Step Wise SEO

Implement SEM plan
This article studies the internal and external aspects of search planning and determines how best to select, implement and measure the right strategy for optimal achievement of objectives.

One of the major reasons for a poorly performing SEM campaign is failure to allocate enough resource to it. As a result, the internal assessment of a campaign should focus heavily upon three major areas:

1. Marketing resources (Thought Leadership) - any strong SEM campaign has thought leadership from the marketing department.

 The matching of search tactics with an overall plan should come from the marketing team.

 A search plan must have at least one individual assigned to search. Whether it be full-time or part-time largely depends upon the size of the SEM activity but generally the larger the campaign the more resource is needed.

2. Marketing resources (Hands On Resource) - If bidding is engaged in manually without the use of a technology (which is not recommended) then a full-time resource is necessary just to maintain the positions and spending limits to deliver successful results.

 In many instances a technology can aid greatly in offsetting much of this resource burden but as with any tool a resource is necessary to control it.

3. Technical resources - the IT department, IS department or whoever is responsible for the maintenance of a website is directly impacted by an SEM campaign.

Depending upon the type of engagement, changes will be needed to the website. From a simple 1×1 pixel being placed for tracking services to a full scale site code overhaul for an organic optimization exercise any involvement with a technical department will require resource and planning.

Without appropriate planning and implementation considerations, the operations of the technical department can create a serious delay in any campaign.

It is fair to say that in every aspect of a situational analysis any resource requirement has a budgetary implication to it.

It should he stressed, therefore, that any search engine marketing campaign must have a budget assigned to it.

Later in the chapter budgetary considerations will be taken into account to help determine what strategic approach could be taken.

The major points above are the internal factors that repetitively exist in the development of a strategy.

There are, however, additional variables that exist and they should be noted to ensure appropriate mapping is performed.

These are typically unique to a company and often exist based upon the industry or market.

An example of this is the pharmaceutical industry, regarding which advertisers must fulfill certain criteria relating to engines to advertise listings

A further example is the gambling industry, which has social implications that prevent certain listings being allowed or particular engines used (i.e. Overture has a ban on gambling sites).

External assessment
Analyzing and benchmarking the state of a market or industry for an SEM plan is critical to success.

Regardless of the type of strategy or tactic implemented it is important to benchmark the following criteria in order to gain an understanding of both market forces (i.e. competition and demand) and current positioning to gauge improvement throughout the plan.

• Current site performance this can be broken down depending up the activity that is currently being performed.

If there aren’t any SEM campaigns live, or that have ever been live, this process is simple and can be done with a straightforward ranking report. If the site has been engaged in any form of SEM, the following is recommended:

i. Traffic levels: if traffic can be measured, record the levels of traffic from each of the engine properties.

This function is available from any log file analysis system and most technical departments will be recording data such as this for analysis and website performance purposes.

ii. Conversion data: if available the conversion data of any traffic to a website should be recorded.

This information will be vital if a search campaign is going to be launched as the more accurate information entered into a forecast or projection the closer the campaign will get to the planned objectives and goals.

iii. Website visibility: One of the simplest and most effective forms of site benchmarking, especially for an organic strategy, is to utilize a rankings report to determined website position.

It is recommended that this be performed against research keywords that hold value to an objective or strategic goal.

• Market demand assessment - With appropriate research of keywords the volume of searcher interest can be determined on a monthly basis.

 This information will provide the grounding for gauging the viability of an SEM campaign and, in many instances, the type of search engine mechanism to use.

 If low search volume is available, engaging in a resource-extensive search project may not work out as a cost-effective option; however, if the opposite exists then a widespread campaign may produce a very cost effective campaign.

 There may be need to revisit the research again for a more in depth approach once an objective and strategy has been determined.

 This assessment is designed to gauge the market conditions with enough accuracy to make informed decisions in later stages of plan development.

• Competitive landscape - the final piece to the external analysis is to gain an understanding of what the competitive landscape looks like from both an organic and a paid search standpoint.

 This information will determine aspects of budgetary assignment and strategic direction based upon the goal or objective of the campaign.

 The following mechanisms should be used to determine competitive position and for the best results should be combined.

i. Competitive rankings reports - using tools, such as the Lycos Insite Rankings Report or Hitvvize, a Picture of the competitive environment can be determined.

This information will give examples of both organic and paid search listings and enable plotting of the position of a website within a market or industry.

ii. Paid Search SOV Analysis - after selecting the most appropriate keywords, or at least a representative sample for this exercise, the plotting of company vs. bid price vs. keyword will give a good example of the overall competitive landscape for paid search (most importantly PFP search).

As with the internal analysis there are many external factors that impact the performance of a search engine marketing campaign. But, as before, these are specific to a company and industry.

Selecting tactics
Tactics are, in nature, flexible and easily changed, and in the context of these article refer to the selection of tactics based upon viability vis-à-vis a particular object; however, in this section some will also he looked at in terms of their application in relation to a budget or time of implementation.

The following will give more of an indication as to the decision variables on some of the tactical aspects of any search engine marketing plan.

Selecting engines
Engine selection is specific to the strategic direction, or directions, taken but it is important to recognize that the selection of engines is dependent upon the goals of the campaign as some are better suited than others.

It is important to understand this model when considering the selection of engines for a strategic goal, as limited resources or immediate results will come with the appropriate engines being used.

For example, if speed and limited budget is an issue, from the positioning models, placing focus on the first tier paid engines or engaging with the organic engines (covered mainly within the strategic focus) will be beneficial.

Similarly if the goal is to drive large traffic at a lower cost to a website, engaging with the second tier paid engines may be an option.

Selecting keywords
The selection of keywords is probably the most important variable for a successful campaign, be it with the organic engines or with the paid search engines.

It is important to recognize many values of a keyword and the keyword type to gain a better understanding of the best course of action or direction.

Selecting keywords for organic search
The selection of keywords for organic search is as important as with the paid engines, however, the thought rationale needs to be slightly different based upon the longevity of the listings within the engines.

An organic listing or listings with a search engine like Google, have the potential of being live for a long period of time.

Additionally the work necessary to get listed on search terms within organic requires a large amount of up-front work to succeed.

With this in mind it is not recommended that keywords of a very generic or competitive nature be targeted as the probability of getting listed is much lower.

Instead, keywords should be selected on the KEI scoring provided by many of the keyword research tools.

This scoring will give an example of how competitive the term is and allow for accurate targeting that gives a good cost to benefit ratio.

The important factor to consider is that the most generic terms might not be attractive, but the most specific terms are also not attractive as the likelihood of a click deteriorates the more detailed the term becomes.

 Selecting creatives
The process of selecting creatives is subjective and specific to the company; however, different types of creative should be used for different strategies and for different types of keyword.

It is common belief that a good creative is designed to increase the number of click-throughs from the search listings page to the site, however, the focus of creative should be to quality the searcher, event if this minimizes the CTR as it will, in turn, potentially increase return.

As with all of the tactical elements, however, as a vehicle for quick changes, some engines take longer than others (if at all) to change the types of creative being used.

Implementing an SEM plan
The implementation of a search engine marketing plan is complex if looked at regarding all of the moving pieces, however, when simplified into engine, keywords, creative, bid management strategy and tracking variable, it should seem simpler.

The implementation of a plan must represent the strategy, or simultaneous strategies running, and the tactics selected for each.

It is therefore important to ensure that an implementation matrix is made to represent the approaches necessary.

Additionally it is important to be aware of the time needed to see results as the time for submission and expected results differ from engine to engine.

The matrix demonstrates the identification of each of the different tactics within each of the strategies as well as expected results.

This information needs to be clearly separated, to ensure that measurement and control is assigned each of the components, such as the keywords, creatives ad measured results.

Implementation ownership
When implementing any form of marketing plan, be it for print media or search engine marketing, it is important to ensure ownership is established within an organization.

With ownership determined, a plan will be implemented faster and more accurately with the appropriate checks and balances in place, to ensure that, should any problems arise, they have an owner who is charged with putting any element of the plan, be it keyword research or setting up an engine, back on track or reporting back to a project leader the issues and adjusting the timelines.

Implementation timeline ‘allocating enough time’
It is of paramount importance to ensure that the appropriate timelines are set when engaging in SEM and constructing a plan.

Many of the variables and timelines will be provided by each of the components or elements of a campaign, such as the timelines needed to submit keywords and get them live within a PFP engine.

Equally important is to get a handle on the implementation schedules of internal resource. In most cases SEM is a service performed by members of a marketing department so it is important to ensure that adequate time is given to getting a plan underway inclusive of other activities.

It is more important, however, to get the resource of `other’ departments mapped for the project as well.

An example of where this is critical is the development of an organic optimization, as the technical department or in some cases external site design help (adding funding issues too), need to be forewarned and given an adequate chance to provide timelines and start dates for a project.

This information, as has been illustrated in earlier sections of this book, may sway a decision away from one type of search submission and towards another.

Controlling an SEM plan
Controlling an SEM campaign can be difficult and challenging yet at the same time extremely rewarding as search can drive excellent results toward an overall business objective.

It is through control that success can be found and, as a complete opposite, without any control an SEM campaign can run riot and fail.

It is important to note that merely identifying the control measures and implementing them in the campaign is one thing but making decisions based upon performance is another.

This section will take into account the variables that should be considered when controlling an SEM campaign:

Measurement
Use the ‘correct’ performance measure
Probably one of the major failings of a search campaign is measuring search, a strategy and the tactical elements using the wrong measure.

With the previously mentioned statistic of only one third of searchers measuring activity the remaining two thirds are using traffic as the gauge of success.

This can, and often does, result in little appreciation for the success of a campaign; it limits budgetary and fiscal responsibility and provides an ambiguous result to measure against.

If the goal of the campaign is traffic then this is acceptable but the most important factor to consider is this: if the site is designed to drive leads or sales then measuring against traffic is not going to give enough control.

It is therefore advised to use one of the control methods listed in each of the strategy and objectives chapters.

Avoid ‘mass’ performance measurement
If measurement of performance is being done, a campaign is on the right track; however, a common symptom of tracking is that everything, i.e. all keywords, are grouped together and measured against one overall goal.

This is an acceptable measure should there be one strategy being performed; however, it an awareness strategy were used in conjunction with an ecommerce strategy then the conflict in keywords would result in almost certain failure.

Instead keywords and creatives should be judged in groups or portfolios and then reported upon separately.

Avoid ‘hasty’ decisions on performance measurement
Keywords in a singular sense are large in volume but have unique properties when being tracked (i.e. traffic, costs, return).

Keywords are the most prominent part of any decision-making process and are selected, deleted, bid up, bid down, and controlled to ensure the success of an overall goal.

The problem with this is that many marketers make the mistake of controlling a keyword before it has had a chance to perform and provide enough statistical relevance for an accurate decision to be made.

As a hypothetical example, if a website has a 1 per cent conversion rate, this would suggest that a keyword has to have at least 100 clicks before it may see a single conversion.

In this scenario it wouldn’t make sense to control a keyword before it has had ample opportunity to at least convert one visitor on the site at the site’s performance levels.

For the reasons mentioned above it is important to ensure that, when research is performed, tight control measures are placed but not so tight as to constrict success.

Allow keywords to function to a level where, upon review, enough data have flowed through the campaign to qualify the ensuing decisions.

Avoid ’short term’ reaction control
Putting this into context, many companies view the results of a campaign on an hourly and daily basis, which can often lead to undue and unnecessary stress and the possibility of hasty decisions.

There will always be fluctuations in performance; on some days the performance will be higher than on others and in many instances daily spikes and dips are often `unexplainable’.

It is therefore important to watch for situations where problems may arise, such as a keyword that has become the subject of a bidding war or an SKU within a PFI feed that is driving far too much traffic for no return.

This being said, if technology is being used to manage the listings and appropriate measures are in place for control, looking at the data over a longer period of time (for example a week) will allow for a more settled approach and more trend analysis than with daily/hourly peaks and troughs.

Within any form of plan it cannot be stressed enough to test all of the tactical components to increase and build upon success.

If new keywords need to be added or creatives need to be changed, testing is essential. There are, however, the following factors that should be considered with testing.

Avoid testing too much!
Testing should be performed on a sample and then the learnings translated to a larger group.

This applies to all aspects of testing, be it creative or keywords, and it is with representative samples that enough learning can be gathered to draw conclusions which can then be acted upon.

Run one test at a time
With SEM the challenge is making sure the results are accurate. As all tactical aspects work together, i.e. the creative is attached to the keyword, if two tests one of keywords and one of creative are tested together, the results will be inconclusive as the determining factor tot the test results is unresolved between the tactical components.

It is not out of the question to test multiples at one certain time but it is important to test variables (tactical elements) independently of each other to ensure success.

Structure the test
Testing must follow a plan, similar in a sense to an overall search marketing plan. The test must have an objective, a strategy, an Implementation cycle, an appropriate testing timeline or threshold (i.e. # clicks on keywords or # impressions for creative) and lastly metrics or measurement to determine the performance of the test.

Without these variables the test will be inconclusive and no learning will be achieved.

Measure ‘testing’ separately from the main campaign
Any budget or performance variables associated with testing should be measured as a single unit and not included in the overall performance of the main plan and campaign.

This avoids any confusion with performance should a test run well or badly and potentially skew the overall results.

It is also important, when budgeting, to assign enough budget to a test such that it can run its full length and, again, not be financially linked to the main strategy.

Use automation
If possible it is advised to use automation where possible. For example, if landing pages for specific keywords are being tested side my side, running an A B testing platform will allow the searchers and visitors to a website to determine which landing page will yield a stronger conversion rate.

Additionally, when testing variables such as creative, it is advised that the service, provided by the engines, most notably Google AdWordsTM, are used in order to test creatives side by side to see which yields a stronger CTR.

To sum up
The development of a search engine marketing plan is designed to complement an overall marketing plan, which, in turn, is designed to achieve marketing and business objectives.

In this article the components and techniques behind plan development and plan implementation have been discussed. The following highlights are the most important to take from this chapter.

• When starting a search engine marketing plan it is important to map the space and get a full understanding of the situation.

In a situational analysis both internal and external factors are assessed and summarized for the purpose of objective setting.

• The determination of objectives comes from the business objectives of the company and the designated purpose of the website.

 When setting objectives for a search campaign it is important to take into account what can be achieved from search to ensure that a plan can in essence work.

• The search strategy, or series of strategies, must take into account the desired direction and the data formed from the situational analysis. The strategy will start to shape how the objectives will be achieved.

 The strategy may focus on the types of search that may work (i.e. paid or organic) but will not focus too heavily on keywords and creatives which form the tactical elements.

• Engine selection, keyword selection and creative creation comprise the tactical elements of the strategy and plan, and go toward achieving the objective or objectives.

• When implementing a plan it is important to have timelines and ownership for each of the variable factors to ensure a plan gets up and running.

• Controlling a campaign consists of measurement and testing. Without these a plan isn’t going to work as expected and may fail to achieve the overall goals and objectives.

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