the death of trial & error

Sean MalseedStrategic Development

www.semrush.com@seanmalseed @smx

Introduction

• Why is SEMrush qualified to talk about eliminating trial and error?

• Simple: it's the basis of the software we make.

• We track 95 million keywords and 40+ million domains, and use mathematical models to find incredibly detailed information on domains and companies in general.

• This gives us a very unique insight into exactly this topic. We know what companies spend and where, which of their products are profitable, what ads they buy on Adwords, Adsense, and much more.

Introduction


Stop, look, listen and think


Jumping in


Trial

Error


So, where do we start?

Start by thinking differently. We need to figure out a real approach.


Confidence is the feeling you Confidence is the feeling you havehave

before you fully understand the before you fully understand the situationsituation


Do reconnaissance

1.Identify your real competitors

2.Check what they are doing before you build your list

3.Avoid their mistakes, find holes in their advertising, build from their successes


Identify the competition

Great tools to do this:

Your brain. You or your client is in the industry you're marketing to.

SimilarSites.com – great metrics on websites that share common factors and common visitors, ranked by Similarity Score.

Competitive analysis tools – KeywordSpy, WordTracker, SEMrush, SpyFu, etc.



Grouped by similarity score



Ranked by number of shared visitors


Identify the REAL competition

Transactional vs. Informational Competitors Organic is tough – a blog about skateboarding does not

compete with a website selling skateboards.

Transactional keyword – looking to buy something. “pro skateboards”

Informational keyword – looking to learn about something. “pro skateboarders”


You don't compete with Amazon.com.

Amazon.com “competes” with everybody.


Identify the landscape

Now that you know who to look at, you need to know what to look at.

We'll identify the PPC landscape, and see how we will fit in effectively.

There's a few simple things you can do.


Pro Tip #1If several competitors bid on a keyword, and you don't –

you're missing something.

If a keyword seems really good to you, but none of your competitors bid on it...

there's a reason.


Building a keyword list

Start from a proven foundation


Combining competitors' experience

These three sites have 520 paid keywords in common.


Scooters are lame


Cut out irrelevant information

233 shared AND relevant paid keywords.


Pro Tip #2If a competitor bids on a keyword each month, it converts.

They did the trial and error. You just look for their successes.


Expanding the list

Take the top terms from the previous step, and toss it into Google Trends, limited to Product Search.


Expanding the list


Pro Tip #3

Exact match matters! Do all of your research with exact match keywords.

Singular and plural keywords should be treated as separate keywords.


Why exact match?

In this presentation, I've focused on PPC. For example, we find that “buy pro skateboards” converts more than “buy a pro skateboard”

If it looks like plural converts way more than non plural, make sure you're bidding on plural.


Why exact match?

Because Google Keyword Tool is a salesman.


Why exact match?Setting Google Keyword Tool for Exact match is simple.


Why exact match?

You need to accurately compare keywords against each other, without overlapping volume.

How to compare apples to oranges?

Use exact match... they share broad match volume.


Mergewords.com


KeywordEye.co.uk


KeywordToolDominator.com


Check everything in GKT


Recap – the Idea

Know your competitors

Steal your competitors' experience

Use tools to build smart keyword lists

Transactional vs. Informational keywords


Recap – the Idea

Always use [Exact] match.

Whatever you're planning, someone has done something comparable.

Don't always trust Google. Remember, they want you to bid on as many keywords as possible.


Recap – The Tools

Use your competitors' experience! Here are the tools I covered:

SimilarSites.com – Find out who your real transactional competitors are by shared visitors.

SEMrush.com – Find out what PPC keywords are successful for your competitors, and use them.

MergeWords.com – Quickly get combinations of keywords, great for localizing.


Recap – The Tools

Use your competitors' experience! Here are the tools I covered:

KeywordToolDominator.com – Find purely transactional keyword using Amazon, eBay and Google Product Search suggestions.

KeywordEye.co.uk – Find out what PPC keywords are successful for your competitors, and use them.

Google Keyword Tool – Of course, check everything in GKT! Don't trust any one third-party tool 100%

Thank you!Sean Malseed

@semrush

@seanmalseed

pr.semrush.com/londonFree month of Agency level service:

the death of trial & error

Technology