Introduction

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is certainly not new – it has been available as a technique to gain visitors to websites since Altavista and Inktomi first built their indexes in the mid 1990s or when Google opened its servers for business in 1998. Over ten years later, it is a vital technique for all marketers to gain visibility of their products. Whether your customer is an engineer looking for the latest test and measurement equipment to help their designs or an eight year old trying to find more about their latest band, it’s the search engines and specifically the organic or natural listings which are the first place they turn. The numbers of search engine users has grown dramatically over the last ten years as the number of web users has increased and we’re searching more frequently.

How much are we searching?

The UK seems to be leading the way in searching with Comscore (2004) reporting that in the UK we averaged 42 searches per month, more than the US, Canada, Germany and France – but maybe we’re just less efficient at searching! It’s also worth remembering where these searches are being made. While the ‘big three portals’, Google, MSN and Yahoo! all have a large reach with respectively 62%, 79% and 59% of UK Internet users visiting these portals at least once a month, most of the searching is occurring at Google with 77% followed by Yahoo! 14% and MSN 9%. For this reason, it is worth focusing your search marketing efforts on Google and this is where our main focus lies in this article.

The main types of search engine marketing

In WNIM 35, I introduced the different search engine marketing approaches by which marketers can gain representation and visibility in the search engines.

We discussed the two main types of search engine marketing: search engine optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC). SEO involves achieving the highest position practical in the natural or organic listings on the search engine results pages after a specific combination of keywords or keyphrase has been typed in. In the main search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN Search, the natural listings are on the left with the sponsored links or paid listings from Pay Per Click search marketing occurring to the right or alternatively, above or below the natural listings.

In this month's article we concentrate on SEO, asking the two key questions about SEO – ‘which factors determines a company’s position in the search results listing for a particular keyphrase’? and ‘which approaches can be used to optimise or increase these positions’?

Which is the most important search marketing technique – SEO or PPC?

Few would argue that SEO is the most important search marketing approach for marketers since the greatest number of search users click on the natural listings. Indeed research shows that some searchers NEVER click on the sponsored listings. Generally, the 80:20 rule holds true with 80% of the searches on natural listings and 20% of the clicks on the paid listings. Research from iProspect (2004) suggested preference figures for the natural listings of 60.8% in Yahoo! and 72.3% for Google and this figure increases for experienced users.

Although this suggests that companies who concentrate on paid listings only are limiting their visibility, this does not mean that a PPC focus isn’t a valid strategy. We will see that search engine optimisation is not straightforward and for e-retailers or other transactional sites, there is a lot of competition from affiliates who are experts in optimisation who may use techniques that aren’t appropriate for large-scale commercial sites.

The advantages and disadvantages of SEO

Aside from reaching more searchers, another key benefit of SEO is that it is relatively cost-effective since there is no payment to the search engines for being placed in the search results. So, there are no media costs, but internal or agency resources are necessary for key phrase analysis (see WINIM 35) and to complete optimisation on the web site pages.

However, PPC search marketing does give much greater control to the marketer, and for many companies, the number of referrals from paid listings rather than natural listings may be similar or even greater because of this greater control available with PPC search marketing.

The main disadvantage of search engine optimisation is that it is arguably more difficult to achieve and maintain visibility for a range of keyphrases. There are many factors which determine ranking and they are different within the different search engines. The factors also vary through time and it can be difficult gaining better positions than affiliates which are often expert optimisers less constrained by their site look and structure.

How do the search engines determine which sites are displayed in the natural listings?

When working with suppliers of SEO services to improve your position in different search engines, it helps to understand the basis for generating and ordering the natural or organic search engine results pages (SERPS) where your company will be listed.

By understanding this you can discuss with your team members or agencies, strategies to boost your position higher than your competitors and so achieve higher levels of traffic.

Essentially, there are two stages involved in a site getting listed in the natural listings for a search engine – first registration of a site and then indexing. To gain a highly placed listing for a particular keyphrase involves a further stage – search engine optimisation.

Search engines compile their index of web pages by sending out spiders or robots which visit or crawl around different pages of sites. Sites that they are registered with as described in detail at HowStuffWorks (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/search-engine.htm).

A new site is first indexed following search engine submission (or registration) which can be easily completed free of charge using an Add a URL option (See for example, http://www.google.com/addurl.html) or when a link to a new site is followed from another site.

Robots such as googlebot continuously crawl the web, visiting sites that are updated most often more frequently. Some content management systems which display pages dynamically may not be readily indexed by search engines.

The spider compiles an index containing every word on every page against the page address. It weights the index according to parameters and then stores the index as part of a database on a web server. This index is what is searched when potential customers type in key words. Google is rumoured to use at least 100 factors within its search ranking algorithm and we will explore the most important ones of these in a moment.

Success factors for SEO – What controls position in search engine natural listings?

The position or ranking in the natural listings for a particular keyphrase is dependent on the algorithm used by the search engine to match relevant site page content with the key word combination entered.

There are hundreds of factors used by the search ranking algorithms, which place a particular web page in a particular position in the search listings for a particular search phrase. Some of these ranking factors are known only to the engineers at the search engines. However, by performing tests, which ‘reverse-engineer’ the algorithms it is possible to determine different factors and gain an idea of how important they are. Fortunately, each search engine uses broadly similar rules to rank the pages for a particular key phrase.

An excellent recent compilation of factors lists 85 factors for Google:

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/internet/google-ranking-factors.htm

Despite there being hundreds of factors there are two key factors which are essential for good ranking positions:

1. Matching between the copy on the page to the keyphrase typed in (the main factors are the keyword density, keyword formatting, keywords in anchor text and page title tags).

2. Links into the page (inbound or backlinks). Google counts each link to a page from another page or another site as a vote for this page. So pages and sites with more links-in will be ranked more highly.

Looking in slightly more detail, some of the main factors in approximate order of importance are:

1. Frequency, position and emphasis in body copy. The number of times the key phrase is repeated in the text of the web page is a key factor in determining the SERPS position for a key phrase. Copy can be written to increase the number of times a word or phrase is used (technically, its key phrase density) and so boost position in the search engine.

2. Number of inbound or backlinks and internal link structure. Evaluation of inbound links to determine ranking is one of the key reasons Google became popular. This factor known as Page Rank helps Google deliver relevant results since it counts each link from another site as a vote. However, not all votes are equal – Google gives greater weight to links from pages which themselves have high Page Rank and the link anchor text or adjacent text contains text relevant to the key phrase. Since the Page Rank concept was introduced in Google in 1998 it has been extended to include other factors which assess the authority of a page for a particular theme and all major search players now use a variant of it.

3. Title HTML tag. The keywords in the title of a web page that appears at the top of a browser window are indicated in the HTML code by the <TITLE></TITLE> keyword. This is significant in search engine listings since if a key phrase appears in a title it is more likely to be listed highly than if it is only in the body text of a page. It follows that each page on a site should have a specific title giving the name of a company and the product, service or offer featured on a page.

Greater weighting is given to key phrases at the left of the title tag and those with a higher keyphrase density. The Title HTML tag is also vital in search marketing since this is typically the text underlined within the search results page which forms a hyperlink through to your web site. If it is an effective call-to-action that demonstrates relevance you will receive more clicks which equals more visits and the search engine will determine that your content is relevant too.

A quick test of a site that has been optimised is to check the Title tag of the home page – if it is simply the company name, or ‘home’, then likely there has been no optimisation.

4. Meta-tags. Meta-tags are part of the HTML file, typed in by web page creators, which is read and displayed by the browser. They are effectively hidden from users, but are used by some search engines when robots or spiders compile their index. In the past, search engines assigned more relevance to a site containing key phrases in its meta tags than one that didn’t.

Search engine spamming of meta tags resulted in this being an inaccurate method of assessing relevance and Google has reported that it assigns no relevance to meta tags. However, other search engines such as Yahoo! Search do assign some relevance to meta tags, so it is best practice to incorporate these and to change them for each page with distinct content. There are two important meta-tags which are specified at the top of an HTML page using the <meta name=”> HTML keyword:

i. The “keywords” meta-tag highlights the key topics covered on a web page.

Example: <meta name="keywords" content="book, books, shop, store, book shop, bookstore, publisher, bookshop, general, interest, departments,">

ii. The “description” meta tag denotes the information which will be displayed in the listing of web sites in the web browser when a web page is found.

Example: <meta name="description" content="The largest online book store in the world.">

Other meta-tags are used to give other information such as the type of tool used to create the web page. Remember that incorporating the names of competitors is now not only underhand, but case law in the UK has demonstrated it is illegal.

5. Hidden graphic text. A site that uses a lot of graphical material or plug-ins, is less likely to be listed highly. The only text on which the page will be indexed will be the <TITLE> keyword. To improve on this graphical images can have hidden text associated with them that is not seen by the user (unless graphical images are turned off), but will be indexed by the search engine. This is also required for accessibility compliance. For example, text about a company name and products can be assigned to a company logo using the ‘ALT’ or ‘title’ tag as follows:

<IMG NAME= ‘Logo’ SRC= ‘logo.gif’ ALT="Eastern Engineering – lathes and milling machines">

This factor is assigned lesser relevance than previously, but it is best practice to use this since it is also required by accessibility law (screen-readers used by the blind and visually impaired, read-out the ALT tags).

Typical steps in a SEO initiative

If you employ a search engine optimisation agency to improve your search engine visibility, then each will have a set approach to optimisation which will have some variation of these stages:

1. Analysis or audit of current results.

2. Objective setting.

3. Optimisation.

4. Review and improvement.

This assumes that a keyphrase analysis has already been completed in an initial phase as described in WNIM 35.

Stage 1 Analysis or audit of current results

The main activities at this stage involve checking the visibility of a site for key phrases entered into existing search engines. Questions an agency will seek to determine are:

· Is the site registered in all of the main search engines?

· How comprehensively are the search robots searching and indexing the site?

· How many keyphrases has the site been optimised for?

· How does the site rank for specific keyphrases in the listings?

· Are these keyphrases delivering results on the destination site – do visitors convert to action?

To find out the most popular search engines in different countries, use online panel data from http://www.netratings.com/, ISP analysis from Hitwise (http://www.hitwise.com/) or compilations at SearchEngineWatch (www.searchenginewatch.com/reports).

Ranking of sites for a particular key phrase can be assessed using specialist rank checking tools which should not breach the Google terms of service and be controlled through the Google API (an applications programmers interface enabling querying of Google from code for companies who have applied for a Google API key).

Reviewing the output from your web analytics tools can show the frequency with which the main search robots crawl your site and also how many sites visitors originate from search engines using particular keyphrases.

A useful syntax in Google for checking the number of pages that are indexed on a site is available. For example, try [inurl:http://www.wnim.com/] which lists all the pages of this site indexed by Google and gives the total number in the top right of the search results page.

Stage 2 Objective setting and measurement

Typical objectives to scope the project and set a fee may be include the number of keyphrases to be optimised or changes in the number of pages to be indexed. For payment to be made on the basis of results, options could potentially be: competitive position – for example: 20 important keyphrases in the top 10 results; traffic volume – increases in the number of visitors referred overall and for each keyphrase and best still, traffic quality, the number of visitors that convert to an outcome such as sale or registration, both overall and for specific keyphrases. There is still a great variation in the method used for determining success and payment – it is simply down to the client to get the deal which best reflects valuable marketing outcomes on their site.

Stage 3. Optimisation

We are assuming that optimisation has already been completed as described in an earlier topic. This involves implementing the techniques we mentioned above such as Link building with partner sites and on page optimisation through increased key phrase count and frequency; including key phrases near top of document and in headings, bold, links and <TITLE> tags.

In addition to applying these concepts of on-page optimisation on existing pages, SEO will often involve creating new pages optimised for a particular theme or keyword.

As well as optimisation for each page, changes to the structure of the site and individual pages may be used to reduce the amount of formatting code – Javascript and formatting code can be put in separate files such as Cascading Style Sheets. Also, some companies may be using Content management systems which limit search optimisation, so advice will be given on workarounds to this.

Stage 4. Review and improvement

Once an SEO initiative has been implemented, ongoing monitoring and improvement will be required, particularly for competitive sectors. Many SEO companies charge a significant monthly fee for continued reporting and management of SEO. The main reason for ongoing monitoring is that competitors may change their approach to SEO, but perhaps more significantly, the search engines can change their algorithms which results in the Google Dance.

The Google dance is a term coined by Danny O'Sullivan of http://www.searchenginewatch.com/ which has a double meaning. In one sense it's hopping from one leg to the other while fretting about how Google's may change its algorithm. In another sense it describes how, when Google updates its index, the search archive (which is spread across thousands of computers in various locations) takes time to spread the changes. As a result some searches, seem to "dance" around and change position, but generally only amongst webmasters who monitor these results very closely. The legendary Florida update in 2003 caused many sites leading the listing to drop down, so losing much of their revenue – that would tend to make most people dance. It highlights the problem with overreliance on SEO.

Black hat and white hat SEO

A final, but important, point to note is that the ethical practices of SEO companies vary widely. It is important to select a search engine optimisation company that uses ethical search engine marketing techniques. Some affiliates and some search companies practice what is known as ‘black-hat’ search marketing, which means pushing the limits of the terms of service and optimisation guidelines of the search engines to gain the best result possible. Such techniques are sometimes referred to as search engine spamming – one example is repeating an important keyphrase many times on the home page using text that it is the same colour as the background of the page (or using Cascading Style Sheets to achieve the same effect) – so the keyphrase is visible to the search spider and algorithm, but not to the human reader – one example of a practice known as ‘cloaking’.

While such ‘black hat’ techniques may be successful in the short term since search engines can’t test for all forms of cloaking, it could be disastrous in the long-term. Search engines do continually introduce changes to their algorithms to eliminate the success of such practices and they can potentially block sites which are the worst offenders of spamming or cloaking. Such actions by a search engine would result in a company site becoming invisible to many of its potential customers and this is not a risk a legitimate business would want to conduct. So make sure you choose a search optimiser who wears a white hat rather than a black hat – much easier said than done since there are no definitive definitions of which is which and many of the best search optimisers wear grey hats…

Next month's article

In WNIM 37 we complete our brief exploration of approaches to search engine marketing by looking at the options available for Pay Per Click marketing. We concentrate on the three main PPC options: Google Adwords, Overture and Espotting, but also look at other options and some of the latest technologies available to help you manage your bidding.

References and links

Iprospect (2004) research, Search behaviour research. Spring 2004 (http://www.iprospect.com/)

Comscore (2004) More Than 40 Million Consumers in the U.K., France and Germany Used Search Engines in April, According to comScore Networks. Press release, June 10th 2004. www.comscore.com/press

The single best portal for finding out about search engine marketing is: http://www.searchenginewatch.com/.

Specialist search engine forums are the best way to stay up-to-date on the bleeding edge of search marketing:

· http://www.highrankings.com/

· http://www.seochat.com/

· http://www.searchenginewatch.com/

· http://www.webmasterworld.com/ (arguably the best and most active)

Search Engine Marketing Professional Association (http://www.sempo.org/) SEMPO is a “non-profit professional association working to increase awareness and promote the value of Search Engine Marketing worldwide”. Good introduction to search marketing, articles, case studies and a glossary.

About the author

Dr Dave Chaffey is workshop leader for a range of one-day e-marketing training workshops from the CIM:

* E-mail Marketing (www.cim.co.uk/0766)
* Running Effective E-marketing Campaigns (www.cim.co.uk/0767)
* Improving Your Results from Digital Marketing (www.cim.co.uk/1138)
* Marketing Research Using the Internet (www.cim.co.uk/1135)

Go to http://www.cimtraining.com/ for course details and online booking.

Dave Chaffey is trainer and consultant for Marketing Insights Limited (http://www.marketing-insights.co.uk/) and E-marketing Director at Ripe (http://www.ripe.co.uk/). He is a prolific e-business author whose books include ‘Total E-mail Marketing’, ‘Internet marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice’ and E-business and E-commerce Management.

Read Dave Chaffey’s blog (http://www.davechaffey.com/) for E-marketing Essentials – the 5 “must-read” articles about online marketing from the hundreds Dave reads each month.