Hitmetrix - User behavior analytics & recording

NEMOA Speaker: Integrating Search Key to Improving Organic Results

By integrating search marketing efforts throughout a merchant’s operations, it is possible to improve organic search results, Hyland’s Inc. director of information technology Edward Conway said yesterday during a session at the New England Mail-Order Association’s spring conference.

Search marketing is important because 64 percent of Web users employ search and 33 percent of those are shopping, Conway said. By 2007, search marketing will be a $7 billion industry. However, marketers are increasingly recognizing the importance of organic results since four out of five searchers ignore sponsored links, Conway said. Organic results, on the other hand, are more likely to convert, and searchers tend to click further into a site when their exact query appears prominently in a company’s results.

One way to employ search strategically internally is to find out what keywords are available related to a new product you’re developing. This information can inform how the marketing for that launch is developed. Also, if there is a new promotion being put in place, make sure the marketing department knows about it so they can bid on keywords related to the promotion. You also may find that a lot of people are searching a specific term and decide to build a brand or promotion around that term.

To optimize your organic results, it’s first important to know whether or not your pages are indexed by the major search engines, Conway said. An easy way to figure this out is to copy a couple of lines directly from a page on your Web site and paste it into Google’s search field. That page should come up as the No. 1 result. If not, then it’s not indexed.

An easy way to get your pages indexed is to run a pay-per-click campaign because then Google or whomever will regularly send spiders to index your site. Building content and including a Web site map are additional tactics that make it easier for spiders to index your site.

Another way to improve your organic rankings is to make sure your copywriters are thinking in terms of choosing keywords or phrases that are relevant to the consumer and putting those in the headlines. You also want keywords to account of 7 percent of your content.

Chantal Todé covers catalog and retail news and BTB marketing for DM News and DM News.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters

Total
0
Shares
Related Posts