1. A Managers Guide to Search Engine Optimization Part 1 How important is it?

2. 2 How important is Search Engine Optimization? 3. 3 Key Points: Business buyers as well as consumers search online when looking for products and services 85% of those buyers find what they want via search engines If they cant find you, they will find a competitor Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Paid Search (ads) are the two main tools to ensure you are found You should understand the basics of how search engines prioritize search results Then you can decide what to do about it do nothing, do it yourself or hire someone to help 4. 4 1. Why is Search Engine Optimization important?1. Why is Search Engine Optimization important? 5. 5 Why is Search Engine Optimization important? Because buyers are doing more a lot more research before contacting vendor sales teams Source: 2011 Inside the Mind of the B2B Buyer Survey, DemandGenReport Source: 2011 Inside the Mind of the B2B Buyer Survey, DemandGenReport 6. 6 Why is Search Engine Optimization important? Because customers will find you before you find them In a survey of Business to Business (B2B) buyers in the US, 80% of decision makers said they found the vendor, not the other way round. Source: MarketingSherpa B2B Technology Marketing Benchmark Survey 2008 In a survey of Business to Business (B2B) buyers in the US, 80% of decision makers said they found the vendor, not the other way round. Source: MarketingSherpa B2B Technology Marketing Benchmark Survey 2008 7. 7 Why is Search Engine Optimization important? Because your website is the top source of leads outside of personal connections Source: DemandBase and Focus.com 2011 Survey of B2B IT and marketing professionals Source: DemandBase and Focus.com 2011 Survey of B2B IT and marketing professionals 8. 8 Why is Search Engine Optimization important? Sources of information used by US engineers for a specific recent purchase Source: MarketingSherpa B2B Technology Marketing Benchmark Survey 2008 Sources of information used by US engineers for a specific recent purchase Source: MarketingSherpa B2B Technology Marketing Benchmark Survey 2008 Because engineers and technologists use search when researching and negotiating with suppliers for a specific current purchase 9. 9 Because when people do search, they usually dont look past the first results on page 1 Most people (64%) click on the first 3 results on Google page 1 42% to the first result 12% to the second 9% to the third Less than 10% click on pages beyond page 1 Source: SEOBook and SEOMoz Most people (64%) click on the first 3 results on Google page 1 42% to the first result 12% to the second 9% to the third Less than 10% click on pages beyond page 1 Source: SEOBook and SEOMoz Why is Search Engine Optimization important? 10. 10 Because most people (75%) click on the natural search results rather than paid ads 25% of clicks go to the paid advertising results you see at the top and right- hand side of Google and Bing search pages 25% of clicks go to the paid advertising results you see at the top and right- hand side of Google and Bing search pages 75% of clicks go to the natural or organic search results you see at the left hand side of the search results pages 75% of clicks go to the natural or organic search results you see at the left hand side of the search results pages Why is Search Engine Optimization important? 11. 11 Conclusions 2. This is true for business-to-business (B2B) technology companies as well as business-to-consumer (B2C) companies 2. This is true for business-to-business (B2B) technology companies as well as business-to-consumer (B2C) companies 1. Your potential customers are probably looking for your product or service online 1. Your potential customers are probably looking for your product or service online 3. If you do not appear on Page 1 of the results for relevant search terms then you are effectively invisible for those terms 3. If you do not appear on Page 1 of the results for relevant search terms then you are effectively invisible for those terms 4. If you could take steps to get onto the Page 1 results for relevant results it would increase traffic to your site, which should increase your lead generation and sales 4. If you could take steps to get onto the Page 1 results for relevant results it would increase traffic to your site, which should increase your lead generation and sales 5. Improving your natural search results will have most effect because 75% of people click on those results, not paid ads 5. Improving your natural search results will have most effect because 75% of people click on those results, not paid ads Why is Search Engine Optimization important? 12. 12 2. How does search work?2. How does search work? 13. 13 How does online search work? If people are searching for your type of products or services online then you need to understand: 1. How search engines try to respond to search queries1. How search engines try to respond to search queries 2. How humans search for things online2. How humans search for things online 14. 14 Users choose the search engine they think will get them the answers they want in the least amount of time Search engines compete with each other to return the best (i.e. most relevant) search results Over the years less successful search engines have lost share Where is .? How does online search work? 15. 15 Most people use Google to search Source: Comscore June 2011 How does online search work? 16. 16 How do search engines decide what to show? Content on a pageContent on a page Links to that page from other pages Links to that page from other pages Social media indicators about that page Social media indicators about that page The main elements Search Engines use to determine which page to show 17. 17 Search engines are trying to get the closest match between a persons question (their search query) and a page on the web they want to return the most relevant page They regularly crawl and index billions of web pages to ensure they know all the pages that might be needed to answer a question When a user searches for something, the search engines decide which page is the best answer to that search query as follows: 1.They try to understand the purpose of your question your searchers intent 2.Based on that understanding, they look for content on the pages they have indexed that might answer your query i.e. an analysis of the words, images and themes of the page 3.They also look at the number and quality of other pages that link to those pages (each link can be thought of as a vote for that page; if a page has more links it generally means it is a more relevant page) 4.They also look at Social media indicators of relevance e.g. if there are lots of tweets or likes for a page this too is a vote for it being relevant How do search engines decide what to show? 18. 18 There are other elements too. These are known as ranking factors. They differ for different search engines and can increase and decrease in importance over time SEOMoz (www.seomoz.org) publishes a table listing what it thinks are the most important ranking factors, shown below How do search engines decide what to show? 19. 19 How do people search? The way people search is not as predictable as you might think For example, every day about 20% of queries are completely unique terms that have never been searched before You can categorise the purpose of searches (generally) as: Informational I want to learn or research somethingInformational I want to learn or research something Navigational I want to find a particular place on the webNavigational I want to find a particular place on the web Transactional I want to purchase or download somethingTransactional I want to purchase or download something Source: Eric Enge et al, The Art of SEO 20. 20 You can categorise some common ways of searching as: The actual question or a shortened version of itThe actual question or a shortened version of it Source: Brad Geddes, Advanced Google Adwords The answer to the questionThe answer to the question A description of the problemA description of the problem A symptom of the problemA symptom of the problem A description of the causeA description of the cause Product parts or brand namesProduct parts or brand names How do people search? 21. 21 How do people search? The Long Tail Source: SEOMoz.org The most popular keywords account for 18.5 % of search traffic They are the most competitive terms it is usually hard to get a new web page onto the top of page 1 for these terms However, over 70% of searches are for less common terms these are the long tail keyword phrases Usually these terms are 3 words or longer and are more specific e.g. 1996 green 3 series bmw rather than bmw Targeting these long tail keywords is a good way to get more traffic to your site 22. 22 How do people search? Keyword Analysis You dont have to guess what keywords people use Googles free keyword tool lets you enter words and phrases to see the local and global volume of searches for those phrases. It also suggests other keyword phrases that may be relevant There are many other tools you can use to analyse keywords Looking at which keywords might be useful for your business is known as Keyword analysis and well discuss it in Part 2 of this guide 23. 23 How do people search? Search route 1 Search route 2 Search route N People take different routes when searching for your kinds of products and services You need to understand which kinds of searches are best at bringing your desired buyers to you online You should analyze each major search route into your site so that you can increase that traffic 24. 24 What is Search Engine Optimization? Search Engine Optimization is the process you use to appear higher in the search engine results pages for searches relevant to your business It is based on first understanding how people search for terms related to your business - keyword analysis You then use that understanding to update your website, interact with social media and seek links so you can push your business higher up on the search results Website settingsWebsite settings Links (incoming, outgoing and internal) Links (incoming, outgoing and internal) Social mediaSocial media Content on your pages Content on your pages Keyword AnalysisKeyword Analysis 25. 25 Why is Search Engine Optimization important? Conclusions 2. If you understand how search works you will understand how to get found more easily 2. If you understand how search works you will understand how to get found more easily 1. Online search traffic is important for any business1. Online search traffic is important for any business 3. You can take steps to get pages on your website onto page 1 of the search results for particular searches this is search engine optimization 3. You can take steps to get pages on your website onto page 1 of the search results for particular searches this is search engine optimization 4. You can decide to (a) do nothing, (b) do it yourself or (c) get help4. You can decide to (a) do nothing, (b) do it yourself or (c) get help 26. 26 Search Engine Optimization is important. Decide what your business will do about it. 27. 27 Good resources Links Google Keyword Tool https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal Google guide to SEO http://goo.gl/opukk Bruce Clay www.bruceclay.com SeoMOZ www.seomoz.org Wordtracker - http://www.wordtracker.com/ PRChecker checking page rank - http://www.prchecker.info/ MajesticSEO www.majesticseo.com SeoBook www.seobook.com SearchEngineLand www.searchengineland.com Neil Patels blog QuickSprout (www.quicksprout.com) has pretty good info on search traffic Here are some suggested resources (we plan to add to this list) Books The Art of SEO, Eric Enge et Al Search Engine Optimization for Dummies, Bruce Clay and Susan Esparza 28. 28 About Motarme 29. Motarme is an easy-to-use enterprise Marketing Automation system. Motarme is specifically designed to help business-to-business (B2B) companies in the technology, software and industrial sectors generate sales leads online. In addition to our web-based Marketing Automation product we provide consulting, web marketing and lead generation services. Our customers include Siemens, Mergon, SF Engineering and mid-size and early stage technology companies. Web: www.Motarme.com. 30. Clients We have seen for ourselves how a solid strategy has helped to drive traffic to our site and generate sales leads. We have seen for ourselves how a solid strategy has helped to drive traffic to our site and generate sales leads. Caolan Bushell Business Development Manager Mergon Group Barry Rooney Chief Operations Officer Siemens ITSS The system delivered real, measurable results in a short timeframe sales and contacts from our target audience at Tier 1 companies. The system delivered real, measurable results in a short timeframe sales and contacts from our target audience at Tier 1 companies. Joe Lynch General Manager IMEC Technologies Generating leads online is now a central part of our sales strategy. Generating leads online is now a central part of our sales strategy. About Motarme 31. Thank You Automated Marketing That Drives Sales michael.white@motarme.com @michaelgwhite www.motarme.com