enewton@brightedge.com

M Posted 9 years 6 months ago

t 9 min read

SEO optimization and search engine marketing are two terms that both fall under the heading of search marketing. They are two branches of the same tree in that they each work to engage users online and entice them to visit particular websites. SEM, however, focuses on paid advertising efforts and SEO optimization is organic.

Since there is considerable overlap in the goals between these two parts of search marketing, the two methods should be used to amplify each other. When used properly, they can each help to maximize the visibility they provide for the brand.

An estimated 85 percent of retailers say that search marketing, including both SEO and SEM, is the most efficient customer acquisition tactic. Many brands are noticing the value and importance of using these online methods to engage with users. Overall search spend has increased by 9 percent year over year, and about 50 percent of B2B and B2C brands plan to increase their budget for content marketing in the coming year.

The increased saturation in the online world means that for brands to compete, they need to find ways to maximize their usage of these strategies together. They want to leverage them together to see the true power of search marketing.

Recent SERP changes

It is important to take note of the recent changes Google has made to the SERP. A few months ago, marketers discovered that Google had eliminated the ads that once appeared along the right-hand side of the SERP. At the same time, they increased the number of ads above the organic results. Some queries now show as many as 4 ads before the start of the organic results, which then pushes the organic listings further down, in some cases nearly below the fold.

These changes mean that the top positions on organic are even more important, since they have the best chance of appearing above the fold. It also means that ads should be viewed as an even more essential part of an effective search marketing strategy. They provide an additional means of gaining attention on important queries.

How SEM and SEO optimization work together

Brands that leverage these two together have potential to drastically impact their brand growth.

The relationship between search engine marketing and SEO optimization has been a topic of considerable conversation over the years. Brands have wondered how having a paid ad and an organic listing for the same query impacted their results. Interestingly, Google decided to study this phenomenon and found that getting rid of paid ads would result in an 89 percent drop in clicks.

In other words, Google found that having an organic listing and a paid advertisement for the same query would help make the brand more visible and increase the chances of someone clicking on their organic listing. The impact is even more dramatic for brands that had organic results further down the list, but having organic ads even helps brands that have sites listed in the top organic positions. Brands can use this information to build a search marketing strategy that makes their site more visible for users.

How to succeed with SEO optimization and SEM

To properly leverage SEO optimization and search engine marketing together, brands need to develop a cross-channel marketing approach. Those who work with paid search and those who focus on SEO and content production must be able to work together to form a coherent web marketing strategy that builds up both sectors. As already explored, when they are able to work together, they can increase their overall success rate.

Step 1. Buyer personas and keyword research

Brands should begin by making sure that they have a thorough understanding of their key target personas. This includes their audience’s pain points, motivations, budgets, and position within their organization. The more information you have about your buyer personas, the easier it will be to appropriately target them and create web marketing content and advertisements that address their needs and engage them.

Follow up the outline of the buyer personas with keyword research. Use platforms, like the BrightEdge Data Cube, to begin developing a list of keywords that will interest your audience. Look at competition and search rates to get a better idea of how popular a particular keyword is and how hard it will be to get a strong ranking for it. Look at the top ten ranking pages for the keyword and see how well those pages fit with your intended audience. When you do find a good fit, seek ways that you can improve upon what is already created so that you can outrank the competition.

Step 2. Optimize your content for the keywords

Once you have your list of keywords that you want to target for your PPC and SEO common project, you then need to ensure that your target content is SEO optimized and prepared. When optimizing your content, make sure that you include the keyword naturally a few times in your content, but do not keyword stuff. Use some semantically related keywords throughout the content as well to show your depth on the subject. Develop a title, headings, a meta description, and alt tags that similarly include the main keyword naturally. Link your content to related pages within your website to demonstrate that this is a topic you are familiar with and that you have explored multiple times on your website.

Step 3. Create ads that add value for the user

Most marketers now understand that the goal of SEO optimization is not to keyword stuff the content or develop thin material that serves little purpose besides checking off a keyword list. Instead, brands aim to create material that adds value for the user. You should do the same with your search engine marketing. If you are creating ads for local searches, for example, remember that most people want to find phone numbers, addresses, or information about businesses carrying certain products. Reflect these desires in your ads the same way Google tries to answer them with the local 3-pack. Make sure your ad provides value for the user and does not just look like a piece of spam.

Step 4. Measure results

Once you have run your joint search engine marketing and SEO optimization campaign, you now need to measure your results including bounce rate. This will tell you how well your efforts performed. You want to look at a few main metrics, such as:

• Your organic content rank and if the material drew clicks when the PPC ad was placed and when it was not
• How well your PPC ad drew traffic
• The traffic from each segment and how well the visitors engaged with the site and moved through the sales funnel.

Search marketing, including both SEO optimization and search engine marketing, is a critical component of engaging with online customers and drawing them into your brand. Understanding how to use these two functions together, however, can help brands digitally mature and see greater ROI from their digital marketing efforts.

maspillera

M Posted 9 years 6 months ago

t 9 min read

You will rarely find a marketing professional who neglects the power of images, but there are many who will fail to recognize the full potential of these visual aids. Pictures are usually relegated to boosting text content. They are used to build engagement with readers or to attract more clicks on social media. Image-oriented searches on Google, however, can open an entirely new door for marketers when it comes to attracting more traffic and potential customers. Research has indicated that 63% of the clicks made on images will turn into site traffic. There are tens of millions of searches made every day that are geared towards finding visual results, such as those that focus on housing design or clothing. When you type “House Design” into Google, right below the sponsored ads will be a series of image results that immediately draw the eye and address the question for most people. Image optimization needs to be done so they can be displayed prominently in these types of searches can help direct relevant traffic towards your website.

Value of the image search

There is some debate surrounding the value of an image search. Many people making image queries are interested in ideas or the pictures themselves, they are not necessarily driven to make a purchase. There are numerous industries, however, that are built around images, such as stock photo companies or those who design site templates. Others will use images to display their skills or expertise, such as designers or photographers. It is also important to recognize that even industries that are not directly related to images can still find value in ranking well for visuals. Increasing the traffic that goes towards your website will help to boost brand awareness and recognition. The value of this might not be immediately recognizable, but can play an important role when it comes time for people to purchase services later. Providing users with quality, engaging images on your site can also increase the interested traffic to your site-- traffic with people who will stop, interact with your page and explore a little. When you increase your rates of engaged traffic, you can raise the ranking of your site. This will then help you rank higher for queries more directly related to your products and services.

Image optimization for image search

To take advantage of the value offered by high-ranking images, it is important to follow a few rules for optimization.

• Make sure the aesthetic value does not change, but that the image loads as quickly as possible. Google wants to see high-quality images, but they know that visuals that take a long time to load will not please customers.
• Use unique, relevant images. Google does not want multiple copies of the same picture, so using stock images will not result in image rankings. Use images that are clearly related to the text so that Google will be able to link it to a particular context.
• Take advantage of all the ways available to label the image. This means using the alt attributes, title tags and image names. This will make it as easy as possible for Google to understand which queries the image answers.
• Use schema markups to emphasize images. Schema ensures that the search engines recognize the image and that they will display it when opportunities for rich snippets present themselves.

Measuring the impact of images

Google Webmaster Tools will provide you with some useful monitoring systems that you can use to start tracking your progress with image optimization. Once you log into the webmaster tools, you will want to click on Search Analytics under Search Traffic. Then, on the screen that appears, go over to search type. Instead of selecting Web, click on Image.  

This will then give you insight into the types of queries and the number of clicks you are getting specifically for image-related searches. You can also adjust your data to look at the number of impressions or the positions of your website. Use these insights to monitor your progress as you do image optimization. The web is becoming more visual with each passing year. For brands to keep up, they need to make sure that the image optimization was done properly. This is essential to attract audiences searching for pictures. Following these guidelines, while tracking progress through Google, can help you see the value the images are adding to your website and the traffic they are attracting. 

maspillera

M Posted 9 years 6 months ago

t 9 min read

Customers today are channel agnostic. They interact with brands on the platforms that are the most convenient for them, and they expect you to be there to answer their needs and provide them with an outstanding experience. That is why integrated marketing becomes increasingly important. Consumers are reading emails on tablets, purchasing on desktop and using mobile while they shop in stores. Meeting the needs of today’s customers requires running integrated marketing campaigns that allow you to be present and engage customers on all of these different platforms.

Unfortunately, being integrated remains one of the biggest challenges for marketing departments. It requires bringing everyone together with common goals and strategies. While this sounds straightforward, many companies struggle to make it a reality. Only 16 percent of marketers say that their marketing technology strategies are aligned with their business strategies. Incredibly, only three percent of marketers say that they are doing very well with integrating marketing technology across the different brand functions. When marketing integration is done correctly, however, it can be very valuable. For example, running your search and social campaigns together can create a revenue increase of 68 percent per conversion. Brands interested in growing as an organization need to learn how to capitalize on integrated marketing and incorporate it into their broader strategy. Here are the important best practices that companies need to be mindful of as they move forward.

Bringing your teams together

Breaking down the silos between the different teams within your organization is the first step towards developing a successful integrated marketing campaign. For many brands, inefficiencies currently rule the marketing process. These unnecessary slowdowns cost brands an estimated $958 million per year. According to marketers themselves, approval delays is one of the major reasons why deadlines are missed, which also speaks to the lack of communication and inconsistent expectations throughout the marketing teams. Brands need to focus on bringing together their teams on every level.

Within the content development process, those responsible for strategy, writing, SEO, publication, promotion and measuring success need to be working together to create the optimal content and to get it in front of the right audience at the right time. The different teams within your marketing department, including those who work with paid content, search, social and email, also need to be able to form common goals and work towards mutually beneficial end results. For this erosion of the silos to happen, you need to focus on two main areas: education and technology. You need to educate your different teams about the strategies and goals of other groups.

Seminars, lunches that involve two or three departments and similar opportunities can encourage the exchange of ideas. Technology can also be an enormous asset. Products that allow you to plan an editorial calendar and then track everyone else’s progress can help ensure that everyone is on the same page about what needs to be done. These tools can help improve communication and efficiency, as everyone will know what to expect.

Develop common strategies

For integrated marketing to be successful, you need to bring the different teams together for consistent, common strategies. People want to see the same message across the various platforms, regardless of whether they are speaking personally with a representative or interacting with your website. An estimated 60 percent of millennials report that they expect a consistent experience whether they are in-store, online or on the phone with a particular brand. To create this type of integrated experience, you need to focus on the following areas:

• Know exactly who your brand is targeting for a particular campaign. This includes where they are interacting with the brand and how they like to shop.
• Know the channels that are the most likely to reach the targeted audience.
• Create uniform, integrated messaging that helps to encourage the predetermined behaviors across all the platforms. This means using similar language, visuals and designs to tie the campaign together.

Learn more common strategies and approached on our Best B2B Marketing Books post.

Measure success

Once you have built and executed an integrated marketing campaign, you then need to make sure you understand how to appropriately measure your success. If you used any special promotions, such as coupons or QR codes, then embed within them special tags that will let you know where the coupon was  retrieved, such as via email or through social media.

You also want to set your website to track media sources as people enter your sites. Tools, like those developed by my company, BrightEdge, will let you see your content’s performance on desktops versus mobile devices as well. You can also track rankings and the performance of the pages targeted during the campaigns. It is important to track each aspect of your integrated marketing campaign separately as well as together. This means measuring email open rates, download rates of promoted content, engagement rates on targeted pages, watch rates of videos and any other type of platform you used in your campaign. You then want to examine the campaign as a whole, looking at how well the efforts helped to drive conversions and revenue. These two types of information will provide you with the most insight about your brand’s success and how you need to improve moving forward.    

Integrated marketing best practices

1. Bring your teams together so that everyone is on the same page.
2. Use marketing technology to make the creation, publishing, promotion and measuring processes more efficient.
3. Develop common strategies and messaging.
4. Measure your success and implement changes as needed.

Integrated marketing is the future of marketing. Customers are not going to be interacting with brands through a single platform-- they expect companies to engage with them across the digital ecosystem. Understanding how to not only build this type of campaign, but how to optimize it and measure it, will be the key to getting in front of any industry.  

Andy Betts

M Posted 9 years 6 months ago

t 9 min read

Scott Lavelle of OpenTable discusses the evolving industry and the growth of hybrid marketers. Learn more from Scott during his Share 16 session on October 25.

“BrightEdge serves as our primary platform for SEO analysis and testing results. In addition, the Data Cube has become my 'decision engine' for opportunity sizing and competitive analysis.” - Scott Lavelle, OpenTable Here in San Francisco we are excitedly making the final preparations for Share16, which is only weeks away. As our attendee list grows, we wanted to sit down with some of our fantastic speakers to let you know about the incredible content you are going to hear during the sessions We had a great conversation recently with Scott Lavelle, the Director of Global SEO Marketing at OpenTable. We spoke about the importance of hybrid marketers and some of the latest challenges and trends in the industry.

BrightEdge: What do you see as the biggest trend in marketing as we approach the end of 2016?

Scott Lavelle: I would say better retargeting and audience segmentation. Really understanding your audience better and leveraging user-level analysis and insights so you can segment your audience. Marketing specifically to users who are at different lifecycle states. In the past, this was not super common. Marketers focused more on just using acquisition channels to get people in the door. Now everything is becoming more precise. There is new - and improved - technology and enhanced retargeting.

BE: Very interesting. What do you think is the biggest opportunity for marketers and brands who want to move forward?

SL: This ties into the advice I give in my presentation. As the industry heads more towards multi-channel marketing with significant overlap, marketers have the opportunity to break out of their silos. SEO, PPC, Display, and Paid Social for example, all overlap and these channels can drive one another. We shouldn’t be focused on “defending our turf” or convincing senior leaders that our channel is the most important - we want these channels to overlap and work together. We need to be hybrid marketers. Marketers and brands who understand the value of bringing teams together have the opportunity to grow as a brand and really mature in their marketing strategy. Having multiple channels work together really helps brands better engage their customers.

BE: What is your biggest challenge as a marketer?

SL: For me, the biggest challenge is multi-channel digital marketing attribution. It is tough. I haven’t seen any company that has the perfect set-up and no one understands with 100 percent accuracy exactly how channels overlap and should receive credit. It might actually be a bit of a false dream to pursue 100% multi-channel attribution with no overlap. It should still be a goal, however, to understand as best we can how channels drive each other and how this impacts the different parts of the funnel, including mobile apps. Sorting that out and understanding the data is probably my biggest struggle.

BE: What are your suggestions on how to elevate SEO and content marketing with executives?

SL: When it comes to SEO, the important thing is to try and emphasize ROI. Senior leaders and executives are always thinking about marketing in terms of ROI. Most marketing has specific ad spend. SEO is different because the budget is typically fixed costs - tools, team resources - and no ad spend. It has the potential to be the highest ROI marketing channel in your mix. Executives need to understand, however, that SEO takes time, there is no instant gratification. In this way, it is the opposite of PPC. You can spend X dollars on PPC and see immediate results. In SEO, you can launch landing pages and you may have to wait months to really see results. You want to communicate to executives what it is that you are doing, when you can expect to see results, and how these actions are impacting traffic, reach, conversions, and ROI.

BE: So what are you going to speak about at Share?

SL: I will speak about the importance of being hybrid marketers and using that as a means of growing within the industry. You know, I never really thought of myself as being “an SEO”. I love SEO and have led this channel for years, but I try to take a broader view of growth drivers. More than ever, channels are overlapping and need to work together to see success. The spirit of my session will be to discuss going from doing hands-on work to becoming a marketing leader. I believe the more classic business skills outside of specific expertise in your field are what sets you apart in your career. For example, the ability to lead meetings, do presentations, create clear reports and analysis, forecasting, negotiation, persuasion, and team leadership skills. I have an MBA, and while that isn’t necessary in digital marketing, I have found my training in the broader business skills really valuable.

BE: Is there anything fun we should know about you?

SL: I am a huge music fanatic. I love to see live music and play guitar. I am even the unofficial DJ for OpenTable when we have company events! Well, I think we know who we will be speaking to when we want advice about the local music scene in the San Francisco area. We cannot wait to hear his insights about career advancement and growing in marketing.

Andy Betts

M Posted 9 years 6 months ago

t 9 min read

Kelly Rivard believes that user-first marketing is finally gaining the attention it deserves, while her accomplishments at Hallmark speak for themselves. Learn more from Kelly during her Share16 session on October 25.

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Kelly Rivard of Hallmark to speak about user-first marketing and her experiences over the past year helping to build a SEO in-house division in the 116 year old company. Her experience with this process means that she had some great insights to share with us.

BrightEdge has allowed Hallmark.com to essentially cut out a significant part of their manual work. DataCube and Opportunity Forecasting can do in one hour what once took 4-6. The platform highlights key opportunities while helping us identify low-hanging fruit, revamp landing pages, and uncovering the data and insights we need to take our SEO to the next level. We have been able to expand our team and reach a bandwidth that would not be possible without BrightEdge.

Here are some of the highlights from our conversation.

BrightEdge: What is the biggest trend in marketing you see as we approach the end of 2016?

Kelly Rivard: 2016 was the year that people started to remember the user again. User-first everything is what we talk about at Hallmark, and it is critical to digital success. I consider myself to be a user-first marketing strategist and these developments have been exciting to see. Something else that ties into this idea of the user-first experience has been Google and their growing emphasis on the micro-moment; meeting the user where they are in the moment when the need arises. The entire industry seems to be shifting towards a more proactive stance of understanding the consumer. This really ties into what I see as the biggest opportunity. More and more marketers are understanding the importance of connecting with the customer. It becomes cliched, but honestly it works. You need to produce content that the audience actually wants, not just what you think will sell a product. Instead, take initiative to create new and interesting content that will start a conversation with the customer and encourage them to come back. From a retail standpoint, you want people landing on pages and buying products, but you need to first build a relationship with content people want to read, and then roll the right products into the right moment all together in the funnel.

BE: What is your biggest challenge as a marketer?

KR: Definitely helping to build an in-house SEO program from the ground up for a retailer that specializes in ink and paper. I started at Hallmark almost a year ago and no one knew how much of a difference my role would make, but we are actually seeing remarkable changes. We have consistently hit new milestones and are changing the way people think within the brand. Any company that has been around for more than 100 years, like Hallmark, will find it challenging to make these changes, but working here has been very rewarding and challenging.

BE: What is the biggest mistake you see marketers make?

KR: I see so many people overusing keywords like crazy. I see people thinking that the data shows they need keywords, keywords, keywords, but unless you are in a role where you sleep and eat SEO, you might not realize that optimization is more nuanced than that. These marketers often end up shooting themselves in the foot. When marketers redundantly use the same keyword repeatedly in a piece of content or stuff too many out-of-context keywords into copy just for search, it does not read well and thus will not perform as desired. Overall, I would say the biggest mistake is being too cut and dry in digital strategy - not being nuanced and “gray” enough, particularly with content strategy.

BE: What are your top two marketing tips?

KR: The first one, I would say, is to always put the customer first. I have often seen people get so caught up in KPIs that it becomes easy to forget that we will only reach our KPI goals when we meet the needs of customers. Similarly, just because you think something is best to promote your product does not mean it will be best for your customer. Always remember: user-first marketing wins. Secondly, marketers need to remember that everyone is trying to do their best. Working in marketing, it can sometimes get tense. It is a challenging field and there are usually politics and mixed priorities involved - particularly with those who do not understand what you are trying to achieve. It is best to always assume positive intent. We are all trying to work together to grow the business. Remembering that human element can help cut back on the frustrations associated with a high-stress job.

BE: Can you tell us a little about what you will speak about at Share16?

KR: I am going to be sharing insight about what it is like to help build an in-house SEO program in a company rich in legacy and history. Hallmark did not sell much on their website until a few years ago, but is now a full-fledged online and omni-channel retailer. SEO is one of many major changes we’ve made in the last few years, and we’ve grown in leaps and bounds because of it. At Share I will discuss how collaboration, open-mindedness, and the human element - remembering that everyone is doing their best - is so critical to brand success.

BE: Do you have any fun anecdotes or stories about yourself that you want to share with the audience?

KR: Oh, I have so many! I can say the alphabet backwards, for example. It is actually listed on my resume and I have done it in nearly every interview. I also recently spent a long weekend in Sweden. I am also training for my fourth half marathon. Well, I think we all know who to turn to when we want some fun stories at the networking events during Share! We look forward to hearing more about Kelly’s efforts in helping to build the Hallmark digital team and her ideas about user-first marketing when we see her in a few weeks at the event.

A BrightEdger

M Posted 9 years 6 months ago

t 9 min read

BrightEdge helps customers stay ahead of Google algorithm changes - including the recent Penguin 4.0 update.

Penguin 4.0 update: more frequent, more focused crawls to eliminate webspan

As we mentioned in yesterday’s post, Google rolled out its Penguin 4.0 update last week. Now a part of the core algorithm, Penguin 4.0 update targets “black hat webspam” tactics, including keyword stuffing and spam link building, which solely aim to increase rankings. With this and other recent updates, the takeaway aligns with Google’s consistent counsel: focus on creating high quality content that will ensure a good user experience and keep customers coming back for more.

This 4th installment of Penguin is defined by a couple of specific updates. Now that it’s included within the core algorithm and occurs during routine crawls, site changes update in real-time (instead of waiting for periodic Penguin refreshes). Additionally, the impact is more granular, focusing on “spam signals” instead of entire domains.

In our prior post, we detailed the importance of understanding the backlinks to your website in compliance with the Penguin 4.0 update. We shared how the BrightEdge backlink checker is a valuable resource for identifying where backlinks from disreputable sites can negatively impact performance as well as uncovering opportunities to connect with other websites to help your content reach new and interested audiences.

BrightEdge provides backlink insights at the page level

To give you an overview, this functionality from BrightEdge is also available at the page level, within the Recommendations feature of the platform. For each of your pages, you can automatically view a list of suggested optimizations to improve performance.

When viewing the recommendations for a page URL, simply click on Link Building Opportunities to view high quality sites where building relationships can extend the reach of your content. With External Links to My Page, you can view the backlinks for that page, including the domain and the actual page linking to your page. With this information, you can use the Google disavow tool to remove the backlinks impeding your page performance. As a side note, Recommendations will also let you know if the repetition of keywords within page content is putting you at risk for violating keyword stuffing guidelines.  

With the increased granularity in last week's update, you need the insights that will help you immediately identify where you should prioritize your changes. Additionally, the real-time nature of this update means that you want to actively monitor performance. Setting Anomaly Detection alerts within the BrightEdge platform, for things like changes in rank or organic traffic, means you are immediately notified when your pages have been impacted, so that you can begin diagnosing and fixing problems. Creating StoryBuilder charts and having them emailed you to on a weekly basis is also a great way to keep an eye on performance. As search algorithms evolve, BrightEdge solutions help you hone in on the pages that matter to you, to quickly pinpoint areas for improvement and build the content and digital connections that drive more traffic, conversions and revenue.