Conference Buddies

We have had two years to adjust to the major search engine results page changes. It is clear those links that searchers first see aren’t at all what they used to be. The SERPs are more complex, and that means optimization is more complex, too. This session will examine search engine results pages with the images, videos, stock quotes, weather and other snippets included, and address the changes that marketers must make.

Moderator: Christine Churchill
Speakers:
Amanda Watlington, Ph.D., Searching for Profit @amandaw
Bruce Clay, President, Bruce Clay, Inc. @bruceclayinc
Brian Combs, Principal, ionadas local @BrianPCombs
Scott Polk, Director of Operations, Search & Social Media @scottpolk

Amanda Watlington @amandaw

Clues from News Articles:

• Focus is on scale
• Better local, such as more UK sites in UK results
• Fresher and faster results

Clue 1: Scalability

• More efficient crawling
• Test Scalability: YSlow or other speed tests
• Use robots.txt and parameter handling settings in webmaster tools to avoid duplicate content
• Keep Sitemaps up-to-date

Clue 2: More Localization

• More local results by country
• Claim your push pins through local business center
• Optimize for local searches
• Multi-nationals, now is the time to reconsider how you are going to search market

Clue 3: Fresher Results

• Very rapid indexing is in the future
• Old, unvisited content will not do the trick
• Better, harder working content
• Keep content up to date
• Expire old, dead content
• Mind your link rot
• Look to social media as an adventure for getting marketing results

Clue 4: More Precise Results

• Use experience when searching
• Real long tail queries often are unique
• Head queries are imprecise pizza
• The fat middle is “pizza del las vegas’ chase the more precise results

More Precise Results

• Optimize all kinds of files and watch traffic grow
• Images – avoid dsc10257.jpg, rename it into something more meaningful
• Video – provide complete info, consistent best practices
• Product images and price alone won’t do
• PDF – optimize them fully

Bruce Clay @bruceclayinc

Engagement Objects

• Image Indexing
• Video Content Indexing
• Content is not just text, it’s video, images, maps, etc.

Bruce took a newspaper article, scanned as an image, then put into PDF, now that will rank for works in that image. This means Google now is starting to read text in images.

Bruce took a video, transcribed the audio and put back into the video as a separate audio track. Google has audio indexing, and can pull up the audio where it appears in the track. This means Video content can now rank and add to SEO. This also means you now have to write scripts for video presenters with SEO in mind.

Remember Video is content, therefore you need to optimize content for SEO if you want to rank.

XML Sitemaps for Google

• No XML file for Images
• You can create an XML file for Video
• More info can be found here: http://www.bruceclay.com/newsletter/volume67/xmlsitemaps.html

Key Points:

• Google can scan images and audio for keywords
• Content is not just text, it’s video, audio, images, maps, etc.
• Google is redefining what is content

Brian Combs @BrianPCombs

Google Maps

• Rank higher than natural listings
• Less competitive

Step 1:

• Claim your listings
• Use your keywords and locations within your listing
• Don’t overuse them (penalty)
• P.O. Boxes may be depreciated
• Upload images and/or videos
• Encourage happy clients to write reviews (on google, city search, yelp etc.)
• Tag your business with Google My Maps

Step 2:

• Optimize your Website
• Optimize for locations as well as keywords

Step 3:

• Citation Building
• Citations are similar to links
• Trusted pages that list company name, home number, and address
• Link not required!
• Get listed in major IYPs
• Local directories
• Vertical directories

Google Maps Developments

• 7-Pack listings replaced the 10-Pack
• Cleaned up the interface
• Provides space for local listing ads (current testing in 2 markets SF and San Diego)
• Still lots of bugs
• Implied local intent

Scott Polk @scottpolk

• Populate your content (meta cafe, YouTube, Flickr)
• Put onto your own site
• Build links to your content to build authority

Why Blogs are your #1 Search Marketing Tool

Speaker: Chris Baggott, Compendium Blogware
10/15/2009, 11am – 12pm

Notes:

• Blogging is the number one corporate focus. It is the fastest growing corporate initiative
• Blogging is a great way to get out information (to searchers)
• The goal is to get more first time searchers
• comScore: 43% more searches this year than last year
• Search is a way to find a solution to your problems
• Companies that have blogs have 55% more visitors to their website, with 97% more traffic to inbound links
• Blogging is a way to get people to search on your site
• 1st generation blogging: me, me, me. 2nd generation blogging: look at what I know. 3rd generation blogging: getting business through search
• 3rd generation blogging is to target messages around your specific keywords
• Create multiple blogs that target your keyword phrases
• Corporate mistake: content is organized around an individual. Content should be organized around solving the audiences’ problems and what they care about
• Use words that your customers are using, “speak their language”
• Make searchers happy, convert them into customers
• Problems with blogging is that it takes time and effort
• When we look at a page, we are searching for credibility. If they trust you, you will get the click thru
• Similar-situation sale: tell me a story about how you solved a problem like mine, then I’ll trust you to solve my problem, too.
• Bloggers are free, not assigned. People want to blog, tell a story
• Blog content and volume of blog posts directly correlates with traffic
• How do you measure the value of corporate blogging? Compare organic traffic with how much the keyword is worth ($$ wise). That’s one way to measure ROI
• Targeting key words on blogs is comparable to PPC, measure ROI by engagement, conversion. 1.6% conversion on organic searches, 30 to 40% on blogs
• Call to action: fill out a form, click on a button
• Make blogs look like landing pages
• Doesn’t make any difference whether the blog looks like a regular HTML page
• Search Engines are looking for fresh new content, updating the blog regularly will get you crawled more.
• One good blog vs. many different blogs in corporations: established readers vs. first time searchers. Corporations are interested in getting the conversion as opposed to a loyal reader.
• Corporate blogging should be focused with search in mind
• 90% of customers are coming from search
• Have many blogs, all sub-domains, to make it more search engine friendly

SEO/SEM

Speakers:

Rhea Drysale: Outspoken Media
Stephen Spencer: Net Concepts
Brett Tabke: WebmasterWorld, PubCon
10/16/2009, 4pm – 5pm

SEO/SEM Tools

• seo-browser.com: scans websites for SEO content. Tells you what type of redirect it is.
• Yahoo Site Explorer: free tool, log in to get comprehensive data, exclude internal links, only inbound links from other sites, lists not all, but most of your inbound links
• getlisted.org to claim your business on several local search engines & see how your business is listed at Google, Yahoo, and other top local search engines

SEO/SEM Tips

• Duplicate content is never going to rank as well as original content
• Keyword research: Google Adwords, sort by search volume, use it to base content around those words or phrases
• Every time you get a redirect, you lose a little value. (www versus non-www). Always stick with the same thing.
• Website problems: Lack of 301 redirects, too much duplicate content, http versus https, default is 302 redirect, broad keywords, title tags & body copy should be used, in “description”, title matters.
• Site:yourdomain on Google search. Checks the site for www versus non-www redirects
• Use this at the end of “Site:yourdomain”: &start =990&filter=0
• Shorter, keyword-rich content is better for your page rank and click thru rate
• No index (for Google: don’t index, don’t include in data page) and disallow (page is not accessible), no follow (don’t link the page rank, i.e. all your social buttons so you don‘t hemorrhage on page ranks), don’t vouch for sites that are not relevant to you
• Google webmaster central: verify your website, tell them what pages you want included & not included, lists your back links, have multiple people verify for you to find 404 errors, never use the removal tool because you can’t change your mind for six months,
• SEO Title Tags: a plugin for WordPress. Related words in title tag, but not in the post title, mass edit your title tags, get custom title tags for your various pages and posts without going into each page for editing, they do not conflict
• Blog posts: Use the more tag after the first paragraph, links back to your articles, don’t use your home page, use a tiny URL, (some services do not use a 301, always use one with a 301, NOT a 302) or use a hand-crafted optional excerpt, define that with a code to display the unique content.

Speakers:
Chris Silver Smith
Danny Sullivan
Hamlet Batista

3:30 – 4:45PM on Tuesday, June 2 in Bay Auditorium

Links still rule as a major factor in helping pages rank well. You know all the obvious link building tips such as directories and forums. This session goes off-the-beaten path with ideas on how to find important, trusted, and relevant linking opportunities you might be overlooking.

Some Good Link Sources:

• Audience Targeted Content
• Useful Widgets/Tools
• RSS/Atom/Feeds
• SERP Listing Optimization

1. Audience Targeted Content:

Useful information for .EDU (i.e. businesses near schools)

Public Domain Content:

• U.S. Gov
• State Gov
• Wikimedia Commons
• Project Gutenberg (i.e. Wedding etiquette)

Private Domain Content:

• Brief quote as fair use
• Permitted partner content
• Open APIs
• Flickr, other media repositories

2. Useful Widgets/Tools:

• i.e. Weather, Sayings of Confucius (silvery.com) for MySpace, etc.
• Keep branding minimal
• Provide easy to install code
• Also see Patrick Sexton: SEOish.com

3. RSS

4. SERP Optimization

• Search Monkey /cli.gs/searchmonkey
• Google rich Snippets, embrace strutured Data: Micorformats & RDF to be prepared to integrate

Speaker: Hamlet Batista

4 Tactics for High Quality Links

Tactic #1: Goodbye pagerank, welcome google cache (when your website last crawled)

• High page rank vs. real visitors
• Google has to prioritize their time when crawling websites

Link value:
Discoverability
Frequency (if search engine crawl you freq. your website must be popular)

Tactic #2: Piggy back on current use

• People write about what they see.
  In Twitter: #3wordsaftersex (in search, articles, etc.)

Tactic #3: Inform your subscribers

Tactic #4: Share interesting video

• Video ranked, people link to your video, people link to your website

Bonus Tip:

• Search engines can index links inside of different type of contents (PDF, Flash, etc.)

25% link building outsourced from Arnie Kuenn

4 different link building techniques

1. Video
2. Content or Profile Links
3. Clients & Suppliers
4. Contests & Promotions

1. Video

• PPT
• Moyea’s PPT to Video Converter
• Voiceover
• Get link

2. Content or profile links

Example:

• Google’s Knol (knol.google.com)
• Hubpages
• Bule.com
• American Chronicle
• Squidoo, scribd, rateitall, spoke, abouus.org, hotfrog, linkedin

3. Your Clients & Suppliers

• Offer shirts, gift cards, discounts, etc.
• Send letters (US Mail)
• Include an offer or request in your invoices
• Use the phone! Set aside some tie for a telemarketing campaign
• Also: your local & national associations – become a sponsor or make a donation

4. Contests & Promotions

• What makes a good contest?
• A great offer or prize, valuable to people you want to attract- Something reasonably innovative, not a “me too” contest
• Proper time frame, enough time to enter but not so long they lose interest
• Create a buzz, who will help you promote it and how?
• Your panel of judges, PR, linkedin, twitter, facebook, etc.
• Optimize every page!

Socialize:

Tweet = 1 entry
Blog about it = 5 entries

Age of links definitely have relevancy

Moderator:
Rae Hoffman

Speakers:
Brent Csutoras, Social Media Marketing Consultant, Brent Csutoras, Inc
Jen Miller, Manager, Delta.com Onsite Marketing & Content, iProspect
Dave Snyder, Co-Founder, Search & Social

Think social media has nothing to do with search? Think again.

QDF = Query Deserved Freshness

Social Signals (What are the signals?)

• Engagement
• Methods and systems for personalized network searching
• Relevancy Feedback Indicators
• Upstream and Downstream data (where you go)
• User Reviews (how people rate things)

Drive Early Traffic from Twitter

• Plan out your campaign
• Utilize well crafted DMs
• Engage Top Users
• Track via Query String Paramenters
• Add Retweet Capabilities to the page (add retweet badges)
• Control the bookmarking of your site (Delicious)
• Increase use of site (javascript)
• Add Engagement Points (i.e. video, voting, widgets, quizzes, review)

Speaker: Brent Csutoras

Using Stumble Upon!

Stumble Upon is a social aggregation site, showing users popular content based on votes.
Stumble Upon will only show a page once per person (category with 30 people, only 30 visits)

2 Ways To Add:

• Browser Tool Bar
• StumbleUpon.com/submit

Tagging:

• StumbleUpon.com/ads
• Be targeted, pick the right category or you will get negative reviews
• Cross tagging
• Look at what other people are tagging, edit yours

Add and make friends:

• Subscribers, testimonials, votes
• Post to your blog
• Vote videos and photos
• Tag and Review
• Choose a niche

Tips:

• Don’t review the same site multiple times, this looks like spam (by promoting yourself)
• Avoid patterns in voting, discoveries, shares (i.e. It looks like spam if you only stumble friends, click on the same button too many times in a row, or discover too much from one section)
• Choose and Use the Right Tags
• Most importantly…Make Your Profile Rock!

Speaker: Dave Snyder

Creative Commons license:

• Find pictures
• Use their picture in your article (we liked your picture, featured in our article and gave you credit) – they may link to you. They are pro amateurs (but not pros – top professionals won’t let you use their photos).
• Join flickr, start contributing, creative commons commercial reuse picture work the best

Speaker: Jen Miller, Delta.com

Integration is key to success

Interlinking tactics:

• Target keyword list & link to main site
• Blog links to YouTube & Flickr
• Links back to specific blog post

Tracking & Listening Tactics:

• Measure with a dashboard
• Action on key metrics
• Give ‘em more! They’ll talk and link

Other tactics:

• Be flexible
• Specify Goals
• Cross promote
• Give customers what they want

SMX Advanced 2009 – Seattle
June 2-3, 2009

Attend SMX Advanced for:

• Exceptional content so compelling, you’ll want to implement what you’ve learned before leaving the conference. Super-charged sessions on PPC, SEO, social media marketing and other hot button topics will help you flourish today, tomorrow and in the future.
• Invaluable connections made possible by the ultimate mix of structured networking opportunities and social events. Meet new contacts, reconnect with colleagues – SMX makes it easy to interact and exchange ideas with other industry thought leaders.
• Essential conveniences to help you juggle your every-day responsibilities while maximizing your conference time. Always available and free Wi-Fi; hot lunches, snacks and beverages all day; access to all presentations and tools to pre-plan your custom itinerary – SMX has got you covered.

SESSION LEADER:
Paul Pangaro, Ph.D., Co-Founder and CTO, CyberneticLifestyles.com

Conversational Marketing/Media

How do we design for conversation? By Applying Cybernetics:

• Science of “getting what you want”
• Helps us to understand, navigate & regulate complex systems
• encompasses individual, social & technical aspects includes a branch called “conversation theory”

1. What are the goals?
2. How do we measure if we’re on course?
3. What are the levers?

Context (Advertising Media) > Shared Language > Action > Reaction > Action > Exchange > Agreement > Transaction

These fundamentals will not change:

• Brands want consumers to buy
• Consumers need to believe by buying they will get what they want

1. Join the converstaions
2. Understand which conversations can be influenced
3. Facilitate productive conversations

Customer terms/language: consumer need-states, wants & desires

• then can communicate want to brand, want experience

Enticement to be engage: collaboration, voting, commenting

Agreement = common history, trust built, beliefs are validated or changed

P2P (Person to Person) + Internal Conversations are needed to ensure beliefs are shared

Trust is Established:

• History ensures compatible goals
• Sets expectations for future conversations
• Trust is powerful – it lowers risk & saves time

Transactions:

• Ability to coordinate beliefs with customers in order to lead to actions/transactions

Conversation Relationship Management – Relationship History Trust > Lifetime Value > Infrastructure of Commerce:

1. Context
2. Language
3. Exchange
4. Agreement
5. Transaction

How to find the right moment to present & engage?

All successful evolution is co-evolution: each participant must change in response to the other

• Conversation is the most efficient means to co-evolution
• Design for conversation = viability today & tomorrow

Are you sincere in your message? Truthful?

Conversation Engagement Other Than Twitter, Facebook, etc:

• Suggestion Box
• Widget Platforms

SESSION LEADER:
Conor Brady, Chief Creative Officer, Organic

SESSION PARTICIPANTS:
Niels Aillaud, Senior Manager Digital Marketing, LG Electronics
Scott Briskman, VP, Executive Creative Director, Agency.com San Francisco
Jared Cluff, VP, User Acquisition, Ask.com
John Rabasa, Executive VP, Managing Director, Publicis Modem West

1. Markets are conversations, but make sure you are invited
2. Social Media is about 2 things: context & people
3. Participation is good, but creative participation is better
4. A good campaign is organic, and will want to keep going
5. If your brand is friended, be a friend back: commitment to be active in the community

Start with one channel for testing, the top performers will be expanded & built-on to the next medium/channel. Examples include:

LG Phone:

• From Micro-Site to Facebook
• Viral Marketing on YouTube to Landing Page to Micro-Site

Ask.com:

• Display Ads (Simple Flash) to Rich Media (Video Banner: 15 sec.) to TV
• TV advertising included:
  1. Contextual Crawls: Bottom Third of TV (performed 4 times better than commercial spots)
  2. Commercials: 15 sec. spots
  • Ask.com: evoke curiosity
  • LG Phone: top fashion theme

Creative & Strategic Capital: new way of integrated marketing

Relevance between message to audience

MODERATOR:
Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB

PANELISTS:
Neil Ashe, President, CBS Interactive
Jeff Berman, President of Sales and Marketing, MySpace
Rishad Tobaccowala, CEO, Denuo
Carol Kruse, VP, Global Interactive Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company

Coca-Cola (Brand Company):

Involved in social media, mobile, consumer control media

Fox:

Involved in consumer insights, mobile (5 fold increase), MySpace

What consumers are doing

Word of Mouth, Social Media

• Most speak about and heavy users are the most vocal & usually negative
• Last users are most important

Engagement

Behavior shows that people want utility not engagement

Advocates (FANS) vs. Detractors in Social Media

Social Media:

• Keep/Maintain the communication between campaigns
• Communication Marketing/Planning
• Improve Product, Customer Service, Provide Utility (new & useful to community) > Friendship Trust > Ongoing Conversion

Social Media = young & hysterical

• Not collected/sophisticated/well-dressed
• Less campaigns & more ecosystems

Search: direct market (metrics)

Creativity:

• Content, create interest = brand (know who you are)
• New ideas & combinations/integration
• Media is the new creative
• The key is to enhance user experience

The importance of integration between art and science/technology.

Using technology to enable the capturing & allowing what people want to do.

Content is King while Context is Queen: need to go together in order for it to work

MODERATOR:
Seth Goldstein, Co-Founder and CEO, SocialMedia

PANELISTS:
Mike Hoefflinger, Director of Brand Product Marketing, Facebook
Andy Mitchell, VP, Interactive Marketing, CNN Worldwide
Randi Zuckerberg, Director of Market Development, Facebook

Social Media Engagement:

• Be genuine for the medium
• Challenge yourself
• There will be mistakes but learn
• Set ambitious goals
• Creative with audience mindset
• Creative test plan
• Have plan B

Engagement Ads:

• What is in it for them? Providing something, not necessarily free promos, incentives, exclusive content (ie. taking fans behind the scenes)
• Asking questions for engagement
• Think 360: cross promote in different channels (ie. Facebook to website/TV, TV to Facebook)