Archive for the ‘Pay per click’ Category

Are clients right to be doing it for themselves?

November 3rd, 2009

The agency vs. in-house debate for Search is, to an extent a red herring. It shouldn’t be a debate about who does it, but how it is done. Even if an agency is appointed, brands are not devoid of responsibility for the strategic planning piece. Though sadly, many brands absolve themselves of this responsibility, to the detriment of their campaign results.

Whether in-house or via an agency, there are some common considerations for the brand; e.g. who owns the PPC account data (agency or client)? Who owns the third party technology license? Are the business goals and sales targets being shared with the campaign manager (whether in-house or agency)? Who will manage the information flow between the business and the online marketing team? Are campaign management techniques up to date or tired? Who handles the budget modelling? Can the agency influence changes to the website to improve conversion? Who will feed the search marketing (and behavioural) insight into the broader integrated comms planning piece?

We find that there isn’t necessarily a one size fits all approach to managing Search. Many retailers and large ecommerce / online brands derive such a high volume of sales and revenue from search marketing, that it is simply far too business critical to be managed out-of-house.

And all is never as it seems in that many agencies – including search pure plays – subcontract PPC to cheaper suppliers (who tend to be based abroad). Again, this can be both very cost effective and disastrous if the supplier relationship isn’t carefully managed and the strategic goals communicated by the primary agent.

Paid search has become a media for the masses, largely thanks to Google’s sales strategy for AdWords, so agencies definitely have to work extra hard with Search to demonstrate to their clients why their clients shouldn’t simply DIY.

Are you getting the value you should be getting from your PPC agency?

October 23rd, 2009

So investment in paid search is growing and growing, clients are bartering harder on agency commissions, more and more focus is being put on the efficiency of your search marketing programme. So what, as a client, can you do to ensure you’re getting the most bang for your buck?

One thing that you can do is review the practices involved in the management of your account. All of the engines will be able to support you in this, but some of the things you can review to get you started are:

Bidding & Budgeting:

Are you operating at a fixed CPA across the entire account, all year round? Or are you flexible on your CPA so that you can maximize ROI? The uplift in traffic around seasonal peaks may make competition more fierce, and as such each conversion more expensive, but if you’re willing to be flexible you can capture the volume and improve profit. Your agency should be feeding back to you on a monthly basis what the investment should be in different areas of your campaign, understanding this can allow you to further your understanding of what’s affecting different parts of the PPC account, and adjust bidding strategy accordingly.

Coverage:

Are you testing to see if generic keywords that don’t cost in on their own create an uplift across the rest of the account? It’s not always the case, but if you’re in a quest for the final 5% of volume it can make the difference.

Have you got the balance of investment on your brand terms right? Sometimes you need to bid on them to keep out the competition, but sometimes you’ll cannibalise your natural traffic – again, testing is the answer!

Using a search query report will help you ensure you’ve got coverage on the right terms, and you can use the searches that you’re getting clicks from but don’t have content or products for to inform you over what you need to be doing – search isn’t just about traffic or conversions, but about listening to what the searchers are asking for!

Structure:

Does your account structure evolve, or is it static? Paid search offers an opportunity to constantly improve your account using the timely, conversion focused data that it’s capable of supplying. As a result, keyword lists should constantly change shape and new ad copy should be built. The structure will have to change around this to support the delivery of relevant ads – so if your structure isn’t changing then either your account isn’t, or it’s not making the most of the changes that are being made.

Processes & Automation:

Of course, these recommendations are only a starting point, and rely on a smooth, uninhibited flow of information between an agency and a client. Once you’ve reviewed these and all of the more granular points that you investigate as a result, it’s time to review the processes that will help you improve your budgeting, coverage and structure.

Do you have a report that informs you what is being spent on what keyword groups and clearly shows you the trends over time?

Do you have processes set up that allow you to feed new keywords into the campaign quickly and efficiently?

Do you have a process in place to test different ad copy and continually optimize your creative messaging?

If not, then it’s likely that the time being put into your account is inefficient – and if time equals money for both you and the agency, there’s an opportunity for improvement here.

Our Trip to Search Marketing Expo (SMX) East 2009 in New York

October 12th, 2009

We all packed our bags and hit the bright lights of New York.  Actually, no, not really….. We have someone here in our New York office, and we sent him out to SMX 2009 at the Javits Center last week. 

There were many things to be seen at SMX East.  Perhaps more so than in the London equivalent.  Here is what we saw plenty of. . .
 
Out of the booths, or tables, stands, whatever you want to call them, it felt like HALF of them were about tracking solutions of either website traffic stats, or how to track, analyse, or manage Google / Yahoo / Bing PPC campaigns in one place, with an interface that’s user-friendly and generates the “right” customised reports.

The good side was that some of them had effective ways of separating what the user actually queried versus the ad campaigns keyword bid, and displayed useful figures such as your keywords “impression share” – which could help refine campaigns and increase returns further.  However, most of these applications made the same mistake – they were programmed in Dollars and Cents.  So no Pounds and Pence, and no Euros, makes it a lot harder for the more international sites to use at this point.
 
So I’d say one of the biggest disappointments was the lack of international influence.  Almost everything was very US market focused, with maybe versions coming out later for the UK market (once we asked).  Which is a shame, as some of them looked very promising, quite competitively priced, and ran quite smoothly.  Of course, things always look nicer in the showroom!

And going to the other end of the spectrum, “local search” was almost silent.  There was some buzz and several conferences about optimising via the Web 2.0 tools, a la Twitter, YouTube, etc.  But most of the buzz was around tracking and general SEO.      

There were a fair few “SEO Interfaces” – as perhaps more companies are looking for a more template approach to SEO.  Yet, it’s the “same old” in most cases.  Your Yahoo site explorer links, your Google PR, your Alexa page rank, and various other things you can find online and aren’t even the most reliable sources in some instances.  Then there are others that just over-analyse rankings and keyword density to the point where clients get obsessed with both!  And that’s not how SEO works in the first place.

Too many places trying to define it a certain way, and maybe that’s influenced by client marketing teams and needs.  If there was a template mechanism for measuring SEO accurately, it would be a hit for sure.  However, reality is, you cannot template SEO.  Every tool I’ve seen has promise, but then if you try it with three sites that you either own or have access to the data of – it will usually be way off with at least one of the three.  And that’s a horrendous rate for any marketing tool.  That’s why we give every website a customised approach.

As for my attendance, I was there on day two (Tuesday), as it was more SEO geared and had a “link building” conference.  However, for those that actively deal with link building, there was nothing new here.  The usual “does Google detect link buying” (only meters away from companies that buy/sell links for search marketing purposes!) – and the usual complaints from sites that are making quite basic mistakes.  As for link buying, it has at least becoming more internationally focused itself.  By that we mean, for the sites that want to dabble in buying links, link brokers now have a more international reach.  Since Google’s algorithm has a lot to do with link strength and location, it’s always a touchy subject.  Here at Reform, we make sure all sites know what they’re getting involved in before even considering such routes, and what the pros and cons are.

More details from SMX East 2009 can be seen at http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/020841.html
(which has live blog transcripts of every other session at SMX east too).

Time for transparency of Search practices?

September 24th, 2009

At ad:tech in London this week there was the usual good representation from the Search agency community: DBD Media, Oban Multilingual, Jellyfish and Efficient Frontier, to name a few of the regular crowd; and Just Search, Optimize and High Position to name some newer kids on the block.

Each agency has its own USPs – whether this is an algorithm, a technology or planning tool. Some claim to be technology providers; others stick with the agency theme. Some have slicker marketing then others – glossy handouts and snazzy logos for tools; others have fast talking sales folk, who can counter any argument on the planet with “yes, but we’ve got a secret sauce”.

Poor, poor clients. Where do they start in evaluating what really sits behind the ‘smoke and mirrors’ sales rhetoric? How do clients know that they will get quality of service, efficiency of management, a best of breed piece of kit, and – perhaps most importantly – transparency of ROI?

Here’s the thing. What all of these Search agencies and technology providers are selling is a service. It’s a combination of people, process and technology. Technology is really important because it is the enabler, the heavy lifter, the lawn mower. But someone’s got to mow the grass.

Here’s the other thing. There is no perfect algorithm for delivering a service. Efficient Frontier call it an “intelligent learning algorithm”; we call it great minds, nimble fingers, Excel macros, spreadsheets and 50 people in India.

Oh, and clients, do ask about who’s doing the do. Is it in-house, or is it outsourced to a country where labour is cheaper? Many Search agencies nowadays are outsourcing. Because there is a lot of heavy lifting to do. If so, do they understand the nuances of your target language and how people search in that language. Are your business and marketing objectives being lost in the Chinese whispers translation from client to search agency to overseas outsourcing agency.

Search is already complex enough without suppliers masking the truth about delivery and adding extra layers for sales and marketing purposes. When will the mist clear so that clients know exactly what they’re buying? Isn’t it time that Search agencies started being transparent with clients about their practices, so that clients can make informed buying decisions?

Is it too much for clients to expect a straight answer to the questions “how?” and “who?”

Real success in search isn’t about delivery, it’s about change.

September 14th, 2009

There seems to be an endless supply of blog posts and articles tipping us off on the “Six secrets to success in search” or the “Top 5 tips for tripling your PPC ROI”.

Now, you’ll never hear me doing down the importance of building PPC campaigns in line with search engine best practice or ensuring that your ad copy is compelling, your landing page highly relevant, and your keyword lists well managed. If you don’t do this you’re going to be fighting an uphill battle with PPC investment – and the engines will be more than happy to take your money while you make the mistakes.

What bothers me is that across the industry, search practitioners seem to focus so much on this stuff. Surely excellence in delivery should be taken as a given? Yes, there’s a lot of intricate knowledge that an experienced search practitioner can apply to save a client a lot of money. Sure, you have to do all the granular campaign structure with highly relevant ad copy stuff, but that’s not what creates success. That just stops you from being inefficient.

I think there’s only one key to success in search; understanding your market.

To do this, PPC has to be used as what it is: a true blue, two way marketing tool. Not just a way of reaching customers, but a way of listening to them. Without going too evangelical, nowhere else are we presented with such pure data. Nowhere else do our customers (or people who, sadly, don’t want to be our customers) type out exactly what they are looking for, and allow us to observe their response to our offerings through click through and conversion rates, or observe what the latest popular search terms are.

But search practitioners sit somewhere between clients and their customers, so understanding our market also means understanding our clients’ businesses. There’s little point to all of our knowledge about the ins and outs of what effects Quality Score or knowing the Ad Rank formula, or even observing the latest market trends if we can’t make this usable for our clients’ business and relate it to their business strategy. Too long have we existed in a silo, reporting on the same old metrics. You see it in agencies, consultancies and in-house departments; all the specialist knowledge that we have access to just doesn’t get utilised because it doesn’t get properly connected with business strategy.

Forget about achieving a great CPA for a few seconds, surely a business is going to care more about the latest rising search that could open up a new product line, or the product sector that they thought just wouldn’t drive any sales that’s outperforming their best channel in terms of search query volume. Search is capable of driving consumer led change in the way a business behaves. The potential effect this could have on a business is much greater than achieving a low CPA in September.

So here’s the one secret to success in paid search: know the market. Listen to what your customers are saying, let your PPC strategy mirror your or your client’s business values and strategy but be willing to use search data to challenge and improve that strategy. Sure, you need to do the rest right too, but don’t get bogged down in it. The real opportunity is elsewhere.

Search Beyond The Atlantic

September 7th, 2009

Let’s start things off with a simple statement, I like to travel. Lots of people do, many of whom are quite the seasoned traveller, more so than myself (as much as I’d like to catch up). Somewhat fewer people like search. This is mainly because less people care about search (yes, it’s true), but there are actually plenty of similarities.

Search, speech, dialogue and interaction, are all integrated to some extent in ways that parallel the cultures across society and around our world. These are things that help us progress forward, they help nurture ideas. Google tries to market their product with this concept in mind, but let’s be honest – they’re in it for the money!

And rightfully so (from a business standpoint of course), as a recent look at Google’s sales figures shows that while U.S. market growth has tapered off in 2009, and in the U.K., actually slowed somewhat – the rest of the world is still giving Google it’s “glory days” where quarterly growth in 2009 stayed positive (although this has slowed down a bit too when compared to 2008). There’s more info on that at http://www.searchcowboys.com/research/936 – but let’s get to the real issue at hand and get on with the travels.

How well do you know the PPC and SEO markets in countries outside the U.K. and U.S.? Apologies for offending the few who might, but judging by a look at the overall scene, most people do not. Let’s go a step further and say “Search Marketing in Non-English speaking countries.” Search marketers and agencies from Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa, please be seated – although there seems to be a lot of untapped resource there too.

Everyone knows the basics…. Right? Host your site in the target market, use their local domain, their language. That’s a start. Build link strength to their site via other sites in that country and sites about that country, perhaps even sites in their language. Research their market, find out what converts via PPC. Analyse their user journeys when the site goes live – refine your strategy further. You’ll soon find out though, that they often travel different than we do.

For instance in Asia, you’ll find that your “Google led strategy” has no effect in markets like China, Japan and Korea, where engines like Naver and Baidu lead the way. Portal sites and social networking have a much bigger influence on where the user goes for information. So SEO is a completely different channel there. Or on the PPC side, how about Latin America, where past studies show that three quarters of users don’t even know that there’s a difference between paid and natural search. Of course, with PPC relatively untapped (read: very cheap), you can really get a lot of information gathered and testing done in these markets. Even financial terms that might go for over a pound in the U.K. can have their translated counterpart go for under 20p in countries that have a good internet user base, such as Argentina, Mexico and Chile. Contrary to studies in the U.S. and Europe, we often see that a term that ranks well in PPC and SEO getting a majority of visitors via the PPC route!

The good news for those looking to expand search campaigns into Latin America though, is unlike Asia – Google dominates here. In fact, check out the search engine market share for various countries around the world at – http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/03/googles-market-share-in-your-country.html

In Asia, one of the biggest mistakes international businesses make when trying to target countries like Japan (3rd biggest web market in the world according to – http://searchengineland.com/getting-to-know-international-ppc-markets-14955) is the actual website set up. Unlike in the western world, a majority of internet users in Japan visit websites via their mobile phone. So now, you have to look beyond the keywords and bidding, but the set up of your web pages also.

Back home though, we realise that many companies want to target foreign users – but may not have the expertise to re-launch their site in every language. We can help build your English language strategy also. Users in countries around the world will often query in English, whether they are ex-pats, business people, or merely educated in English – which is often taught as a second language in many countries. Many sites overlook the opportunity to tap into some of these countries via PPC, where they can generate qualified traffic and at the cost per click that is a fraction of what they pay normally. Of course, your site has to be somewhat relevant. If you’re selling products that only ship in the U.K. it’s probably not worth it. But for some sites, expanding your search marketing strategy across the world just might be the next step you are looking for. After all, wasn’t that the whole purpose of the web?

Moral of the story…. Travel more. Or ask Reform to advise you on an international search marketing strategy.

Blog post by Niall Madden, SEO Director of Reform

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