Melanie Mitchell - Standing Out with SEO: Expert Advice from Melanie Mitchell

Expert Advice from Melanie Mitchell (Collection), 2/e

Melanie Mitchell

Vice President, Publisher: Tim Moore

Associate Publisher and Director of Marketing: Amy Neidlinger

2013 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Publishing as FTPress Delivers

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458

Company and product names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN-10: 0-13-344320-5

ISBN-13: 978-0-13-344320-2

For more information, please contact us at

Better Together

Melanie Mitchell

2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Published by Pearson Education, Inc.
Publishing as FTPress
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458

Company and product names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN-10: 0-13-303880-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-303880-4

For more information, please contact us at

Search engine marketing, or SEM, is a form of digital marketing that seeks to promote web sites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) through the organic search listings (also referred to as natural search or SEO or Search Engine Optimization), paid search listings (also referred to as PPC or Pay Per Click) and also through contextual advertising (also referred to as content targeting or in-text advertising).

Search engine marketing is constantly changing and it can be confusing, especially when getting started. While there are several forms of search engine marketing, there are typically two paths where most marketers spend their time and budgets. Those are paid search and organic search.

Paid search marketing is the process of gaining traffic by purchasing ads on search engines. It is sometimes referred to as CPC (cost-per-click) marketing or PPC (pay-per-click) marketing. Unlike some digital advertising where you pay for impressions, an impression is considered a page view; with PPC search, you only pay if your ad is clicked on.

In a search engine, the paid search ads are usually found at the top, bottom, and right-hand side of the search engine results page, often denoted by sponsored listings or ads (as shown in ).

Figure 1. Highlighted example of where paid search ads are typically located within the SERP

Paid search marketing continues to be the largest investment area for digital advertising (as shown in ) mainly due to its targeted nature and because it can be tracked from click to conversion.

Figure 2. Paid search 2012 spending expected to reach $19.8B, up 12.4% YOY with no slowdown in sight

Organic search are the listings that are not paid for by advertisers. These listings are determined by the search engines algorithms for finding, sorting, and ranking pages based on relevancy. To increase visibility in organic search, people optimize their web pages (called search engine optimization or SEO).

It is important to understand where you should focus your time and efforts for long term gain, since time is clearly better spent on a more balanced SEO approach than trying to game the system with spam tactics.

When you break it down, the attributes considered quality by a search engine are fairly obvious:

The page is relevant to the keyword(s) being searched for.

The page has good, useful content.

The page is considered an authority about its topic.

The page doesnt have a bunch of broken links.

The page loads quickly.

Search marketing has long been a primary source from which companies generate leads. According to September 2011 data from Webmarketing123, 82.2% of B2B marketers and 75% of B2C U.S. marketers said search-related tactics including paid search and SEO were top online marketing tactics for generating leads. SEO continues to be the most impactful source when it comes to generating these leads (see ).

Figure 3. SEO continues to be a top source for generating leads for B2B and B2C

Lead generation helps companies focus on identifying new prospects with the goal of converting them into new customers. For companies with longer sales cycles, often those selling B2B or high-value B2C products, lead generation is essential to keep the sales pipeline continually stocked.

When it comes to SEO and PPC marketing, there are pros and cons to both. Looking at digital spend data or lead generation data by itself doesnt tell the full story of where it makes sense for you to focus your efforts or why. The question then becomes why focus on one over the other or does it make sense to do a bit of both? Before we jump into the benefits of SEO and PPC working better together, lets explore the advantages of each.

Paid search or pay-per-click is what it sounds likeyou pay the search engine when your ad is clicked on.

There are several advantages to running a paid search program, such as:

You show your new messages immediately by setting up a campaign as your campaign(s) typically go live the same day you set them up.

This can be good for increased visibility if your organic search ranking is poor or you have a limited time offer or special promotions you want to advertise, or you want to control any negative news that may be out there by taking potential customers to a landing page to provide your point of view.

You stand out to capture the attention of new customers by targeting keywords you may not be easily found under in organic search or set targeting to specific regional or geographic locations specific to where your business serves and/or delivers.

Geographic targeting can be especially helpful if you have a targeted marketplace (for example, a particular country, intercontinental U.S., or a particular state/city/county).

You connect searchers directly from your search ad to the most relevant landing page.

With paid search, you control where you are directing traffic at a keyword level and what landing page serves you best and is most relevant to the search query.

Searchers use both brand and non-brand terms to find information.

Most brands are going to win on ranking well in organic search for their brand terms, but depending on where people are in their journey to find information, they may start with more generic search terms at first. Keep in mind that if they dont find your listing or ads in generic searches, they may not be aware that you also offer what they are looking for, whether it is a product or information.

Driving traffic numbers should never be the absolute goal, but identifying those generic search phrases that have a proven track record of conversion or hitting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can help further grow profitable efforts.