Search Engine Marketing & Optimization

Movin’ On Up! How to get better rankings and drive traffic to your Web site.

Stefanie Moore

First Things FirstTo effectively drive traffic you must ask:1. Who is your target audience?2. What do you want them to do on your Web

site?3. How will you get a return on your investment?4. What is your available budget?

Source: American Marketing Association

Search Engine Facts• 84% of online Americans used search

engines (107 million) – a Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2004.

• 75% of Internet users visit search engines each month – Online Publishers Association and Nielsen/NetRatings, 2004.

• Search engines on top (41%) compared to other processes when consumers were asked how they find product Web sites – DoubleClick study, 2003.

Web is First Source

“Admissions officials know their Web sites are the first point of contact for prospective students. It has changed from the Internet being a supplement to the Internet to being the first source.”

– Judy Hingle, director, professional development, National Association for

College Admission Counseling

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

• Form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote Web sites by increasing their visibility in the search engine results.

• SEM is the practice of buying paid search listings, different from SEO which seeks to obtain better free search listings.

• SEM methods include: search engine optimization, paid placement and paid inclusion.

Source: Wikipedia

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• Improves ranking of a Web site in “natural,” “organic” or "algorithmic” search results

• Increases site traffic• Assists in “converting” unique visitors to

customers • Considers how people search and how

search engines index

SEO Impacts Organic Results

SEO Tactics • Get your keywords onto your pages:

– Meta data behind the scenes

• Title tags

• Description tags

• Keyword tags

– Visible Content

• Build relevant links and link popularity

SEO Tips - Choosing the Best Keywords

Pace Yourself

Tips on Choosing Keywords• Think through business goals &

objectives.• Think through brand names.• Watch the broad search terms.• Be careful with narrow search terms.• Check Google competing pages.• Watch the quotation marks.

Tips on Choosing Keywords (continued)

• The singular vs. plural debate.• Don’t get excited about misspellings.• Give low numbers a shot.• Learn how to form search terms.• Know how people search.

• Two-word phrases (32.58%) • Three-word phrases (25.61%)

2004 report by OneStat, an expert in Web analytics

Tips on Choosing Keywords (continued)

• Be careful when mining keywords from competitors’ Web sites.

• Don’t use competitors’ corporate names or brands.

• Ask people – all kinds.• Dust off your thesaurus (or go online).• Analyze log files.

Search Engine Optimization – What You Can Do

• Register your site.– Ex. http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html

• Keep keywords and meta tags current.– Spread keywords throughout content; revise text

as necessary.

• Charge someone with monitoring and updating keyword referrals, and search engine referrals and placement.

SEO No No’s

Avoid Bad Techniques

Search Engine Optimization Don’ts

• Don't use frames in the page design

• Avoid long URLs and “=” and “?”

• Don’t duplicate copy

Description Overload

• Avoid long meta descriptions.

• Laundry list of keywords may not match content.

Overdone Visible Text

Massive keyword repetition in a small space may annoy Web site visitors. Looks blatant.

Too Many Links

• Yes, links in content are useful.

• Too many may be viewed as spam.

Text in Unusual Places

• Avoid all forms of hidden text.

• Make font colors and sizes match design.

• Excessive keywords offer no value.

An SEO Case Study

www.kent.edu

Content Modifications

Meta Data in Source Code

Let’s Test It!

Search for “Ohio universities” in Google

Search for “top universities” in Google

www.google.com

Search for “physics degrees” in Yahoo

Search for “computer technology classes”

www.yahoo.com

KSU SEO May 2007 Ranking Highlights

KSU SEO Traffic Highlights

KSU SEO Search Engine Traffic Highlights

Other SEO Case Studies

• http://www.littletikes.com

• http://www.clevelandclinic.com

• http://customcritical.fedex.com

• http://completetocompete.info

An SEM Case Study

www.kent.edu

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

• Also known as paid search.

• Pay only when users actually click on an ad.

• Supplements search engine optimization; offers critical and timely traffic.

Sponsored link – means we’re paying for this term.

Sponsored link – means we’re paying for this term.

PPC Summary• Kent State ads were seen 344,934 times.• Searchers clicked a Kent State ad and

visited the landing page 11,633 times.• Total cost for the clicks was $3,657.72.• From the landing page, visitors clicked to

the 'Get More Info' page 1,370 times.• Google Analytics showed there were 1,149

signups for campus tours during the campaign timeframe.

7 Habits of SEO-CentricWeb Design

Dino Baskovic

1. XML Sitemaps. Make your own. Submit them to search engines. Submit often.

2. Friendly URLs. Ones people can actually read. And search engines love.

/index.aspx?cat=9&id=6

/news/xyzcorp-growth//news/xyzcorp-growth/

3. Simple design. Less is more. As in, clean up your code. And ease up on the widgets.

4. Metrics. Pay attention to them. Salt to taste. But don’t obsess.

5. Social media. Put on your Facebook. Get a Second Life. Can you Digg it?

6. Education. Read. Evaluate. Talk to others. SEO is not a magic bullet. But it can work.

7. Professional help. Skip the snake oil. Seek out proven SEO partners. Treat them well.

“7 Habits”

1. XML sitemaps

2. Friendly URLs

3. Simple design

4. Metrics

5. Social media

6. Education

7. Professional help

Traffic and SEO Resources• American Marketing Association

– http://www.marketingpower.com

• Fathom SEO– http://www.fathomseo.com– http://fathomseo.blogspot.com

• WordTracker – www.wordtracker.com

• Know your link popularity– www.checkyourlinkpopularity.com

• Free Search Engine Marketing Tools – www.marketleap.com

Questions?

E-mail:

smoore1@kent.edu

dino@vincena.com