What Is The Mountain Of Butterflies? Google Doodle Marks 41st Anniversary Of The Natural Phenomenon

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SearchCap: SEO Implementation, Google Interstitial Ads & Query Mapping

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• How To Ensure Your SEO Recommendations Get Implemented
  Jan 8, 2016 by Winston Burton

  Uncooperative clients and vendors got you down? Columnist Winston Burton gives his advice on how to overcome organizational hurdles to SEO success.

• Surviving Google’s New Policy Against Interstitial Ads
  Jan 8, 2016 by Lei Sun

  Contributor Lei Sun takes a look at how some of the best companies comply with Google’s new rule against app install interstitials — and still drive users to download apps.

• Search In Pics: GoogleBot & BB-8, Google Onesie & Tesla Model X
  Jan 8, 2016 by Barry Schwartz

  In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more. GoogleBot & BB-8: Source: Google+ Google Onesie For Campus Tel Aviv: Source: Instagram Rainbow Over Google […]

• Is Your Account Leaking Money? The Importance Of Query Mapping
  Jan 8, 2016 by Amy Bishop

  It’s time to dig below the surface of your PPC account to see if relevant search terms are wasting money. Columnist Amy Bishop shows what to look for and how to use the data to your benefit!

• Wanted: Session Ideas For SMX Advanced 2016
  Jan 7, 2016 by Chris Sherman

  We want your input to help us plan our upcoming SMX Advanced 2016 conference, which will be taking place in Seattle June 22–23, 2016. Specifically, we’d love to hear from you if you have an great idea for a session that you think should be on the agenda. And if you’re interested in speaking at […]

Recent Headlines From Marketing Land, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:

• Data Show Dramatic Shifts In Mobile Operating System Share Over Time
• Enhance Search Engagement With A Complementary Paid & Organic Visibility Strategy
• Six Trends Shaping Location Marketing In 2016
• 9 Examples Of Link-Worthy Resources For E-Commerce Sites
• IoT Data Helps A CRM Live Up To Its Name
• Is Content Marketing A Strategy, A Tactic Or A Channel?
• Making The Most Of Google Analytics Audiences Within Your Search Campaigns
• MarTech Today: Reworked Jelly, Why AddThis Adds Up & Webgility’s BI Tool
• Study: Ads Effective As Way To Stimulate Dormant App Usage, Prevent Deletion
• Taco Bell To Reveal Its Next Big Menu Item At Super Bowl 50… We Think

Search News From Around The Web:

Industry

• Facebook, Microsoft, and Google say UK spying laws are ‘a step in the wrong direction’, The Verge
• Google’s Gary Illyes Is An Amateur SEO According To A Recent Test, Search Engine Roundtable

Link Building

• Need links but don’t know how to get them?, Majestic Blog

Searching

• Google Testing Teal Colored Stars in AdWords, Local & Reviews, thesempost.com

SEO

• 8 SEO Experts Reveal Fascinating Predictions for 2016, mysiteauditor.com
• Bing Webmaster Tools Warns of Microsoft Edge Compatibility Issues, thesempost.com
• Google Penguin Won’t Have Slow Roll Out, Will Be Real Time, thesempost.com
• Google: Featured Snippets Don’t Result In Less Traffic To Your Web Site, Search Engine Roundtable
• SEOs Are Seeing Google Ranking Fluctuations On & Off, Search Engine Roundtable
• Using Your Niche’s Demand Distribution Curve to Improve Your SEO, Social, and Content Strategy – Whiteboard Friday, Moz
• Will Google Release Penguin 4.0 In January 2016?, Search Engine Roundtable

SEM / Paid Search

• Take A Deeper Dive Into The PPC Sales Process, PPC Hero

Search Marketing

• Video: Google Penguin Status, Ranking Tests, SEO Extortionist Jailed & AOL Search Powered By Bing, Search Engine Roundtable

The post SearchCap: SEO Implementation, Google Interstitial Ads & Query Mapping appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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How To Ensure Your SEO Recommendations Get Implemented

One of the most common problems in the SEO industry is that clients often do not implement their agencies’ SEO recommendations — and then they complain when they don’t get the results they expect from their SEO campaign (i.e., increases in visibility, traffic and conversions).

There are several reasons clients do not implement SEO recommendations, including:

• Not having the appropriate resources or time to make the recommended changes.
• Internal politics and red tape.
• Lack of qualified developers.
• High cost associated with the changes.
• No internal champion.
• Limitations to the CMS.

The bottom line: If they don’t implement any SEO changes, your clients’ brands are set up to fail.

For your clients to embrace and fully implement your SEO recommendations, some processes and procedures should be put in place. Here are three common challenges you may run into, and how to handle each.

Challenge 1: Client Education

It is important to educate all the proper stakeholders and C-level executives on the importance of SEO. Clearly lay out the tactics and strategies you plan to use, explaining how each piece will impact the campaign and contribute to increased ROI.

Having case studies showing how your recommendations have increased traffic, visibility and conversions for other clients can help build trust and get client buy-in, especially if your client is new to SEO.

When the client understands how SEO can increase sales and generate revenue or leads, they will be more inclined to follow your lead, trust you and implement your recommendations promptly.

Pro tip: Find an internal champion at the client who really understands the value of SEO. He or she can help you fight to get things pushed through.

Challenge 2: Roles, Responsibilities, Resources & Limitations

When engaging with a new client, always make sure that you discuss the roles and responsibilities of each party, and find out if they have the resources to implement what you are recommending they do.

If they don’t have the resources or time for management and implementation, include this in your statement of work (SOW), and charge an implementation fee. Just make sure you have qualified developers who are familiar with implementing URL changes, on-page recommendations and so on across different platforms.

If your client only has a limited number of hours in the development retainer to make the technical changes, break the recommendations down by priority and business impact. Only focus on the items that will have a major impact on traffic, visibility and conversions. The nice-to-haves do not need to be done to impact organic performance.

Additionally, before the SOW is signed, make sure the client explains the specific problems and frustrations with their current technology. Discuss the items that you plan on changing, and see if there is a workaround available where limitations exist.

If there are some limitations that you just cannot fix, suggest new technology based on your previous experiences, and map out how long it will take to make the changes with it. Otherwise, you will need to recommend some other technical workaround.

Challenge 3: Internal Politics & Difficult Partners

When internal politics or regulatory constraints put a three-month or longer hold on gaining approval, make sure that you have a clause in your SOW. This should state that if your client does not implement the SEO recommendations, they will not see the results — and they will be 100 percent accountable.

There will always be frustrations and yellow flags along the way — for example, when a developer tells you that 302 redirects are better than 301s and JavaScript redirects should be used instead of your recommended approach. In this case, document all your recommendations so you cannot be wrongly held accountable for something you did not recommend.

Always have technical resources on hand in case you need to refer your client to them. When developers or external contractors tell the client that it will take five hours to add in one title tag, and they need $30,000 to change all the title tags on the site, don’t let them fall for it.

Always have a backup of trusted resources you can use when educating your client and showing them how easy it is to make the changes in their CMS.

Final Thoughts

Planning and putting the necessary steps and procedures in place before your engagement starts can help your recommendations get implemented faster, make your client happy and meet their key performance indicators year over year.

Sometimes, you have to pick and choose your battles and find a balance among SEO, design and usability. This will help you and your client (as well as other vendors) work together to get things implemented and reach the ultimate goal of success.

The post How To Ensure Your SEO Recommendations Get Implemented appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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Surviving Google’s New Policy Against Interstitial Ads

Google has spoken — and an important part of the mobile web will never be the same. At least that’s the theory, and certainly the search giant’s intention.

Google sees app install interstitials — those big ads that pop up suddenly on the mobile web and monopolize all of your mobile device screen to prompt you to download an app, rather than let you keep surfing — as too annoying to users. On November 2, the company therefore put in place a new policy to discourage the ads.

According to this policy, Google has since penalized mobile websites that use such interstitials by declaring these websites mobile-unfriendly. According to Google’s more detailed blog post about the policy from September:

Mobile web pages that show an app install interstitial that hides a significant amount of content on the transition from the search result page will no longer be considered mobile-friendly. This does not affect other types of interstitials. As an alternative to app install interstitials, browsers provide ways to promote an app that are more user-friendly.

 

Assessing The Policy’s Early Impact

Here at Yozio, my employer, we specialize in growing mobile apps through organic channels. We also considered app install interstitials a very viable option to drive downloads prior to the new policy going into effect. Hence, we’ve been watching its effects closely.

Now that the policy has been in place for a couple of months, we wanted to explore some basic questions: Has Google’s decision actually affected how mobile websites attempt to drive visitors to download apps? And how have some of the most prominent and growth-hacking savvy companies dealt with the change?

To answer those questions, let’s start by understanding the real context for Google’s sudden change — and why app install interstitials may not be that bad after all.

[Read the full article on Marketing Land.]

The post Surviving Google’s New Policy Against Interstitial Ads appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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Search In Pics: GoogleBot & BB-8, Google Onesie & Tesla Model X

In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more.

GoogleBot & BB-8:

Source: Google+

Google Onesie For Campus Tel Aviv:

Source: Instagram

Rainbow Over Google San Francisco & Oakland Bay Bridge:

Source: Google+

Google’s Bradley Horowitz Now Owns A Tesla Model X:

Source: Google+

Breathtaking Photo Of The GooglePlex:

Source: Google+

The post Search In Pics: GoogleBot & BB-8, Google Onesie & Tesla Model X appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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Is Your Account Leaking Money? The Importance Of Query Mapping

There’s never a bad time to look for efficiencies within your account. Of course, there are the obvious things to look for: keyword bids, dayparting, geography and device performance and so on, but sometimes inefficiencies stem from issues below the surface.

One of the ways I like to dig into an account’s structural and economic health is by taking a look at query mapping.

By that I mean filtering through the search queries to see which ad groups and keywords queries are being paired with and subsequently adding negatives to ensure that queries are matched most appropriately. (I’ve heard query mapping called by other names such as negative keyword sculpting, negative keyword funneling and keyword mapping. I use these terms interchangeably.)

Query mapping isn’t really a new concept, but a lot of advertisers aren’t familiar with it and/or don’t see the value in what might seem like tedious work.  The most common anti-query-mapping arguments that I hear are:

1. It’s time consuming.
2. The engines do a good job of matching keywords.

I don’t entirely disagree with either of the arguments above. I don’t find query mapping to be particularly time-intensive, but it does require some time — as does any other optimization. The engines do a generally decent job of matching queries to terms, but they aren’t perfect, as you’ll quickly see if you review your query mapping.

But the bottom line is this: If you don’t partake in query mapping, your account could be wasting money.

Performance Gaps

The art of keyword mapping is great for taking terms that are already performing and pushing them to perform a little bit better.

Take a look at the chart below. This chart includes actual numbers, although the search queries, ad group names and campaign names have been changed for the sake of anonymity.

The search term “pink puppy collar” is matching to keywords in two ad groups: Puppy Collars General and Puppy Collars – Pink. Why does this matter? It matters because if you look at the conversion rate and the CPA, you’ll notice that they vary pretty widely.

Unsurprisingly, the keyword performs much better within the Puppy Collars – Pink ad group. The ad copy in that ad group is very specific to the query, and it delivers users to a highly relevant landing page — whereas the other ad group is more generic, with generic ad copy and landing pages. The generic ad group is meant to grab less-specific queries.

Without any changes in the account, the ad group Puppy Collars General would likely continue to grab the lion’s share of the traffic for the search term “pink puppy collar.”

However, since it performs better in the Pink ad group, I added it as a negative in the General ad group so that it would push the traffic to the Pink ad group. In this case, the keyword “pink puppy collar” already existed in the Puppy Collars – Pink ad group — but if it hadn’t, I would add it.

The Keyword Is Paused, But The Query Remains

Part of growing an account means testing and adding new keywords, but those keywords don’t always work out. The problem is that sometimes when you pause that keyword, the corresponding query will just begin to match to a different keyword instead, which means that you’re still getting that poor traffic — even though you didn’t intend to.

(As noted in the previous example, the data below is real but the ad group name, campaign name, and search terms have been changed for the sake of anonymity.)

In this situation, the term “purple puppy sweater” was coming through the Puppy Sweaters ad group and mapping to the best appropriate keyword; however, it wasn’t performing very well. The keyword had been paused, but the term continued to come through a different keyword. It hadn’t spent much before it was caught and added as an exact match negative, but without having reviewed the search term report, it could’ve continued to spend money at an exorbitant CPA.

Isolating Keyword Performance

Ensuring that poor search queries aren’t continuing to seep into the account is a pretty big benefit in itself, but there are additional benefits to negative keyword mapping.

A major benefit is that you can see a truer snapshot of keyword performance. In the first example that I used above, you might not have expected the keyword “pink puppy collar” to be a very valuable keyword. After all, it had only driven about six conversions. After looking at the search term report, though, you could easily see that keyword has a lot of potential.

The query “pink puppy collar” may also have been dragging down the performance of the modified broad keyword in the general ad group that it was mapping to, even though it was driving conversions; the CPA isn’t necessarily favorable.

To truly isolate keyword performance, it’s important to review query-to-keyword mapping, as opposed to query-to-ad group mapping.

Other Use Cases For Negative Keyword Sculpting

Query mapping is important for all of the reasons above, if not just for the pure and simple fact that it can help you to ensure that you’re putting your best (and most relevant) foot forward with ads and landing pages. But there are a few other situations where negative keyword sculpting is important.

If you build out campaigns or ad groups by match type, negatives should be added to make sure that the appropriate query maps to the best possible keyword. Otherwise, the value of your match type structure is essentially nullified.

Also, if you have dynamic search campaigns, you’d likely want to do some keyword sculpting to ensure that you aren’t robbing Peter to pay Paul. DSAs are great for picking up queries that might be missing in your account, but they’ll also compete with your regular search campaigns if you don’t add negatives to ensure that they don’t.

Last but not least, query mapping can be incredibly valuable within shopping campaigns, but that’s a whole post in itself. Luckily for you, Kirk Williams has already written said post and you can (should) check it out here.

Final Thoughts

It’s usually a good idea to start by reviewing which queries are mapping to multiple ad groups and resolve those issues first. Then you can go through and begin to get more granular by looking at which queries are mapping to which keywords. This is extra valuable if you have different destination URLs for different keywords, but even if not, it’s still valuable to isolate keyword performance.

If you haven’t reviewed your query mapping before, you might be a little surprised to see how many queries you have that are mapping to multiple ad groups, and it may even lead to some small structural changes, such as ad group buildouts. You’ll tend to find that the more frequently you review, the less time-intensive the task will become over time.

Plus, as this becomes top-of-mind, there are a lot of great opportunities to do so at the outset. If you have a generic ad group, it’s good to add the descriptors that make up your more specific ad groups as negative terms to help funnel terms to the most appropriate ad group. Still, as your account grows, you’ll likely continue to find some to be added ad hoc as you review the reports.

As with any other account changes, I always suggest monitoring performance after making optimizations. In situations like the first example above, we’re inclined to believe that the keyword will perform better if forced to map to the most relevant ad group (and with good reason), but we can never be completely sure until we see how it performs after the negative is added.

Keyword mapping can take a bit of time, but the return on time invested can be more than a little valuable.

The post Is Your Account Leaking Money? The Importance Of Query Mapping appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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Why Startup Marketers Need to Find Their Tribe

“I’m so glad to hear this. I’ve literally been pulling my hair out trying to get all of these systems to work together, and I didn’t know everyone else was, too.”

I’m not sure who said that at our marketing meet-up yesterday, but I remember the statement because it could have been said by any of us. We all have conflicting data points, we’re all trying to get all of our systems to connect to each other in real time, and we’re all pining for the day that full marketing stack automation becomes a reality.

But that’s not the point of the story. The point is the comradery.

Everyone at the table belongs to a startup of 100 people or less. We’re all part of marketing teams that you can count on your hand. We’re balancing brand, demandgen and process. And we love sharing ideas because we’re communicators.

This was the True Ventures marketing meetup in the Bay Area. But an investor is not the only place to find this tribe. If you’re a startup, you could find other marketing leads by:

1. Researching local companies of the same series stage
2. Joining the customer advisory board for a system that you rely on
3. Rally around a tech hub office space
4. Organize through your LinkedIn profile using location & company size
5. Approach company partners, resellers, vendors and service extensions to see if they are facing similar challenges

All it takes is a few sailors of the same boat to remind you about true north and get the best ideas rolling — ones that are much more likely to work in your context than analyst reports or Fortune 500 studies..

About the Author: Maura Ginty is the VP of Marketing at Kissmetrics.