L4: SEM & SEO

Correction

• Individual presentation 15% -> 10%

• Should be 20% -> 15%

 Concept Checks

Week 3 – Understanding Digital Consumer Behavior

• Digital Influences

• Consumer Decision Process

• Digital Conversion Funnel (digital AIDA)
• Complexity of Today’s Customer Journey

• STEPPS Model (How to make your content contagious)

 Search Engine &
Search Engine Marketing
 The Importance of Search Engine

• 68% of online experiences start with a search.

• If you are a business that has a website, how do consumers find you
among the hundreds of millions of websites on the Internet?
 Definition of Search Engine

• A web search engine is designed to search for information on the

internet based on keywords.
• The search results are generally presented in a line of results, often
referred to as search engine results pages (SERPs).
 How Does a Search Engine Work?

• Crawling
• Indexing

• Ranking
• Search Engine Result Page

Dave Chaffey and Fiona Ellis Chadwick, Digital Marketing, Pearson

Paid vs. Organic Search

Paid 10% of clicks Organic 90% of clicks

 Paid vs. Organic Search

• Paid search is a type of advertising where website owners pay a fee to

have their websites shown on search engine result pages.
• Also called search ad, CPC (cost-per-click) marketing, PPC (pay-per-click)
marketing (because most are sold on a CPC/PPC basis), search engine marketing
(SEM).

• In organic or unpaid search, the search engine results depend on the

rankings that different websites/webpages receive.
• The ranking depends on the search engine’s algorithm (unknown to the public).
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process that aims to affect the ranking and
visibility of a website/webpage in a search engine’s “organic" or unpaid search
results.
An Example of SEM

If a consumer is in the market for a smart As shown in the “Why these ads?” column at
refrigerator, they might use “smart fridge” as the right, Google used search terms,
a keyphrase in a search. The paid ads interests, and estimations about the
displayed are an example of SEM. consumer’s personal information to decide
SEM results.

Google Search “Why these ads?”

Google Search for "smart fridge”
Google LLC
Google LLC
 Paid Search on GoogleAds

• GoogleAds is a Pay-Per-Click advertising service provided by Google

• Search ad (search engines)
• Display ad (display networks)

• To place an advert on GoogleAds:

• Advertisers specify
• The keywords that should trigger their ads
• The maximum bid they are willing to pay per click
• Other targeting specifications
• Google then determines the advert’s Ad Rank
• If the advert’s Ad Rank is high enough, the ad will show up on the SERP when
triggered by the keyword
• Advertisers pay for the ad based on clicks (cost per click X total number of clicks)
 Ad Rank Determines Whether Your Ad is Displayed

• Higher your Ad Rank, the more likely your ad will win the bidding and be
shown on Google when consumer search for the keywords

• Ad Rank depends on
• Yours and other advertisers’ maximum bids
• The “quality score” of the keywords and adverts

You decide the maximum • Expected CTR

amount you are willing to pay • Ad relevance
per click. • Landing page
Google AdWords Bidding
 Bidding-Model Examples

Bidding model definitions:

Cost per click (CPC): advertiser pays

each time an ad is clicked on
Cost per impression (CPM) or cost
per viewable impression (vCPM):
advertiser pays for impressions or views
Cost per action/acquisition (CPA):
advertiser pays for conversions
Cost per view (CPV): advertiser pays
for video views and related interactions
Adapted from: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2459326.
 Quality Score

• How well your ad match your keywords?

• The quality score depends on keyword relevance, expected click-through-

rate, and landing page quality.
 Quality Score

• Keyword Relevance: As
advertisers, you choose a list of
keywords that would trigger your
ad on the SERP

• Match between keyword and

the search (what customers
search for?)
• Match between keyword and
the ad/website
• Conduct keyword research (tips
in Appendix)
 Quality Score

• Keyword Relevance: An example High relevance to the ad:

Adidias, Samba, Fxxking awesome

High relevance to the search:

Adidas, Shoes

Low relevance to the search:

Fxxking awesome
 Quality Score

• Expected Click Through Rate (CTR): The likelihood that your ad will
be clicked when shown
 Quality Score

• Expected Click Through Rate (CTR): The likelihood that your ad will
be clicked when shown

• Historical click-through rate (CTR) of the keyword and the matched ad.
• A display URL's past CTR. (Remember, the “ad” is your website’s link, being
shown on the Search Result Page).
• The overall CTR of all the ads and keywords for an account.
• See tips for text ads in Appendix
 Quality Score

• Landing Page Quality: how relevant, transparent, and easy-to-

navigate a landing page is

• Give people what they’re looking for

• Keep messaging consistent between the ad and the landing page
• Make your website mobile friendly
• Improve loading speed
 Quality Score

• Each component (CTR, Keyword Relevance, Landing Page) is evaluated

with a status of 'Above average', 'Average' or 'Below average’ by Google.
This evaluation is based on a comparison with other advertisers whose
ads showed for the exact same keyword, over the last 90 days.
 If your ad rank is high enough, your ad is shown!

• GoogleAds will use your keywords to show your ads to people

searching for relevant terms.
Keyword Considerations

Choose the “Best” Words/Phrases to Target

How many competitors are using the

same keywords in their websites (and
who they are, how strong they are)?

How many people search exactly that

term/phrase monthly?

How many people who search a term will

buy from you? How relevant are the key
words to the needs of consumers?
• What are the pros and cons for popular vs. long-tail keywords?

• Example: hats, baseball winter hats, designer baseball hats for boys
Types of Matching
 Other Considerations

Keyword List for Snow Boot Products

When creating a keyword
list, it is important to keep snow boots ladies winter boots
in mind various factors, winter boots buy snow boots
including:
best snow boots buy winter boots
best snow boots for men [brand name] winter boots
• The target consumer best snow boots for [brand name] snow boots
• How they search women

• The targeted stage in the mens winter boots winter boots [brand name]
conversion funnel womens winter boots snow boots [brand name]
 Negative Keywords: Keywords to Exclude

• Negative keywords let

you exclude search
terms from your
campaigns and help you
focus on only the
keywords that matter to
your customers.

• E.g., eyewear company

advertising for glasses;
exclude terms like "wine
glasses" and "drinking
glasses."
Other Targeting Choices
 The Structure of Google Ads

• A/B testing for selecting the best ad copy

Search Ad Copy and Content

Google search for

reusable straws
Google LLC

The parts of a search ad are as follows:

• Display URL (https://www.eco-tribe.com)
• Headline (Reusable Straws | Metal Straw Pack & Wooden Case Set |
Ecotribe)
• Description (Ecotribe Makes Quality, Functional, Environmentally
Conscious…)
• Ad extension These are the blue phrases below the description (Ecotribe
Reusable Straws, The Ecotribe Story, etc.)
 Search Ad Copy and Content (Continued)

There are various types of ad extensions:

• Call extension allows an organization to add a phone number or call button to the search
ad.
• Sitelink extension allows an ad to be augmented with weblinks that take consumers
directly to a specific page such as Ecotribe Reusable Straws.
• Callout extension allows extra text that may present an organization’s unique selling points
or benefits, such as free delivery.
• Price extension allow products and services to be displayed with their prices.
• Location extension show an organization’s location and can be linked to details of the
organization such as business hours.

Google search for

reusable straws
Google LLC
Actual Price Per Click

Ad rank is determined by maximum cost-per-click bid * quality

score.
Search Ad Reports
Presentations
Search Engine Optimization
 Definition of SEO

• Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process to increase the visibility of your
website/webpage in a search engine’s organic or unpaid search results.
• Unlike paid search ads, you can’t pay search engines to get higher organic search
rankings.
• It relies on SEO tactics to improve the search engine ranking of your website.
• It is a reversed engineering process. There are professional SEO service providers.
 Three Elements of SEO

• Although we do not know which specific factors are used in the ranking
algorithm, they can easily be broken down into three main areas:

• Keyword relevance
• Link popularity
• User friendly website structure
 Keyword Relevance

• Use keywords that consumers often search

• Google Trends (free)

• Moz Keyword Explorer
• Wordtracker
• Google Adwords: Keyword Tool (free)
 Keyword Relevance

• Make sure that the keywords are prominently used in titles, URL, and
text, etc.
• Avoid “keyword stuffing” which is often penalized by search algorithms (rule of
thumb: keyword density 1-3% of content).
• A number of SEO tools available online support the computation of keyword
density. For instance, seochat provides a keyword density checker.
 Keyword Relevance

• Use Keyword Synonyms

• Keyword Synonyms: For instance, the word “art” can apply to any of the
different forms of art, for instance visual, dance, music, theatre and so on, and
therefore ambiguous.
• fine art, painting, abstract art, craft, mixed media, water colours, acrylic, oil and so on
• Benefits: The website becomes clearer to ranking algorithms; increases the
potential to rank higher on those synonyms; reduces “keyword stuffing”.
 Link Popularity

• Backlinks: Links that point to your website from external sites

• A “silent” vote of confidence from the site linking to you
 Link Popularity

• Which site do you think would rank higher? Site A or Site B?

Site
Site Site Site 1
1 1 1

Site Site Site Site Site Site

Site
2 5 2 5 2 5 2

Site Site Site Site

A B A B

Site Site Site Site Site Site

4 3 4 3 4 3
 Link Popularity

• Finally, suppose both sites have the same number of backlinks.

However, those websites which link to site A are big websites but those
which link to B are small websites. Then, site A will rank higher in the
search result pages.
Unknown websites
Site Site
yahoo.com
1 1
havarduniversity.edu Unknown websites Unknown websites
facebook.com

Site Site Site Site

5 2 5 2

Site Site
A B
Unknown websites Unknown websites
cuhk.edu.cn united states.gov

Site Site Site Site

4 3 4 3
 Link Popularity

• Overall, to rank higher in the search result page, the website should have more
links, especially the backlinks from trustworthy websites.

• Named after Larry Page, PageRank is a measure for the “authority” of a web page.
It is one of Google’s key metrics for ranking webpages.

Authority (PageRank = size of face) of a page

is proportional to the total size of faces
pointing to it. (Source: Wikipedia)
Link Building

Your site's ranking in Google search

results is partly based on analysis of
those sites that link to you. The
• Ask partners/customers to quantity, quality, and relevance of links
link you influences your ranking.
• Link your website to your --Google
social media accounts Facebook and Twitter pages are
• Be included in directories treated like any other pages in our web
index, and so if something occurs on
and listings of relevant Twitter or occurs on Facebook and
resources we’re able to crawl it then we can
return that in our search results.
-- Google
But… Don’t Overdo It!

Violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines

Avoid…
• Buying or selling links
• Excessive link exchanging
• Linking to web spammers or unrelated sites with the intent to
manipulate PageRank Link scams

• Building partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-

linking
• Using automated programs or services to create links to your
site
Checking Link Popularity (E.g., majestic.com)
User-Friendly Web Structure

• Speed is important! Performance benchmark: 2s (1s for mobile)

• Ways to improve
• Compressing images
• Avoid use redirects

• Well-structured content
• Navigational tool to let consumers know where they are

• Avoid using Flash and pop-ups

 Case Study: IKEA Retail Therapy

• Imagine you were a brand manager of a furniture company. You want to improve your
website’s ranking on the search results pages. What keywords would you target?

• Search engine optimization (SEO) is changing fast and increased competition for
keywords can quickly cause the websites to slip down the search result pages.
- The competition is fiercer for the short-tailed/broad keywords such as
“shoes”, “computers”;
- However, the competition is low for long-tailed/unpopular keywords

• IKEA wanted to find new ways to improve their SEO.

Case Study: IKEA Retail Therapy
 Case Study: IKEA Retail Therapy

• Product feature of IKEA

- IKEA furniture can be linked to any relationship
- The company even has a special name for products that are difficult to assemble: ‘the
husband killer’.

• Also, people often search on Google about relationship problems with keywords
such as:
- “My Partner Snores”
- “How to Stay Married”
- “Ate too many meatballs”
 Case Study: IKEA Retail Therapy

• Results:
Social Boardcasting: Many consumers found
the campaign amusing and shared links to the
“Retail Therapy” products on social media
platforms.

• The campaign successfully used search

to get IKEA’s products seen where they
wouldn’t normally be seen.
• E.g., day bed named “My partner
snores” appeared on the first page for
the search query “My Partner Snores”
Mini Case: Keywords from Competitors?

• We offer fashionable outfits to a customer as she

shops in our online store…

• Is it effective?

• Let the data speak.

Appendix
SEM Analytics (Key SEM Metrics, 1 of 4)

SEM Analytic How to Calculate Examples

Average Cost per Total cost of all clicks Cost = $2.20 (click 1) + $1.25 (click 2)
Click (CPC) Number of clicks + $2.00 (click 3) = $5.45
$5.45
= $1.82 CPC
3
Industry examples:
Legal $6.75
Real Estate $2.37
Technology $3.80
Impressions Number of times a search ad appears on a Industry examples:
search engine in response to a search. Varies widely by industry
Cost per Total cost of all ad impressions Industry examples:
× 1000
Impression (CPM) Number of impressions Varies widely by industry

Sources: Formula calculations are adapted from Google Search Ads (n.d.); The Online Advertising Guide (n.d., n.d.); Google Search Ads 360 Help (n.d.).
Industry-example data come WordStream (2016); WebFX Blog (n.d.); The Online Advertising Guide (n.d.) ; Google Ads Help (n.d.).
SEM Analytics (Key SEM Metrics, 2 of 4)

SEM Analytic How to Calculate Examples

Viewable Number of times at least half of a search ad Industry examples:

impressions is shown for at least one second. Varies widely by industry
Cost per thousand Total cost of all ad impressions Industry examples:
× 1000
viewable Number of viewable impressions Varies widely by industry
impressions
(vCPM)
Average click- Number of clicks 5 clicks
× 100 × 100 = 1% CTR
through rate Number of impressions 500
(CTR) Industry examples:
Auto 4%
Dating and personals 6.05%
Home goods 2.44%
Technology 2.09%
Sources: Formula calculations are adapted from Google Search Ads (n.d.); The Online Advertising Guide (n.d., n.d.); Google Search Ads 360 Help (n.d.).
Industry-example data come WordStream (2016); WebFX Blog (n.d.); The Online Advertising Guide (n.d.) ; Google Ads Help (n.d.).
SEM Analytics (Key SEM Metrics, 3 of 4)

SEM Analytic How to Calculate Examples

Conversion rate The percentage of website visitors who took 100

× 100 = 10%
a desired action. 1000
Industry examples:
Number of desired actions taken Consumer services 9.64%
× 100 Industrial services 3.37%
Number of desired actions
Travel and hospitality 3.55%
Average cost per Total cost of action (conversion) Cost = $20 (action 1) + $40 (action 2)
action (or Total number of actions (conversions) ($20 + $40) $60
= = $30 CPA
acquisition/ 2 2
conversion) (CPA) Industry examples:
Auto $33.52
Consumer services $90.70
Real estate $116.61
Technology $133.52

Sources: Formula calculations are adapted from Google Search Ads (n.d.); The Online Advertising Guide (n.d., n.d.); Google Search Ads 360 Help (n.d.).
Industry-example data come WordStream (2016); WebFX Blog (n.d.); The Online Advertising Guide (n.d.) ; Google Ads Help (n.d.).
SEM Analytics (Key SEM Metrics, 4 of 4)

SEM Analytic How to Calculate Examples

Return on ad The amount of revenue an organization Industry average: 2:1

spend (ROAS) earns for every dollar it spends on an ad
campaign.
Total ad revenue
Total ad spend
Cost per view Total ad spend Industry average: $0.10–$0.30
(CPV) Total measured views

Sources: Formula calculations are adapted from Google Search Ads (n.d.); The Online Advertising Guide (n.d., n.d.); Google Search Ads 360 Help (n.d.).
Industry-example data come WordStream (2016); WebFX Blog (n.d.); The Online Advertising Guide (n.d.) ; Google Ads Help (n.d.).
 Keyword Research

• How do you determine your keywords?

• Keyword research: find and analyze
phrases that people enter on search
engines, use that data to determine your
keywords.
• Keyword research can help you strategize
your contents and gain insights on what
your target customers are looking for.
 What Keywords to Use? Ask Your Customers.

• Interviewing the people closest to you and your company is one of the most
affordable and accurate tools of keyword research.

• Ask questions such as:

• What ten terms or keywords do you associate most with my business as a
whole, and my specific products and services?
• What terms come to mind when you think of my business as a whole?
• Why did you choose to work with or buy from my company over my competitors?
Average Conversion Rates by Keyword Length

https://www.optimizesmart.com/12-strong-proofs-debunk-seo-myths-educate-clients-seo/
 Title Tag and Meta Description Tag

• Put key words in your title tag and

meta description tag when building
your website.
• You can do it directly on your HTML script.
Most web building platforms allow you to
add these tags easily.
Add Image Alt Attributes

Good keyword
usage in the alt tag

1. Choose a name that

reinforces the keywords
2. Make sure that text
nearby the image is
relevant to that image
Add Image Alt Attributes

Which keywords would you use?

a) <img src="pancakes.png" alt=“a stack of

pancakes">

b) <img src="pancakes.png" alt="Stack of

blueberry pancakes with powdered sugar">

c) <img src="pancakes.png" alt="">

d) <img src="pancakes.png" alt="pancake

pancakes pan cake hotcakes hotcake breakfast
food best breakfast top breakfasts breakfast
recipes pancake recipe">
Tips for Text Ads

• Tailor to different users (use A/B testing to test the effect of

different versions)

• Add “call to action” items to your ads

• Such as “Buy it now”, “Apply now”, “Support us”, “Contact us now”
Tips for Text Ads

• Tell a story

• Offer guarantee

• Use quote
Tips for Text Ads

• Include important business information

Business
hours

Phone
number
 Keyword Research Tools

• Google AdWords keywords tools:

https://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool
• Semrush: http://www.semrush.com
• Wordtracker: http://www.wordtracker.com/
• Keyworddiscovery:
http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/
• KWFinder: https://kwfinder.com/
• Moz: https://moz.com/products/pro
 Additional Information on SEO

Create a GoogleAds account: https://ads.google.com/intl/en_uk/home/

Google’s platform for building websites: www.sites.google.com

Change meta description and title tag on your web page:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlEaH_4Y33o

More SEO tips from 2022:

• https://moz.com/blog/smart-google-seo-tips-2022
• https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2022/01/25/seo-trends

SEO checker: https://www.semrush.com/projects/

 Next Class

• L5: Website Marketing

• Individual Presentation