Using Search Engines to Market your Consultancy
What are Search Engines?
“The search engine is the focal point of the
online experience for Internet users across the
spectrum”
Why Search is so important
1 trillion documents on the world wide web
250 million searches per day
Over half of all online purchases start at a search engine
28% of all searches on Google are for product names
35% of all searches are commercial
73% of searches end in a purchase
Market Forecasts
Estimate UK search market size (£ millions)
900
800
700
UK Search market will continue to grow in size,
reaching £802m in 2010
£m
600
500
2005 will see a 57% growth rate but growth will
slow down dramatically from 2006 as market
reaches maturity
400
300
SEM as a % of overall online ad spend will peak
in 2006 (at 67%),
tailing off to 49% by 2010
200
100
2013
2003
2023
2004
2033
2005
2043
2006
2053
2007
2063
2008
2073
2009
12%
64%
5%
59%
2%
53%
2083
2010
Year
91%
46%
48%
53%
57%
66%
24%
67%
2%
49%
% Growth of SEM in UK
SEM as % of Internet Ad Spend
Search Engine Marketing
Jargon Busting
Marketer
Strategy
Solution
= Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Natural
Visibility
Search Engine Optimisation
(SEO)
On the page (website)
Off the page
Paid-for
Visibility
Pay-for Placement
(PFP)
Paid Inclusion (PI)
Per URL (site submit)
Consumer
= Search
Organic
Results
Paid-for
Results
Trusted Feeds
Natural visibility
• Crawler-based automated technology
• Spiders are launched by the search engines to crawl the internet
• Results returned to the engine and ranked on relevancy
• Can take weeks to be found
• Relevancy is determined by:
•
•
•
•
Quality and quantity of website content
Website build and architecture
Speed of page download
Link popularity
25 million competing pages
Natural Search
17 million competing pages
Natural Search
Benefits of Natural Visibility
•Cost Efficiency
•Traffic Increase
•Easier site
navigation
•Accountability
6060
Pay-for-Performance Listings
•Real-time auction of keywords
•Overture, MIVA, Mirago
•Google – (slightly different to real-time auction model)
•Paid for on Cost per Click basis
•Price driven by the market
•The higher you bid the higher up you appear
•Prone to bidding wars
•Copy (titles and descriptions) optimised / changed regularly
Pay-for-Placement Opportunities
Awareness of Paid Listings
What do you think the listings circled in the above search results pages are?
2%
5%
9%
3%
Most relevant results
7%
Results paid for by an
advertiser
Just more search results
Links to previous searches
Other, please specify
Don't know
74%
83% of the
sample went on
to say they
would use paid
search listings
Instant and Guaranteed Traffic
• A Paid Search
Campaign can go
live in days
•Low risk – only pay
when a user clicks
Paid Search
•Qualified traffic –
users are actively
searching for
content relevant to
your site
•Tactical
Understanding Demand
In 2005 there were:
• 102,000 searches
for “Management
Training”
• 28,000 searches
for “Management
Consultant”
Search Volume and Seasonality
"Flower"
18000
16000
2003 record: 10,753
searches on Tuesday
11th February
2004 record: 16,389
searches on Tuesday
16th March; almost
as many on
Thursday 18th March
14000
No. of Searches
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
Date
Managing Paid Search
•Advertisers can also
use 3rd party tracking
tools e.g. Dart Search /
Atlas Search allow:
•CPA targeting
•Bid updates of 12
times per day
•Rule groups to
avoid bidding wars
Managing Search
Developing Search strategies
• ROI or visibility?
• Do we need to be ranked #1?
• Is your brand strong enough not to be top of listings?
• A tactical or long-term vehicle?
• Ongoing lead generation
• Targeting new audiences
• Promoting new products
• Purely direct response?
• Search is increasingly used as a branding tool
• “the majority of consumers expect leading brands to hold top search
listings, with 33% believing that those found in top spots ARE the big
brands” (iProspect)
Example Search Strategy
Visibility
Tactical or
Campaign
Specific
Cost Effective
Traffic
Pay for
Performance
Pay for
Performance
Generating
Additional
Volume
Pay for
Performance
Pay for
Performance
Trusted Feed
Directories – for homepage & single product pages
Long
Term
Presence
SEO – focusing on Primary Terms
Now
Time
Management
• In-house:
• SEO – internal technical resource required
• PFP – credit card and direct search engine relationship
• Dependent on campaign size
• Agency:
• SEO – consultancy or implementation
• PFP – access to auto bid management
• Specialists: e.g.
• Understand how people search
• Can assist with copy writing (knowing what works well)
• Dynamic market forces
• Agency discount
Integration
Putting Search at the heart of the
Communications Mix
Search has a significant impact
on other channels
– and vice versa
Align Search with client’s other
marketing & advertising channels
Dovetail web development,
usability & accessibility for a
complete understanding of your
customer’s online needs
Maximising ROI for multiple
marketing & business units
(Retail, Brand, Direct)
Leveraging offline advertising
160
TV Activity
Press Activity
Volume Daily Searches
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Searches for product x
The Future of Search
• Market proliferation and sophistication
•Launch of MSN Paid Search
•Increased targeting options
•Another buying point
•Local Search
•Pay-Per-Call and Pay-Per-Text
•MIVA first to launch in UK
•Mobile Search
Golden Rule of Search Marketing
• Understand your audience and how they look for your product
or relevant information online
• Don’t restrict efforts to keyword buying
• Embrace Search as a marketing medium
• Develop a strategy that capitalises on other advertising &
marketing
• Be in control of your Brand
• Understand latent and indirect response