Brand Building Besties: SEO & PPC Work Better Together

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godigitalmarketing.com

Brand Building Besties: SEO & PPC Work Better Together


Presenters

Jessie HochhalterSales & Strategy Enablement

Jerilyn Soncrant Product Manager


Agenda

SEO: The foundation of building your brand online

Mobile enablement strategies

PPC: Using search ads to drive engagement



Laying the Foundation for Your Brand Online


Consistency Is Perhaps the Most Important Factor

of consumers believe it’s important for businesses’ online experiences to be consistent with their in-store experience.

- G/O Digital, 2016

90 of consumers expect their customer experience to be consistent across all channels and devices used to interact with a brand.

-NJIT, 2014

%

76%


Know Your Target Audience

• Learn who they are• Know how to speak to them• Know where to find them


Optimize Your Website

User-friendly design always comes first• Must be mobile-friendly• Easily navigable pages

Site content should be a cornerstone• Accurate, consistent information• SEO-friendly descriptions and copy


Win Locally With Consistent NAP InformationListing contact information on external sites is just as important as having it on your own.• Claim maps listings (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yellow

Pages, etc)• Make sure you’re claiming for each location you have

• Important listing information:• Name• Address• Phone number• Email• Consistent business description

Ensure the information is the same across all sites.It sounds like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how often business descriptions differ.


Mobile Adaptation Is Key

Mobile-FriendlyDesktop design that will render properly on mobile devices

Mobile-OptimizedNative mobile-user experience with buttons, larger fonts, etc.

Mobile-ResponsiveA single site created to respond to the functionality of the device it’s being viewed on


The Importance of Brand-Aligned Content

of consumers say “authenticity of content” is the most influential factor to become a follower of a brand.80%

63% of consumers say they have engaged with disappointing brand content.

- Pardot, 2014


Creating Topical Content

Meaningful content drives search results and improves web traffic. • Write for business-aligned topics as opposed to keywords

What kind content should you create?

Blogs Infographics Videos

Remember: All pages on your site have the potential to be the #1 result for any search query.


Place External Content Strategically

Share industry-relevant content• On your own site• On your social channels

Contribute on others’ platforms• Press releases• Mentions on local news sites• Contributed articles or mentions

on relevant blogs/sites


Actively Manage Your Online Reputation

• Set a monitoring system in place for responding to positive and negative reviews

• Develop a program to encourage reviews from current patrons

• Share positive reviews on social media

• Can you share even more positive experiences from your customers?

• Get creative with customer spotlight social posts or blogs!


Social Media Supports Building Your Online BrandConsumers might encounter your brand first through social media, which means it needs to be on-brand and up-to-date just as much as your own site.

Develop your social persona• Who is your brand online?

Have a presence on all relevant social platforms• Where is your customer base most active?

Quality over quantity• Optimize your time and efforts by only selecting the

most relevant channels• If you try to be on every platform, you can’t keep up

with the quality and frequency needed for each one• If your customers aren’t there, it’s not worth your time


Social Media Best Practices for Local Businesses

• Follow and engage with industry leaders and influencers

• Incorporate hashtags and current events into your social strategy

• Ask questions, post photos and engage with your audience

• Follow the 70/20/10 rule for what to post



PPC Improves Your Entire Presence


Organic + Paid =


Difference Between Organic & Paid Results

Organic Results• Results are ordered on the page based on things like

relevance to the search term and popularity (page rank)

• Text pulled directly from webpage based on query

Paid Results• Ads are ordered on the page based on a combination

of CPC and relevance (quality score)• Control message based on campaign set up (AdGroup,

location, time of day, etc.)


Search Engine Page Results (SERP)

Org

anic

Spon

sore

d Li

nks 1 to 4 ads on

Premium positions

Up to 3 ads on bottom of

page

Ad Rank Algorithm, Free Results

No direct relation between algorithms


Search Engine Page Results (SERP)

Org

anic

Spon

sore

d Li

nks 1 to 3 ads on

Premium positions

1 to 3 ads on bottom of

page

Ad Rank Algorithm, Free Results

No direct relation between algorithms


Organic & Paid in the Customer Journey

Search“Planning a trip to Las Vegas”

ReadMagazine article about Las Vegas shows and nightlife

EmailFriend who lives in CA for advice

VisitVarious hotel sites to look at pictures and prices

Display Ads

Search“Planning a trip to Las Vegas”

Remarketing

VisitHotel website and book


Organic & Paid in the Customer Journey

Return on InvestmentLow High

Low

High

Generic Keywords

Branded Keywords

“How to buy a car”

“Certified 2014 Honda Civic”

Lower ROI, but aimed

at creating awareness, expanding customer base, and increasing sales volumesHighest ROI, but low volume. Aimed at current customer base

Most often paid

Most often

organic

Volu

me


Organic + Paid =

1. Your customers expect to find you at the top of the page

2. Control your message when customer is ready to purchase

3. Direct potential customers when they want to convert

4. Own and control more real estate with paid and organic

5. Organic = research Paid = high commercial intent

6. Paid + Organic: Drive more traffic


1) Your Customer Expects to Find You

Heatmap Source: conversionxl.com 2016

¾ of consumers expect leading brands to be at the top of the page⅓ associate placement with a company’s prominence


2) Control the Message

v.


3) Direct Potential Customers


4) Own and Control More Real Estate


5) High Commercial Intent Keywords

Source: wordstream.com/articles/google-ads (2012)


6) Paid and Organic Drive More Traffic

Advertisers that pause their search advertising campaigns sometimes cite concerns about how much of the traffic to the sites is truly incremental to clicks on natural search results.”“

Studies show search ads drive 89% incremental

traffic on average

For local SMBs, search ads drive 98% incremental traffic

on average

Source: Studies Show Search Ads Drive 89% Incremental Traffic, Research @ Google, July 21, 2013.



The Importance of Mobile


The Mobile Revolution Is Already Here

1.5Bpeople withsmartphones globally

87%of millennials say their phone “never leaves their side”

50%people use mobile astheir primary device

5Bnext 5B will comeonline via mobile


Mobile will account for 72% of total US ad spend by 2019

emarketer.com/Article/US-Digital-Ad-Spending-Will-Approach-60-Billion-This-Year-with-Retailers-Leading-Way/1012497

Mobile search ads Mobile display ads Mobile app ads


Mobile Is All the Time

Google internal, 2014


Mobile Changes the Way We Shop

40%38%

Research on smartphone

Then purchased via computer

Then purchased it offline



Consumers spend more than 15 hours per week on mobile research

93% of people who used mobile to research go on to make a purchase

74% of mobile consumers searched on mobile using a search engine

Google/Nielsen Mobile Path to Purchase custom study, November 2013


LocalExtensions

CallExtensions

Mobile Sitelinks

MobilePreferred Creative




Scooter Repair

On phone

8:30 am

Scooter Repair

On phone

11:14 pm


How Does Mobile Fit into Your Strategy?

Lead Generation

Calls to Business

Mobile Commerce

CrossDevice

AppDownloads

Store Visits

Site Traffic

User Engagement


Change Your Mindset and ROI Calculation


Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

Since April 21, Google started using mobile friendliness as a ranking signal. This change can have a significant impact in our search results on mobile devices.

A mobile-friendly site may actually get you better SEO ranking on mobile.


will leave your site if they cannot find information right away

61%

Source: Google Mobile Ads Blog


Great mobile websites help drive sales and customer loyalty

74%are more likely to return to a website if it is mobile - friendly

are more likely to buy a product or service, if the website is mobile - friendly

67%

Source: Google Mobile Ads Blog


Make It Easy for Your Customers to Convert

Which sitewould you

rather orderfrom?


Mobile-Friendly SitesGetting started tips:

Homepage navigation should be clear and

mobile-friendly

Streamline the user’s ability to convert

Focus on usability & form factor on

every page

Ensure Site Search is present on every page

Keep form fields to the absolute minimum

Constantly analyze and optimize your mobile site

View all 25 Design Principles:static.googleusercontent.com


Mobile-Friendly Sites: Webpage Speed

(7.083 seconds = avg load time for US retail mSites*)

*Source: www.businessinsider.com



abandon if a site takes >3 sec to load

40%expect a pageto load in <2 sec

47%say fast load timeis important tobrand loyalty

52%

Source: Kissmetrics



Compared to a page that loads in 1 second

-22%Pageviews

-22%Conversions

+50%bounce rate

View all 25 Design Principles:static.googleusercontent.com

seconds3

Source: http://conversionxl.com/


google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/


developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/


Q&A

Jessie HochhalterSales & Strategy Enablement

Jerilyn Soncrant Product Manager



Thank you!

Marketing

Brand Building Besties: SEO & PPC Work Better Together