A couple of months ago I had the pleasure of attending an SEM (search engine marketing) luncheon presented by AIMA (Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association). Here are notes from that luncheon. Session Title: AIMA SEARCH SEM 101 ---------------------------------- Presenters: - John Cattarulla of Microsoft: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-cattarulla/4/a08/494 - Mathew Pritchard of Google: http://www.meetup.com/Atlanta-SEMPO/members/9258857/ ---------------------------------- User Search Queries Are Changing Search Queries are getting larger. For example, 6 yrs ago users would typically search general terms like "running shoes". Now users are searching longer queries, often with geographical relations like "running shoes alpharetta ga". Now over 50% of internet users are on broadband (or faster) connections Smart Phone Users (and with other hand held devices), now use Search 50X more than PC users. -------------------- Differences Between SEO & SEM SEM = Search Engine Marketing (paid search) SEO = Search Engine Optimization (natural, organic search) -------------------- Click Thru Marketing CTR = Click Thru Rate As Defined by Wikipedia: "Click-through rate or CTR is a way of measuring the success of an online advertising campaign. A CTR is obtained by dividing the number of users who clicked on an ad on a web page by the number of times the ad was delivered (impressions). For example, if a banner ad was delivered 100 times (impressions delivered) and one person clicked on it (clicks recorded), then the resulting CTR would be 1 percent." -------------------- Push Marketing = Target Marketing Pull Marketing = Search marketing -------------------- Advantages of SEM: - engaged audience - scalable - trackable -------------------- How SEM Works: - advertisers select relevant keywords - users search keywords - search engines rank ads based on relevance - advertisers only pay when ad is clicked on -------------------- Keyword Relevance: - each search engine ranks keyword relevance differently - algorithms change constantly to accomodate evolving artificial intelligence - goal is to deliver the right (best) result -------------------- What Algorithms Look For: - a match with keyword query and text content on a webpage - the ad's click thru history - link popularity of a webpage - overall site quality (content that is search engine optimized) - landing page quality - undisclosed factors (not shared due to propietry) --------------------- How Sponsor Ad Positions are Determined: - by CPC (cost per click) - keyword relevance within the ad's text --------------------- Google encourages advertisers to bid on "short-tail" keywords and "long-tail" keywords. - explain "short" v/s "long" - graph needed to illustrate --------------------- What Advertisers Can Control: - ad copy - their bids - spending level - ad quality score - keyword lists --------------------- What Advertisers Cannot Control: - competitor bids - competitor's ad score - number of competitors - types of competitors ---------------------- SEM Best Practices: - manage brand terms aggressively and rotate copy often - make sure users know that you are the "Official" site - make sure all online and offline promotions are supported with search campaigns - set clear goals with quantitative metrics (ROI, ROAs, brand lift, etc.) - share conversion data with search engines to help optimize the search technology (submitted data helps improve algorithms and quality of search results) ---------------------- Why Should Advertisers Bid on Their Own Brand Terms (v/s relying on organic search alone)? - due to competition - bump competition - control consumer dialogue - control your brand ---------------------- Why Should Advertisers Use Search Engines Other Than Google? - keywords convert differently on different search engines due to differences in alogrithms - search results convert differently on different search engines due to differences in determining keyword relevance ---------------------- Bid on Negative Keywords to Filter Unwanted Click Thrus: - Remember,"You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink." - example: "Runaway Bride" search hurt Blockbuster Video because no one purchased that video, but the CTR (click thru rate) went thru the roof. - advertisers can bid on keywords and assign them to be "negative" to help filter excessive and unwanted click-thrus ---------------------- Bid on Geo-targeted Keywords: - bid on keywords that are related to the business location - example: chiropractor, Atlanta - Google uses Geo-targeting as one factor to determine relevance of a user's search (Google geo-targets search results based on user's IP Address)