Search Engine Marketing
Submitting Your Site and Paid Search
Angela D’Auria Stanton, Ph.D.
"Search engines are for
searchers. Not
submitters."
But……
Knowing how to submit your site properly is important too!
SES versus SEO versus SEP
 Search Engine Submission (SES) – the act of getting your web site
listed with search engines
 Basically search engine registration
 Does not mean you’ll rank high – the search engine just knows
your pages exist
 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – the act of altering your site so
that it may rank well for particular terms
 Search Engine Positioning – when a site is actually ranking well for
a term or particular set of terms at search engines
Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2168011
Free Submissions - Directories
 Getting listed in directories is important – a listing there makes it
easier for crawler-based search engines to find your site
 How you list the site can mean the difference between being
included in the directory or not.
 Keywords are of little importance to directories
 What will make the difference is the content on your site – it’s
important that the content be fresh and regularly updated
 Links are also important – make sure your links are updated –
broken links can be detrimental to your site as are links to unrelated
pages
Free Submissions - Directories
 Other elements of your listing that editors evaluate:
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Choosing the appropriate category for your listing
Accurate titles and descriptions
Titles and descriptions relevant to the subject of the web site
Domain names that match site titles
Secure ordering capabilities on ecommerce sites
Contact information that’s easily accessible
Links to privacy policies, return policies, and product/service
guarantees
Working and appropriate links to other sites and resources
Images that display properly in the most common browser
formats
Javascript (if used) that’s free of errors
Free Submissions - Directories
 Open Directory Project – locate the category in which you want
to be listed, then click on the “add URL” link that appears at the
top of the category page, and fill out the form – it may take many
weeks to get listed (if you are)
http://www.dmoz.org/add.html
 Yahoo! Directory (http://dir.yahoo.com)
 GoGuides.org (http://goguides.org) – directory’s purpose is to be
completely spam free
 Google Directory (http://directory.google.com)
 SearchSite (http://www.searchsight.org) – lesser known but
gaining traction
Free Submissions: Crawlers
 Best way to get listed – get links to your site
from other sites
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Crawlers follow links so if you have good links
pointing to your web site, the crawlers are
more likely to find you
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If you submitted to a major directory and got
listed, most crawlers will almost certainly pick
up the URL that was listed.
Free Submissions: Crawlers
 Google
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Add URL page – submit your home page and
perhaps 1 or 2 URLs from “inisde” your site –
no guarantee you’ll be included
http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
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Google Webmaster Central – allows you to
submit a large list of URLs (a sitemap file)
http://www.google.com/webmasters/
Free Submissions: Crawlers
 Yahoo!
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http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html
 Microsoft Live Search (formerly MSN) formerly powered
by Yahoo’s crawler-based results – now uses its own
technology (MSNBot)
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http://search.msn.com.sg/docs/submit.aspx?FORM=WSDD
 A variety of smaller search engines
 http://www.ineedhits.com/free-tools/submit-free.aspx
Pay for Placement
 Paid Inclusion
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A site owner pays a fee in order to have web pages included in a
search engine's listings. Does this mean that those in paid
inclusion get to be ranked tops in editorial results? No. The
major search engines offering such programs are usually
emphatic that payment does not provide any ranking boost.
 Paid Placement Listings (Pay per Click)
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Most major search engines carry paid placement listings, where
advertisers are guaranteed a high ranking, usually in relation to
desired words. These paid listings are usually segregated from
editorial results and labeled to highlight that they are ads. The
exact position of the paid placement listings can vary.
Sometimes, they appear above or below editorial links. "Sidebar"
style generally runs ads in a column to the right of a search
engine's editorial listings.
Paid Inclusion
 Google – none
 Yahoo!
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Yahoo! Directory Submit
https://ecom.yahoo.com/dir/submit/intro/
Search Submit
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srchsb/ssb.
php
Paid Placement
 Paid search programs allow site owners to
"bid" on the terms they wish to appear for.
You agree to pay a certain amount each time
someone clicks on your listing. This is why
sponsored listings are referred to as "pay-perclick" (PPC) or "cost-per-click" (CPC)
advertising.
Paid Placement
 Google AdWords - http://adwords.google.com/
 Ranks sponsored listings as follows:
 Above Search Results: Highest Cost-Per-Click
 Side Sponsored Results: Cost Per Click (CPC) x
Quality Score (Click-Through-Rate (CTR), keyword
relevance, your ad’s text, and landing page quality)
 Distributes its paid ads to other partners
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See http://www.clickz.com/3626891
Paid Placement
 Yahoo! Search Marketing http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srch/choose.php
 Microsoft adCenter – first to offer geographic,
demographic and daypart targeting
https://adcenter.microsoft.com/
http://advertising.microsoft.com/microsoft-adcenter/how-adcenter-works
Find Reviews of PPC search engines at: http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com/
Keyword Budgeting for PPC
 PPC designed to create competition among bidders
 It’s important to begin with a few keywords that
you’ve defined and then replace ones that don’t work
with other keywords from your list
 PPC should only equate to 20 – 30% of your total
Search Engine Marketing budget
 PPC expenditures approaching $7 billion per year
Understanding Bid Management
 Manual Bid Management
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you must keep up with the competition and
what they’re doing
track your conversions
test and monitor the performance of existing
and new keywords
watch your PPC campaigns for fraud
make campaign changes as necessary
Strategies to Manage Bids
Yourself
 Don’t obsess over the number one slot
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Often you can’t afford it
Many don’t trust the first paid search result
 Select keywords for the stages in the buying process
you’re targeting
 Delete duplicate keywords from your keyword lists –
don’t bid against yourself
 Set aside time each day to monitor your keywords
and PPC campaigns
Automated Bid Management
 Can take one of three forms
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As part of a solution provided by your
analytics/PPC program provider
As desktop software
As a hosted service
 If you’re managing a handful of keywords, the
capabilities provided by your analytics/PPC provider
may be fine
 If you have more, you need something more powerful
(such as desktop software or a hosted service)
Automated Bid Management
 Some companies that do this are: Omniture,
Searchignite, KeywordROI, and BidRank
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Cost can range anywhere from $125 to more than $1200 per
month
 Features typically include:
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Single interface for multiple campaigns
Conversion tracking
Global change capabilities
Keyword monitoring capabilities
Automatic bid management capabilities
Fraud monitoring and documentation
Reporting capabilities
Bidding
 PPC can provide your site with one of the most cost effective
methods of improving your business if used properly. The first
step in initiation your PPC campaign is to choose keywords for
bidding.
 Keep in mind that general search terms will cost considerably
more (and achieve more clicks) than more specific ones.
Additionally, the same terms on different PPC engines with have
substantially different bids.
 Unlike your selection of keywords for site optimization, there is
no limit to the number of keywords you can use in your PPC
program.
PPC – How Much to Pay
 What constitutes a successful conversion?
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Example: a sale is made
 What is the net profit for a successful conversion?
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Example: $19.37 = profit per sale
 What percentage of referrals for a key phrase convert?
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Example: 2.39% = conversion ratio
 (profit per sale) x (conversion ratio) = break even point
($19.37)
x
0.0239
= $0.462943
 Other factors:
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repeat customers
brand recognition
For more information please see http://www.directresponsegroup.com/ppc-overview.cfm
PPC Pricing Info
 Google AdWords
https://adwords.google.com/select/comparison.html
 Yahoo!
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srch/pricing.php
http://help.yahoo.com/help/l/us/yahoo/ysm/sps/faqs/presignup/ysm_cost.html
Reducing PPC Costs
 Replace any poorly performing ads/listings
 Reduce the amount of your bid per keyword – a few
cents can make a huge difference
 Use your existing budget more effectively
 Examine keywords to see if you can remove any that
are general in nature or high demand as these tend
to be most expensive
 Carefully choose your match type
Three General Match Types
 Broad Match – ad shown to the broadest possible
segment of searchers
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Example: if someone searches for “SEO consultant”, your ad
will be shown, no matter whether these two words appear
together or if there are other words included with the term
 Phrase Match – ad shown for searches that contain
the key phrase you’ve selected, in the correct word
order, but also including other words
 Exact Match – ad shown only for searches that
contain the exact words you’ve selected, in the exact
order in which you’ve selected them, with no other
words in the phrase
Other Issues
 Negative keywords – words that cause a PPC
ad/listing to NOT be shown
 Dayparting – the ability to target your
campaign to the most effective times of day
or days of the week
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Can better target demographics
Helps with products/services that are seasonal
 Geotargeting – targeting based on
geographical location of your business
Improving Click-through Rates
 Include special offers or incentives in ad text
 Consider including price in ads for
products/services
 Highlight a key feature of your product or
service
 Create a sense of urgency (limited time offer)
 Use a call to action (Act Now, Hurry, etc.)