SEO 2.0: Where Is Search Heading And How Can You Stay Ahead Of The Curve

As we all know, Search Engine Marketing (Search) provides the highest return on investment for the marketing dollar when properly executed.  Whether it be optimizing your site for top “Natural” listing in the major Search Engines like Google or building a detailed Paid Search Campaign to have your company found in the Paid Listings of the MSN, Yahoo and Google.   So, for those in the “know”, know that it’s no longer an argument of seriously investing in both Organic and Paid Search, its more a matter of how to outpace your competition in the now hyper competitive space of Search Engine Marketing.
 
To outpace your competition, means to have better information.  To have better information means to look at the trends that will set the pace for the next 3 years, not just the next 3 months.   So, that’s what we’ll look at, what are the trends to evaluate when it comes to the long-term and not just the quick hit.
Search as part of your Strategy Not just another Campaign.

Search Engine Marketing is defined by Search Engine Professionals as both the art and science of both Organic and Paid Search.  So, for many of us Marketers, it was easier for us to ‘lump’ Paid Search into a campaign we added in our budgets and Organic Search as something that our IT Dept or Webmaster handles.  It just made our lives easier.  The major flaw in such an approach is that Organic Search and Paid Search are integrally intertwined.  Moreover, there is a sound argument to be had that Search has a major affect on all your marketing efforts.
   
When you run a paid search campaign, typically marketers/agencies are looking for Click throughs, Lead Generation and sales.  So, campaigns are tweaked based on Click Through Rates (CTR), Lead Generation per KWP and actual dollars coming from that Search.   Then on the organic side of search, we have our IT folks, and Search Agencies tweak the website to best position for top rankings.   And success is measured, more or less, on obtaining those rankings.

So, two different success criteria or Key Performance Indicators(KPIs), as we like to call it, and two different mindsets evolve, neither of which gives the full picture.
The more forward looking marketers are looking well beyond these basics KPI's to get a true sense of how their Search efforts are affecting the business.  They are looking at the buying life cycle, the engagement rates, the brand equity, the offline integration and overall how Search affects their entire marketing strategy and not just as a campaign.    So, let’s look at the top 3 philosophies trends that are driving success.  The first element we need to re-evaluate is how we measure success.

Look at the Buying Cycle

The second area most commonly over-looked is how the buying cycle effects are search campaigns. When we look at the research on how customers purchase online (and off), there are a few glaring areas that stand out above the rest.   
The more specific the Key Word Phrase the more likely the intent to purchase.  For example, if I was in the market for a new Plasma TV, and if I typed in “Plasma TV” into Google, I am most likely in the “Research” phase of my buying cycle in trying to learn more about the benefits of Plasma and so on.  Now if I typed in “52” Sony Plasma LCD” I am usually much further along in the sales process and now I know what type of Plasma I am looking for.
Lastly if I type in “Best price on Sony Plasma LCDs” I am assuredly looking to find a good deal.   This is no different than our traditional buying cycle where any salesperson will tell you that someone who knows what they want and asks about price is the most likely to buy.   It’s the “looky-Loos” that drive us all crazy and there are plenty of those online.   

Looking back to the Key Performance Indicators mentioned in the introduction, if we evaluated say “Plasma TV” in our Paid Search Campaign and saw we had 10,000 click through last quarter and then looked back at our “Sony Plasma LCD” KWP success and saw only 1,400 we might believe that Plasma TV is more effective.   If we had a little more patience, we’d look at how well the campaign led to an actual inquiry or sale, so at that point it is more likely that the Click to Sale rate is much higher with the more descriptive KWP.  So, which campaign is more successful?  
Many on the sales side would say the 1400 with a higher conversion rate.  Brand marketers would say “Plasma TV” is better because of the awareness and brand leadership it drives.  And in the end, both are right.  So, what it comes down to is how well these campaigns are aligned with your overall marketing objectives.  Are you looking for greater marketplace awareness and being know for a certain product or are you more concerned about sales from a result of marketing objectives?   For most it’s a combination of both and in that, we need to look at bigger long-term metrics as we might find that “Plasma TVs” may drive more sales if we look beyond the initial intent to purchase.  

KPI’s like, “engagement rate” to understand how well the site/landing page engaged the potential customer at that point in the buying cycle; or the “Life-time Value” of that customer and how often they come back for other similar purchases even if a sale did not happen at that particular point in the search.   Lastly, “brand awareness”.  Is your brand associated as leader in a particular category?  Being atop major search engines organically, has proven a much higher association with brand leadership as Google is validating (the old 3rd party validation) as a leader through their relevancy algorithm.

Budget for Your Customers not Your Agency

Stray usually starts from the point of origin.   Direct/Traditional Marketing mindsets still plague the online space.  There is no real finger to point or scape-goat; it’s just a matter of fact because so many of us have been educated in the traditional sense.    For example, when we evaluate where to spend money and time, over 70% of our search budgets are spent on paid search; but less than 28% of our customers use paid search over organic listings.  Why?  Well because Paid Search is easier to quantify, easier to understand and easier to measure. It was very much like our paid placements in say a magazine where if we spent $10,000, we knew we’d get 100,000 people looking at our ad based on readership.     So, we need to start thinking about our budgets as it relates to customer preference and not what our agencies feel more comfortable with. 

So, to summarize: 

Start by planning your search campaigns in relation to your overarching marketing strategy and not as a one off “silo” strategy.   Have the courage to spend the time to look at your customers buying behavior and the cycle within and partition your search efforts into how you want to effect each stage (Research to purchase) and how best to do that.  Finally, take a hard look at how you are managing your Search efforts.   A fresh look and new perspective cannot hurt even if it just reassures you that you are on the right track.  

Aaron Kahlow serves as Chairman of the Online Marketing Summit and Managing Partner of BusinessOnLine, a complete Web Site services company. Having delivered over 170 seminars nationwide and frequently quoted in such publications as Industry Week, BtoBOnline, and BusinessWeek, Aaron is a recognized authority on the subjects of Web Site Usability, Search Engine Optimization, Web Analytics and overall Web Strategy. Most recently, Kahlow was named as one of the “Top 40 entrepreneurs under the age of 40” by Metropolitan Magazine.