Sean MalseedStrategic Development

@seoquaketeam

@seanmalseed

Time/Date Room

Introduction

• Why is SEMrush qualified to talk about how to be a PPC spy?

• Simple: it's what we do for a living.

• 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 Facebook, and much more.

How to be a

… well, a lazy spy, behind a computer.

Capital One Direct Mail

Capital One Direct Mail

Three options to apply:

1. Apply online

2. Over the phone

3. Snail mail application

Capital One Direct Mail

Three options to apply:

1. Apply online

2. Over the phone

3. Snail mail application

What information is hidden here?

Capital One Application URL

Keyword Popularity (GKT)

Let's type that URL into Google Keyword Tool as an exact match keyword.

Keyword Popularity (GKT)

Let's type that URL into Google Keyword Tool as an exact match keyword.

In a given month, 22,200 people type the application URL into a Google search query, as if it were a keyword.

Imagine we compete with Capital One

As a competitor, we've also run a direct mail campaign. During our campaign, our results were:

Online responses were 70% of all referrals

Calls to our phone bankcomprised 20%

The remaining 10% came from snail mail.

Imagine we compete with Capital One

40% of our online respondents reached our application URL by typing it into a Google search bar.

Imagine we compete with Capital One

40% of our online respondents reached our application URL by typing it into a Google search bar.

So, if 40% of Capital One's response = 22,200...

22,200 customers uncovered via Google Keyword Tool

If 22,200 = 40% of Capital One's online responses, then 100% of online responses is 55,500

If online responses are 70% of the total responses, then 100% of the total responses are 79,285 from online, phone & snail mail.

If 10% of responses came through snail mail, Capital One saw 7,928 snail mail responses.

Italian Charms… to Sell or not to Sell?

Search Trends

Total Advertising Budget

That's so 2004.

What We Work With

Chase's Consumer Card

Chase Rewards Budget vs. Business

Chase Rewards Budget vs. Business

Chase is banking on their Business Card

General Overview

General Overview

General Overview

What's the point?

Changes to the industry are visible in the search and PPC data, in a very big way.

Even those not in the industry can piece together a very accurate picture of what happened to these companies.

It's internal and confidential company information – that they can't help but make visible.

Decisions Based on Data

New Product: Piercing Tools?

Another New Product: Temporary Tattoos

How to Make the Decision

Investment Revenue Decision

Piercing Tools $25,000 $45,000 YES!

Temporary Tattoos

$25,000 Unknown* TBD

Key Question: is revenue significantly greater than $25,000?

Trends: New Product Budget Changes

Q: Why else do you need to spy on your competitors?

Q: Why else do you need to spy on your competitors?

A: Because your competitors are already spying on you.

The tracking URL is track.searchignite.com =>The domain is owned by http://www.ignitionone.com

We should call IgnitionOne

Who Capital One Works With

Amazon’s AdWords Budget

• Spying on your competitors reveals real, actionable data.

• Whatever you're planning for the future, someone else has done something similar, or comparable, in the past.

• Use tools to minimize your risk by looking at what your competitors have done, and checking their results.

RECAP:

RECAP:

• Why do something with trial and error, if you can watch your competitors do it instead? Learn from their mistakes, and use only their successes.

• Before you get involved with a product, you need to answer a yes or no question – is it worth it?

• Define the above simply as “will my revenue exceed my investment in a meaningful manner?”

RECAP:

• If a competitor increases an ad budget for a product month over month, or even keeps it steady – they are seeing a meaningful return.

• If more than one competitor is paying for a keyword, chances are this keyword converts.

• The buzzword is usually “low hanging fruit” - competitive research tools are here to help make sure that fruit is ripe.

Thank you!

pr.semrush.com/austin

Sean MalseedStrategic Development

@seoquaketeam

@seanmalseed