SEO What’s coming, what’s here and how to be ready

Wil Reynolds, Founder, SEER Interactive

Online Success Recipe

This Presentation REQUIRES

Interruptions

Judging Search Success

Lets agree to a couple of things

Judging Search Success

A # 3 ranking is better than a #13 ranking

5,000 visitors from search is better than 500

Judging Search Success

Why are those statements totally FALSE!?

(unless you are a publisher, maybe)

Judging Search Success

None track down toBrand Participation

Brand ExposureLeadsSales

Don’t Fall Victim…

Beware of the SEO MYTH!! Every site

ranks well for SOMETHING!

Get your E-G-O out of S-E-O

Rankings are a

________

To an

_____

Get your E-G-O out of S-E-O

SEO should be a

MATCHMAKER!Design – Usability - Remarketing

Wanna trick them? They’re Billionaires!

“Tricking” Google + BMW

Would SAAB learn?

Would SAAB learn?

Shame Shame Shame SAAB!

Now you know how to stay out of trouble, lets talk about how to get you

there legitimately.

Content Structure & Spidering Behavior

“Importance” in Google – how often does Google visit We Build Pages Cache Tool

Identifying and fixing spidering issues Google Webmaster tools

Don’t bury important content How many homepages can one web site have? How page importance flows down through a site “Clicks” from the homepage & importance to user community Live Sample - NFL.com Seasonality impacts this

CMS / Shopping carts (?’s, =‘s spaces) Live Sample – Answers.com Impact

Free Competitive Analysis tools

How to find out if people are searching for you & your competitors

QuantcastSpyfuCompeteMSN Adlab funnel

Why use multiple tools?

What I learned about SAAB

Quantcast

What I learned about SAAB

Compete vs. Alexa

Free Competitive Analysis tools

Give me one of your competitors

(gets significant traffic)

MSN Adlab Funnel - Brands

MSN Adlab Funnel - Generic

Free Competitive Analysis tools

SPYFU.com

Keyword or Domain

PPC Budget

Organic terms & Competitors

PPC terms & Competitors

Keyword Development

BAD NEWS…

You will actually have to alter your site to rank well for the words people type into search engines! (Stop trying to “trick” SE’s)

Keyword Development

We all stink at developing our own keyword lists (it’s not our fault):

Biased by own search behavior Too close to the product / service (acronyms, jargon,

product features, etc)

All is not lost: Use tools (not just overture keyword tool) Start wide (Prilosec - heartburn) People search for solutions to problems not products

and services

Keyword Development

If you were a marketer for this product what 3 keyword words would you target for an SEO campaign?

Keyword Development

If you were a marketer for this product what 3 keyword words would you target for an SEO campaign?

Keyword Development

If you were working in marketing for a company that made a new medication to help people get a good night’s sleep?

Keyword Development

If you were working in marketing for me, an organization that could get you at the top of Google?

Remember, picking the wrong keywords can

kill your career!

JUST ASK THIS GUY!

Linking techniques

Quintura.com

My favorite tools

Google Trends (http://www.google.com/trends) Keyword priority, order, plural vs. singular

Accounting job vs. accounting jobs Homepage real estate / Seasonality

Omega vs. Movado vs. Tag Heuer (google)

Trend for “Convertibles”

Marketing Convertibles

Who is your target audience? Gender / Age

In what month do you think your ads (PPC & Organic) should be up to get the most eyeballs.

When do you think people begin their research?

What month has the least search volume for convertibles?

DIY vs. Outsource

DIY vs. outsource (Toilets and Taxes)

38% avg increase in rank versus 110%

DIY’s - Ready to invest 18 months? (outcome isn’t always good)Outsourcers – Hard to choose one from the next (gut)

Opportunity costBudget (How to get a good cheap SEO and why they are hard to find)Software (if it was that easy everyone would do it)Competitiveness of the landscape (only 20 spots, are you going to learn this &

beat us out if we enter your space?Watch the low queried terms (keep your E-G-O out of S-E-O)Do you have time to learn? Is the competition way ahead?Do you want to learn, stay on top of trends?

Signs you should RUN from a search firm They cold called you! Required retainer to “keep your rankings”

Look up query volume for their terms Common come backs:

Shoemakers Children Busy working for clients Fave - “Under the radar”

They don’t rank well for anything They don’t proactively offer to analyze traffic AND conversions from organic

search The only reporting offered is on rankings Heavy on the scare tactics “Proprietary” software The sites they show you are over optimized for search (OSEOBUS) They “dabble” in search

What is coming

The future of search

Search is pervasive

When was the last time you searched for something using a search engine, search box on a web site, TIVO, Cell Phone, Youtube, MySpace?

Search is pervasive an Example

Example…you needed to use the bathroom and were in Germany but didn’t speak a lick of German, could

Google help you?

Google SMS Search

What happens when search falls short?

Do people abandon search?

Use alternate means

What happens when search falls short?

SEEK an answer

This tool is 100% search friendly, meaning people doing searches may find it forever

Yahoo! Answers

But Wil, who really uses it? 60 Million Unique Users Per MONTH! 120 Million answers Influential in consumer decisions Samples (nursing schools, arcadia

university)

In 10 Months

PR & SEO

Yahoo News / Google News vs. Ask Jeeves Where do reporters go to research / get info?

92% Article research 73% Find additional releases Search works best when optimized across more

than just Google

Assign value to links, sales, mentions, etc. What was the outcome?

Social Bookmarking

Are you getting dug, slashdotted, delicioused, stumbleuponed?

Stumbleupon has sent us more traffic in a 10 day period for (developing a tool) than Yahoo! did last year.

Are you developing something people care about? Will link to, etc?

Benchmark and analyze referrals from Social Bookmarking sites.

Power of Video – Content Lives forever

SEO on Google Video #2Search Engine Optimization #3Last Month 552 ViewsThis Month on pace for 1300 ViewsAll time – 4500 Views – been uploaded

for 6 months

Power of Video, Social Bookmarking, PR

Gift that keeps on giving (IF DONE WELL)

Investment Flight – $300 Hotel – $0 Day Rate - $4,000 Prep - $300 Dinner at The Wynn in Vegas - $200

Power of Video, Social Bookmarking, PR

Having a 1 person recognize me at a techie SEO conference …

PRICELESS

Feeling the Squeeze on

PPC marketing?

The secret is OUT!

PPC vs. SEO

Big Brands are moving in eBags.com spent 5-8 Million (cutting)Babyage (costs up 2x for same traffic)Ice.com cutting spending by ~50%

PPC vs. SEO

PPC Algorithms = More complex Vested interest in CONFIDENCE in paid ads Highest bidder days are over

Impact of landing pages, text, etc on PPC ad rankings

Variable costs are killing businessesSEO, other channels of *Future*