what in-house seo and ppc teams can learn from each other by mark munroe and evan waters
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M A R K M U N R O E : @ M A R K E M U N R O E , M A R K M U N 9 9 @ G M A I L . C O M
E V A N W A T E R S : @ P P C B R O , W A T E R S E V @ G M A I L . C O M
In-House SEO And PPC: What You Can Learn From Each
Other, Optimally
About Us
Mark Munroe Director, SEO – Trulia Past sites: MerchantCircle, UsedCars.com, EverydayHealth,
Whattoexpect.com, SideStep (now part of Kayak), PeopleSmart @markemunroe Blog: www.seoradar.com, www.afterpanda.com Email: [email protected] Up until last month, worked at Inflection with Evan
Evan Waters Search Marketing Manager, Inflection PPC Consultant for B2B and B2C companies Founder of Festival Transportation Business @PPCBro, blog: www.PPCBro.com Email: [email protected]
SEO Headache: Understanding the impact of on-page changes
Can SEM help?
SEO Experiments
• My Goal: test page changes across various long-tail templates to test impact on rankings, click-through, conversions.
• Small changes can make a significant difference (keywords, modifiers, calls to action).
• However, impact can be positive or negative. I want wins only! • What can SEM do to help?
SEM – Split Testing Infrastructure
Version A
Split Testing for SEO
SEM at Inflection has developed a sophisticated split-testing infrastructure.
The goal for SEM is purely monetization.
With some modifications, I have been able to use their methodology and infrastructure for SEO testing against long-tail pages.
SEO Split Test
For SEM – all versions run against the same URL.
For an SEO long-tail test, I need the specific URLs to consistently render the same test version so Google’s cache remains consistent for the time period of the test.
I define my different tests based on URL structure, so the webserver dynamically determines which version to server.
Example Title Test
“[keyword] | Find [modifier] [modifier] [modifier]”
Or specifically “[first name] [last name] Find Phone Number, Address & Email”
Things to test: Is the action verb (Find) hurting due to it’s prominent position
in the title?
Would I be better off attaching the primary keyword to a modifier?
What would be the impact of switching the order of the modifier?
Will an exact match with an H1 help or hinder due to over-optimization?
Test Results
We trigger an event for a landing on each different version. (Event can then be used to create segments).
We analyze the impact on rankings across all versions and control.
We analyze traffic, conversion, UX metrics and monetization across all versions and control.
Conclusion
By applying the same type of methodical split-tests typically done in an SEM organization, I am able to improve traffic and conversions on the organic traffic.
I can take known winners from SEM and apply to organic traffic to get conversion boosts while mitigating SEO risks.
In this case, my sample case, I achieved a 12% increase monetization by removing the action verb.
SEO Headache: Identifying Content Initiatives
To increase organic traffic – I am always looking for content initiatives, particularly long-tail.
The challenge: a long-tail content initiative is a lot of work! Need to quantify the potential before hand.
Content Initiatives? Can SEM Help?
SEM uses phrase match and broad match to effectively target long-tail searches.
Examining existing SEM campaigns reveal potential long-tail SEO opportunities.
SEM can also be a testing ground for brand new long-tail opportunities with test campaigns.
SEM uses tokenization tool to identify multi-word modifiers
SEO Headache: Increasing $$$ via Improved Clickthrough
SEO is not just about traffic but ultimately revenue.
SEO spends little time optimizing meta descriptions for better clickthrough (data in WebMaster Tools is suspect).
SEM and Optimized Ad Copy
SEM spends an extensive amount of time testing ad copy and sitelinks to optimize revenue.
Working together with SEM team, I can test out optimized meta descriptions to see if I can push traffic up independent of rankings.
Headlines can also help with optimizing titles for clickthrough (being mindful of traffic impacts).
From Keyword List to Content Plan
TopSEM Converting keywords
Organized them into a related groups
Each group became a content Hub
Hub is a good destination page and collection of
articles.
SEO/SEM Headache: Branded Search
I need to control the organic search results for branded search (promoting positive results).
SEO/SEM Challenge: Reputation Management
Challenge: Present a positive brand experience for a branded search term.
SEM needs SEO to control the organic results and push down negative results.
SEO needs SEM to control as much space as possible.
Social can help us both by taking up additional white space.
Can SEM Help with Branded Search?
SEM campaigns aimed at branded search can indeed help by controlling content above the fold with branded ads, further pushing down negative results.
SEM utilizes various ad extensions to elongate its presence
SEM can buy media on negative brand sites and in email inboxes to help control the message
SEO Headache
What Content To Use For Ambiguous Queries
Understand Intent on Ambiguous Search
What should a landing page consist of for ambiguous brand searches?
Reviews? Products? Customer Service?
Use sitelink extensions to find out!
SEM Headache
Grow ROI and Meet CPA Target
Monetization Problems
Define KPIs Profit, Conversions, Brand Exposure?
Not every keyword will be profitable
Determine best channel for profitability If at first PPC fails, SEO may succeed!
How Does Your Company Value Sales?
Few ConversionsHigh Profit
Many ConversionsNegative Profit
SEO For Poor CVR Keywords
SEM Headache
Drive New Campaigns to Profitability Quickly
How Can I Pre-Empt Wasted Spend?
Create content before running PPC campaigns
Utilize organic traffic queries to mine for negatives
Cheaper than doing keyword discovery through broad keywords
SEO Queries for PPC Negatives
SEM Headache
Grow Incremental Conversion Volume
Find New Traffic Sources
Good marketers segment efficiently
Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves
Check SEO data for PPC Geo Expansions
Don’t stop now!
Google Trends
Don’t stop at your own SEO report
Google Trends for GEO research
Event-Based Marketing Headache
When is the best time to spend our scarce resources?
When is the best time to create content?
Leverage Data to Plan Channels
For time-sensitive events, it is important to know where your customers are when and what they are thinking
How does query intent change as the event gets closer?
What does the purchase time line look at?
How does that data fit in with company planning?
Find Your Sweet Spot
SEM Headache
Achieving High Quality Score Through Landing Page Testing
Learning From Panda
Google favors results—duh!
Don’t make the user repeat search on site
SEO Focus on User Experience
In the Post-Panda world, SEO @ Inflection we developed a strong focus on the User Experience. Happy users from Google = good SEO!
We leverage user tests and survey tools (Survey Monkey, Qualaroo) to develop a deep understanding of why users came to different sections of our site.
SEM can leverage that data and use that insight to improve conversion: develop a deeper understanding of the user test alternate messaging based on user survey data and user testing market different products
SEM Headache
Image Ads Are Expensive with Last Click Attribution
Grow Sales With View-Throughs
What is the value of a View-Through?
Google Insights Study Expensive
Public Service Announcement Test Try Competitor Research Test
Attribution Model
Take Credit When It’s Due
Even More Evidence
Brand Spend For 1 Month
Cut Spend Entirely
Effect on Direct Traffic?
45% increase in direct traffic during test month
Don’t Trust Models?
Last Click Attribution
View-Throughs at 10%?
Avg CPC Cost Conv CPA View Throughs
$1.00 $3,000 100 $30 500
Avg CPC Cost Conv CPA View Throughs
$1.00 $3,000 150 $20 500
SEO & SEM Together is Money!
1 + 1 DOES NOT EQUAL 2
New Report in AdWords query performance reports demonstrate that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts!
What synergies are there for the two channels?
Is there a difference between brand and non-brand?
Brand Synergies
192% higher CTR on our paid ads when an organic listing was also present.
637% higher CTR on our organic listings when an ad was also present
Data is normalized to AD = 1.00%
Non-Brand Synergies
66% higher CTR on our paid ads when an organic listing was also present.
92% higher CTR on our organic listings when an ad was also present
Data normalized to AD CTR = 1.00%
Paid v Organic Case Study
Found top query without any ads running
Created exact match keyword and ad
Bid high to ensure impression share
39% Increase in CTR
0
0.5
1
1.5
CTR
Pre-Test
Test
SEO/SEM Working Together
• Organizationally, SEM reports to marketing and SEO reports to product• This is typical and can lead to limited informational sharing
of ideas• Regular cross team meetings where review of current campaigns
and strategies as well as new initiatives is key to establishing open communication between groups.
Thank You
Mark Munroe Director, SEO – Trulia
@markemunroe
Blog: www.seoradar.com, www.afterpanda.com
Email: [email protected]
Evan Waters Search Marketing Manager – Inflection
@PPCBro
Blog: www.PPCBro.com
Email: [email protected]