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Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site

Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site

by Bill Hunt, Mike Moran
Publisher: IBM Press
Release Date: July 2005
ISBN: 0131852922
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Book Description

A new edition of this title is available, ISBN-10: 0136068685 ISBN-13: 9780136068686

Table of Contents

  1. Copyright
    1. Dedications
  2. Praise for Search Engine Marketing, Inc.
  3. IBM Press
    1. On Demand Computing Books
    2. Rational
    3. WebSphere Books
    4. More Books from IBM Press
    5. DB2® Books
  4. Foreword
  5. Preface
  6. Acknowledgments from Mike
  7. Acknowledgments from Bill
  8. About the Authors
    1. About Mike Moran
    2. About Bill Hunt
  9. 1. The Basics of Search Marketing
    1. 1. Why Search Marketing Is Important … and Difficult
      1. Web Search Basics
        1. Kinds of Search Results
        2. Where Searchers Go
          1. Google
          2. Yahoo!
          3. MSN Search
          4. AOL Search
          5. Ask Jeeves
          6. Metasearch Engines
          7. Local Search Engines
          8. Shopping Search Engines
          9. Specialty Search Engines
      2. Search and Your Marketing Mix
        1. Prospective Customers Use Search
        2. Search Marketing Is Cost-Effective
        3. Search Marketing Is Big Business
      3. The Challenge of Search Success
        1. Multiple Specialist Teams
        2. Multiple Product Sites
        3. Multiple Audiences
        4. Multiple Countries
        5. Multiple Technologies
      4. Summary
    2. 2. How Search Engines Work
      1. Matching the Search Query
        1. Analyzing the Query
          1. Finding Word Variants and Correcting Spelling
          2. Detecting Phrases, Antiphrases, and Stop Words
          3. Examining Word Order
          4. Processing Search Operators
        2. Choosing Matches to the Query
          1. Selecting Organic Search Matches
          2. Selecting Paid Placement Matches
      2. Ranking the Matches
        1. Ranking Organic Search Matches
          1. Keyword Density
          2. Keyword Prominence
          3. Link Popularity
        2. Ranking Paid Placement Matches
      3. Displaying Search Results
      4. Finding Web Pages for the Organic Index
        1. Following Links
        2. Remembering Links
        3. Keeping Up with Changes
        4. Feeding the Index Without Crawling
      5. Analyzing the Content
        1. Converting Different Types of Documents
        2. Deciding Which Words Are Important
        3. Spotting Words You Don't Normally See
        4. Deducing Information from the Page
        5. What Search Engines Don't See
      6. Building the Organic Index
      7. Search Relationships
      8. Summary
    3. 3. How Search Marketing Works
      1. Organic Search
        1. What It Costs
          1. Search Marketing Consultants
          2. Content and Technology Changes
          3. Paid Inclusion
        2. The Benefits and Challenges
          1. Highly Qualified Visitors Will Come to Your Site
          2. You Can Do It on a Budget
          3. What You Do Works Across Search Engines
        3. How to Get Started
      2. Directory Listings
        1. What It Costs
        2. The Benefits and Challenges
        3. How to Get Started
      3. Paid Placement
        1. What It Costs
        2. The Benefits and Challenges
          1. Highly Qualified Visitors Will Come to Your Site
          2. You See Immediate Results
          3. It Is Inexpensive to Get Started
          4. You Pay Only for Visits to Your Site
          5. You Can Target Your Audience
        3. How to Get Started
      4. Summary
    4. 4. How Searchers Work
      1. Visitor Behavior
        1. Buyer Behavior
        2. Voter Behavior
      2. The Searcher's Intent
        1. Navigational Searchers
        2. Informational Searchers
        3. Transactional Searchers
      3. The Searcher's Click
        1. How Searchers Look at Results
        2. Why Searchers Click Where They Do
        3. When Searchers Don't Click Results
      4. The Searcher's Follow-Through
        1. The Web Conversion Cycle
        2. How Visitor Behavior Affects Search Marketing
          1. The Learn Stage
          2. The Shop Stage
          3. The Buy Stage
          4. The Use Stage
      5. Summary
  10. 2. Develop Your Search Marketing Program
    1. 5. Identify Your Web Site's Goals
      1. Web Sales
        1. Online Commerce Versus Pure Online
        2. Retailers Versus Manufacturers
      2. Offline Sales
      3. Leads
      4. Market Awareness
      5. Information and Entertainment
      6. Persuasion
        1. Influencing Public Opinion
        2. Helping People
      7. Summary
    2. 6. Measure Your Web Site's Success
      1. Count Your Conversions
        1. Web Sales
        2. Offline Sales
        3. Leads
        4. Market Awareness
        5. Information and Entertainment
        6. Persuasion
      2. Count Your Traffic
        1. Page Views
        2. Visits and Visitors
      3. Count Your Money
      4. Summary
    3. 7. Measure Your Search Marketing Success
      1. Target Your First Search Marketing Campaign
        1. Choose the Target Area of Your Site
        2. Focus on the Keywords Searchers Use
      2. Assess Your Current Situation
        1. Identify Your Search Landing Pages
        2. See If Your Existing Landing Pages Are Indexed
        3. Check the Search Rankings for Your Landing Pages
        4. Check Your Competitors' Search Rankings
        5. See What Traffic You Are Getting
      3. Calculate Your First Campaign's Opportunity
        1. Check Your Keyword Demand
        2. Discover Your Missed Opportunities
        3. Project Your Future Traffic
        4. Project Your Future Conversions
      4. Summary
    4. 8. Define Your Search Marketing Strategy
      1. Choose the Scope of Your Search Marketing Program
        1. Size Matters
          1. Flexibility
          2. Name Recognition
          3. Resources
        2. Analyze Your Organizational Structure
          1. Functional organizations
          2. Product-Oriented Organizations
          3. Multinational Organizations
          4. Conglomerates
        3. Finalize Your Search Marketing Program's Scope
      2. Divide the Search Marketing Work
        1. Search Marketing Tasks
        2. Decide Which Search Marketing Tasks to Centralize
        3. Different Organizations Centralize Different Tasks
      3. Choose Your Search Marketing Approach
        1. Select an External Search Marketing Vendor
          1. Decide Your Vendor Requirements
          2. Create Your List of Vendor Candidates
          3. Meet the Vendors
          4. Make Your Decision
        2. Run a Completely In-House Search Marketing Program
      4. Project Your Search Marketing Costs
        1. Organic Optimization Costs
        2. Paid Placement Costs
        3. Personnel Costs
      5. Summary
    5. 9. Sell Your Search Marketing Proposal
      1. Assemble Your Search Marketing Proposal
        1. The Business Case for Your Search Marketing Program
          1. Your Search Marketing Program's Revenue Opportunity
          2. Your Search Marketing Program's Costs
          3. Your Search Marketing Program's Business Case
        2. Your First Search Marketing Campaign's Business Case
        3. The Plan for Your First Search Marketing Campaign
      2. Sell Your Proposal to the Extended Search Team
        1. Business People
          1. Brand Managers
          2. Sales People
          3. Public Relations
          4. Lawyers
        2. Writers
          1. Copywriters
          2. Content Writers
          3. Translators
        3. Technologists
          1. Webmasters
          2. Web Developers
          3. Information Architects
          4. Style Guide Developers
        4. Site Operations
          1. Metrics Specialists
          2. Web Site Governance Specialists
      3. Sell Your Proposal to Executives
        1. Ten Questions Your Executive Might Ask
          1. What Is Search Marketing and Why Do I Care?
          2. How Does This Help Me Achieve My Corporate Goals?
          3. Where Do We Stand Today?
          4. What Are Our Competitors Doing?
          5. What Are You Proposing to Do?
          6. What Business Value Do You Expect to Achieve?
          7. How Much Does It Cost?
          8. How Long Will It Take?
          9. Why Should I Fund This Project over Current Projects?
          10. What Are the Risks?
        2. Close the Deal
      4. Summary
  11. 3. Execute Your Search Marketing Program
    1. 10. Get Your Site Indexed
      1. What If Your Site Is Not Indexed?
        1. Verify Your Site Is Not Banned or Penalized
        2. Make Sure the Spider Is Visiting
        3. Get Sites to Link to You
      2. How Many Pages on Your Site Are Indexed?
        1. Determine How Many Pages You Have
        2. Check How Many Pages Are Indexed
        3. Calculate Your Inclusion Ratio
      3. How Can More Pages from Your Site Be Indexed?
        1. Eliminate Spider Traps
          1. Carefully Set Robots Directives
          2. Eliminate Pop-Up Windows
          3. Don't Rely on Pull-Down Navigation
          4. Simplify Dynamic URLs
          5. Eliminate Dependencies to Display Pages
          6. Use Redirects Properly
          7. Ensure Your Web Servers Respond
        2. Reduce Ignored Content
          1. Slim Down Your Pages
          2. Validate Your HTML
          3. Reserve Flash for Content You Do Not Want Indexed
          4. Avoid Frames
        3. Create Spider Paths
          1. Site Maps
          2. Country Maps
        4. Use Paid Inclusion
          1. Paid Inclusion Can Make Your Life Easier
          2. How to Get Started with Paid Inclusion
          3. Making the Most of Paid Inclusion
      4. Summary
    2. 11. Choose Your Target Keywords
      1. The Value of Keyword Planning
        1. Building Brand Awareness
        2. Increasing Web Conversions
      2. Your Keyword Planning Philosophy
        1. Don't Pick Keywords That Are “Too Hot”
          1. Overheated Subjects
          2. Overheated Meanings
        2. Don't Pick Keywords That Are “Too Cold”
        3. Pick Keywords That Are “Just Right”
      3. Step-by-Step Keyword Planning
        1. Gather Your Keyword Candidate List
          1. Brainstorm with Your Team
          2. Check Your Current Search Referrals
          3. Consult Your Site Search Facility
          4. Study Paid Inclusion Reports
          5. Check Out Your Competition
        2. Research Each Keyword Candidate
          1. Wordtracker
          2. Yahoo! Keyword Selector Tool
          3. Google AdWords Keyword Tool
          4. Xybercode Ad Word Analyzer
        3. Prioritize Your Keyword Candidate List
          1. Keywords from the Buy Stage
          2. Keywords from the Shop Stage
          3. Keywords from the Learn Stage
      4. Summary
    3. 12. Optimize Your Content
      1. What Search Engines Look For
        1. Search Filters
          1. Language Filters
          2. Country and Region Filters
          3. Other Filters
        2. Search Ranking Factors
          1. Page Ranking Factors
          2. Query Ranking Factors
      2. The Philosophy of Writing for Search
      3. Step-by-Step Optimization for Search Landing Pages
        1. Choose a Search Landing Page for a Set of Keywords
          1. How Not to Choose a Search Landing Page
          2. Landing Pages for Multiple Keywords
          3. When You Can't Find the Right Landing Page
        2. Analyze the Metrics for Your Search Landing Page
          1. Check Organic Search Rankings
          2. Measure Organic Search Referrals
          3. Calculate Search Conversions
        3. Audit Your Search Landing Page
          1. Scrutinize Your Title
          2. Analyze Your Snippet
          3. Evaluate Your Body Text
          4. Examine Your Link Popularity
        4. Improve Your Search Landing Page's Content
          1. Perfect Your Title
          2. Influence Your Snippet
          3. Tune Your Description
          4. Fix Your Body Text
          5. Handle Nontext Elements Properly
          6. Optimize Dynamic Content
      4. Summary
    4. 13. Attract Links to Your Site
      1. Why Search Engines Value Links
        1. How Web Sites Link
        2. How Link Popularity Works
      2. Your Linking Philosophy
        1. How Not to Get Links to Your Site
        2. Think About Visitors First
        3. The Harder a Link Is to Get, the More Valuable It Might Be
        4. Think About Links from Your Site
      3. Step-by-Step Link Building for Your Site
        1. Make Your Site a Link Magnet
        2. Perform a Link Audit
        3. Identify Sources of Links
          1. Internal Links
          2. Relational Links
          3. Solicited Links
          4. Paid Links
        4. Negotiate Your Links
      4. Summary
    5. 14. Optimize Your Paid Search Program
      1. Paid Search Opportunities
        1. Paid Placement
          1. Contextual Advertising
          2. Local Search
        2. Shopping Search
      2. Your Paid Search Philosophy
        1. Look for Value
        2. Play the Market
          1. Paid Search Market Basics
          2. Auction Pricing
          3. Efficiency Is Everything
          4. Other People's Money
        3. Iterate, Iterate, and Then Iterate Some More
      3. Step-by-Step Paid Search Optimization
        1. Set Up Your Paid Search Program
          1. Decide Your Budget
          2. Set Up Your Accounts
          3. Select Your Bid Management Tool
        2. Choose Your Targets
          1. Select Good Paid Placement Keywords
          2. Organize Your Keywords
          3. Decide a Match Type for Each Keyword
          4. Decide Geographic Targeting for Each Keyword
          5. Select Your Bidding Strategy
          6. Make Your Bids
        3. Attract Searchers' Clicks
          1. Optimize Your Paid Placement Copy
          2. Manage Your Paid Placement Ads
          3. Fine-Tune Your Shopping Search Data
        4. Optimize Paid Search Landing Pages
        5. Measure and Adjust Your Campaigns
      4. Summary
    6. 15. Make Search Marketing Operational
      1. Set Up Your Central Search Team
        1. Staff the Central Team
        2. Develop the Central Team's Skills
      2. Establish Search Marketing Best Practices
        1. Change the Standards and Enforce Them
        2. Centralize Keyword Management
      3. Track Search Marketing Success
        1. Assess Your Site's Content
          1. Content Tagging Measurements
          2. Keyword Prominence and Density Measurements
          3. Link Measurements
          4. Page Inclusion Measurements
        2. Check Your Search Rankings
        3. Monitor Search Referrals
          1. Overall Search Referral Measurements
          2. Search Referral Measurements by Search Engine
          3. Search Referral Measurements by Keyword
        4. Calculate Web Conversions from Search
        5. Review Your Measurements with Others
      4. Summary
    7. 16. What's Next?
      1. What's Next for Search Marketing?
        1. More Content
        2. More Technology
          1. Keyword Assistance
          2. Deep Text Analytics
          3. Multifaceted Search
        3. More Personalized
        4. More Competition
      2. What's Next for You?
        1. Get Experience
        2. Keep Learning
          1. Conferences
          2. Web Sites
      3. Summary
  12. Glossary