In order to get a leg up on the competition, successful Search Engine Marketers need to be armed with the latest tools of the trade. Join us as we explore a range of popular search engine advertising tools along with some important features you should be aware of. Whether you are looking for a free basic tool that will help you get started or a more advanced paid offering, our panel of experts will provide you with the insight and experience to zero in on the right solution. Moderator: Rebecca Lieb, Contributing Editor, ClickZ Speakers: Yoav Izhar-Prato, Co-founder & CEO, Kenshoo LTD Neeraj Kochhar, VP/Director of Search, SMG Search Thomas Bindl, Founder & CEO, Refined Labs GmbH David S. Kidder, Co-Founder & CEO, Clickable
First up is Yoav from Kenshoo.
Keeping all the ingredients in place and correlation between them is the key factor. Must implement "quality management".
What is quality management? Understanding page content, behavior, and how conversions take place.
Under consumer behavior - takes 4-5 clicks on average for conversion to take place. Most of the systems in place today attribute the conversion to the last keyword used. You need to look at the whole path to the conversion. You need to be able to assign weights to first click, last click - weights needs to be allocated properly.
Another aspect is super structuring. Doesn't matter how many engines using, need one campaign management center. Use your structure across all campaigns.
Bid optimization - algorithmic and rule based. Believes in a combination of both.
Major aspect is path to conversion. Lots of keywords can contribute to the conversion. Again, assigning weights to them is critical.
Next up is Neeraj from SMG.
What is a holistic approach? Search in the context of broader cross channel communications. Looking at TV, and other channels collectively is key.
Talent - need search professionals with marketing mindsets that understand consumer behavior, ROAS, engagement and technology.
Innovation - we think of search as web based. Expanding beyond that to mobile. Agnostic to a particular device. Understand the motivation for mobile search. Understand the motivation for Google to present text results or image results.
Technology - generation efficiencies.
Methodology and approach - life cycle of a search campaign.
First piece is to understand consumers. Google Trends is a good tool for this. What other queries are consumers using? What are consumers thinking about your business? Mine search query data. Look at seasonality.
Connect - how to take the insights and build messaging, how do you target people? What mode are people in?
Measurement - key component - otherwise throwing dollars away.
Beauty of search is speed. Can do all this fairly quickly. All this happens in real time and in a dynamic way. Don't need to invest millions. Can invest small.
Holistic approach - two key components - paid and natural. With SEO there are no guarantees, but need to get all the work done. With paid search you can bid on keywords you can't rank for naturally. Want to maximize coverage on page 1. Drop off rate from Page 1 to 2 is 85%-88%. Page 1 is the true opportunity. Need to be there. Need to craft the right balance between SEO and paid.
Starts with KW list. Look at volume. Map keywords with content. Where do you need to supplement or get support from paid? Google Trends, Yahoo Buzz, and other tools are great.
Must understand if search is always a meaningful platform. Can it help you if you are in the deodorant business?
Must look at entire cycle - the funnel. How are people moving on from keyword to keyword through the funnel and what do they do to prior to converting?
Finally, competitive analysis. What are you up against? What is the likelihood you will succeed? What's your strategy relative to the competition? Always keep a holistic approach in mind.
Need a way to centrally manage all your keywords. How do you generate scale? May be running campaigns on 3 - 10 engines. Need to consolidate. Need to look at all the variables.
Measuring beyond the click. Are consumers completing the actions you want them to complete? Are they driving sales?
If doing something on TV, or radio, it's important to have search support.
That's all.
Last up is Thomas Bindl. Topic - "Tools that make SEM life easier".
Gives live demos of the following keyword tools:
Google Sets (great for generating keywords) Digital Point keyword suggestion tool (Gives free access to WordTracker) SEO Book keyword tool Google Trends Refine Labs keyword tool (pulls data from Google and shows competition and volume) Spyfu Keycompete
Contributed by Avi Wilensky of Promediacorp.
