This is partly because the discipline delivers much better value for money than many of the more traditional forms of advertising such as TV. The economic situation has brought this in to sharper focus and although there has been a measurable shift to paid search, marketers want (and need) their budgets to work even more effectively for them.
Paid search is still the primary channel for acquisition within the digital space for many, but as keyword competition and bid prices increase, SEO is proving to be a smart and economically beneficial channel through which to push marketing messages. Moreover, recent announcements from Google and Bing on the integration of real-time search in to their rankings clearly demonstrates the importance of SEO and moving forward, an understanding of social media content (status updates in Twitter, for example) will have a significant impact on using SEO as an effective marketing channel.
But, it is very important to understand that both PPC and SEO should not be approached as entirely separate disciplines. Rather they need to be treated as two sides of the same coin and a strategy created that allows each area of search marketing to compliment the other. When the two are combined the rewards can be substantial.
So within the search marketplace, why are agencies and brands struggling to bring the two together?
There are several factors involved, but one of the key reasons is that the methods of delivery are very different: SEO is a spatial exercise, touching on a wide range of disciplines -- whilst PPC is more linear, where the skills are similar to those found in a trading environment.
The major consequence of this perceived difference is that internal ownership at many companies attributes SEO as a "technical" discipline and PPC as "media". This leads to separate budgets, stakeholders and resources and in short, splits search into two silos.
Paradoxically the search industry, which has been built on the solid foundations of transparency and accountability, is gripped with jargon loaded explanations of how to run a strategically sound campaign that makes the most of paid and natural search. There are some really big words that fly around, like "synergy", "integration" and "combined methodology", in describing how to bring together something that is really one by nature. It doesn’t have to be this way. Below I've outlined six tactics that will make your search efforts work harder and smarter -- through using the strengths of paid and natural search to help each other.
Tactic 1: Reporting
First and foremost get the basics right. You need to be reporting on search as a whole. Have drill-downs in your reporting so you can split out paid and natural search -- but for the most part report on search as one channel. This will allow you to see overall uplift and return on investment for all your search activity in one place. It will also allow you to assign budget to where the most significant gains are to be made.
Tactic 2: Let paid search inform your SEO strategy
Ensure that you use the keyword data from your paid search campaigns to decide which keywords you want to invest your SEO efforts in. The paid search data will tell you which keywords convert for you. Where bid prices or CPA on some keywords are too high for you to compete profitably on, direct your SEO strategy towards these keywords.
Tactic 3: Let your natural search rankings inform your PPC bid strategy
Once you start ranking for strong keywords in natural search -- you can decide on your PPC strategy around those keywords:
- Dual visibility: get your PPC and natural search rank as high as you can and dominate the page above the fold for maximum impact
- Pull back: withdraw some of your PPC budget and reallocate it to where you have low visibility in your natural rankings
- 1 up 1 down: have one listing appear above the fold and the other appear below the fold to gain maximum coverage on the results page
Tactic 4: Messaging
- Remember, search is one channel with two opportunities for messaging. Let your natural search page title and description carry your core brand messaging and your paid search deliver your tactical or promotional messaging, with a strong call to action.
Tactic 5: Use SEO to bring down your CPC's
"
Although the two algorithms (natural and paid) aren't linked, the models do evolve in tandem", (Google as quoted in New Media Age, October 2008)
This is Google-speak for "if you want to understand how our paid search Quality Score is evaluated, keep an eye on our natural search spider." Semantic mark up (those snippets of code that tell the search engines what your page is about) is used by Google in understanding paid search landing pages. So optimise your page title, description and copy around the paid search keywords you are advertising on. This is probably one of the most under-utilised methods of making your paid search work a lot harder for you (I have noticed reductions of up to 20 per cent in Google bid prices for clients who have employed this technique to up their Quality Score)
Tactic 6: Use paid search tools for SEO
Google have a suite of tools designed for building paid search campaigns, but they can be used for planning natural search campaigns just as easily:
- Keywords: using the Google keyword tool you can get an idea of search volumes around certain terms. This is a great starting point to find keywords that will deliver you traffic volume.
- Linking: Google's Ad Planner tool which is used for planning display and content network campaigns is a fantastic resource when it comes to link building. It has a wide range of filters that allow you to see sites that are related to the audience you are trying to reach. A really useful tool and one that every link building campaign should make use of.
To sum up -- whilst really well integrated paid and natural search campaigns remain elusive in real life, there are a number of tactics that can be used to make the most of your paid and natural search strengths. Over the coming months, market conditions will place search budgets under a huge amount of scrutiny. Marketers need to consolidate search budgets, reporting and resource in order to deliver the exceptional returns that the medium is capable of.
Nigel Muir is managing director of DBD Media.
