Quick and dirty introduction to SEO & PPC

Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

A quick & dirty introduction to SEO and PPC Barry Adams Pierce Communications



Barry Adams

• Digital Services Director at Pierce Communications

• Built my first website in 1995, started my career in all things online in 1997

• Dutch (yes, really)

• Previous employers include; Philips Electronics

Honeywell

Quotezone

Independent News & Media (Belfast Telegraph)

• Editor for StateofSearch.com

• Guest lecturer for University of Ulster, Digital Marketing Institute


SEO: Search Engine Optimisation


Definition of SEO:

Wikipedia: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.

Getting more relevant traffic to websites via search engines' organic results.

Search Engine Optimisation


Search Engine Results Page (SERP)


Organic (natural) results


Advertising (PPC – Google AdWords)


Why is SEO important?

Search Engine Usage

89% of all online purchases in the UK begin with a search

92% of all UK Internet users choose Google as their preferred search engine

Organic search results receive over 75% of all clicks

91% of users do not look past the first page of search results

Worldwide Internet Usage

Over 2 billion users online

150 billion searches a month (that’s more than 56,000 searches/second)

51.4 milion users (82.5% of the population)

In April 2010, Google received 4.1 billion search page views in the UK

The UK internet economy is worth £121 billion = 8.3% of UK gross domestic product

UK Internet Usage


UK Search Engine Market Shares

Google Bing Yahoo! AOL Ask Other

SE Market Share

Google 92 %

Bing 4 %

Yahoo! 2 %

AOL 0.5%

Ask 0.5%

Other 1 %


Clickthrough rates (CTR) on search engine results:


SEO is about two things:

Relevance Authority


Relevance & Authority:

Keywords Links

Keywords match a search query to a webpage.

Links determine which webpage ranks highest.


The SEO process:

Keyword Research

On-Page Optimisation

Linkbuilding

Find the right keywords to optimise for

Implement those keywords on the website Make the website search-engine friendly

Build links to the website to increase its authority


The Long Tail of search words

Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/illustrating-the-long-tail

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/illustrating-the-long-tail








Google Adwords Keyword Tool – http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal


Google Insights for Search – http://www.google.com/insights/search/

http://www.google.com/insights/search/


Google Suggest



Title tags

Meta Description tags

Headlines and paragraph structure

Body text

Image alt attributes

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+

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+

+

URLs

Internal links

Sitemap (HTML and XML)

+

+

+

Elements to be optimised:



<title>Pierce Communications - Design,

Marketing, Digital, Print</title>

• Put your focus keywords in your title, and include your brand name (use separators like hyphens – and pipes | )

• Keep it short – 65-70 characters

• Unique title for every page on your website

Title tag +



<H1> headline

<H2> subheader

<H3> subheaders

<p> paragraphs

• Allows SEs to understand the content and its context

Headlines and paragraph structure +



• Write for users, not for search engines

• More content = better for search engines

• Less content = better for users

• Minimum 200 words (rough guideline)

• Include your focus keyword(s) and synonyms

• Write naturally and make it readable

• Don’t stuff it full of keywords

Body text +

Find the right balance



• Make images relevant to the content

• Include a relevant alt attribute – preferably containing (part of) the focus keyword

• Can you think of a better alt attribute than the one above?

Image alt attribute

<img

src="http://digitalmarketinginstitute.i

e/files/2008/11/ireland-map.jpg"

alt="Ireland Map with pins">

+



• Bad URL: http://domain.com/default.aspx?p=43351&s=abx&ref=ps-2301-g&…

• Good URL: http:// domain.com/wedding-rings/platinum-wedding-band.html

• Don’t overdo it – no keyword stuffing

• Use a logical structure that makes sense to humans

URLs +



• Link from top to bottom

• Link sideways & diagonally

• Use keywords in the link Wrong: To read more about wedding rings, click here. Right: Read more about wedding rings.

• Use breadcrumb links:

Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/diagrams-for-solving-crawl-priority-indexation-issues

Internal links +

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/diagrams-for-solving-crawl-priority-indexation-issues















Sitemap (HTML and XML)

• HTML Sitemap:

Webpage listing all (relevant) pages on the website

Allows users to quickly find the page they’re looking for

Allows search engines to index all pages on your website

• XML Sitemap:

XML file containing all webpages on a website that you want to get indexed

Can also include images and videos

Gives more information to search engines: update frequency, importance, preferred URL, date of last change.

Never a replacement for a good indexable website!

+


Google Webmaster Tools


Linkbuilding

• Links determine a page’s authority

• Higher authority = higher ranking on SERPs

• More links = higher authority

• Not all links are equal;

1 valuable link from a high authority website > 100 links from low-quality sites

• Link text is very important;

Branded link: Pierce Communications

Keyword-rich link: Web Design Belfast


Linkbuilding

• Reciprocal links

Site A links to site B, and site B links back to site A

Not very valuable – avoid if you can

• Link wheel

Site A links to site B, site B links to site C, site C links to site A

Not very valuable and a spam signal – avoid if you can

• One-way link

Site A links to site B. The end.

Most valuable type of link – get lots of these!

Different types of links:


How to build links?

Directory Submissions

Press Releases

Guest Blogging

Linkbait

1

2

3

4


How to build links?

• Online (business) directories such as:

Yelp

Qype

Lookaly

Business.com

• The best directories are usually paid

• Always check if a directory link is valuable

What is the PageRank of where your link will end up?

Is that page/category even indexed by Google?

Is the link nofollowed?

• Usually good for building a base of branded links

• Try to find vertical directories relevant to your industry

Directory Submissions 1


How to build links?

• Great way to build valuable links

• Make sure your press release…:

Is newsworthy, relevant, and interesting enough to be worth reading

Contains a link back to your site (preferably with a keyword-rich link text)

• Use professional PR distributors

PR Web: £40 to £200 per press release

PR Newswire UK: pricing per article

BusinessWire: pricing per article

MyNewsDesk: £0 to £590 per month

• No guarantee it will be picked up by news outlets

But generally more money spent translates to more & better links

Press Releases 2


How to build links?

• Find relevant blogs & news sites

• Approach them and offer to write engaging, interesting, and relevant articles / blog posts

• Include a link in your article to your site

• Guest blogging:

www.myblogguest.com

www.bloggerlinkup.com

(Guest) Blogging 3


How to build links?

• Linkbait is:

Content (published on your website) that is so interesting / funny / newsworthy / controversial that people will link to it without having to be asked

• Types of linkbait:

Great articles with valuable insights

Infographics

Breaking news stories

Top 10 lists

• Spread via social media

Share on Twitter & Facebook

Submit to social news sites such as Reddit

Linkbait 4


Want to learn more about SEO?

• Training (Digital Marketing Institute)

• Read SEO books;

The Art of SEO

• Read SEO blogs;

Search Engine Land

SEOmoz

State of Search

• Start doing it

• Hire a professional


PPC: Pay Per Click Advertising


Wikipedia: Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the hosting service when the ad is clicked.

Advertising on search results pages to get more relevant traffic to your website.

Pay Per Click

Definition of PPC


Why is PPC important?

Search Engine Usage

89% of all online purchases in the UK begin with a search

92% of all UK Internet users choose Google as their preferred search engine

PPC adverts receive over 25% of all clicks

91% of users do not look past the first page of search results

Worldwide Internet Usage

Over 2 billion users online

150 billion searches a month (that’s more than 56,000 searches/second)

51.4 milion users (82.5% of the population)

In April 2010, Google received 4.1 billion search page views in the UK

The UK internet economy is worth £121 billion = 8.3% of UK gross domestic product

UK Internet Usage


Search Engine Results Page (SERP)


Organic (natural) results


Advertising (PPC – Google AdWords)


Google Revenue Sources

Google’s revenue comes from:

AdWords 99%

Other 1%


Corporate Spend: PPC versus SEO

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

PPC SEO

Spend (£m)

2010 UK Search Marketing spend

PPC £2335m

SEO £436m

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Paid Organic

Clicks


So why so much emphasis on PPC?

SEO Results Google’s black box

PPC Results

PPC is the most accountable of all online marketing disciplines. Every penny spent can be tracked and its ROI calculated.


Conversion Rate

Conversion is calculated with a user clicks on your advert and completes a pre-defined goal i.e. buy a product or sign up to your newsletter. Conversion rate is measured as the percentage of clicks that led to conversions.

Clicks & Click Through Rate (CTR)

A click (sometimes called a clickthrough) occurs when a user sees and clicks on your ad, leading them to your website. Clickthough-rate is measure as the percentage of impressions that resulted in a click.

The "Impr" located on your reporting statistics refers to the number of "impressions" for your ad. The number of impressions is the number of times an ad is displayed.

Impressions

More terminology can be found in the Google AdWords Glossary: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=15464

Key PPC Terminology

http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=15464

http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=15464


Define what is to be achieved, set goals and key perfomance indicators

Get Campaigns created - do we do this in house? Monitor and control

What is the best channel to use, based on our objectives?

What creative is required?

What needs done to manage PPC ongoing

Objectives Channel Set up Manage Monitor

Before you begin…


PPC on Google Search (i.e. AdWords) is about three things:

Keywords

Ads

Find the right keywords to advertise on.

Create the right ad to get users to click on.

Landing Pages

Build a landing page that converts those clicks in to customers.

Make sure your keywords, ad text, and landing page all match up. Understand the expectations of users who type in a certain query, and match & exceed those expectations in your ad text and your landing page. Don’t disappoint your users or the click will go to waste.


Keyword Research

Start with matching your goal to user intent

What are you trying to make your website visitors do?

What keywords would these visitors type in Google?

Understand the three types of search query:

1. Informational – learning stuff

2. Navigational – finding stuff

3. Transactional – buying stuff

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/segmenting-search-intent







Google Adwords Keyword Tool – http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal


Google AdWords Keyword Tool

Advanced options: country & language settings


Google Adwords Keyword Tool

Match Types: Broad / [Exact] / “Phrase”


Match Types: Broad / Phrase / Exact

Example keyword: red shoes

Broad Match

- Google will display your advert if your keyword is used in any query string

- e.g. Query String match – ‘red dress and black shoes’

Phrase Match

- Google will display your advert if your keywords are used in sequence within any query string

- e.g. Query String match – ‘buying red shoes online’

Exact Match

- Google will display your advert if only your exact keyword is used in any query string

- e.g. Query String match – ‘red shoes’

Note: Google is Case Insensitive: red shoes = Red Shoes = rEd sHoEs


Select the right match type

• To start, stick with [exact] – easiest to work with

• If you’re confident, go to “phrase” – but keep an eye on which keywords are actually used

• When using “phrase” matching, be sure to refine your targeting with negative keywords

A negative keyword is a word that, when it is part of the query, your ad will NOT show up on.

Ex: “red shoes” is your keyword, and you have set ‘cheap’ as a negative keyword. Your ad will show: red shoes sale Your ad will NOT show: cheap red shoes sale

• Broad match is best avoided, unless you’re VERY confident and have a good handle on your negative keywords


Google Insights for Search – http://www.google.com/insights/search/

http://www.google.com/insights/search/


Google Suggest

Note: with Google Instant, when your ad is shown for 3 seconds it counts as an impression


The Long Tail


Create your first Adwords Campaign

• Campaign Name

• Locations and Languages

• Networks and Devices

• Bidding and Budget

• Ad Extensions

• Advanced Settings

Scheduling

Ad Delivery

Demographical Bidding


Locations

Accurate on country level, less so on regional level.


Languages

Default to English


Networks and Devices


Bidding and Budget


Scheduling


Creating Ad Groups

• An ad group is a set of keywords connected to one or more ads.

• In theory you can have dozens of keywords in a single ad group

• In practice, you’ll want to keep your ad groups small and focused

Keywords Ads Landing Pages


Select keywords for the ad group

• Keep your keywords focused per ad group:

Good ad group: hairbrush hair brush hair brushes hairbrushes pro hair brush best hair brush

Bad ad group: hairbrush bristle brush paddle brushes styling brush hair styling combs

• Too much keyword variation in one ad group makes it hard to match your keywords to your ads and your landing page


Creating your first ad

Headline: 25 characters

Description lines: 35 characters each

Display URL: 35 characters

Destination URL: 1024 characters

This is how it will look:


Creating good ads

• Include the keyword in your ad at least once

In the headline or ad text, also in the display URL

• If you have a good price point or special offer, mention it

But be sure to adhere to Google’s guidelines

• Proper spelling, grammar & punctuation

Make a good first impression

• Use what you’re given, don’t be shy

Ex: your Display URL is also an opportunity, e.g. www.yoursite.com/Keyword-Here


Keyword Insertion

• With keyword insertion you can include the user’s search query in your ad exactly how the user typed it

• As such only useful for ad groups using phrase and broad match keywords

• Syntax:

{keyword: Default Keyword}

{keyword:} will make the text lowercase

{Keyword:} Capitalises the first word

{KeyWord:} Will Capitalise All Words

• If the inserted keyword would break the ad limitations, the default keyword is used

• Best used in the headline


Ad testing

• Have at least two different ads running in every ad group

• Test, test, test, and then test some more

• Use the best performing ad as the basis for a new round of tests

• Never get complacent, always keep trying new things


Budgeting

• Default bid: how much you are willing to spend per click

Set on the ad group level

A maximum CPC bid can also be set per individual keyword

Influences how high on the SERP your ad will show

• Daily budget: how much you are willing to spend per day

Set on the campaign level

When your daily budget is used, your ads will stop showing

• Automatic bidding (based on your daily budget)

Let Google do the work for you to optimise clicks/conversions

Not particularly efficient (yet)


Quality Score

• Your keyword’s quality score (1-10) influences how much you need to pay to get a high positioning

• Quality Score is determined by the following factors:

Your account’s historical CTR

How well your keyword matches your ad and landing page

• You can influence your CTR on a fresh account by setting a very high max CPC bid for a short while

• After that it’s a matter of…:

Keywords Ads Landing Pages


Landing Pages

Don’t send AdWords clicks to your site’s homepage!

Find the most relevant page on your site

Set that as the destination URL

If you don’t have a relevant page – build it

Be sure your target keyword is included on your landing page

Include a strong call to action

If your ad mentions offers/discounts, also mention them on the landing page


Monitor and Improve


Monitor and Improve

With a new campaign, monitor daily

Are my ads on the first page?

Is my CPC set correctly?

Have my ads been disallowed?

What is my Quality Score and how can I improve it?

Should I include negative keywords?

Is my targeting accurately finding my audience?

Don’t make rash decisions

More time = more data = more informed decisions

Never less than weekly monitoring

Surprises can always pop up


Monitoring beyond AdWords

Use your site’s web analytics to find out which keywords convert the best & focus your Adwords on these

Don’t cannibalise your organic rankings


Top PPC Tips

The AdWords Help Centre is a very good resource: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/

Never lose sight of your goals

– If there is no ROI, don’t spend money on Adwords

Remember that PPC supplements SEO

– AdWords does not replace SEO

Don’t get complacent

– Never stop testing

– Try new keywords

– Expand in to other channels

– If something doesn’t work, try to find out why

http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/


Top PPC Tips

Make proper use of keyword match types

Use negative keywords to prevent ad spend on irrelevant keywords

Make sure your landing pages are relevant to the keyword and match the expectation set by your ad text

Match your AdWords campaigns to your offline marketing activities

If the ROI is there, increase your spend

Separate campaigns for Search & Display ads

– Also separate campaigns for Search & Google’s Network


What’s Next?

Start your first AdWords campaign: https://adwords.google.com/select/StartNewAccount

https://adwords.google.com/select/StartNewAccount


What’s Next?

Experiment with Ad Extensions:

Get Google Adwords Certified http://www.google.com/adwords/professionals/

http://www.google.com/adwords/professionals/

Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012 Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Questions? [email protected] http://twitter.com/badams http://www.piercecommunications.co.uk

Quick and dirty introduction to SEO & PPC

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