South Florida Web Marketing Blog

From SearchEngineWatch.com

When AdWords advertisers place a phone number in their ad copy, the phone number will be clickable by default, Google has announced. Advertisers will be charged the same rate as their standard PPC when users call through the advertisement.

The Added Features

Google has been offering a click-to-call feature for AdWords since January 2010.

Previously, AdWords users who placed a phone number in their ad copy could only get a call if the searcher entered the number manually. Now, the phone numbers inside the creative are clickable by default.

Additionally, advertisers can view details on the performance of the clickable number by looking at the “click type” campaign segment of their campaign reporting.

In some ways, the added features are redundant. Advertisers can already set up a location and click-to-call extension in AdWords, getting a third line of text in their ad copy that gives a clickable phone number.

As with the new clickable numbers in the standard creative, the click-to-call extensions charge the same as the standard PPC price when users click on the number.

The click-to-call extension also offers a few extra features, with the most notable being that your number appears on its own line of text. The click-to-call extension also allows call-only creatives, in-depth metrics reporting, and vanity numbers.

3 Benefits of Note

So where’s the benefit for adverisers in the clickable numbers in the standard creative?

• Advertisers can add their phone number without having to set up the extension, saving time and removing the learning curve.
• Advertisers will be able to experiment with different ad creatives, examining exactly how the use of a phone number in their ad impacts the success of their campaign, website, and business.
• Advertisers will be able to gain greater control over where their number appears in the creative, allowing experimentation with specific placement to maximize calls.

To take advantage of the clickable numbers, you need only insert your phone number in a standard format inside your ad copy.

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from Eva-News

You can find just 12 effortless steps to follow straightforward Look for Engine Optimization for SEO starters, expertise and in-depth knowledge of these steps can take in you for the expert level as well, this article has just an overview in the uncomplicated SEO.

1. Search and pick proper keywords to target

Collect the firm terms Check keywords relevancy with market and conversion Check competition Check count on term tracker and Overture Make estimate targeted visitors chart utilizing Google Adwords Distribution of keywords on the basis of their weight

2. Effective post Title Tags

Title tag may be the most crucial tag, virtually all look for engines evaluate webpage with title tag and verify the relevancy with other issues of the article as well, and research engines also offer results of a search by displaying webpage titles as links during the very first line of each query result.

3. Potent and optimized META Description Tag

Description tag stands out as the incredibly crucial tag, search engines take webpage description through this tag, though search engines don’t give any value to this tag in their ranking algorithms but this tag can lead searchers to motivate and visit your website.

4. Highly effective and optimized META Keywords Tag

Keywords tag has lost its value, research engines hold getting smarter, they’ve set their personal criterion to identify internet pages with their relevancies, they consume each term as “keyword phrase” which is presented at webpage and they maintain those words in priorities with their densities. There is no harm in utilizing this tag for marginally better results.

5. Integrate search keywords within Internet site copy

Since a really early stage of look for engine revolution, look for engines were able to evaluate site with relevance to their content, while they had been not quite efficient and intelligent like they are these days, but they were able to read the content at website and content even now plays really essential role in top ranking positions.

6. Web type points to avoid ensuring your internet site is look for engine compatible

Usually a website is developed keeping few points in mind for example user friendliness, attractive design, beautiful flash animation, easy navigation, buyer particular or function oriented. Actually all these points are extremely fascinating and significant but what benefit is your internet site if it has no visitors, look for engine compatible websites are designed and developed keeping look for engine policies and algorithms in mind, which enable sites to be quickly crawled and understood by look for engines.

7. Potent Alt Image attributes

Alternate text generally called Alt, is a text description that will be added on the HTML tag that displays an image. The ALT text is displayed by the browser as soon as the cursor is moved more than the picture. If pictures are turned off during the browser, the Alt text is automatically displayed instead.

8. Strong and optimized text navigation menus

Navigation is a very critical component of any website; it gives guidelines to web site traffic and directs them to relevant component in the website.

9. Link titles and anchor link effectively

Link title is displayed text by the browser as soon as cursor is moved more than the link.

An Anchor link is really a small several from a hyperlink, a hyperlink directs to a complete webpage but anchor link directs to a particular area of a particular webpage, it can be at exact same write-up or various write-up or even at various domain.

10. Set up research engine friendly internet site architecture

A Website’s info architecture can greatly affect on its search engine visibility. Particular document elements, just like the web site navigation scheme, and model technologies, such as CSS and JavaScript, can interfere with search engines potential to spider a site.

11. Creation of research engine friendly sitemap

A internet site map helps targeted visitors navigate large, hard sites by showing its entire structure. It is also used as a master diagram from the Internet site for Web designers.

12. Robots.txt and its META tag

Robots.txt is really a file placed on your server to help the many search engine spiders not to crawl or index particular sections or pages of the site. It is possible to use it to prevent indexing totally, prevent particular areas of one’s website from getting indexes or to problem individual indexing instructions to particular look for engines.

Quick SEO Guide! 12 Steps of Look for Engine Optimization Procedure – Check Out seo guide and seo technology

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2011-10-28 19:17:24 (GMT) (Caymanmama.com – Business Mesothelioma News News)

10/26/2011 // New York, NY, USA // Rene Perras…… Le Buzz // Rene Perras

New York, NY (Attorney SEO News) — All too often law firms are given a sales pitch for additional marketing services from another lawyer marketing company than the one they currently retain. It’s easy for law firms to think that the more efforts they employ to reach new clients the better. But, that isn’t completely accurate—in fact, “too many cooks can spoil the broth.”

In some cases, marketing agencies that only specialize in one marketing tactic, like pay-per-click (PPC), don’t always think about how their PPC campaign will affect another agency’s SEO efforts, resulting in a negative impact. This is why we advise law firms to hire one lawyer marketing firm that is experienced in creating lawyer Web marketing campaigns that encompass several attorney marketing strategies. The problem is, Internet marketing companies don’t often speak to one another, and aren’t necessarily aware how their marketing plan may affect your other marketing efforts.

For example, one of these tactics that could harm your whole SEO campaign is the creation of microsites or landing pages.

Microsites are a commonly used PPC tactic used by many of the major online marketing groups like the Yellow Pages and FindLaw. But lawyers beware; this technique to help generate traffic could actually damage your attorney SEO campaign.

A microsite, also known as a landing page, minisite or weblet, is created to target a niche market and act as a supplement to the primary website. These are often created for specific Web marketing campaigns, especially keyword targeting. For example, lawyers often create microsites for pharmaceutical litigation in order to target potential clients who were injured from taking the prescription drug. Once the potential lawsuits are over and the defective device or drug is no longer in play for litigation, that particular microsite can be taken down, without hurting their lawyer website SEO and rankings.

Microsites are tools that are used to help secure clients, but they can actually quickly destroy any future chance of acquiring cases. This is because many Web marketing companies don’t supply new and fresh content on each microsite, which leads to duplicate content and lost rankings. Many lawyer SEO companies claim that their microsites are on a proxy server, which prevents Google from crawling those sites—eliminating the threat of duplicate content. But can they really guarantee that Google won’t crawl them? No, not necessarily.

As I have stated before in “Law Firm SEO: Duplicate Content is Sure Fire Way to Kill Lawyer Website Rankings,” having duplicate content not only diminishes your credibility if someone else finds the same content on another website, it will hinder search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Fresh, new and relevant content is the key to creating visibility, establishing authority and boosting your lawyer website to page one of Google.

If you’re going to use microsites, make sure you look after your own interests because no one else will. Ensure it is in writing that your law firm microsites are going to have fresh and new content, not re-purposed or recycled content as that will only hurt your efforts. In addition, always approve the design and content prior to launch.

But, if you decide to leave the lawyer SEO marketing company that supplied your microsites, make sure that they are taken down before you try a new approach to Internet marketing and have your former lawyer marketing agency put it in writing. Then do due diligence and monitor, and keep checking those sites to ensure they have been properly taken down so that they don’t pop up unannounced. This will insure your online investment and hopefully mitigate any possible negative impact.

In addition, have an accounting done of your current lawyer search engine results pages so that you can keep tabs on how well your lawyer website continues to rank.

In the end, it’s advised that you only hire one lawyer SEO marketing company to implement your law firm marketing campaign, rather than multiple firms. This will eliminate the threat of different marketing tactics negatively affecting one another.

About the author:

For over 20 years, attorney SEO specialist Rene Perras has worked with law firms of all legal practices to create successful lawyer marketing campaigns. For a free consultation and more information about lawyer marketing and attorney SEO, please contact Rene Perras at 720-ONE-RENE or visit Cepac.com.

Media Information:

Address: 244 Fifth Ave., New York NY 10001
Phone: 720-ONE-RENE
Url: Lawyer marketing – Rene Perras

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From SearchEngineWatch.com

Most people don’t set fair expectations for a search engine optimization (SEO) effort. I was reminded of this while speaking with a prospect, who asked what kind of a return on investment (ROI) he should expect from his SEO engagement.

“I’m expecting exponential growth, something like 20X the traffic that I’m currently getting,” he told me. “If we can get a number 1 ranking for this one keyword, that should be enough to get us there, don’t you think?”

One Top Ranking Isn’t Enough

Your goal can’t be to rank number 1 on one keyword. That’s not a goal.

What happens if you get the top ranking for your keyword and something happens, such as a major algorithm tweak by Google? You’ve then lost your ranking for that one keyword. What then?

Though everyone has one of those keywords that they salivate over, a solid, long lasting presence in the search engines is one in which your presence is balanced across a number of keywords.

A “goal” should be increasing traffic and – at the end of the day – growing your business (more leads, more sales, and ROI).

SEO vs. Paid Search

Many people find it easy to budget for paid search. They understand the basic premise:

• Spend $1 per click.
• Set a budget of $10,000.
• Get 10,000 clicks for keywords I want to “rank” for.

But what if you could potentially get 20,000 clicks by investing that same $10,000 in SEO rather than PPC advertising? Wouldn’t that be an even better deal?

To be fair, the above example is an over-simplification only intended to make a point. This 20,000 might represent a 10 percent increase in “good” traffic – meaning traffic that’s relevant, converts into a lead or sale, or at least shows some quality measurements (e.g., time on site).

After telling this to the prospect, he paused. “I’ve never really thought about it that way.”

SEO ROI: No Guarantees?

Don’t get me wrong. I understand that SEO is very different than PPC.

With SEO, there are no guarantees. There is the chance that, for whatever reason, you will never realize a solid ROI from SEO. Some of these reasons might include:

• You hired the wrong people/firm for SEO.
• Your IT team can’t do what’s necessary to fix things that will lead to better rankings/traffic.
• You can’t / won’t create content which will lead to rankings/traffic.
• Expectations were out of whack with reality.
• There’s no search volume for the keywords you’re interested in targeting – no amount of number 1 rankings could ever equal ROI.

SEO can be high risk, high reward. When I say “high risk,” I’m not talking about the kind of high risk associated with the possibility of being banned/penalized in the search engines for such tactics as hacking, cloaking, spamming, etc.

My point is that, even given that you work within the search engine’s guidelines, there truly are no guarantees because we don’t own the search engines. Search engines are a third party we have zero control over.

A “Good” ROI on SEO

If you’re investing $10,000 per month in an SEO effort (be it in staff costs or with an agency), you need to get a sense as to what a “good ROI” looks like.

Perhaps you’re one of many who have noticed that cost per click in paid search is getting higher and higher for the keywords that you’ve been targeting. Perhaps it’s gotten to a point where it’s challenging to make a case that the money spent is worth it?

Let’s say that you sell a widget for $100, and you net 30 percent from each sale ($30). If your average cost per click is $1 and you convert 10 percent into a sale, that’s $100 invested in paid search for 100 clicks for a $100 sale in which you netted $30.

Unless you care about the branding value (which I would argue folks should consider, at least a little bit, when they’re looking at valuation of PPC and SEO), that’s not a good ROI. In fact, that’s no ROI. That’s a loss.

What would you need your investment to be for this to pay off? Let’s do some math: out of every 100 visitors, we convert 10 percent into a sale in which we make $30. We would need 3,000 visitors to get 300 sales. Those 300 sales would be worth $30,000 (300 X $100/each) and we would net 30 percent of this ($9,000).

Now we have something to work from.

Do we feel that we could put $7,000/month worth of resources (money/time, etc.) into a SEO effort to help to achieve the goal of gaining 3,000 visitors? Or, perhaps the conversion rate is way off and it’s more like 5 percent?

Perhaps we need 6,000 visitors? Are we willing to fund this “at a loss” (during the initial months of research, etc.) in order to hopefully realize the potential ROI for the months thereafter?

Tools to Help Determine the Value of SEO

Once you’ve mapped out how, and/or if, SEO can drive ROI then you can begin to discuss how much value/opportunity there may be and what the risks and rewards might be.

I’ve mentioned these tools before, but to get a sense of what the potential value of an SEO effort might be, I would recommend SEMRush and SpyFu Recon. There are certainly many other providers which can also help with an opportunity assessment and I welcome readers to comment below and share with others tools that you might use and why you like them.

Save up to $400! Register now for SES Chicago 2011, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place November 14-18. SES Chicago will be packed with sessions, keynotes, exhibitors, networking events, and parties. Learn the latest strategies on PPC management, keyword research, SEO, social media, local, mobile, link building, duplicate content, multiple site issues, video optimization, site optimization, usability and more. Early bird rate expires October 21!

From SearchEngineWatch.com

Signed in Google users around the world can now help Google figure out which sites aren’t helpful or useful. When users block a site, Google now incorporates this data into the periodic Panda updates to better highlight “high quality” content.

Google announced that on “most” Google domains, you should now see a note underneath or next to the URL (“Block all example.com results”) when you click the back button and return to Google’s search results.

For example, if you stumble across a lousy website that borrows your content, such as www.falconeconsultdesign.com, now you can hit the back button and ban them from ever showing up in your results again (that headline sure seems familiar…).

After a poof, the results are gone, and Google tells you they won’t show you results from that domain again. If you blocked the wrong result, you can quickly undo it by clicking the Undo link.

You’re also given the option to manage your blocked sites from a dashboard listing how many sites you’ve blocked, the date, the search that prompted the block, and the option to undo it if, for some reason, you want the bad results returned to Google.

This ability to block sites was introduced in March, but it wasn’t until Panda rolled out globally that Google began using blocked site data from this and their Chrome Personal Blocklist extension as a ranking signal.

Will non-U.S. blocked sites become a ranking signal? It seems likely, and Google says “they may experiment” with it in the future.

Save up to $400! Register now for SES Chicago 2011, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place November 14-18. SES Chicago will be packed with sessions, keynotes, exhibitors, networking events, and parties. Learn the latest strategies on PPC management, keyword research, SEO, social media, local, mobile, link building, duplicate content, multiple site issues, video optimization, site optimization, usability and more. Early bird rate expires October 21!

From SearchEngineWatch.com

All too often SEO professionals end up meeting with people who don’t understand the industry but have been told to get an agency on board. It can be a challenge to pitch the explanation at the right level – informing without alienating, and explaining without patronizing.

The results of a survey of agencies and clientson SEO priorities, expectations, and decision-making, which were presented at BrightonSEO in the UK last week, were very interesting. For example, clients value link metrics in very different ways to SEOs – such as considering domain authority to be a less important than anchor text, where naturally SEOs disagreed.

Unfortunately, our industry can still get a bad reputation and doesn’t always attract the most diplomatic of individuals. This can result in complaints about rude or incompetent SEO agencies when actually there’s just been a miscommunication.

Here are my tips to working with clueless customers without offending or patronizing them. We’ve all encountered people in this industry who fail to stick to these.

Consider Your Tone At All Times

If you’re dealing with a customer who really doesn’t get it, it can be frustrating.

But it’s essential to be aware of your tone and to make sure that you never sound negative.

Remember that a confused customer is also likely to be frustrated and will be listening out for any indication that you’re patronizing or sneering at them.

Don’t be tempted to make jokey remarks to colleagues or scoff at a simple question. Your customer may well be feeling sensitive.

Don’t Dumb Down

When dealing with a completely uninformed customer, you obviously won’t be able to explain the complexities of your SEO work in huge depth. Neither you nor your client will benefit.

But don’t skip over the simple facts if your client needs to know them, however basic they seem to you. Conversely, don’t ever be tempted to miss important information out because it’s too complicated. If your client needs to know, they need to know.

If you miss out relevant information then you risk your customer hearing it from another source or reading it online. That could leave you looking deceitful or incompetent.

Your Customer Isn’t Always Right

Clueless customers are sometimes the most enthusiastic and will take the time to read up on SEO online. Unfortunately, there’s so much bad advice out there that they may ask you to adopt ill-advised tactics.

Remember that they’ve hired your agency because they need your expertise and be firm in rejecting bad ideas.

Don’t ever let an ill-informed customer force you to adopt a bad idea. They might be the one paying but they won’t pay you for long if you let them adopt the wrong tactics. It also won’t do much for your professional reputation!

Show Your Enthusiasm

Words like “algorithm” and acronyms like SERPs can be bewildering to outsiders – but everyone understands enthusiasm.

If you’re excited about the results you’re seeing, then make sure your customer knows. Don’t send a boring, formal email – pick up the phone and communicate your excitement.

Enthusiasm is infectious and your customer will soon become more excited about the SEO project if you are.

Keep Communicating

Some clients need less nurturing than others. However, a customer who doesn’t fully understand the work you’re undertaking will usually need their hand-holding.

Make sure you’re in regular contact with this kind of customer. If they don’t fully understand the value of what you’re doing, then you need to regularly remind them of the your hard work.

Instead of monthly reports and figures, offer them weekly updates. Spend more time meeting up with them than normal and make sure they can get hold of a member of your team whenever they want.

This strengthens your professional relationship, highlights the work you’re undertaking, and gradually increases the customer’s awareness of SEO and its benefits.

Image Credit: Nina Matthews

Save up to $400! Register now for SES Chicago 2011, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place November 14-18. SES Chicago will be packed with sessions, keynotes, exhibitors, networking events, and parties. Learn the latest strategies on PPC management, keyword research, SEO, social media, local, mobile, link building, duplicate content, multiple site issues, video optimization, site optimization, usability and more. Early bird rate expires October 21!

From SearchEngineWatch.com

Google has invested an additional $75 million in solar panel financing, this time partnering with Clean Power Finance. The funding allows homeowners to rent equipment through local vendors for a low monthly rate.

Despite the long-term benefits, both in lower financial costs and the warm fuzzies provided by going green, most homeowners can’t afford solar panels. The reason is simple: they cost upward of $25,000 to purchase and install. It’s this up-front cost barrier that Google aims to tear down.

How? Google has invested $75 million into a financing fund with Clean Power Finance. Those funds are used to purchase the solar equipment, which Google then officially owns. Homeowners can work with local solar vendors to rent this equipment, paying a set monthly cost that may in some cases be lower than the amount the homeowner saves in utility costs.

While this move certainly contributes to a green cause, Google will also be getting a return on their investment. As noted by the Associated Press, Google will get “the monthly fee from homeowners, and, as the owner of the systems, Google will get the benefit of federal and state renewable energy subsidies.”

“We’re excited to be one of the first investors to partner with Clean Power Finance and enable the company to continue forging strong relationships with solar installers,” read the official Google statement. Google notes that, combined with a similar solar financing investment made earlier this year in SolarCity, Google’s funds will “help more than 10,000 homeowners generate clean electricity from the sun.”

Beyond that previous financing investment of $280 million earlier this year, Google has also contributed to solar, wind, and geothermal power across the globe. Their efforts on the solar front extend all the way back to 2006, when the Googleplex got its own solar panels.

With the $75 million put toward Clean Power Finance’s efforts, Google has now invested a total of more than $850 million in clear power.

Save up to $400! Register now for SES Chicago 2011, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place November 14-18. SES Chicago will be packed with sessions, keynotes, exhibitors, networking events, and parties. Learn the latest strategies on PPC management, keyword research, SEO, social media, local, mobile, link building, duplicate content, multiple site issues, video optimization, site optimization, usability and more. Early bird rate expires October 21!

Posted by Christina Chen, Product Manager – Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Webmaster level: All

Earlier this year we announced a limited pilot for Search Engine Optimization reports in Google Analytics, based on Search queries data from Webmaster Tools. Thanks to valuable feedback from our pilot users, we’ve made several improvements and are pleased to announce that the following reports are now publicly available in the Traffic Sources section of Google Analytics.

• Queries: impressions, clicks, position, and CTR info for the top 1,000 daily queries
• Landing Pages: impressions, clicks, position, and CTR info for the top 1,000 daily landing pages
• Geographical Summary: impressions, clicks, and CTR by country

All of these Search Engine Optimization reports offer Google Analytics’ advanced filtering and visualization capabilities for deeper data analysis. With the secondary dimensions, you can view your site’s data in ways that aren’t available in Webmaster Tools.

To enable these Search Engine Optimization reports for a web property, you must be both a Webmaster Tools verified site owner and a Google Analytics administrator of that Property. Once enabled, administrators can choose which profiles can see these reports.

If you have feedback or suggestions, please let us know in the Webmaster Help Forum.

Posted by Christina Chen, Product Manager

From SearchEngineWatch.com

Michael Degusta at The Understatement posted a fun study yesterday on how little Google’s management team actually use their Google+ service. These managers need to stand behind their product, he says, and Facebook’s management are “far more active on their public feeds than Google is on theirs.”

I completely agree… except for that part about Facebook sharing information publicly. Welcome to my own fun little study, called “Facebook Execs Sharing Publicly on Facebook (or not).”

This is completely unscientific, but here’s what I did: Took the 12 execs listed on Facebook’s bio section on their website. Searched for them on Facebook, looking for People and Pages, and filtering down to Palo Alto as their location and Facebook as their employer when they were a lot of results. Used my patented facial recognition technology (my eyeballs) when identity was in doubt. Counted their public posts from June 2011 to October 5 (today). Made a little spreadsheet and then an infographic, because we all like visual aids.

You can even try this at home.

Facebook Execs Not Embracing Public Sharing

This is going to shock you and rock the technology world, but Facebook executives aren’t sharing a whole lot of their personal information publicly, either. Some don’t even seem to have Facebook accounts. One has everything set to private. Welcome to my pie chart infographic:

*Note: Please do not judge me on my pie-chart making skills. Believe it or not, I don’t do this professionally and I’m actually quite sensitive.

Not too many of them average more than four public posts a month in the time I checked, from June til today. Does this mean they’re not using Facebook? Possibly. I really don’t know. Do you? The ones without accounts could be using fake names. Who knows?

We can’t really determine how often Google or Facebook executives use their own services if they’re doing so privately. I do agree with Degusta that it would instill more public confidence if, while they’re telling us to share the music we listen to, where we eat, who we date, and what we’re reading, they would do the same.

This applies for all social media companies networks, not just Google+.

What About Mark Zuckerberg?

A few days ago, Mark Zuckerberg responded within minutes to a Facebook user post about himself by a guy who said, “In the same way drug dealers don’t use the product they sell, I doubt Zuckerberg is on Facebook all day. Visionaries don’t idle online.”

Zuckerberg showed that indeed, they do, by responding, “No, I really do use Facebook all day long.”

Oh, snap! It’s like that Bloody Mary game you played in front of the mirror as a kid… spin around three times chanting, “Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg…” and he will appear.

But is he using it the way he expects you or I to use it? With a total of 13 public posts in the last four months, not a chance. Most of the Google and Facebook executives do not use their products in the way they want you to use them.

They’re watching and listening, though… oh yes, they are.

Raw data:

What About Larry, Sergey, and Eric?

Google’s triumvirate of Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt have shown little use of the new product and Schmidt doesn’t even have an account. Interestingly, Douglas Edwards, former Googler and author of “I’m Feeling Lucky” about his time with the company, posted to Google+ that many of the executives are just too busy.

“I worked with a lot of these people. They don’t chat. They don’t participate in long threads on company email lists. They don’t write long missives. If they were doing any of those things elsewhere, I’d say it’s a valid criticism, but they’re not,” Edwards wrote. “It does however, indicate why they were so slow to get the importance of social media. It’s not relevant to the way they communicate (on the rare occasions they choose to do so). Google search is as strong as it is because they actually use that product all the time and insist it meets their expectations.”

Frank Watson also contributed to this report.

Save up to $400! Register now for SES Chicago 2011, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place November 14-18. SES Chicago will be packed with sessions, keynotes, exhibitors, networking events, and parties. Learn the latest strategies on PPC management, keyword research, SEO, social media, local, mobile, link building, duplicate content, multiple site issues, video optimization, site optimization, usability and more. Early bird rate expires October 21!

From SearchEngineWatch.com

As we close out our four-part series on the SEO Tactics chart, we touch on the most powerful of all of the pillars – measurement, reporting, and analytics. This is the subject I’m most passionate about as it lies at the core of a solid organic strategy and ultimately the long-term success of an organic program.

It’s striking that there is still such casualness when it comes to the discipline of SEO. There are still a remarkable number of companies that can’t differentiate organic traffic from direct load and referring traffic.

If you’ve managed or been close to paid search campaigns you understand the degree to which measurement and analysis impacts successful efforts. One of the first pieces of advice I give to clients and colleagues is to apply this same mindset to organic search.

Data is useless. Insight, and then action, is the key to advancing your program. This article will highlight some of the more important, and underutilized, metrics that can help you find performance breakthroughs, as well as discuss exactly why it’s so critical that you get this part right.

Justify Your Existence

If you aren’t tracking conversions, then you’re probably in for a short ride. Rankings will only get you so far.

Justifying your retainer (agency) or salary (in-house) is going to be difficult without demonstrating the business impact you are making. We’re talking about revenue, leads and margin – not rankings.

Be persistent about the need to track these metrics before you engage with a company. If the tracking isn’t present and they aren’t willing to put forth the effort to measure these goals, you should pass on the opportunity until the proper tracking is in place.

Understand Causality

Without taking the time to analyze data it becomes incredibly easy to chase your own tail. Chances are you’re putting forth a ton of time, energy, and effort to make an impact on your program.

But what’s really moving the needle and what’s simply an effort of futility? If you find yourself asking this question, slow down half a pace, execute, monitor, measure, and make note (as best you can) of which tactics indeed moved the needle.

Conversions, Then Traffic, Then Rankings

Focusing attention on keywords that have the highest likelihood to convert to a sale or lead isn’t always synonymous with high traffic terms. Spend the time in your analytics package to understand the difference and apply more pressure to keywords that will increase revenue/leads. As mentioned earlier, if you keep your eye on conversion, you have a better chance of keeping your job.

Differentiate Between Brand Non-Brand

In relation to measuring keyword-level conversion (and in proving your value), be sure to clearly differentiate performance of brand and non-brand terms.

Non-brand growth is the leverage point in most programs. If you’re analyzing, or worse presenting, data that is only rolled up as overall organic traffic, it’s possible to be misleading yourself and others. If the overall organic program experienced a 36 percent year-over-year lift in traffic and 14 percent lift in conversions – ask yourself why and where. Was it driven by brand terms as a result of an aggressive offline campaign that is running?

Know why, take credit for your efforts, and be transparent when you’re riding the wave of brand terms. Transparency and honesty go a long way.

External Influences

It’s easy to get caught up in your own site and analytics and forget about external factors that impact your program’s performance. One of the most critical is seasonality. It can impact everything from traffic volume to competitive pressure and conversion rate.

Many verticals have peak seasons, some more dramatic than others. These peaks are sweet spots, and you should be planning around them.

The graph above is an example of peak query volume for a client in the home services vertical. Knowing that 45 percent of the annual query volume occurs within a three-month window is critical knowledge and impacts both what you do and when you do it. Google Insights for Search is a great tool to model this data.

Benchmarks Baselines

Early on in my SEO endeavors I can’t tell you how many times I wished I had a time machine so I could go back and capture benchmarks that I missed as I was begging to work on a program. Live and learn.

Fortunately, you’ll have many of the most critical KPIs captured within your analytics package. Obviously you will want to capture a benchmark of the rankings of keywords you are focused on.

A few suggestions: Use SEMRush to capture a more holistic view of all keywords that are ranking as you begin. You might be surprised at what you find here. Download this, and keep it! Watch the growth in non-brand terms that rank over time. Consider the same for inbound links. It’s a snapshot in time, so be sure to take the picture before you begin. Open Site Explorer makes it easy. Do the same exercise for major competitors so that you can track their velocity versus your own. These all become compelling stories over time.

Track Your Calls

Whether your goal is to be driving leads or revenue, you should be taking credit for organic conversions that are resulting in the call center. More than 90 percent of the businesses we’ve encountered have overlooked this – even in instances where they are tracking call center conversions from paid search.

The technology is there (e.g., ClickPath), and if your business model is reliant on call center activity for conversions, the information available through this tracking typically opens up new opportunities and gives you a much more accurate view on the entirety of the results you’re driving.

This is just a snapshot of some of the tracking and analytics themes that are performance drivers, but certainly not the entire list. I welcome you to add to it through your comments, as your insights can likely help others who find interest in this topic.

And that wraps up our four-part series on Successful SEO Tactics. If you missed them, check out Keyword Selection, On-site Optimization, and Off-site Optimization. Hopefully, you’ve found the information relevant and useful. Good luck in your organic efforts!

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