISCOVER, DISRUPT, DELIVER

4/61In 2013 O2 expands on their digital marketing expertise by bringing the strategic management of SEO in-house with new a new hire_

4 Follow me on Twitter - @ColinDWoon

Building on the existing paid search expertise, the plan was to set in motion the move from an externally run channel to an in house SEO team, not completely moving away from agencies but instead leveraging their skillset as a consultant.


5/61An SEO specialist recently back from a year at Wunderman in Amsterdam was recruited by Telefonica to lead the O2 SEO strategy_



Digital strategies in search begin the customers as they define and share their needs through search activity_

Follow me on Twitter@ColinDWoon


7/61The growth in performance at O2 over the past 4 years has proven that value to an in-house SEO function_

2013 2014 2015 2016

95%60%

40% 30%

2013

2014

2015

2016

95%

80%

60%

40%

7

Having an in house team gives the specialist instant access to the decision makers and internal stakeholders which can be a major blocker for external agencies. While the man hours from the external agency is reduced when the work is taken in-house, their output can be more valuable as their time is more focused on achievable tasks communicated through the internal team who are closer to the action.

‣In-house effort and management of the strategy increases‣Agency hours reduce while time spend is more effective‣Total performance based on generic organic traffic increases


2013 2014 2015 20165%

40%60% 70%



Executing an SEO strategy in a large organisation is more challenging for the in-house team than it is for an external partner or agency.



9/61Making an instant impact in a large business can sometimes take longer than you plan when you move from a smaller business_

Absorb SEO work to date.

Meet all the teams.

Learn how the business operates.

Outline year 1 objectives by month.



10/61Learning and executing needs to happen simultaneous, even 3 years later I’m meeting people for the first time_



11/61Working at a large brand in the UK like O2 gives you a unique perspective of what is important in SEO execution_

Natural Search & how its is different to other channels at O2 UK.

Exploring the difference between SEO and natural search at O2 UK.How Google influences to search results affects O2 UK.

How the Telco industry makes SEO extra challenging.The extra processes that are a requirement with a big business?




Clearly identifying what SEO means to your business at the beginning will define the course your journey of developing an understood SEO function.



13/61At O2, SEO sits within the digital team alongside paid search, affiliates, display, precision with a dotted line to social media_

Paid Media• Paid Search• Precision• Display• Affiliate Marketing• Paid Social Media (Content)

Non-Paid Media• Natural Search• SEO• Social Media (Content)

The digital team at O2 UK goes by the name of ‘Digital Excellence’ in order to promote that the specialists within that team are the best in their fields. A team split between paid and non paid in a trading focused environment is a challenge in itself when each team is given similar KPIs.



14/61Large ecommerce websites are built on trading and conversion targets which can work better for paid channels_

Paid Channels Organic Search

NoNoNo

Optimise by Position / Placement

Optimise by CPA

Optimise by Spend

Optimise by Traffic Yes



15/61Understanding the limitations in setting organic search trading objectives often comes as a revelation to sales teams_



16/61When we then look at the levers that we can pull in SEO / Organic search we see the same limitations happen, but in reverse_

Optimise by Content

Optimise by Backlinks

Optimise by Internal Links

Optimise by Page Speed

Paid Channels Organic Search

NoNoNoNo



17/61

Some features in digital channel management although possible in SEO, are not without complications.

There are common digital media functions that are not possible with the organic search channel

Non Organic Search OptionsChallenging Digital Media

SEO is direct response, but being less measurable and controllable makes it stand slightly apart other channels_

RetargetingSegmentationImpression ReportingCPA Targets

Impression TrackingActivity by OrdersAttribution ReportingEconometrics




The specialism at O2 is identified as SEO, but when the channel is discussed, it changes to natural search. But what does that mean in practice?



19/61The revelation was that SEO should be seen as a creative function, while organic search be seen as a traffic channel_

SEOOrganic Search

Across the business SEO and Natural Search are used always with the assumption that they are the same thing, almost in the same way that more junior people assuming paid and organic search are the same. Ensuring that individuals understood the difference between both, and when to call on their services improved execution.

‣Understanding that SEO is the function used to improve website visibility through increased rankings in search.

‣Understanding that SEO is not a channel and you wouldn’t refer to SEO as a traffic source in your analytics tools.

‣Knowing that SEO is the tool that you use to drive natural search traffic

‣Understanding that a large share of organic search traffic numbers will come without any SEO work required and will only be driven from customer loyalty and brand exposure.



20/61Splitting the channel into it separate components worked well at O2 UK by allowing people to focus_



21/61Recognising the difference between SEO and Organic search helped to educate the business on what is important_

Organic

Search

Rank

ClicksCTR

At O2 UK, organic search is well understood by the business. Even those who do know understand the detail of SEO can grasp the simple differences between paid search and organic search with the help of Google sign posts and poor paid search ads that people avoid like the plague.


‣Online Sales & trading teams are the most interested in the organic search channel due to the large traffic figures that it generates.

‣ It’s simple for everyone in the business to monitor rankings in Google search which is a common activity performed by junior and senior colleagues.

‣Reviewing listings in the SERPs to question CTR performance for organic search as well as paid search is common among legal teams, P&L, and marketing.

‣The fundamental understanding that organic search is free drives extra interest into individual wanting to drive uplifts through the channel.


22/61In reality the SEO team is a lot more than a DR channel, and it is here that O2 began to understand_

SEO

PR

ITContent

However when it comes to SEO, the understanding and focus starts to trail off among the same individuals who showed the strong interest in organic search. As all SEO’s understand, organic search is the objective of SEO and therefore strong performance cannot come without a strong SEO execution.


‣The User Experience team is one of the few internal teams that actively looks to understand the requirements of an SEO strategy due to the impact is has on their work.

‣Marketing often without the understanding of optimisation, will show clear interest in the insights from SEO research in order to better create their content

‣ IT will provide the most valuable information but often the most difficult situations as they speak in highly technical language often challenging the SEO specialist to provide answers to un tested ideas.


23/61

Organic SearchSEO

Understanding the split between SEO and Organic Search us to better divert resources to each of the requirements_

Traffic ‣ Second largest channel after direct results in a large amount of focus on the performance of Organic Search.

CTR ‣ Careful creation of page tags ensure that strong rankings drive the clicks that are intended with impelling content.

Rank ‣ Visibility in Google is the primary function in SEO as an enabler for traffic.

UX‣ There are clear similarities between the work completed by

the UX team and the SEO team in the effort to make a website optimised. Orders ‣ Orders through O2 branded search terms outperforms

other DR channels with the exception of Paid Search.




Brand search drives the majority of traffic & sales, but brand search isn’t directly influenced by SEO. Generic traffic drives incremental search growth.



25/61Targeting brand performance as SEO leads to overinflated numbers that are based more on brand loyalty than SEO_



26/61Our marketing budgets drive large numbers in brand search queries which are then broken down into categories_

Bene

fitEx

ampl

e Se

arch

Term

s

Pure O2 Brand O2 & Generic O2 & Non O2 Brand No O2 Brand

’02’

‘O2’

‘Telefonica’

‘www.o2.co.uk’

- Assured Performance- High Google Rank

‘O2 Wifi’

‘O2 Phones’

‘O2 Network’

‘O2 Sim Card’

- Incremental Traffic- Low Conversion Rate

‘O2 Xperia’

‘O2 iPhone’

‘O2 Pizza Express’

‘O2 Samsung Galaxy’

- High Conversion Rate- High Order Volume

‘iPad Pro’

‘iPhone 7’

‘Android OS’

‘Samsung Note7’

- Traffic Opportunity- High Competition

Organic Search SEO



27/61Looking the search queries that drive traffic into O2.co.uk, we identified that O2 brand terms would drive up to 75%_

O2 Brand

O2 & Generic

O2 & Non O2 Brand

Non O2 BrandAll Search Queries Split by

Brand / Generic

27

‣The lack of keyword level data due to Google secure search adds more difficulty in reporting.

‣Adwords paid search data and Search Console provide valuable insight to negate that issue.

‣Strong O2 Marcomms activity drives large search numbers from branded terms

‣SEO campaigns capitalize on this with optimised ‘Search Call To Action’ prompting customers to search using set terms.

75%

25%



28/61The challenge has been to reduce leakage to other websites from O2 brand search queries_



29/61By making use of our partner websites and O2-owned subdomains, we aim to flood and control the search results_

O2Vouchers.co.uk

O2Recycle.co.uk O2ThinkBig.co.uk

News.O2.co.uk Community.O2.co.uk

Priority.O2.co.uk

Sub-Domain

s

Micro-Sites

We get the opportunity to leverage multiple domains to:‣Publish more content that can rank simultaneous for the same search query.‣Utilise multiple websites to drive equity through cross linking to primary content pages.



30/61And to capitalise on the opportunity behind generic queries by focussing on the creative optimisation ‘SEO’ element_ The remaining 25% of SEO search queries represents the incremental opportunity that we can influence more directly if it is true that brand search queries are influenced more by marketing communications activity like TV advertising and out of home marketing.

Workable Targets• Not impacted by

brand marketingSpecific SEO Impact• Effects derived from

search engine optimisation Market Penetration

• Generating new business from competitor customers and people new in the market




When you look at your competitors you have to look beyond your traditional competitors and instead focus on who is taking the space you desire.



32/61In such a fiercely competitive environment, the network that gets to page 1 in the fastest time will lead in sales_



When a new product is launched, the primary objective is to get to the first page of Google in the shortest possible time as this is a highly profitable period for trading_



34/61Research has shown that Google seemingly gives priority ranking to reviews sites during the pre-announcement to early launch stage_

Pre-Order

Pre-Announce

Announce

Launch

Phase 1 Phase 2

In-Life

Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5

News Websites eg. MacWorld

Manufacturer Websites eg. AppleReviews Websites eg. Tech Radar Networks eg. O2

‣ Typically its is News & Review publications that get the initial share of organic search. Google caters to customers in the research phase of the buying cycle with the exception of the manufacturer or exclusive retailer.



35/61Google seems to give priority ranking to reviews sites during the pre-announcement to early launch stage. It shows the intellect of the Google search algorithm when it is able to not only distinguish and identify reviews websites, but also to know the periods during new product launches when those sites will be more and then less relevant to customer searches.

33%

67%

Customer Reviews

Specialist Reviews

Type Customer Review

Average Rank 5-8

Type Customer Review

Average Rank 6-9

Type Expert Review

Average Rank 3-5

Type Expert Review

Average Rank 4-6

Type Expert Review

Average Rank 4-6

Type Expert Review

Average Rank 2-4



Google likes to be very with the sites it relates to search queries, to the point that being a phone network can work against us when we try to add traditional retail products to our catalogue.



37/61Tablets are an example of a product Google determines to be more of an electrical appliance than a network device_

Google understands that people expect to view network devices with a network provider. However, electrical devices are then expected to be viewed at standard electrical retailer.

20%

80%

Google Visibility Share – Networks Vs Retailers:

Traffic Share by website type:

> Reduced visibility for

networks

> Less specific customer

search terms

> High traffic driven to standard retailers

Impact on Search Performance:



38/61Google gives preferential rankings to the known electronic retailers regardless of on page content or other SEO techniques_


This makes entry into new markets more challenging even for brand the size of O2. The mission then changes to one of building new connections to different product categories


39/61Being unable to gain visibility on the first page of Google can reduce CTR by over 90% placing search needs in PPC_

Retailer preference in SERPs Customer• Restricted Sites

Google• Controlled

ResultsCompany• Reduced

VisibilityFollow me on Twitter - @ColinDWoon



The telco industry is a large business in the UK with only 4 main networks. Unlike other large businesses smaller product lines lead to stiff competition.



The mobile network industry is heavily skewed towards pay monthly handset sales in terms of revenue drivers. In that category, the share heavily weighted between a very small amount of devices_



42/61There are times when we maximise traffic with exclusive deals that have a lasting effect on our performance for years to come_



43/61Being an exclusive partner enables O2 to build brand connections within search that defines us as the primary destination_



44/61Being the official partner for the iPhone launch in 2007 has allowed O2 to compete with the Apple brand for the primary search terms_

‣ Increased visibility derived from the sole ownership of the content similar to an owned / created product.

‣ Increased visitors to the website in comparison to other products due to being the only retailer and purchase point.

‣Guaranteed sales without the concern of competition taking a larger share of the sales.



45/61A large share of the mobile industry is owned by Samsung and Apple which limits the profitable keywords to target_

iPhone

Samsung GalaxyiPad

Sony Xperia

‣Limited products with limited variations result in a fiercely competitive market where at some times of the year there are less than 10 target keywords between all competitors

‣Restrictions from manufacturers further complicate this market where each network has to follow guidelines that result in less originality.

‣Customers then have a harder choice to distinguish between different networks when they each have the same messaging for the same search terms.



46/61The importance of focussing on your niche instead of a generic objective was made clear for O2 in this example_

User Journey Targeted Queries

‣ Increased focus on the customer user journey by targeting sales specific search terms specifically relevant to contract network devices to reduce irrelevant competitors and increase CTR.

‣ Preventing less relevant websites from taking up competitive ranking positions turning the SERP landscape into a more relevant space leading to improved visibility.

‣ Able to publish product page style pages with less content than other content SEO websites that might typically rank higher in more generic search term results.

‣ SERPs by Google generated without question boxes, news and images to increase CTR for search listings.

What this means to O2




SEO is best executed when you have flexibility & control over your website management, and when you have a consistency in your processes and systems.



48/61At O2 UK, being a business of large size we get both benefits and issues that smaller companies avoid_

48

Large Business Issues• Multiple Teams• Stacked Development

Streams• Long Lead Times• High Development Costs

Large Business Benefits• Fast ranking relevant

content• High sharability from• High brand traffic• Large website



When you are working with multiple stakeholders within a company, the approval process for any project can be a long battle. With SEO, due to the guesswork applied to estimations, getting support its challenging.



50/61Once multiple stakeholders across the business have given approval, development work can be moved into delivery leading to results_



51/61

Most key requirement for approvals is the expected uplift on sales volume.Each project needs to drive orders either preferably directly, but due to how organic search and SEO work, often the compromise is to have an indirect impact on sales.For example, how a content marketing initiative may contribute to increased rankings for a key product page.

SEO and UX are closely connected which results in a lot of crossover which can be beneficial and challenging.UX teams at O2 sit within the Online creative team who have direct influence over navigation, page template designs and all other aspects of the information architecture. Understanding the objectives of the UX team is one absolute requirement, but it is more key to learn the UX leads style of web design.

The O2 website is built from a custom made CMS which means that most of the functionality is also custom built.Custom built websites can complicate tasks elsewhere considered simple due to the capability not native to the original framework requiring additional modification.Having a team prepared for continual developments who are available to find workarounds to existing limitations is key.

UX Impact IT CapabilitySales Impact

Getting approval for SEO initiatives in a large business is perhaps what the majority of an in house specialists’ work requirement_



Being a large business, it is impossible to attend every meeting which ultimately leads to key information passing by. In regards to IT, this can mean years of optimisation efforts being deleted with a single IT update_



53/61Multiple times where updates approved in one side of the business have had the opposite effect on SEO_



54/61Multiple times where updates approved in one side of the business have had the opposite effect on SEO_

54

Site

AICode

On P

ageRemoved

LinksRemoved ContentImage Text

Removed TagsChanged Incorrect URLsRedirects

Removed PagesDuplicated Pages


Being a small team, the time inevitably comes when one of the meeting you cannot attend leads to key content being removed.Having an IT team managed by an outsourced company in order to better safeguard against technical human errors leads to many precautionary unscheduled roll backs.Having a creative web team involved in multiple A/B tests where short term changes can be made that impact multiple areas.


55/61Having a large development function leads to further stakeholders for development decisions.

“The basic differentiator in comparison to a basic static website is that web application can provide features/functionalities. Static web page provides content only”

An outsourced IT Business Analyst working for O2 gave his view on JavaScript:

“If you want to make a content change in a static website you have to change the content of the page manually”

“It allows you to automatically generate consistent product pages, tariff pages, etc. By just providing the key content (photos, prices and text), the web application deals with the rest”

“We use it to manage functions such as stock management, contract renewal, basket management. etc”



Internal restructures occur often in big businesses, and Telefonica is not stranger to these changes. In 3 years SEO has been involved in 2 large restructures that have has large impacts on how the channel is focused_



57/61Shakeups can offer new opportunities and you hope that when the music stops, you’re able to sit down and work_



58/61In 2014 O2 moved the SEO function and other digital channels from online sales in marketing communications_

58

• Website Influence

• Traffic Focus• Technical

Knowledge

Stay with

Online

• Campaign Influence

• Messaging Influence

• Marketing Budgets

Move to Marketi

ng

Missed Opportuni

ty

Simultaneous Learning

Action Taken

Online Governance

Meeting

SEO Online Developme

nt Team Set-Up

Joint Online &

Marketing SEO

Strategy



59/61The growth potential for Telefonica & O2 through SEO and Organic search remains substantial_

Speed Optimisation Project – Barry AllenEstimated impact on revenue based on website speed optimisation > £4.9m

Revenue

Content Development Project – Daily PlanetEstimated revenue impact based on undisclosed content projects > £2.7m

Revenue

Technical BAU Release Project – Tony StarkEstimated revenue impact based on undisclosed technical updates > £4.1m

Revenue

External SEO & PR Project – Lois LaneFurther potential gains from development of the external outreach and content marketing > £

Revenue

External Partnerships – Flashpoint > £Revenue

KEY FIGURES



60/61

Colin Woon

Head of SEO O2 UK / Telefonica Europe

Twitter.@ColinDWoon

Thank you, enjoy the rest of the festival_

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