Search Engine Marketing, Inc.
Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Website
3rd Edition
Published on 3. December 2014
528 pages
978-0-13-303920-7 (ISBN)
Description
The #1 Step-by-Step Guide to Search Marketing Success...Now Updated and Reorganized to Help You Drive Even More Value
For years, Search Engine Marketing, Inc. has been the definitive practical guide to driving value from search. Now, Mike Moran and Bill Hunt have completely rewritten their best-seller to present valuable new strategies, best practices, and lessons from experience.
Their revamped and reorganized Third Edition introduces a holistic approach that integrates organic and paid search, and complements them both with social media. This new approach can transform the way you think about search, plan it, and profit from it.
Moran and Hunt address every business, writing, and technical element of successful search engine marketing. Whatever your background, they help you fill your skills gaps and leverage the experience you already have.
You'll learn how search engines and search marketing work today, and how to segment searchers based on their behavior, successfully anticipating what they're looking for. You'll walk through formulating your custom program: identifying goals, assessing where you stand, estimating costs, choosing strategy, and gaining buy-in. Next, you'll focus on execution: identifying challenges, diagnosing and fixing problems, measuring performance, and continually improving your program. You'll learn how to
Focus relentlessly on business value, not tactics
Overcome the obstacles that make search marketing so challenging
Get into your searcher's mind, and discover how her behavior may change based on situation or device
Understand what happens technically when a user searches-and make the most of that knowledge
Create a focused program that can earn the support it will need to succeed
Clarify your goals and link them to specific measurements
Craft search terms and copy that attracts your best prospects and customers
Optimize content by getting writers and tech people working together
Address the critical challenges of quality in both paid and organic search
Avoid overly clever tricks that can destroy your effectiveness
Identify and resolve problems as soon as they emerge
Redesign day-to-day operating procedures to optimize search performance
Whether you're a marketer, tech professional, product manager, or content specialist, this guide will help you define realistic goals, craft a best-practices program for achieving them, and implement it flawlessly.
NEW COMPANION WEBSITE PACKED WITH TOOLS AND RESOURCES
SEMincBook.com includes exclusive tools, deeper explorations of key search management techniques, and updates on emerging trends in the field
mikemoran.com
whunt.com
SEMincBook.com
For years, Search Engine Marketing, Inc. has been the definitive practical guide to driving value from search. Now, Mike Moran and Bill Hunt have completely rewritten their best-seller to present valuable new strategies, best practices, and lessons from experience.
Their revamped and reorganized Third Edition introduces a holistic approach that integrates organic and paid search, and complements them both with social media. This new approach can transform the way you think about search, plan it, and profit from it.
Moran and Hunt address every business, writing, and technical element of successful search engine marketing. Whatever your background, they help you fill your skills gaps and leverage the experience you already have.
You'll learn how search engines and search marketing work today, and how to segment searchers based on their behavior, successfully anticipating what they're looking for. You'll walk through formulating your custom program: identifying goals, assessing where you stand, estimating costs, choosing strategy, and gaining buy-in. Next, you'll focus on execution: identifying challenges, diagnosing and fixing problems, measuring performance, and continually improving your program. You'll learn how to
Focus relentlessly on business value, not tactics
Overcome the obstacles that make search marketing so challenging
Get into your searcher's mind, and discover how her behavior may change based on situation or device
Understand what happens technically when a user searches-and make the most of that knowledge
Create a focused program that can earn the support it will need to succeed
Clarify your goals and link them to specific measurements
Craft search terms and copy that attracts your best prospects and customers
Optimize content by getting writers and tech people working together
Address the critical challenges of quality in both paid and organic search
Avoid overly clever tricks that can destroy your effectiveness
Identify and resolve problems as soon as they emerge
Redesign day-to-day operating procedures to optimize search performance
Whether you're a marketer, tech professional, product manager, or content specialist, this guide will help you define realistic goals, craft a best-practices program for achieving them, and implement it flawlessly.
NEW COMPANION WEBSITE PACKED WITH TOOLS AND RESOURCES
SEMincBook.com includes exclusive tools, deeper explorations of key search management techniques, and updates on emerging trends in the field
mikemoran.com
whunt.com
SEMincBook.com
More details
Series
Edition
3rd edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Armonk
United States
Publishing group
Pearson Education (US)
Target group
College/higher education
File size
8,11 MB
ISBN-13
978-0-13-303920-7 (9780133039207)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Mike Moran | Bill Hunt
Search Engine Marketing, Inc.
Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Website
Book
12/2014
3rd Edition
IBM Press
€41.46
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Mike Moran has worked on the web since its inception, in both marketing and technical roles, including eight years at IBM.com, IBM's customer-facing website. In 2008, Mike retired from IBM to pursue speaking, writing, and consulting at Mike Moran Group, and also serves as a senior strategist for both the social media consultancy Converseon, and its spin-off social analytics company, Revealed Context. He's twice been named one of the top 50 Internet marketers and regularly consults for Fortune 500 companies around the world.
Mike is also the author of Do It Wrong Quickly: How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules, perhaps the first book on agile marketing. He writes regular columns on digital marketing at WebProNews and Search Engine Guide, and is the founder and senior author at Biznology (www.biznology.com).
He's a Senior Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research and an Open Group Distinguished IT Specialist. Mike is a frequent keynote speaker on digital marketing at events around the world, serves as a Visiting Lecturer to the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, works as an instructor for both Rutgers University and the University of California at Irvine, and holds an Advanced Certificate in Market Management Practice from the Royal UK Charter Institute of Marketing.
Mike also has a broad technical background, with over 30 years of experience in search technology, working at IBM Research, Lotus, and other IBM software units. He led the product team that developed the first commercial linguistic search engine in 1989 and has been granted 11 patents in search and retrieval technology. He led the integration of ibm.com's site search technologies as well as projects in content management, personalization, and web metrics. Mike led the adoption of search marketing at ibm.com back in 2001 and pioneered product search facilities that dramatically raised conversion rates. Mike was named an IBM Distinguished Engineer in 2005.
Mike can be reached through his website (www.mikemoran.com).
Bill Hunt has been a pioneer in search marketing, first optimizing pages in 1994. He is considered the top thought leader on enterprise and global search engine marketing and is an internationally recognized search marketing expert who has spoken at conferences in over 30 countries.
Press, industry analysts, and corporate leaders frequently seek Bill's advice to help them effectively leverage enterprise and global search marketing. Bill is the CEO of Back Azimuth Consulting. Through Back Azimuth, Bill provides cutting-edge keyword data-mining models to identify missed opportunities and increase revenue based on understanding consumer needs. Bill is also responsible for Back Azimuth's search marketing thought leadership and for developing global search marketing strategic roadmaps for multinational corporations such as Absolut Vodka, Cisco, HP, MGM, and Pernod-Ricard.
Bill is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and he earned a B.A. in Asian Studies/Japanese from the University of Maryland, Tokyo Campus, and a B.S. in International Business from California State University, Los Angeles. Bill can be reached through his company website (www. back-azimuth.com) or his blog (www.whunt.com).
Mike is also the author of Do It Wrong Quickly: How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules, perhaps the first book on agile marketing. He writes regular columns on digital marketing at WebProNews and Search Engine Guide, and is the founder and senior author at Biznology (www.biznology.com).
He's a Senior Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research and an Open Group Distinguished IT Specialist. Mike is a frequent keynote speaker on digital marketing at events around the world, serves as a Visiting Lecturer to the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, works as an instructor for both Rutgers University and the University of California at Irvine, and holds an Advanced Certificate in Market Management Practice from the Royal UK Charter Institute of Marketing.
Mike also has a broad technical background, with over 30 years of experience in search technology, working at IBM Research, Lotus, and other IBM software units. He led the product team that developed the first commercial linguistic search engine in 1989 and has been granted 11 patents in search and retrieval technology. He led the integration of ibm.com's site search technologies as well as projects in content management, personalization, and web metrics. Mike led the adoption of search marketing at ibm.com back in 2001 and pioneered product search facilities that dramatically raised conversion rates. Mike was named an IBM Distinguished Engineer in 2005.
Mike can be reached through his website (www.mikemoran.com).
Bill Hunt has been a pioneer in search marketing, first optimizing pages in 1994. He is considered the top thought leader on enterprise and global search engine marketing and is an internationally recognized search marketing expert who has spoken at conferences in over 30 countries.
Press, industry analysts, and corporate leaders frequently seek Bill's advice to help them effectively leverage enterprise and global search marketing. Bill is the CEO of Back Azimuth Consulting. Through Back Azimuth, Bill provides cutting-edge keyword data-mining models to identify missed opportunities and increase revenue based on understanding consumer needs. Bill is also responsible for Back Azimuth's search marketing thought leadership and for developing global search marketing strategic roadmaps for multinational corporations such as Absolut Vodka, Cisco, HP, MGM, and Pernod-Ricard.
Bill is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and he earned a B.A. in Asian Studies/Japanese from the University of Maryland, Tokyo Campus, and a B.S. in International Business from California State University, Los Angeles. Bill can be reached through his company website (www. back-azimuth.com) or his blog (www.whunt.com).
Content
Preface xvii
Acknowledgements xx
About the Authors xxiv
Part I: Understand Search Marketing
Chapter 1 How Search Marketing Works 3
Why Search Marketing Is Important 4
Searchers Are Highly Qualified Prospects 4
Search Marketing Is Cost-Effective 5
Search Marketing Is Big Business 6
Why Search Marketing Is Difficult 6
You Need Flexibility 6
You Need Coordination 7
You Need Name Recognition 7
You Need Resources 8
You Have Lots of Competition 9
What Search Marketing Is 10
How to Get Started in Search Marketing 18
Getting Started with Organic Search 18
Getting Started with Paid Search 23
The Steps to Search Success 29
Chapter 2 How Searchers Work 31
Visitor Behavior 32
Buyer Behavior 33
Other Visitor Behavior 34
The Searcher's Intent 34
Navigational Searchers 35
Informational Searchers 38
Transactional Searchers 39
The Searcher's Device 41
The Searcher's Typing 42
The Searcher's Click 44
How Searchers Look at Results 45
Why Searchers Click Where They Do 46
When Searchers Don't Click Results 46
The Searcher's Follow-Through 48
Customer Behavior and the Buyer's Journey 49
Search Marketing and the Buyer's Journey 51
How to Work the Searcher 54
Don't Pick Keywords That Are "Too Hot" 54
Don't Pick Keywords That Are "Too Cold" 57
Pick Keywords That Are "Just Right" 59
Chapter 3 How Search Works 61
How Search Engines Work 61
Analyzing the Search Keyword 62
Choosing Matches to the Keyword 66
Ranking the Matches 70
Displaying Search Results 81
Finding Content for the Organic Index 82
Analyzing the Content 85
Spotting Words You Don't Normally See 86
Building the Organic Index 88
How to Work the Search Engines 89
Your Organic Search Writing Philosophy 89
Your Paid Search Bidding Philosophy 92
Your Content Quality Philosophy 98
Part II: Plan Your Search Marketing Program
Chapter 4 Unlock the Business Value of Search 105
Identify Your Website's Goals 105
Web Sales 107
Offline Sales 112
Leads 113
Market Awareness 115
Information and Entertainment 116
Persuasion 117
Measure Your Website's Success 120
Count Your Conversions 120
Count Your Traffic 137
Count Your Money 139
Measure Your Search Marketing Success 141
Target Your First Search Marketing Campaign 142
Assess Your Current Situation 147
See Whether Your Existing Landing Pages Are Indexed 150
Calculate Your First Campaign's Opportunity 157
Chapter 5 Create Your Search Marketing Program 167
Define Your Search Marketing Strategy 167
Choose the Scope of Your Search Marketing Program 168
Divide the Search Marketing Work 173
Choose Your Search Marketing Approach 180
Project Your Search Marketing Costs 188
Sell Your Search Marketing Proposal 194
Assemble Your Search Marketing Proposal 195
Sell Your Proposal to the Extended Search Team 202
Sell Your Proposal to Executives 216
Set Up Your Search Marketing Program 222
Organize Paid Search 222
Organize Organic Search 226
Organize Local Search 228
Part III: Execute Your Search Marketing Program
Chapter 6 Choose Your Target Market Segments 235
Understand the Value of Targeting 236
Building Brand Awareness 236
Increasing Web Conversions 238
Choose Your Primary Targets 239
Brainstorm with Your Team 240
Check Your Current Search Referrals 244
Consult Your Site Search Facility 244
Use Keyword Research Tools 245
Check Out Your Competition 246
Deepen Your Targeting 247
Use Your Buyer's Journey 247
Decide a Match Type for Each Paid Search Keyword 248
Localize Your Targets 250
Organize Your Targets 254
Understand the Need to Prioritize 255
Choose Your Keyword Tiers 257
Prioritize Keywords by Your Buyer's Journey 259
Structure Your Paid Search Keywords 262
Optimize Your Keyword Models 263
Segment Your Keywords by Categories 264
Use Searcher Interests for Content Development 266
Use Social Data to Improve Keywords 266
Chapter 7 Get Your Content Listed 269
Get Your Pages Listed in Organic Search Indexes 269
Assess How Many Pages Are Indexed 270
Increase the Number of Indexed Pages 278
Get Social Content Listed in Organic Search Indexes 301
Get Your Blog Indexed 301
Get Your Videos Indexed 302
Getting Your Images Indexed 302
Getting Your Social Network Content Indexed 303
Get Your Merchandise Listed in Product Search Databases 304
Feeding Your Data to Product Search Engines 304
Making the Most of Product Feeds 306
Chapter 8 Optimize Your Content 309
Choose Your Search Landing Pages 310
How Not to Choose a Search Landing Page 311
Landing Pages for Multiple Keywords 312
When You Can't Find the Right Landing Page 313
Analyze Your Metrics 315
Measure Your Search Referrals 317
Calculate Your Search Conversions 317
Improve Your Content 318
Improve Your Search Results 319
Improve Your Landing Pages 334
Chapter 9 Prove Your Content's Quality 351
Organic Search Quality Factors 352
Links as Quality Factors 352
Social Media as Quality Factors 378
Human Ratings as Quality Factors 386
Paid Search Quality Factors 390
Using Your Quality Score 391
Understanding Product Search Quality 392
Improve Quality with Co-Optimization 393
Chapter 10 Make Search Marketing Operational 397
Why Is Operating a Search Program So Hard? 398
Multiple Specialist Teams 398
Multiple Product Sites 399
Multiple Audiences 400
Multiple Countries 402
Multiple Technologies 403
Set Up Your Search Center of Excellence 404
Staff the Team 405
Develop the Team's Skills 406
Establish Search Marketing Best Practices 407
Monitor Your Search Metrics 413
Assess Your Site's Content 413
Check Your Search Rankings 421
Monitor Search Referrals 425
Calculate Search Conversions 430
Review Your Measurements with Others 434
Monitor Your Search Health 437
Your Organic Page Inclusion 437
Site-Wide Organic Search Problems 439
Your Paid Search Program 441
The Companion Website 445
Glossary 447
Index 487
Acknowledgements xx
About the Authors xxiv
Part I: Understand Search Marketing
Chapter 1 How Search Marketing Works 3
Why Search Marketing Is Important 4
Searchers Are Highly Qualified Prospects 4
Search Marketing Is Cost-Effective 5
Search Marketing Is Big Business 6
Why Search Marketing Is Difficult 6
You Need Flexibility 6
You Need Coordination 7
You Need Name Recognition 7
You Need Resources 8
You Have Lots of Competition 9
What Search Marketing Is 10
How to Get Started in Search Marketing 18
Getting Started with Organic Search 18
Getting Started with Paid Search 23
The Steps to Search Success 29
Chapter 2 How Searchers Work 31
Visitor Behavior 32
Buyer Behavior 33
Other Visitor Behavior 34
The Searcher's Intent 34
Navigational Searchers 35
Informational Searchers 38
Transactional Searchers 39
The Searcher's Device 41
The Searcher's Typing 42
The Searcher's Click 44
How Searchers Look at Results 45
Why Searchers Click Where They Do 46
When Searchers Don't Click Results 46
The Searcher's Follow-Through 48
Customer Behavior and the Buyer's Journey 49
Search Marketing and the Buyer's Journey 51
How to Work the Searcher 54
Don't Pick Keywords That Are "Too Hot" 54
Don't Pick Keywords That Are "Too Cold" 57
Pick Keywords That Are "Just Right" 59
Chapter 3 How Search Works 61
How Search Engines Work 61
Analyzing the Search Keyword 62
Choosing Matches to the Keyword 66
Ranking the Matches 70
Displaying Search Results 81
Finding Content for the Organic Index 82
Analyzing the Content 85
Spotting Words You Don't Normally See 86
Building the Organic Index 88
How to Work the Search Engines 89
Your Organic Search Writing Philosophy 89
Your Paid Search Bidding Philosophy 92
Your Content Quality Philosophy 98
Part II: Plan Your Search Marketing Program
Chapter 4 Unlock the Business Value of Search 105
Identify Your Website's Goals 105
Web Sales 107
Offline Sales 112
Leads 113
Market Awareness 115
Information and Entertainment 116
Persuasion 117
Measure Your Website's Success 120
Count Your Conversions 120
Count Your Traffic 137
Count Your Money 139
Measure Your Search Marketing Success 141
Target Your First Search Marketing Campaign 142
Assess Your Current Situation 147
See Whether Your Existing Landing Pages Are Indexed 150
Calculate Your First Campaign's Opportunity 157
Chapter 5 Create Your Search Marketing Program 167
Define Your Search Marketing Strategy 167
Choose the Scope of Your Search Marketing Program 168
Divide the Search Marketing Work 173
Choose Your Search Marketing Approach 180
Project Your Search Marketing Costs 188
Sell Your Search Marketing Proposal 194
Assemble Your Search Marketing Proposal 195
Sell Your Proposal to the Extended Search Team 202
Sell Your Proposal to Executives 216
Set Up Your Search Marketing Program 222
Organize Paid Search 222
Organize Organic Search 226
Organize Local Search 228
Part III: Execute Your Search Marketing Program
Chapter 6 Choose Your Target Market Segments 235
Understand the Value of Targeting 236
Building Brand Awareness 236
Increasing Web Conversions 238
Choose Your Primary Targets 239
Brainstorm with Your Team 240
Check Your Current Search Referrals 244
Consult Your Site Search Facility 244
Use Keyword Research Tools 245
Check Out Your Competition 246
Deepen Your Targeting 247
Use Your Buyer's Journey 247
Decide a Match Type for Each Paid Search Keyword 248
Localize Your Targets 250
Organize Your Targets 254
Understand the Need to Prioritize 255
Choose Your Keyword Tiers 257
Prioritize Keywords by Your Buyer's Journey 259
Structure Your Paid Search Keywords 262
Optimize Your Keyword Models 263
Segment Your Keywords by Categories 264
Use Searcher Interests for Content Development 266
Use Social Data to Improve Keywords 266
Chapter 7 Get Your Content Listed 269
Get Your Pages Listed in Organic Search Indexes 269
Assess How Many Pages Are Indexed 270
Increase the Number of Indexed Pages 278
Get Social Content Listed in Organic Search Indexes 301
Get Your Blog Indexed 301
Get Your Videos Indexed 302
Getting Your Images Indexed 302
Getting Your Social Network Content Indexed 303
Get Your Merchandise Listed in Product Search Databases 304
Feeding Your Data to Product Search Engines 304
Making the Most of Product Feeds 306
Chapter 8 Optimize Your Content 309
Choose Your Search Landing Pages 310
How Not to Choose a Search Landing Page 311
Landing Pages for Multiple Keywords 312
When You Can't Find the Right Landing Page 313
Analyze Your Metrics 315
Measure Your Search Referrals 317
Calculate Your Search Conversions 317
Improve Your Content 318
Improve Your Search Results 319
Improve Your Landing Pages 334
Chapter 9 Prove Your Content's Quality 351
Organic Search Quality Factors 352
Links as Quality Factors 352
Social Media as Quality Factors 378
Human Ratings as Quality Factors 386
Paid Search Quality Factors 390
Using Your Quality Score 391
Understanding Product Search Quality 392
Improve Quality with Co-Optimization 393
Chapter 10 Make Search Marketing Operational 397
Why Is Operating a Search Program So Hard? 398
Multiple Specialist Teams 398
Multiple Product Sites 399
Multiple Audiences 400
Multiple Countries 402
Multiple Technologies 403
Set Up Your Search Center of Excellence 404
Staff the Team 405
Develop the Team's Skills 406
Establish Search Marketing Best Practices 407
Monitor Your Search Metrics 413
Assess Your Site's Content 413
Check Your Search Rankings 421
Monitor Search Referrals 425
Calculate Search Conversions 430
Review Your Measurements with Others 434
Monitor Your Search Health 437
Your Organic Page Inclusion 437
Site-Wide Organic Search Problems 439
Your Paid Search Program 441
The Companion Website 445
Glossary 447
Index 487
