F5 Expo Session 2: Search Marketing

The next F5 Session I attended was on a hot topic: Search Marketing.

Panelists included:
- Martin Stoddard – Bing USA
- Vanessa W. Williams – Yahoo! Canada (also in attendance at last year’s SOHO Conference)
- Ryan Kelly – Pear Analytics (USA)

I’ve been to quite a few events on this topic already, but it was a good refresher, and there was some news announced: Yahoo! and Bing’s impending combined marketplace. You can learn more about it at SearchAlliance.com, and it’s obviously been done to compete with Google.

For the newbies, here are the acronyms you need to know:
SEM = Search Engine Marketing. The subsets of search marketing include:
SEO = Search Engine Optimization (optimizing your site for good search results)
PPC = Pay Per Click Marketing, where you bid on keywords and pay when someone clicks on the sponsored link/ad
SMO = Social Media Optimization. Similar to SEO, but pertains to Social Media networks.

Vanessa said that Yahoo is trying to come up with a system to track return visits, so that if someone clicks on a link but purchases when returning to the site on a separate visit, you can see those results.

I like how the panelists gave some great SEO tips for websites: using keywords, links, blogs, content updating, and great web platforms like WordPress and Out of the Box. Martin added that you should make sure your site is indexed on a search engine and that you don’t have too many layers (pages within pages) or that can make it difficult for a crawler to find you. He also touched on the quality vs. quantity of backlinking – listing your site on directories where your visitors are likely to find you, instead of listing it in as many directories as you can – something I’m guilty of doing in my early web days. Martin pointed out that big directories like Zoominfo and DMoz aren’t necessarily helping your search results anymore.

The search engines are now picking up social media links, comments, and media, so it’s important to engage now if you’re on those networks, if you haven’t been. Bing’s indexing algorithms (ie. formulas determining what makes one site rank higher than the other) are evolving and include photos and social media.

Another tip was to list your site in Yahoo!’s local directory, and other geographic based ones. There is Yellowpages/Canpages and Byzhub – a relatively new free business network. Bing also has a localized centre where you can pay to place your site.

If you are thinking of going the PPC route to get to #1, remember that being a Yahoo!, Google or Bing client doesn’t guarantee your rankings will rise – it will depend on the traffic of your visitors. If it’s any consolation, Vanessa said that users are 25% more likely to click on a link if it’s visible both as a sponsored link and organically. One trick to get more targeted visits is to use long-tail keywords/phrases (ie. instead of 2010 Ford, 2010 Ford Hybrid red Vancouver). You’ll get less traffic, but the ads will be more user-targeted.

Someone asked whether social media might be taking over search marketing – many people are now looking to Youtube for “how-to” type situations. But Martin said that search marketing is still on the rise with no end in site. One way to capitalize on SMO that I use already is content syndication, or sharing the one white paper/photo/link/video across all of your social media networks. One great site I use for Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Foursquare combined is Hootsuite, and my video aggregate site of choice is TubeMogul.

Stat: 60% of Canadians use more than one search engine. So consider both Google and Yahoo! (or Bing and MSN) when you’re developing a PPC strategy. Yahoo! is a more content-specific site, whereas Google can be very specific. You might also consider banner ads; not so useful and annoying at the onset, but Ryan pointed out that although you might not get a direct response, the more you see the ad (especially geographically) the more psychological the marketing can get.

Some final tips from the panelists:
Ryan: Do SEO before, if not while you’re building your site. Index your various pages, but make sure they point to a primary URL. Many companies make the mistake of listing all of their sub-pages and Google treats them all differently.
Vanessa: Use your SMO tactics effectively. Don’t publish information you don’t want shared across a search engine.
Martin: Use photos and videos in your SMO strategy effectively. If you’re varying your site for international use, make sure your content reflects the culture of the users. Ie., write in their language, or rewrite in their lingo.

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