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Social mediaHow you find people

Search

How people find you

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Search engines are most visited websites (UK)

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Google > 90% of search in UK

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Q: How can you get visibility?A: SEO – optimising content for search engines

the process of improving

the volume or quality of traffic

to a web site from search engines

via natural search results

Wikipedia

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How do we find info / websites?

Type in the URL? Google it?

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We Google it – whether area of interest or brand

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“Your reputation liveson Google’s results page”

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Look what happened

Old news got republished by mistake on a US media website and then got republished by Bloomberg

Share price fell 75% - $1bn wiped off - when Google indexed the story

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Natural search results

Natural search

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Natural v paid search

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Paid search results

Paid search

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Natural v paid

Paid search

Sponsored

Pay per click

Natural search

Organic

SEO

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Speed of results: SEO v paid search

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Paid search = instant, guaranteed placement

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When should you use paid search?

Crisis One-offSeasonalTactical

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Google’s mission?

“Organise the world’s information and

make it universally accessible and

useful”

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Blended results

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It matches what users want…

according to how a page matches…

…and its relative reputation

…with what is available.

How does Google work?

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SEO - the task

Best practice’ guidelines apply – rules and algorithms change often

TASK WHICH MEANS… HOW?

Understand what users are looking for

You need to understand the keywords people type

Use keyword research to know what users are looking for

Increase your use of these keywords

You can respond to what people are looking for

Use keywords in titles (pages, headings) tags (meta, images, video), links (external, internal) and copy (releases, articles, reports)

Increase the number and quality of links to your site

Creating content to fill in content gaps

Earn ‘human’ attention, visits, recommendations and links – and earn more attention from Google

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e.g. SEO basics: <title> and <description> tags

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e.g. bad use of <descriptions> should be unique for each page

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Sample tips: good <title> and <description> tags

> 66 – 70 characters max> Be accurate> Decide the purpose > Put the keywords first > Mention your brand name > Keep page title and brand name

separate> Write attractive <title> tags > Write unique <title> tags for every

page

> 155 characters max > Use keywords you want to score

with for that page > Don’t create false expectations > Think about your target audience > Tell the user what to expect > Write properly! > Don’t repeat the page title> Don’t just pull in first words of

content> Unique <description> for every

page

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Plenty of blogs on every aspect of optimisation – images, video, meta data etc.

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SEO for PR – eight things you can do

> Generate content> Optimise for your keywords> Promote via social media> Develop your online newsroom> Use wire services> Ask mainstream media > Use paid search> Measure the value

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Eight things you can do – SEO for PR

> Remember this simple rule: if Google can search it, find it and index it…then it’s worth creating content for it > So…news releases, reports, white papers, images, videos, FAQs, newsletters, blogs and more > Don’t just create all this quality content – you optimise it and promote it to earn links as well as traffic

> Use keyword research e.g. Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool or Insights for Search to discover the terms that users search for and trends> Also ask for summaries of client’s / other agency PPC reports to inform what keywords are converting> Google Analytics insight from the webmaster about which search terms are being used and from which sources are also invaluable> When you have your keywords in mind – use them to tag appropriate content > In press releases use keywords in body copy of releases as well as titles and subheads > Write for humans and don’t stuff keywords too heavily (e.g. one or two phrases used 3-4 times max)> Work with clients / webmasters to ensure that the site is crawlable > e.g. avoid pages built in Flash, esnure you have an XML site map> Use keywords in title tags, page titles, section headings, body copy, link text, image alt text, navigation text and footer text

> Create an online newsroom as part of main website> a blog-based system can be very easy to content manage and has in-built SEO benefits> create keyword-rich categories that will help users as well as search engines

> Promote this content via mainstream / social media > Use media relations / social media networks / outreach > Add book-markng / sharing tools to make it easy for users to save / forward / share your content > Create and post alternative formats of the release (Word, PDF) > Don’t just post the release into your online newsroom – also blog / tweet the release and link to the press release > If budget allows, use wire services – can create extra links and news visibility> Where possible ask media to include the links you want and link text you want them to use

> Use pay-per-click for short-term / quick response visibility. > e.g. time-sensitive / crisis / seasonal / reactive use can produce visibility in minutes> providing alternative content for negative listings in search results. > can use it to attract attention to news stories and then turn off when required e.g. after pick-up by media.

> Measure the value> e.g. use unique tracking URLs in releases that link to specific landing pages> monitor release rankings, news visibility, social mentions, traffic & outcomes

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Social mediaHow you find people

Search

How people find you

Increasing importance of social media for search

Who talk about you,link to you and drive traffic

Which gets noticed by search engines

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SMO = Social media optimisation

> Google loves blogs - > easy to index -> regularly updated -> themed content

> You Tube / Flickr – video and images

> Facebook and LinkedIn results rank highly for individuals

> Tweets being indexed and ranked prominently in results

> Provide quality content -> Build relationships / networks -> increasing traffic

> Social media relationships -> Make friends, help out, give advice

> Make it easy for people to find your content / share your content > ‘Like’ buttons, ‘Tweet this’ buttons

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Remember: optimise for your audience

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Remember: focus on your keywords

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KeywordsWhat do people search for about ‘my issue’?

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Example using ‘public affairs’ as base keyword of how other relevant terms can be researched

Most efficient: Click through rate = impressions / clicks. ‘Long-tail’ terms that are very valuable to know!

Most effective: What produces most clicks? And at what cost?

Most volume: What words / terms are most searched for?

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Google Insights – into what people search for…

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Google Insights – do people think of ‘spill’ or ‘leak’?

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Learnings from Google Adwords and Insights?

Keywords are not always what you expect!

There can be big differences between…

…words and terms we think people use and what they do use

(implications for content generation > URLs, titles, descriptions, tags)

i.e. ‘most-searched’ AND ‘most clicked’ words / terms

(implications for natural search > the words you choose to use)

i.e. ‘most-clicked’ AND ‘most cost-effective’ words

(implications for paid search too > which words are ‘action’ words to buy)

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What can you discover from paid search?

Which keywords and terms work best What to recycle in tags, descriptions and contentWhere long-tail content gains can be

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Eight things you can do – SEO for PR

> Remember this simple rule: if Google can search it, find it and index it…then it’s worth creating content for it > So…news releases, reports, white papers, images, videos, FAQs, newsletters, blogs and more > Don’t just create all this quality content – you optimise it and promote it to earn links as well as traffic

> Use keyword research e.g. Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool or Insights for Search to discover the terms that users search for and trends> Also ask for summaries of client’s / other agency PPC reports to inform what keywords are converting> Google Analytics insight from the webmaster about which search terms are being used and from which sources are also invaluable> When you have your keywords in mind – use them to tag appropriate content > In press releases use keywords in body copy of releases as well as titles and subheads > Write for humans and don’t stuff keywords too heavily (e.g. one or two phrases used 3-4 times max)> Work with clients / webmasters to ensure that the site is crawlable > e.g. avoid pages built in Flash, esnure you have an XML site map> Use keywords in title tags, page titles, section headings, body copy, link text, image alt text, navigation text and footer text

> Create an online newsroom as part of main website> a blog-based system can be very easy to content manage and has in-built SEO benefits> create keyword-rich categories that will help users as well as search engines

> Promote this content via mainstream / social media > Use media relations / social media networks / outreach > Add book-markng / sharing tools to make it easy for users to save / forward / share your content > Create and post alternative formats of the release (Word, PDF) > Don’t just post the release into your online newsroom – also blog / tweet the release and link to the press release > If budget allows, use wire services – can create extra links and news visibility> Where possible ask media to include the links you want and link text you want them to use

> Use pay-per-click for short-term / quick response visibility. > e.g. time-sensitive / crisis / seasonal / reactive use can produce visibility in minutes> providing alternative content for negative listings in search results. > can use it to attract attention to news stories and then turn off when required e.g. after pick-up by media.

> Measure the value> e.g. use unique tracking URLs in releases that link to specific landing pages> monitor release rankings, news visibility, social mentions, traffic & outcomes