Session 4: Digital Marketing

• MKT30120 covers Digital Marketing

Quiz Information

• The Mid-term Quiz takes place March 4th at the Blackrock exam center from 6:30 pm to 7:30pm
• The quiz consists of multiple choice questions only as a closed-book paper exam

Group Work

• The deadline for group work submission is February 18th
• The submissions must include participating members and team list

Session Agenda

• Overview of SEO.
• SEO strategy including Technical SEO.
• Other considerations like Mobile, Location, and Penalties.

Landing Pages

• If a company advertises on the keyword "Smart Home Thermostats – AC83," the best type of landing page to use would be a single-product landing page

Search Engine Market Share

• Google has the greatest share of the search engine market

Mobile Search Engine Market Share

• Google has the greatest share of the mobile search engine market

Is it a well-balanced market?

• The question is posed wether or not the mobile search engine market is balanced

SEM vs. SEO

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is paid
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is organic, not paid

What is SEO?

• SEO optimizes a site for the search engine's natural results
• Natural, organic links are links that are not paid for

How a search engine works

• Data collection (crawl): Google's "bot" crawls the site pages by following internal and external links, or using URLs included in the XML Sitemap.
• Indexing: Content browsed by the robot is copied into Google's index, a large database.
• Processing requests: Data is processed according to the queries and keywords searched
• Google's restitution of search results ranks in order of relevance according to its algorithm and the user's query
• Image source: Sylvain Sagot. Contribution to the design and control of the web referencing process, 2016

Key SEO Terms

• Algorithm: The search engine's code ranks the pages based on this calculation
• On-page SEO: SEO factors on the website
• Off-page SEO: SEO factors away from the site, such as backlinks.
• Robots: The crawlers check for contents
• Backlink: A link pointing back to site from elsewhere in the web
• Metadata: Code that tells robots information about site

A History of SEO

• Pre-2003, ranking were based on on-page factors and keyword density
• Rankings were based on page titles, metadata, body copy, with the level of technicality, content and authority being HIGH
• Keyword density was crucial (more keywords = better)
• Search engines were easily manipulated with hidden, keyword-stuffed content.
• Google's Florida update (2003) shifted focus to links, focusing on high quantity of links and anchor text
• Technical SEO/content became less important, however Low-quality links can still rank
• From 2004-2011 manipulated levels were high: 70% technicals and 15% each for content and authority
• Google made quality improvements, but manipulation remained.
• Prior to 2011, major updates were rare; Panda in 2011 shifted focus to content and user experience.
• Panda targeted low-quality sites, favoring unique, engaging content over links.
• Penguin (2012) focused on penalizing paid and manipulative link spam
• In Current manipulation levels both updates stressed quality content, user engagement, and natural links for success VERY LOW levels of manipulation is encouraged

Researching SEO Strategy through Persona Development

• Create 3-5 audience personas to guide keyword research
• Personas help predict user search behavior and preferences

Researching SEO Strategy through Keyword Research

• Step 1: Create logical segments by splitting services into logical segments and consider each segment in detail
• Step 2: Mine the data by reviewing landing pages and other search engine data which helps brainstorming with personas to generate a list of key terms
• Step 3: Use tools like Google Adwords Keyword Planner , SEMRush, KeywordTool.io to mine secondary data sources and expand keywords
• Step 4: Sense check by questioning commercial value, how to competite and seek clarification with others

Technical SEO

• This includes optimizing: Title tags, URL, Header tags, Main content, Alt text, and Anchor text

Title Tags

• A brief description of the page content contained within the HTML.
• Ideally less than 75 characters with important keywords
• Meta Description A longer description of the page content that should be unique, relevant, and under 160 characters.
• Does not directly impact rankings but can boost click-through rates

URLs

• URL (Uniform Resource Locator) accesses a specific online resource like a web page, image, or file, consisting of a Protocol, Domain name and Path
• Words in URLs receive heavy weighting in the calculation of relevance, with targeted Keywords included in the title

Header Tags

• HTML header tags define headings with

  being the most important,

  is secondary

• Target keywords in the

  tag for better SEO

• Use smaller tags such as

  ,

  ) for subsections to help users and search engines understand the content

Main Content

• Search engine codes read every word in the main body
• Target keywords phrases should be used however keyword stuffing and negative
• Main content needs crucial informative and functional (product/service descriptions)and engaging content for SEO
• For content focus SEO on target audience and keep fresh along with natural relevant keywords, and have content on home site. The key is to prioritize site content
• High quality sites should have original content and short load time, with less waiting and dedicated hosting
• PageSpeed Insights can also be used to optimize
• Frequent updates with sufficient pages and content measure quality and relevance

Low Bounce Rate

• Is the user's percentage of bounce rate after landing straight off

Image Alt Text and File Name

• Alt text describes the the image content
• Alt text also helps visually impaired users and browsers with images deactivated
• Both Alt text and file names should have keywords to be picked up by search engines

Anchor Text

• Is the wording used on the clickable part of links in webpages.
• Anchor text helps both the reader and search engines understand the context of the link and the content it is pointing to
• Search engines use it as a third-party description of web pages
• Links to internal pages connect the same site and allow to use target keywords

Mobile Considerations

• The site should work one all device with a responsive structure
• Mobile is favored over desktop sites in rankings and penalization will occur for websites with no mobile support

Location

• Three local businesses are listed with a map, location and review information

Local Search Ranking Factors

• For local search ranking "My Business" should optimized
• Verify business listing with Google's business.
• Accurate categories, listing and a well-optimized landing page are essential
• Listing photos also a must to be put business on the map
• NAP is where name and address are listed on the map
• Structured citations list references and listing from other websites
• Reviews of the business also important

Penalties

• Google penalties are punishments or negative impacts that hurt a website's Google rankings
• There are algorithmic and manual types
• Focus on avoiding is better than detailing them
• Check backlink profile and do not buy links
• Check for duplicate content and content originality
• Avoid too many thin site pages of content and unnatural anchor text
• Seek relevant and quality site links along with nofollow attributes