GOOGLE SEARCH CRASH COURSE

by Victoria Rusnac

2

§ Overview of digital marketing channels § The role of search in marketing strategy and

customer journey§ How Google search works§ Learn the basics of SEM including SEO and PPC

AGENDA

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING

§ Paid Search (AdWords, PPC)§ Organic Search (SEO)§ Social Media Marketing (SMM)§ Content Marketing§ Email, push notifications§ Display Advertising (PPC)§ Affiliate or partnership§ Influencer Marketing § Digital PR

NOTE: Mobile is not a channel, it’s a platform or device.

FREE AND PAIDDIGITAL MARKETING CHANNELS

DIFFERENT REACH, PERSONALISATION AND COST

Marketing Channels and 4 consumer behaviour points§ Broadcast marketing: Display, Social Media, Video, LinkedIn§ Direct (1-2-1 marketing): email, push notification, mobile apps, podcasts§ Search marketing: Google, Bink, LinkedIn§ Social: YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest

POE explained: Paid – Owned - Earned§ Paid media: advertising, display, remarketing, paid influencers, SM, AdWords, PPC• Earned media: posting, sharing, reviewing… all done by consumers• Owned media: website, SM, community, email list, blogger and influencer relations

Earned media becomes more and more predominantPOE are interlinked

YOU ARE NOT IN CONTROL

TRADITIONAL CUSTOMER JOURNEY IS STILL VALID

Consideration

Conversion

Loyalty

Advocacy

Awareness Offline campaign, PR, referral program, generic content, low intent google search, display, WOM

Content, WOM, review sites, Social Media, specific medium intent google search, your website

Experience, email marketing, special offer, sharing experience, community feel, brand affinity

Unique experience, over-delivering on expectations

Promotion, email marketing, your website

§Customer journey is different for different segments.§Use surveys and interviews. Just ask people about their journey.§ Experiment and test.§ Touchpoints should be used differently across different parts of

the journey.For example, if you are using search marketing at every stage of the journey, your keyword strategy might differ as customers search for different things at different touchpoints.

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERSCUSTOMER JOURNEY FUNDAMENTALS

DIGITAL CUSTOMER JOURNEY: 4 MOMENTS OF TRUTH

Digital Marketing Strategy across all MOT

•Source: Nick Watt, adapted from Brian Solis 2013

Influence Loop

STIMULUS

ZMOT

FMOTSMOT

UMOT

TV, PRINT, RADIO, OUTDOOR, DM, DIGITAL DISPLAY, SOCIAL MEDIA, WOM

SEARCH, COMPARISON & REVIEW SITES, PRODUCT & RETAILER SITE, BROCHURE

MOBILETELESALES,

IN-STORE POS, SOCIAL MEDIA,

WEB SITE

BLOGS, FORUMS, REVIEW SITES, FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, TWITTER

FAQS, USERS GUIDES, SOFTWARE UPDATES, CUSTOMER SERVICE

CREATE A COHESIVE INFLUENCE LOOP

GOOGLESEARCH ENGINE

THE IMPORTANCE OF SEARCH

of all internet journeys start with search81%

No. 1 search engine 4.4 billion+ searches per day

worldwide

No. 2 search engine 0.5 billion+ searches per day

worldwide

http://www.smartinsights.com/search-engine-marketing/search-engine-statistics/

By understanding intent we can deliver the right message to the right person at the right time

Keywords are still relevant to intent but also…§ Relevant to device§ Relevant to time of day§ Relevant to location§ Relevant to you

It is always PULL!!!

INTENT => SEARCH QUERYSEARCH STARTS WITH INTENT

LOW, MEDIUM AND HIGH INTENT SEARCH QUERY

Micro momentshttps://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/micro-moments/micromoments-guide-pdf-download

GOOGLE EXPLAINS INTENT USING “MICRO MOMENTS”

Search query, that shows intent and contains keywords

Paid AdWords ad listings

Organic free ad listings

Local search results

SEARCH ENGINE RESULT PAGE: example 1

SERP: example 2

Google shoppingPLA = Product Listing Ads

SERP: example 3

SERP: example 4 (old layout)

Knowledge graph resultsAdsLocal search results

AdsLocal search resultsFeatures SnippersOrganic results

LAST SERP CHANGES

§Align to “I want to buy” micro moments. Purchase intent is prioritised.§Ads from the right side of page were removed. Only PLA (product listing ads)

& KG (knowledge graphs).§Top ads: increase from 3 to 4 ads. 4 Pack Ads. §Bottom: 3 ads in the bottom. 3 Pack Ads.§Ads per page: decreased from 11 ads to 7 ads.§Benefits: organic listings for searches with discovery intent appear higher.

STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONAlign search and content strategy to micro-moments and customer intent.

11 ADS TO 7 ADS ON 1ST PAGE

PAID SEARCH PPC

ENTER GOOGLE: KEYWORD ADVERTISING

1. Advertisers select relevant keywords 2. Users inputs search queries, that contain those keywords3. Google ranks ads (Ad Rank) using a proprietary ad auction4. Winning ads appears5. Marketer only pays when ad is clicked (or based on bidding strategy)

IT IS NOT ONLY GOOGLE

90-95%oftraffic

ADWORDS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

§ Account Structure§ Campaign design:

§ Keywords§ Match type§ Ad Text§ Ad Extensions§ Bidding strategy § Ad Formats§ Google Network

§ AdWords Auction

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Account Structure§ Should suit your business objectives§ Aids ad text relevancy§ No ‘best way’ to structure an account

Organisation§ Account: Your account is associated with a unique

email address, password and billing information.§ Campaigns: Each campaign in your account has its

own budget and settings that determine where your ads will appear.

§ Ad groups: Each ad group within a campaign contains a set of similar ads and keywords that you want to trigger your ads to show.

ACCOUNT STRUCTURE

Account(UK)

Campaign

AdGroup1

Keyword1

Keyword2

London

Engineering

engineeringjobslondon

engineeringcareerlondon

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ACCOUNT STRUCTURE

KEYWORDSKeywords should be aligned to business goals and include:

§ Website terms

§ Products

§ Brand

§ User Journey terms

§ Competitor themes

Testing is the best way.

More on keywords research in SEO.

MATCH TYPEMatch types are used for expansion and

control

§ Broad match logic deciphers a search

query’s meaning

§ Other types describe the words the user

types and the order they appear in

§ Primarily broad match in our accounts to

maximise relevant volume.

§ Around 15% of daily Google searches have

never been searched before.

NEGATIVE KEYWORDSA type of keyword that prevents your ad from being triggered by a certain word or phrase.

Your ads aren’t shown to anyone who is searching for that phrase. This is also known as

a negative match.

Example: when you add "free" as a negative keyword to your campaign or ad group, you

tell AdWords not to show your ad for any searches containing the term "free".

On the Display Network, your ad is less likely to appear on a site when your negative

keywords match the site's content.

NEGATIVE KEYWORDS = UNWANTED TRAFFIC = WASTE OF MONEY

The expanded text ad format

Headline 1 30 characters

Headline 2 30 characters

URL Path 15/15 characters

Description 80 characters

IT IS LIKE A BILLBOARD!AD TEXT FORMAT

AD EXTENSIONS

APP EXTENSION. Allows you to include a link to your app on Google Play and the Apple App Store. The

headline of the ad will continue to link through to your website.

CALL EXTENSION. Adds a phone number to your ad which is displayed across mobile, tablet and

desktop devices. You can include your own phone number with your ad or use a Google forwarding

number (in certain countries) for integrated call reporting.

CALL-OUT EXTENSION. Shows short snippets of additional text with your ad. Ideally, call-outs should

include additional features, benefits and selling points that aren’t included in the main ad text.

CREATE MORE REASONS TO CLICK ON YOUR AD!

AD EXTENSIONSLOCATION EXTENSION. Adds location details to your ad, so that people can find your business

location. Details come from a linked Google My Business account which includes your locations listed on

Google Maps.

PRICE EXTENSION. Adds individual products or services to your ads along with their price. Each item

becomes clickable and sends people through to the relevant page on your website.

REVIEW EXTENSION. An ad extension where the advertiser specifies a verbatim/paraphrased snippet

of their product/service by a credible third party.

SELLER RATINGS EXTENSION. An extension that shows overall customer satisfaction. Ratings are

gathered from reputable sources and then displayed automatically.

SITELINKS EXTENSION. Displays additional links with your ad. Sitelinks provide more opportunities for

people to click through to your website. Two to six sitelinks can be displayed with your ad, each sitelink

needs to link to a separate page on your website.

AD EXTENSIONS: SPACE = CTR

Location extension

Sitelinks extension

Seller ratings extension

Call out extension

Price extension

BIDDING STRATEGIESManual Bidding – Default bidding option where CPC bids are set manually for a particular

keyword, placement, etc.

Automatic Bidding – Automatic bidding allows you to put your bidding on autopilot with the

goal of getting the most possible clicks within your budget. You can also set a CPC bid limit if

you don’t want to exceed a particular price for each click.§ Maximise Clicks

§ Target CPA

§ Target Search Page Location

§ Target Outranking Share

§ Enhanced cost per click (ECPC)

§ Target ROAS

§ Maximise Conversions

AD FORMATS ON GOOGLE

TEXT AD

RESPONSIVE AD. Responsive ads automatically adjust their size, appearance and format to fit available ad spaces. They can transform into text or image ads.

IMAGE AD. Static or interactive graphics. Animated ads in .gif and Flash format can be used.

APP PROMOTION AD. Drive app downloads and engagement with app promotion ads. In-stream video: Video ads that show online. Run standalone video ads or insert them in streaming video content.

PRODUCT SHOPPING AD: Shopping ads show users a photo of your product, a title, price, store name, and more details about your product.

GOOGLE PLACEMENTS

Google search (incl. Google Shopping)

Google search partners (AdSense partners)Google Display Network

§ Over two million websites that reach over 90% of people on the Internet.

§ Allows to you connect with customers with a variety of ad formats across the digital universe.

§ Other websites, YouTube, Gmail account and mobile sites and apps.

NETWORKS

Google Auction is the second price auction. Bid – true max CPC, willingness to pay

Ad Position is determined by Ad Rank in the auction.

AD RANK=

Determined by a combination of factors, including:

• Past and expected CTR

• Your ad/search relevance• Landing page experience

Each keyword gets a Quality Score from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest score and 10 is the highest.

QUALITY SCORE X

Max CPC is the highest £ amount an advertiser is willing to pay for one click on their ad

MAX CPC IMPACT OF EXTENSIONSX

The expected impact of extensions and other ad formats

GOOGLE AUCTION

As an advertiser, your cost per click will

always be less than or equal to your

maximum bid, as it is an average of bids

against a series of competitors over a

period of time.

Because of how Google's Adwords

auction works, your actual cost per click

is heavily influenced by both you and

your closest competitor's ad

rank, maximum bid, and quality score.

WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY PAY?

ADWORDS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

§ Account Structure§ Campaign design:

§ Keywords§ Match type§ Ad Text§ Ad Extensions§ Bidding strategy § Ad Formats§ Google Network

§ AdWords Auction

A COMMON QUESTION: WHY USE PAID SEARCH?

“If people are searching my brand name and I show up first in natural search, why should I even use paid search?”

ADWORDS: ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

ALL COMING TOGETHER: USER + INTENT + WEBSITE

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BENEFITS BUT§ Pay only when a ‘customer’ clicks§ Controlled by budget§ Quick results§ Data can inform other marketing channels§ Entirely measurable§ Huge range of targeting options§ You can compete with the ‘big guys’§ You can create an entire business from it

§ It’s easy to waste cash

§ It’s an ongoing process

§ Buying engaged traffic is only half the battle

WHY CHOOSE PAID SEARCH?

1. ROAS2. CTR3. CPC4. CR5. Cost per conversion (calculated)6. Conversions7. Multi-touch attribution (if ecommerce)

OBJECTIVES FOR PPC BY VR

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATIONSEO

Search query, that shows intent and contains keywords

Paid AdWords ad listings

Organic free ad listings

Local search results

SERP: organic results

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2 INSIGHTS§ TOP 5 organic positions are the most

important as they get 70% of clicks. Most value #1 (33%).

§ Query refinement: if you do a search and you don’t find an answer on 1st page, you will refine your query

YOUR GOAL: FIRST PAGE

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Search Engine:§ Crawling§ Indexing § Serving results (SERP)

HOW DOES A SEARCH ENGINE WORK?

HOW ORGANIC SEARCH WORKS

PageRank is an algorithm used by Google Search to rank websites in their search engine results, named after Larry Page.PageRank works by counting the number and quality of links to a page to determine a rough estimate of how important the website is.PageRank has established Google as the most ‘relevant’ search engine.

RankBrain is Google’s name for a machine-learning artificial intelligence system that’s used to help process its search results.

Personalisation. Search results are personalised to you.

Elements influenced by readers, visitors & other publishers

Off-The-Page Factors

The Periodic Table ofSEO Success FactorsSearch engine optimization (SEO) seems like alchemy to the uninitiated. But there's a science to it. Below are some important "ranking factors" and best practices that can lead to success with both search engines and searchers.

Off-The-Page SEOOn-The-Page SEO

Paid

Vp-3

Spam

Vl-3

Quality

Lq+3

Text

Lt+2

Numbers

Ln+1

Links

Authority

Ta+3

Engage

Te+2

Trust

Piracy

Vd-1

Ads

Va-1

History

Th+1

Reputation

Sr+2

Shares

Ss+1

Social

Answers

Ca +2

Thin

Vt -2

Quality

Cq+3

Research

Cr+3

Words

Cw+2

Vertical

Cv+2

Content

Fresh

Cf+2

Personal

Country

Pc+3

Locality

Pl+3

History

Ph+2

Stuffing

Vs-2

Hidden

Vh-1

Titles

Ht+3

Description

Hd+2

Headers

Hh+1

HTML

HTTPS

Ah+1

Cloaking

Vc-3

Crawl

Ac+3

Mobile

Am+3

Speed

As+2

URLs

Au+1

Architecture

Duplicate

Ad+2

Structure

Hs+2

LEARN MORE: http://selnd.com/seotable

WRITTEN BY:

© 2017 Third Door Media

CREATED BY:

These elements are in the direct control of the publisher

On-The-Page Factors

Are pages well written & have substantial quality content?

QUALITYCq

Have you researched the keywords people may use to find your content?RESEARCHCr

Do pages use words & phrases you hope they'll be found for?

WORDSCw

Do you have image, local, news, video or other vertical content?

VERTICALCv

Content

Is your content turned into direct answers within search results?ANSWERSCa

Is content "thin" or "shallow" & lacking substance?THINVt

Are pages fresh & about "hot" topics?FRESHCf

Do HTML title tags contain keywords relevant to page topics?TITLESHt

Do meta description tags describe what pages are about?DESCRIPTIONHd

Do headlines & subheads use header tags with relevant keywords?HEADERSHh

HTML

Do you excessively use words you want pages to be found for?

STUFFINGVs

HIDDENVh Do colors or design "hide" words you want pages to be found for?

Do pages use structured data to enhance listings?

STRUCTUREHs

Can search engines easily "crawl" pages on site?CRAWLAc

Does your site work well for mobile devices?MOBILEAm

Does site load quickly?SPEEDAs

Do URLs contain meaningful keywords to page topics?URLSAu

Do you show search engines different pages than humans?CLOAKINGVc

Architecture

Does site use HTTPS to provide secure connection for visitors?HTTPSAh

Does site manage duplicate content issues well?DUPLICATEAd

Do those respected on social networks share your content?

REPUTATIONSr

Do many share your content on social networks?

SHARESSs

Social

Are links from trusted, quality or respected web sites?

QUALITYLq

Do links pointing at pages use words you hope they'll be found for?TEXTLt

Do many links point at your web pages?

NUMBERLn

Have you purchased links in hopes of better rankings?

PAIDVp

Have you created links by spamming blogs, forums or other places?SPAMVl

Links

What country is someone located in?COUNTRYPc

What city or local area is someone located in?LOCALITYPl

Has someone regularly visited your site?

HISTORYPh

Personal

Do links, shares & other factors make pages trusted authorities?

AUTHORITYTa

Trust

Has site or its domain been around a long time, operating in same way?

HISTORYTh

Is content ad-heavy? Do you make use of intrusive interstitials?

ADSVa

Do visitors spend time reading or "bounce" away quickly?ENGAGETe

Has site been flagged for hosting pirated content?PIRACYVd

All factors on the table are important, but those marked 3 carry more weight than 1 or 2. No single factor guarantees top rankings or success, but having several favorable ones increases the odds. Negative “violation” factors shown in red harm your chances.

Factors Work Together +3

+2

+1

-1

-2

-3

THE SIGNALS THAT GOOGLE USES FOR RANKING

AND TONS OF OTHER EXPERIMENTS

LOREM BRA

BRASD PONDUS

SEO• On page SEO• Off page SEO• Tech SEO

ON PAGE SEOOn Page SEO is the science of optimizing the content of your website such that it becomes

friendlier to the search engines. This technique includes the optimization:§ Page title (Title Tag)

§ Meta description

§ Header (headlines)

§ Alt tags & file name

§ URL

§ Keywords

§ Unique valuable content

§ Body copy using keywords and synonyms

§ Internal link anchor text.

§ Canonicalisation (for duplicate content)

FREE PAID

KEYWORD RESEARCH

Keywords Planner PPC campaigns

KEYWORDS THAT GENERATE ORGANIC TRAFFIC

TECH SEO

§ Keyword-friendly URL

§ Age of your domain (debatable)

§ No duplicate content§ Handle 301 redirect (not 302 temporary)

§ Rel= canonical. Page you are currently on is a copy of the canonical URL.

Take the page out of the index and send any value to the original page.

§ Freshness

§ XML sitemap - a comprehensive list of all your site’s URL’s

§ Site’s speed

§ Internal linking structure

Elements influenced by readers, visitors & other publishers

Off-The-Page Factors

The Periodic Table ofSEO Success FactorsSearch engine optimization (SEO) seems like alchemy to the uninitiated. But there's a science to it. Below are some important "ranking factors" and best practices that can lead to success with both search engines and searchers.

Off-The-Page SEOOn-The-Page SEO

Paid

Vp-3

Spam

Vl-3

Quality

Lq+3

Text

Lt+2

Numbers

Ln+1

Links

Authority

Ta+3

Engage

Te+2

Trust

Piracy

Vd-1

Ads

Va-1

History

Th+1

Reputation

Sr+2

Shares

Ss+1

Social

Answers

Ca +2

Thin

Vt -2

Quality

Cq+3

Research

Cr+3

Words

Cw+2

Vertical

Cv+2

Content

Fresh

Cf+2

Personal

Country

Pc+3

Locality

Pl+3

History

Ph+2

Stuffing

Vs-2

Hidden

Vh-1

Titles

Ht+3

Description

Hd+2

Headers

Hh+1

HTML

HTTPS

Ah+1

Cloaking

Vc-3

Crawl

Ac+3

Mobile

Am+3

Speed

As+2

URLs

Au+1

Architecture

Duplicate

Ad+2

Structure

Hs+2

LEARN MORE: http://selnd.com/seotable

WRITTEN BY:

© 2017 Third Door Media

CREATED BY:

These elements are in the direct control of the publisher

On-The-Page Factors

Are pages well written & have substantial quality content?

QUALITYCq

Have you researched the keywords people may use to find your content?RESEARCHCr

Do pages use words & phrases you hope they'll be found for?

WORDSCw

Do you have image, local, news, video or other vertical content?

VERTICALCv

Content

Is your content turned into direct answers within search results?ANSWERSCa

Is content "thin" or "shallow" & lacking substance?THINVt

Are pages fresh & about "hot" topics?FRESHCf

Do HTML title tags contain keywords relevant to page topics?TITLESHt

Do meta description tags describe what pages are about?DESCRIPTIONHd

Do headlines & subheads use header tags with relevant keywords?HEADERSHh

HTML

Do you excessively use words you want pages to be found for?

STUFFINGVs

HIDDENVh Do colors or design "hide" words you want pages to be found for?

Do pages use structured data to enhance listings?

STRUCTUREHs

Can search engines easily "crawl" pages on site?CRAWLAc

Does your site work well for mobile devices?MOBILEAm

Does site load quickly?SPEEDAs

Do URLs contain meaningful keywords to page topics?URLSAu

Do you show search engines different pages than humans?CLOAKINGVc

Architecture

Does site use HTTPS to provide secure connection for visitors?HTTPSAh

Does site manage duplicate content issues well?DUPLICATEAd

Do those respected on social networks share your content?

REPUTATIONSr

Do many share your content on social networks?

SHARESSs

Social

Are links from trusted, quality or respected web sites?

QUALITYLq

Do links pointing at pages use words you hope they'll be found for?TEXTLt

Do many links point at your web pages?

NUMBERLn

Have you purchased links in hopes of better rankings?

PAIDVp

Have you created links by spamming blogs, forums or other places?SPAMVl

Links

What country is someone located in?COUNTRYPc

What city or local area is someone located in?LOCALITYPl

Has someone regularly visited your site?

HISTORYPh

Personal

Do links, shares & other factors make pages trusted authorities?

AUTHORITYTa

Trust

Has site or its domain been around a long time, operating in same way?

HISTORYTh

Is content ad-heavy? Do you make use of intrusive interstitials?

ADSVa

Do visitors spend time reading or "bounce" away quickly?ENGAGETe

Has site been flagged for hosting pirated content?PIRACYVd

All factors on the table are important, but those marked 3 carry more weight than 1 or 2. No single factor guarantees top rankings or success, but having several favorable ones increases the odds. Negative “violation” factors shown in red harm your chances.

Factors Work Together +3

+2

+1

-1

-2

-3

Off Page SEO relates to the tactics to get people to link to you. Part of Google’s algorithm includes how many people link back to you, how often and if they have any clout or not.

LinkbuildingThe heart of google algorithm.Google original algorithm is like citation analysis.Not all links are created equal.

OFF PAGE SEO

OFF PAGE SEO = LINKBUILDING + SOCIAL SIGNALS

§ Links: Inbound and Outbound; Not reciprocal

§ Relevancy: links form the sites that deal with a relevant topic

§ Authority

§ Trust, authority of the domain. Proxy: Moz Domain Authority (MozBar)

§ Combination of Homepage and Deep links

§ New: new and unique domains are the most important

§ Links

§ “natural” editorial links (because of great content)

§ “manual” outreach link building.

LINKS: 101

§ Blogs

§ Content that inspires viral sharing

§ Guest writing

§ Link baiting: tools, calculator, infographics, white papers, awards, competition, widgets

§ Syndication of different content

§ Get your customers to link to you

§ Content that inspires viral sharing

§ PR. Turn your mentions into backlinks.

§ Forum participation

§ Buying links

LINKBUILDING TECHNIQUES

FREE TOOLS TO SHOW OFF: MozBar

FREE TOOLS TO SHOW OFF: SimilarWeb

CONTENT

Consumers Keywords focusedObjective: organic traffic

Publishers Link baitObjectives: links

1. Organic traffic2. Content

§ New posts§ Total traffic

3. Links:§ Total§ From PR§ From .edu or .gov§ Domain Authority 40+§ New links

OBJECTIVES FOR SEO BY VR

SEO + PPC WORKING TOGETHER

§ Paid search rankings and results are virtually instant, while a good organic search strategy will help a site rank higher over a longer period of time (it can take 3-6 months to make it onto the first page of Google).

§ By using paid search, you can also explore new keywords and vet them for inclusion in your organic strategy by seeing how they interact with your website, and the results of that interaction.

§ This allows you to concentrate your organic search in the most effective places, and where you stand a chance of receiving a high page rank.

§ Conversely, organic keywords that generate good user interactions or conversion rates, but not enough traffic, may warrant being added to your paid search campaigns.

PAID + ORGANIC = THE BEST STRATEGY

NOT MECE, BRING SHORT AND LONG TERM BENEFITS

SEARCH § Text§ Intent-focused§ Pull§ Sales

SOCIAL, VIDEO, DISPLAY§ Visual and story§Discovery-focused§ Push§Awareness

SEARCH = INTENT = PULL

CONTENT

THANK YOU!