Dontjustchangeengine
Download as PPT, PDF•0 likes•342 views
The document discusses strategies for improving search engine optimization (SEO) on a company website to increase conversions and business value. It recommends taking a top-down approach by first optimizing the most popular search keywords and analyzing landing page metrics. It also suggests a bottom-up approach like ensuring all site content is discoverable in search indexes and written with keywords. The goal is not just better search rankings but moving visitors through the conversion funnel from learning to buying.
Dontjustchangeengine
- 1. ibm.com Don’t Just Change the Search Engine! Mike Moran April, 2006 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 2. ibm.com “This search engine stinks!” But a “good search engine” I didn’t find it is not your goal. and I always Your goal isn’t even to find it on deliver good results Google! It’s to deliver the business value of your Web site Search is a means to an end 2 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 3. ibm.com What are your Web conversions? Online sales Download a white paper Find a store Fill out a Find a dealer contact form Find a partner Phone call Affiliate link 3 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 4. ibm.com What are your Web visitors doing, anyway? Learn: Research IBM’s products and services Learn Shop: Compare offerings Use and prices Shop Buy: Check out and Get purchase Buy Get: Check order status Use: Get technical IBM’s Web support Conversion Cycle 4 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 5. ibm.com Use your cycle to measure conversion value Finding the right product Land page puts the visitor in the “Learn” stage. Learn How many customers that Use view a product page put items in their carts? Shop And how many check out? Get Multiply by your average Buy revenue and you have the impact on revenue. Increasing the success rate at any stage increases the overall conversion rate 5 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 6. ibm.com Your search facility gets you conversions If they can’t find it, Answer research questions they can’t buy it with informational content Search “MP3 player” Learn Respond to product queries Use with comparisons Shop “iPod” Get Provide detailed model and Buy product pages for buyers “iPod nano” 6 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 7. ibm.com What problems are you trying to address? “No result” searches “No click” searches “No conversion” searches 7 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 8. ibm.com ibm.com Web Strategy and Design The Top-Down Approach © 2005 IBM Corporation 8 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 9. ibm.com Work the most popular search keywords first Most search terms are unique IBM’s 1000 most popular queries account for just 27% of all volume But it’s the easiest improvement you can get 9 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 10. ibm.com Follow the same process for each keyword yes Audit the no OK? landing Start page next keyword Choose a Analyze the Improve landing landing the landing page for page’s page’s keywords metrics content 10 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 11. ibm.com Choose a landing page for each keyword Where does your customer want to be? Be careful when choosing the same page for multiple keywords: “Product Lifecycle Management” and “PLM” is OK “Aerospace PLM” and “Automotive PLM”—no! 11 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 12. ibm.com Analyze the landing page’s metrics Search ranking Keyword density? In titles and body? Search clickthrough rate Titles and snippets call to action? Search conversions Interim pages compel action? 12 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 13. ibm.com Audit and optimize your landing pages Acronym to Words Image to Text Add K eywor ds Before: Google Rank: #175 After: Google Rank #1 13 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 14. ibm.com If all else fails, cheat Most search engines allow “Best Bets” Be sure to maintain all hand-crafted results 14 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 15. ibm.com Use “product search” or other specialized search Use special searches for high-leverage areas Choose the most important feature to you Find your server 15 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 16. ibm.com Provide comparisons from product lists See your final candidates side-by-side Spot the differences Simpler purchasing experiences increase conversion rates 16 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 17. ibm.com Don’t forget to sell related items Search engines can retrieve the right merchandising spots based on: Knowledge of the customer The buyer's current context The seller’s situation What spots seem to be working well 17 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 18. ibm.com ibm.com Web Strategy and Design The Bottom-Up Approach © 2005 IBM Corporation 18 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 19. ibm.com Get your site’s pages into the search index Push pages from your content management system OR Have a spider crawl your pages Remove spider traps that prevent crawling Use site maps and country maps to create spider paths 19 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 20. ibm.com Ensure content is written with search in mind Check keyword usage in titles and body copy using Your content management workflow OR Your content management pipeline Roll up each unit’s score and publicize Content Quality Scorecards 20 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 21. ibm.com Improve your content pipeline Search Automated categorization Spider Subject Document Type Date Standardize Content Country Your Data Pipeline Language Linguistics Search Custom dictionary or thesaurus Index 21 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 22. ibm.com Tune your search engine Do you have the right query Have you tested your defaults? facet names? AND/OR country/language filters Have you tested your ranking algorithm? Using the right factors? Clicks? Links? Using the right weights? 22 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 23. ibm.com Customize your search user interface Make search easy to find Use drilldown in search results instead of advanced search Optimize what is displayed for product and document lists 23 © 2006 IBM Corporation
- 24. ibm.com Apply the same ideas to search marketing “Buy this book, read it, and then read it again.” --Chris Sherman, Search Engine Watch “Indispensable guide” --Kirkus Reports Develop a strategy that supports your Web site’s goals Get conversions, not just rankings Raise your brand awareness For more information: www.mikemoran.com www.semincbook.com 24 © 2006 IBM Corporation