SEO Without Regard to Keywords.
Recently, I’ve been reading about what it takes to be a good search engine optimizer. People are saying you should be able to answer certain questions, able to demonstrate measurable search engine rankings, and know everything there is to know about usability and accessibility. SEO has not traditionally been a field full of engineers, or usability experts. A good SEO must wear many hats, but the best SEO for you is not necessarily the one who can answer all of those questions perfectly, has a history of measuring results that can be disclosed to potential clients, or is a usability or accessibility expert. The more you can get, the better! But there’s an odd security in having what looks like the perfect search engine optimizer, only on paper.
While in training in the SEOToolSet, the person sitting next to me confided in me that he had worked with at least three agencies and/or freelancers. He proceeded to name two big names in the field and the dismal results and experience he had with them for thousands of dollars each month. Though his claims were vague, it seemed clear to me that these experts had not managed his expectations, explained the extent of their work, or provided him with adequate reporting and account management. One person was an SEO, the other a strict link builder. In my discussion with the person sitting next to me, there was never a mention of how, or even if keywords were targeted by these experts. That is odd. But there are aspects of SEO that go beyond keyword research and SEO copywriting.
So, the job of an SEO is to wear many hats, and an educator is one of those roles. In a recent document I was creating to explore a new internal agency process for SEO, I realized that two of seven sections were “visual reviews.” I consider part of the job of SEO, to determine whether a design is professional, has usable navigation, isn’t spammy right off the bat, and has adequate content on the page, near the top of the page, and supplemental information within only a few clicks. I can get a search engine ranking for a site with an ugly design, unusable navigation, even a site that appears a bit spammy, and with not a whole lot of content on the page, whether its near the top or not. It may be easier with a few of those things, but it can be done without them.
Part of my job as an SEO is to ensure that visitors get what they want when they’re done searching. My job isn’t done once they’ve found that top search engine result and they’ve clicked on to the page. I want them to find what they were looking for, probably even more than that, and I want them to do what the client wants them to do. I want to take that searcher through the pages, into a funnel, to that final conversion. And I want my clients to feel like I’m working for them, that I’m being honest with them, and that I’m educating them about SEO. SEO is ongoing, and whether or not the results come as quickly as we’d like, SEO isn’t simply about answering ten questions or demonstrating past results, it’s about knowing your SEO guy/gal/agency and knowing that you’re getting value for your money.
Corporate Social Media Strategy - Sprint Ahead
The corporate social media strategy embraced by Sprint is very attractive to me, (as was their Sprint flashlight ad), and puts them directly at odds with the branding of Cingular and AT&T as “The New AT&T”. It is discussed at Phone News, that the ads, “don’t tell you one good reason to go with Sprint over anyone else.” While this is true, I do not see that as a fundamental flaw in the advertising campaign. The new Waitless.org site is pretty cool. I disagree that it “establishes [no] more than a tenuous link to Sprint.” I encourage you to see where your time goes each day with their “calculate your time” tool, and then discover how to live a more productive lifestyle.
People switch networks for a number of reasons. The only reason I am going to switch from one carrier to another, is based on the network and the price. I am not one to switch my network to purchase a brand new iPhone, (available only on AT&T). This ad campaign has the potential to grab people on many different fronts. The fact that they haven’t indicated pricing points or innovative phones or other reasons to go with Sprint over another network does not mean it isn’t a good ad campaign. And it is, in fact, a great viral marketing campaign. Sending an e-card is generally boring, (though I quite like them at Sprint Sweets, minus the long load time). Showing people something, like how to take off a shirt quickly, chill soda, or parallel park, is engaging because it is humorous, entertaining, and creative, while sticking to their “sprint ahead” and lifehacking branding.
I applaud this corporate social media strategy and effort, and look forward to seeing them incorporate reasons to switch as the campaign continues to evolve.
PPC Bid Management Strategy - Bid Optimization of Non-Converting Keywords
Most of my PPC campaign management is done by hand, without too much intervention by bid optimization or bid management tools. The following suggestions come from direct experience working with thousands of running keywords. What generally happens is that keywords begin to fall into groups:
1. Monthly converting keywords - keywords that convert each and every month.
2. Irregularly converting keywords - keywords that convert well one month only to not convert at all the next month.
3. Rare converters - keywords that rarely, or never convert over extended periods.
You can optimize a campaign after just 30 days, but you’re most likely to drastically cut group two to rarely convert, and cut out the rare converters entirely. With just 30 days of data, you can’t know whether a keyword will be an irregularly converting one. If a keyword costs $600 one month and does not convert, and you go to cut the bid so it won’t be displayed as much, that keyword may spend $10 the next month and not convert. Had it spent another $600, though, it might have converted a dozen times. Some keywords, believe it or not, actually do this.
On the other hand, if a keyword converts well in the first thirty days, you could increase the bid, optimize ad copy, improve landing pages, and improve its ad position, only for it to spend a fortune and not convert well or at all the next month.
My experience: Optimizing keyword bids too early can quickly establish a positive ROI for negative campaigns, but with smaller profit margins because you’re cutting rare converters and not taking chances on keywords that did not convert in the first thirty days, but could have later become irregularly converting keywords.
I don’t believe anything is a trend until it has at least three data points. Two months of data does not show a trend, it just shows one result versus another. At three months and longer, you will begin to see trends. So just because a keyword converted both months or not at all may not be indicative of anything. Still, optimizing after 60 days of data should focus primarily on keywords that have not converted at all, or converted both months.
If a keyword is spending lots of dollars, and its average rank is 1.6, but it didn’t convert either month, that keyword isn’t doing its job. You can always optimize ad copy and landing pages to try and get it to convert, but when it comes to bid optimization, this is the type of keyword that probably just doesn’t convert, and should probably take a cut in its bid. The positioning is very telling about whether a keyword will convert.
A keyword that converts both months and has an average rank of 4.7 may convert twice or thrice as much if it were to show more frequently in the first and second ad positions.
My experience: Increading the bid on keywords that have mediocre average rank is a gamble after 60 days, because it’s often an expensive keyword, but the gamble could be the key to a smashing hit of conversions.
Also, it’s easy to get nervous about high volume keywords that convert one month and not the next. By being upfront with clients about the bid optimization process, I’ve been fortunate to allow some of these keywords to run longer than my gut told me to. I highly recommend this route because it allows keywords to begin to show a trend with 90 days of data, and maybe putting the keyword in the irregularly converting instead of rare converters groups.
Optimizing after 90 days or longer is ideal. With 90 days of data, you can see three months’ average CPCs, three months’ average rank, and three months’ conversion data. A keyword that had a CPC of $1.24 then $1.35 then $1.48 with a steady or dropping average rank and relatively stable conversions may be a candidate for an increased bid, because there is greater competition for the keyword. It may also be a candidate for a decreased bid, though.
My experience: The average rank tells the story in conjunction with the other data points. An average rank dropping from 1.6 to 2.1 but still converting may be able to withstand a decreased bid and maintain conversions, even at the risk of dropping to an average position of 2.4.
NOTE: This post did not address ROI or ROAS or CPA, it simply approached bid optimization/bid management from a converting vs. non-converting point of view. Always optimize keywords while factoring in whether they are providing a satisfactory return on investment/return on advertising spend and/or cost per lead/acquisition.
If you’re looking for more on ppc management strategies, check out my post on faster ppc management.
