A BrightEdger

M Posted 12 years ago

t 9 min read

The BrightEdge 2014 Search Marketer Survey report is here! This year, we surveyed SEO practitioners from 8,500+ global brands in December 2013 and January 2014 to compile research in the areas of content and content budgets; rank and ranking variables; data integration and technology providers; and much more. We’ve compiled a few of the highlights here.

To download the full report, check out this link.

Search Marketer Survey Data: Top 10 Takeaways

The world of SEO was rocked in 2013, with more Google Panda and Penguin updates; a release of “Hummingbird,” the Google search engine's updated infrastructure; the Google Knowledge Graph expanding to include “Carousel” results; and, of course, Google's secure search announcement.

In light of the changes we saw in 2013, this year’s research highlighted the following takeaways:

1. Connecting your content efforts to ROI is at the top of the agenda
2. The Web page is the center of the new content and SEO universe
3. Rank still matters, and is the stepping stone for page-level success
4. Tracking and measuring mobile rank across all devices is a must
5. Data and analytics are the key source of truth
6. All data is relevant and connected
7. Integrated SEO and content starts with optimizing at the author level
8. To be successful, you need to innovate ahead of the curve
9. Focusing on content accelerates career growth
10. SEO is now embedded in the content marketing process

These takeaways are aligned with the SEO industry’s new creed, the “Secure Search Manifesto,” which outlines the principles that the SEO community need today. You can get a copy of that here.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the survey data.

Content

Seventy-eight percent of SEOs say connecting content efforts to ROI will be “more” or “much more” important in 2014. The next step then, is for those marketers to make this goal tangible, and our search marketer survey respondents agreed.

In fact, 93 percent of SEOs said they would increase content budgets by at least 10 percent this year if they could identify what content is the most effective for engaging their audience.  If content is a priority for you in 2014, you’re in good hands with BrightEdge!

Our content-centric data allow you to understand how your content is driving business value.

Rank

Tracking where pages rank in the search results is ever more complex when so many factors are at play, including rank in various areas like Universal Search results, Google’s Knowledge Graph and Carousel results.

That’s likely why 95 percent of search marketer survey respondents said gaining access to accurate rank data in 2014 is important.  

Speaking of Carousel results, are you part of the 44 percent of SEOs who reported that Carousel results were served for keywords in their industry? If so, you may also side with the 72 percent who reported that measuring rank on those results will be more important for them in 2014.

Good news: BrightEdge is committed to giving our customers real insight into their true rank across all types of search results. With our blended rank technology, our platform is the first and only of its kind to provide this level of information.

Technology Providers

In order for brands to succeed today online, it’s vital they have access to reliable data that provides actionable insight. Marketers agree. Of the search marketer survey responders, the majority said that when choosing a technology provider, key aspects included a provider that had a global customer base, a provider that was led by accomplished software veterans, and a provider backed by reputable investors.  

Marketers also wanted their technology providers to innovate on a regular basis according to Brightedge's search marketer survey. Sixty-four percent said monthly product innovations that kept up with the changes in search was going to be important in 2014.  

Here at BrightEdge, we work hard to stay ahead of the curve. In fact, every five weeks, BrightEdge releases a slew of new functionality, improving on our software on a quarterly basis by understanding the trends on the horizon, listening to what our customers want and studying the intricacies of the search and social channels through search marketer surveys, and how they impact a brand’s visibility online.

What Will 2014 Bring?

As SEOs embrace the change that occurred in 2013, they brace for the impact 2014 may bring.

Our industry is never a dull one, and marketers continue to be resilient with chameleon-like adaptation in the ever-changing world of Web marketing. But one thing will remain constant: tying SEO to business value is essential. This is, and will continue to be, the driver of successful marketing campaigns in 2014.

In order to make the connection between SEO and business value, brands need to invest in accurate and actionable data. Each step of the way, BrightEdge is that data solution, and your partner for success.

Here's to a great year!

Nicole

M Posted 12 years ago

t 9 min read

We talk a lot about technology, but today we wanted to do something a little different and take you behind the scenes at BrightEdge. So, please check out our new video - Working at BrightEdge.

In this video you’ll hear 11 BrightEdge employees share their experiences of what it’s really like building the best enterprise SEO technology. You’ll also hear our CEO and Founder, Jim Yu discuss BrightEdge’s value of People Success.

And, since it’s Thursday, we also wanted to get in on the #tbt action and share a video of Jim Yu from 2012, discussing all Five BrightEdge Values. 

In the last year a lot has happened! We’ve grown to 225 employees spanning across four offices, and are continuing to hire.

We’ve also had some fantastic events and company updates including: All Hands Celebrations, BE Active Club, Bowling, Catered Friday Lunches, (new) Chicago Office, Community Service Days, a Cooking School Event, Giant’s Games, Halloween Party, Lobster Feast, London Enterprise SEO Summit, Paintball, Potluck Lunches, President’s Club Trip, Rock Climbing, Sales Kick Off, Scavenger Hunt, Series D Financing, Share13, and Whitewater Rafting.

We’re happy to share just a few of the many reasons why people love working for BrightEdge!

We’re continuing to grow, and are actively hiring! If you’d like to join us, please apply at https://www.brightedge.com/careers.

enewton@brightedge.com

M Posted 12 years ago

t 9 min read

Multi-channel attribution has been both widely accepted by marketers and also one of the most difficult results to calculate and prove. The basic premise is that media channels work together synergistically for conversions; some channels get too much credit, and some channels get too little (for example, direct traffic to a website versus organic search traffic).

Direct traffic is usually the largest channel for an established brand and website, but let’s face it: no one wakes up in the morning and suddenly decides to type a domain into their browser. That stimulus comes from some other channel, like display, affiliate, email, paid search, social, PR, content, actual word of mouth, or offline media. Therefore, the direct traffic channel is the largest recipient of unattributed benefit from other channels.

Until recently, calculating the interaction of channels required significant stable data and sophisticated analysis to build a regression model. The output would tell you, for example, that channels A, B and C were undercounted, and D, E, F were being overstated in terms of a “last-click” aka conversion basis.

The analysts would then tell you to redistribute a portion of D, E and F to A, B and C. The cost per acquisition (CPA) of each channel would also be adjusted, and if A, B and C were previously at max CPA, they now could take additional media budget and still generate a return. That would allow the company to correctly increase marketing spend and leads.

The other way to do multi-channel attribution online is by observing the order and interval that consumers interact with and are influenced by the media mix by writing data to the cookie on the user’s browser. Google Analytics provides multi-channel funnel data in the “Conversions” reports section that helps fill in those multi-channel attribution details that you, as a marketer, need. To access, go to GA, then Conversions > Multi-Channel Funnels.

At the overview level (Multi-Channel Funnels > Overview) a Venn diagram illustrates the multi-channel overlap between any two or more of the online channels driving conversions.

Select the channels for the interaction you want to see. Use your mouse to hover over the circles and overlapping areas and understand the co-influence on conversions.

The “Assisted Conversions” reports section ((Multi-Channel Funnels > Assisted Conversions) shows each channel on a last-click basis and what portion of those conversions are touched by another channel.

For BrightEdge.com, one-third of online channels are assisted by at least one other channel with a range of cross-channel assistance of .29 to .65. Of direct traffic results, half were assisted by another channel and should get a portion of those results.

If email has a .65 assist value, then for every 100 tracked results, you should also attribute 65 more. So, for example, if email results were $9,000/100, that equals a $90 CPA. With assisted multi-channel attribution, it would now look like $9,000/165, which equals a $54 CPA – 40 percent less than it originally appeared.

Since the observational approach relies on browser cookies, it tends to undercount multi-channel attribution over time because cookies are often deleted. Research shows “cookie death” causes additional understatement of contribution by another 35 to 55 percent.

In the case above, on an unattributed basis, email would get credit for 100 conversions, and on an attributed basis and accounting for cookie deletion, it should get credit for 200. The difference between 100 and 200 usually ends up in that catch-all bucket, direct.

To get started with GA’s multi-channel funnel data:

1. Make sure your channel managers are adding channel-tracking codes to web marketing assets
2. Go to the Multi-Channel Funnels Overview report to visualize your media mix
3. Review your Assisted Conversions report and adjust your totals, CPAs, and budgets, if warranted.

Nag

M Posted 12 years ago

t 9 min read

Whether you’re a marketing expert, data analyst, or social media guru, Adobe Summit in Salt Lake City is the place to be this week. Between the speakers, the sessions, and the events, Adobe Summit provides the perfect place for industry professionals to share innovative strategies, demonstrate marketing knowledge, and gain hands-on experience in the digital marketing world. Don’t miss out on the chance to partake in one of the marketing industry’s biggest events—and take a break from all the excitement on the slopes! If you haven’t registered yet, be sure to sign up.    

Speakers

From Seattle Seahawks legend Richard Sherman to Yancey Strickler, CEO and co-founder of Kickstarter, Adobe has collected an impressive and inspirational group of speakers for this year’s Summit. Be sure to take advantage of all the knowledge at the event and visit as many talks as you can to gain a variety of new tactics and information. Here are our picks for the five speakers you definitely won’t want to miss this year:

Robert Redford As an award-winning actor and director, Redford knows what it means to keep reinventing and innovating in your career. Hear his take on staying inspired in both professional and personal life. General Session: The Reinvention of Marketers Wednesday, March 26; 9:00am in Hall DE

Richard Sherman After playing football for Stanford University (by way of Compton, CA), Sherman understands the value of hard work to accomplishing big things. He joins Robert Redford to discuss motivation and change. General Session: The Reinvention of Marketers Wednesday, March 26; 9:00am in Hall DE

Eric Stonestreet Most of you know him from his Modern Family fame, but Stonestreet joins Adobe Summit to help demo the latest innovations from Adobe (and keep everything fun!). General Session 3: Sneaks Wednesday, March 26; 5:00pm in Hall DE

Yancey Strickler As the CEO and co-founder of crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, Strickler has learned marketing lessons from day one. Hear him discuss what he's figured out. General Session 1: The Reinvention of Marketing Tuesday, March 25; 8:30am in Hall DE

Shawn Burns In his time as SAP's Global VP of Digital Marketing, Burns has experienced and developed B2B and B2P marketing strategies. Learn the difference, and  both are important, during his session. SAP's Business-to-People (B2P) Marketing Strategy Thursday, March 27; 9:30am in Ballroom F

Sessions

With myriad sessions to choose from at Adobe Summit, filtering your picks down to your industry is a great way to tailor your experience and get the most insight out of your trip to Salt Lake. Choose from Marketing Analytics, Personalization and Optimization, Cross-Channel Campaign Management, Social Marketing, Web Experience Management, Marketing Innovations, Digital Advertising, or Hands-on Labs. No matter your area of expertise, there’s something for every kind of marketer. Here are our picks for the five sessions to make sure you hit:

SoLoMo: The Convergence of Channel and Opportunity Learn how to make sure your marketing strategy is optimized for SoLoMo (social, local, and mobile). Thursday, March 27; 3:00pm in Ballroom H

Search Marketing Roudtable: Meet, Participate and Learn Come learn and teach about some of the biggest topics in the search marketing industry. Make your voice heard at the Summit. Thursday, March 27; 11am in 150DEF

People Over Profit: Break the System, Market with Purpose, and Be Even More Profitable Make people your priority, not profits. Learn from Dale Partridge, founder of Sevenly.org, about the seven core beliefs shared by consumers, marketers, and business leaders who are breaking the cycle of putting profits over people. Wednesday, March 26; 2:00pm in Ballroom G

Shut Up and Play the Hits: The Latest in Adobe Analytics Tips and Tricks With over 75 new features released in the past in the past 12 months, Adobe is on top of analytics. Learn about these new capabilities and how they could help your brand.

Events

With all the marketing industry discussions going on during the day, we’ve got to find a way to unwind at the end of the day. Adobe Summit has that covered, too. Here are the after-hours event to make sure you attend:

Summit Bash Sponsored by MRM//McCann and featuring Grammy-award winning band Vampire Weekend, the Summit Bash is the nighttime highlight of Adobe Summit. With stand out food, drinks, and entertainment, use this evening to relax and enjoy the company. Industry Mixer If you’re looking for networking opportunities during your time in Salt Lake, you won’t want to miss the Industry Mixer. On Thursday, take the opportunity to discuss learnings and takeaways from the conference and solidify industry connections.  

Insider Tips

If we’ve learned anything from Adobe Summit in years past, it’s the importance of being prepared. To make the most of your experience next week, check out these five insider tips to remember before, during, and after the event:

1. Make a list of topics you're interested in. It's hard to see everything, so build a ranked list and decide what sessions or speakers are top priority.

2. Take advantage of the Adobe practice sessions; they can offer hands-on learning and advice.

3. Be sure to chat with the speakers after their sessions to get all of your questions answered and connect face-to-face.

4. If you're interested in evaluating technology, make sure to get a product demo and ask specific questions. With such little time and so many people, make sure you're asking about the features that matter most to you.

5. Have fun! Don't miss the Summit Bash, enjoy the diverse cuisine, and get out to the slopes on Ski Day.   Hope all this information helps you make the most of your Adobe Summit experience! Be sure to stop by the BrightEdge booth (#717) at the tradeshow Monday-Wednesday and say hi. You could win a prize!

A BrightEdger

M Posted 12 years ago

t 9 min read

How cool would it be to tap into a huge data repository and perform on-demand research – just like you would in a regular search engine? Wouldn’t it be great, to gain actionable insights to guide your content marketing plan based on the keywords and topics that drive traffic and conversions? You got it. For more than six years, we’ve been cultivating the BrightEdge Data Cube, which has been at the foundation of BrightEdge S3, powering our Customizable Recommendations, Search Opportunity Forecasting, Page Reporting and much more. With our latest release, we’re pleased to announce that customers now can gain direct access to the Data Cube via our on-demand research capabilities.

What exactly is the Data Cube?

The BrightEdge Data Cube is a massive content repository, the industry’s largest data set made up of billions of pieces of information which includes: keywords, search terms, rich media, and content, along with its performance on the web. BrightEdge now processes more than 100 terabytes of data per week. Hear our CTO and Co-Founder Lemuel Park discuss our story about the BrightEdge Data Cube.

Here’s how the Data Cube works …

You can perform URL-based or keyword-based research in real time. There are two ways to access the Data Cube’s information:

• Freeform search, which lets you enter a keyword or URL in the same way a Google search is performed. 

• Goal-based research, which helps you quickly identify the data that matters most, and that aligns SEO and content with business outcomes. Check out the following examples:

But we didn’t stop there with the Data Cube. We know data is only as useful as the actions that can be gleaned from it. So, we’ve taken our Data Cube engine a step further; in addition to being a research tool, information uncovered in the engine integrates into BrightEdge S3. So, for example, after you’ve discovered the keywords that are working well for competitors, you can prioritize them in BrightEdge S3 for your own marketing efforts.

More news: custom security settings in BrightEdge S3

BrightEdge is committed to protecting the security of your most important data. That’s why we built our SaaS technology with security in mind from the start, designed to undergo the same stringent audits companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce undergo. Our latest release expands on our pre-existing security solutions with self-service security management. What that means to you is:

• The ability to extend your existing security policies to your BrightEdge account.
• Ensuring all your users are following best practices and complying with internal security policies.

Self-service security features include:

• Flexible password policies: Password management to match your security policies including password expiration, disallowing recycled passwords and enforcing special characters.
• Sophisticated session settings: Complete control with session-timeout settings and security controls to lock an originating IP address.
• Trusted IP address ranges: Restrict access to your IP ranges, preventing unauthorized access.

We hope you take advantage of all the new features included in BrightEdge’s latest release. As always, we’re committed to be your best partner in enterprise SEO.