Search Engine Optimization: The importance of SEO results for companies
Stephanie Mueller JOUR 593 April 27, 2015
Abstract:
Search Engine Optimization is a complex concept that helps better develop leads for companies through online searching tools. Search Engine Optimization is used in digital marketing methods to better optimize websites for companies. Companies can employ SEO specialists to gain new leads though online searching. Or they can figure out the basics themselves. Understanding how to utilize SEO keywords can help h elp companies create a positive online presence and more awareness in the industry. Creating a content analysis based on the Tastefully Simple brand, one can determine the importance of paid search and organic search. The research will answer whether Tastefully Simple needs to invest in more paid searches, or if the search ranks high by organic searches. Introduction:
In today’s business world, Internet marketing is becoming one of the most
used ways to create leads. Search engine optimization (SEO) is only part of Internet marketing, but by understanding it, will help guide organizations to better strategize and utilize the other parts of Internet marketing. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a tool in Internet marketing. When one searches on the Internet using keywords, websites populate in a ranking ordered based on the relevance of the keyword. The searches are done by a consumer in a search engine such as Google, Yahoo!, or Bing. The searches are navigational, transactional, or informational.
Searches are not the only thing creating SEO. Organizations need to keep their social media, websites, and blogs up to date in order to gain higher ranks organically and create website traffic. Search engines uses keywords and website configurations to create the ranks. Keywords are an important element of search engine optimization. Keywords need to be understood in the client’s eyes in order to gain better SEO for an organization. If the company specializes in recruitment in Pittsburgh, when one searches that phrase the company would want to be within the first three spots on the search. SEO has come a long way since the 1990s and the development of the World Wide Web. The beginning of websites created databases to search for a specific topic or website using the organization’s homepage URL. This did not
allow any keyword optimization since it was only the homepage indexed on the database. PageRank and the Pay by Click model were soon introduced to a new way to search for websites. It was the beginning of search engine optimization. Since the beginning, SEO has been about ranks of keywords. A search engine robot can determine the relevance of the search through the keywords. Search engines allow organizations to create organic or paid results. Organic search research is promising, however, for smaller companies not always the answer. Organizations can easily get “lost” under the larger brands that may overpower the market. Another option for SEO is paying for it.
Pay per click (PPC) model began in the late 1990s. The PPC allows organizations to pay when a client clicks on the website link. Google Adwords is an example of PPC. It is optimal for organizations to use both paid and organic searches in the SEO strategy. The combination of the two will allow for high-ranking positive outcomes. There are many tools that allows users to track website traffic, PPC campaigns, and bounce rates. Analyzing and tracking these will help build a strong search engine optimization campaign. This paper outlines the importance of SEO. The purpose of this paper is to better understand how keywords affect a brand search. By understanding keywords in searches and websites, marketers will be able to determine the best keywords to maximize search engine results. Literature Review
Research suggests there is many different ways to understand SEO and gain more brand awareness. Keywords and HTML design are two of the most important units to create high rankings. The literature review identifies practices for businesses to gain the ranks in search engines. The literature offered for SEO elaborates on the types of search: keywords, search engine marketing, and how to position a brand on SEO. Keywords
A keyword is a word used in a search engine to gain relevant websites based on that word. Keywords can be ge neric or branded, such as “food” or
“Kraft”. Keywords are placed in webpages to gain higher rankings for search
engines. Keywords are the essence of the search engine. By using a combination of different keywords, the results of leads and sales from an o rganization’s website can vary. A study completed by Weidman examined the demographics of individuals to see the effectiveness of different keywords. The relationships determined that age, race, and location have a strong effect on the types of keywords people use. However, looking at the gender there was less of a difference. Marketers are aware of their audience. By taking in consideration the location, age, and race of the brand’s audience, it may create different keywords.
The same website could have a different tag or headline in one part of the world than another just to pull better in the SEO results due to this knowledge. Websites
Search Engine Optimization starts at the website. Website design is very important for an organic search result. Search engine robots cannot comprehend like humans. The robots only scan for the important keywords that relate to the businesses to create SEO. There are twelve steps to make a website more SEO friendly. 1)
Permalink – don’t use penguin.com/eroughelfdierwou. Use a link with meaning such as penguin.com/matingforlife. The URL: needs to be short and keyword rich. Google says the first 3-5 words in a URL are the most important.
2)
Start with a title with a keyword. Someone is searching for penguins mating – use the title: Penguins: Why they mate for life.
3)
Content is important and not just text. By adding graphic and videos with proper tags in the html, the content can enrich the SEO ranking.
4)
Outbound links help with the ranking! Having links to other experts or information will encourage Google to boast the website.
5)
Keywords should be in the first 100- 150 words of the first article. It helps emphasize the information on the website creating better SEO.
6)
HTML code is just as important as the words people read on the website. Understanding to use an H1 headline (the highest level of headlines in HTML coding) for the title is important to gain ranks.
7)
Slow pages = no leads. Make sure the page is quick on the load so people do not get annoyed and leave the page before it opens.
8)
Modifiers to the title create a stronger pull.
9)
Social sharing buttons help people spread the word about the information and in turn boast your rankings.
10)
Length is strength: longer content gets better hits.
11)
Avoid bounce rates (able to track by Google Analytics) by creating intriguing content and information the user wants.
12)
Use LSI Keywords, which are words that are related to the topic. If one searches for a certain topic, other searches come up at the bottom that says, “search related to ___” that’s the keywords
one needs to pay attention to and add to the website. (Dean, 2014) These steps will help the search engine robots discover the website easier, leading to a positive search result. Searches
There are two different searches to create positive SEO. An organic search is created based on the popularity of the keywords used. A paid search is an advertisement paid by the brand to populate when a certain keyword is search. “Keyword advertising works as follows. When a searcher enters a query
into a search engine, all or part of the query may trigger the display of one or more ads on the search engine results page (SERP). If the searcher clicks on an ad, a page from the advertiser‘s website (known as the landing page) is displayed. The advertiser is then charged by the search engine (i.e., pay per click). (Russo, 2010)” Keyword searching is changing the way of search engine marketing and optimization. Organic searching will never go away; however pay-per-click advertising is becoming increasingly popular amongst brands.
According to Branding Potentials of Keyword Search Ads: The Effects of Ad Rankings on Brand Recognition and Evaluations, in 2011, advertisers
spent $12.4 billion (or 39% of total online ad spending) to achieve brandingbased objectives (eMarkerter 2012). In 2004, Google decided to create trademarks as searchable keywords. Brands were concerned with the outcomes, such as competitors buying ad space for the keyword. A study completed by David Hyman proved the brands to be incorrect. By using the International Trademark Association list of trademarks, Hyman and his team examined over 2,400 unique trademarks in the three major search engines: Bing, Google, and Yahoo. The results stated that 48% of trademarks were not paid or sponsored on Bing, 29% on Google, and 15% on Yahoo. Given these facts, the only concern would really be Yahoo for trademark advertising. Sales are the number one goal for any company trying to gain leads through SEO or digital marketing in general. It is important for marketing specialists to understand how to utilize keywords properly to gain a sale. Advertising dollars are a valuable part of a company’s budget in order to
be successful. If the company is buying promoted searches or sponsored links through Google AdWords, money must be made. By looking at the study: Differential Effects of Keyword Selection in Search Engine Advertising on Direct and Indirect Sales by Xianghua Lu and
Xia Zhao, the influence of keywords can be determined. According to the study,
main products use specific keywords to generate more indirect sales where accessory products use general keywords on indirect sales. Marketers should be determining the type of sale (direct or indirect) the product wants to have. Then determine which keywords to use in order for that product or item to sell. Being able to position the brand correctly on a search engine will also create sales. According to the study done by Wenyu Dou, “ search engine results can
serve as a meaningful vehicle for creating brand positioning in the e-commerce world (Dou, 2010)” . The study created two experiments of search result analysis. In the experiments it is noted that depending on the Internet user’s level of
search ability affected the way the user thought the search ranking should be. Novice Internet users generally pick the top search item, thinking it’s the best offered. However, Google does not rank best offer or most amenities, only by keyword searched, there for the top brand may not be the best brand or could be an unknown brand. More experienced Internet users look at the searches and determine by feature and brand which one to click. Overall, based on the information provided through the studies, the importance of understanding the Internet audience to gain top-ranking results on an organization’s webpage is very important. Research Questions
Research will be conducted to continue to study how to optimize search engine keywords through categories, regions, and paid vs. organic searches.
The results will help marketers understand which SEO keywords are successful organically and which searches could benefit from promoted searches. R1) How does keywords relate to a brand or product? R2) Are generic keywords able to produce search results for specific brands? R3) How does the keywords in the website affect searches? A content analysis will be completed based on the brand: Tastefully Simple. By using the Google search trends from Jan. 2014 to March 2015 shows the popular queries and regions of those keywords. A Google search was conducted to find the highest organic ranked website based on each keyword. The content analysis will be conducted on the website’s HTML code to discover
the keyword optimization. The keywords were decided upon the balance between the branded keywords versus the generic. Internet users search different keywords to find the same item. The keyword an Internet user selects usually depends on how well they know the brand or product. Research Design
As research suggests keywords are important factors of SEO. By having strong keywords that relate to the brand and product, it shows strong SEO. A content analysis was completed based on the brand: Tastefully Simple. The analysis used the Google search trends function. The trends are set from Jan 2013 until March 2014 to review the keywords. The purpose of the analysis is to
determine if all keywords lead back to Tastefully Simple, or if some need promoted/ rebranded to create positive SEO for the brand. The keywords include trademarked products and brand names such as Tastefully Simple and Bountiful Beer Bread. Based on the slogan “Simple Delicious Fun”, the generic keywords will be simple, delicious, fun. Other
keywords include recipes, food, beer bread, cakes, bread, dips, and desserts. The study will review 100 keywords related to Tastefully Simple by using the questions available in the codebook (in the appendix). Two educated coders conducted a pilot study. The pilot used ten keywords, related to Tastefully Simple. The keywords are tastefully, beer bread, delicious, fun, recipe, food, meal, eat well, TS recipes and freezer meals. The ten units related to the product as a trademark, relating to the slogan “Simple, Fun, Delicious” or the product of rec ipes and meals.
The coders used the ten units by entering them into Google Trends to determine if they related to Tastefully Simple. By analyzing the keywords, it allows the researcher to determine if the units would provide high SEO for the brand. The study conducted measures searching styles, keyword categories, brand relationship, keyword occurrence on a website, HTML title, metatag descriptions, metatag keywords, and permalink. Research Explained
The type of search query measures three style of searching. An informational search is looking for information in order to answer a question. The navigational search is intended to find a certain webpage, such as Facebook,
Twitter, etc. A transactional search has the intention to complete a transaction or go shopping. The three searches helped the researcher determine what the best keyword to attract a Tastefully Simple customer. The keyword categories are important to better understand where keywords fit. Popular keywords can show the category such as Arts & Entertainment, Food & Drink, or Home & Garden. This helps determine if the keyword given is related to the product being marketed. The researcher measured if each keyword related to the brand: Tastefully Simple. The popular three states was also measured to determine how strong each state is for that SEO keyword. The website, Tastefullysimple.com, was analyzed for keyword embedded into the HTML. By observing the words used in the HTML compared to the words the researcher picked, it can help determine the important keywords for SEO. Research Results
Two expert coders conducted the content analysis on the ten units. The study concluded that 75% of the keywords analyzed were based on an informational search. 70% of the keywords were brand related. The other 30% were too general to gain brand awareness.
Types of Search Query Transactional
Navigational
Informational
0.25 0.15 0.75
The keyword categories were spread. 95% of the keywords were considered food & drinks. 75% of the keywords were hobbies & leisure. None of the keywords fit into the news or law & government categories.
Keyword Categories Food & Drink Arts & Entertainment
1% 1% 1%
6%
4%
4%
3%
Health
14%
Home & Garden 4%
Autos & Vechicles
8%
10%
7%
4%
Beauty & Fitness
Business & Industrial
5%
5% 3%
11%
Computer & Electrics
4% 1%
0%
Books & Literature
Finance Games
0%
Hobbies & Leisure 1%
1%
0%
1%
Internet & Telecom Jobs & Education Law & Government
The keyword trending in each state was interesting. The researchers noticed the Tastefully Simple brands were most often highly ranked in the northern states such as South and North Dakota. One reason being, the headquarters of the company are in Minnesota, however there were not many popular keywords in Minnesota. The next part of the research was analyzing the website, Tastefullysimple.com. The researcher used this website to analysis because it is the brand and main hub of the products. By analyzing the HTML tags, the research can determine if the keywords analyzed were in the website. The highest occurrence was nine times for the keyword, recipe. The second highest at seven occurrences were Tastefully Simple, delicious, and food. Fun occurred
once; the rest of the words did not appear on the homepage. In the metatag keywords, Tastefully Simple, delicious, and food were the only three listed from the sample. Research conclusion
The content analysis shows that choosing keywords to create strong SEO is important. Millions search various keywords, daily. Analyzing effective keywords to gain the highest rank organically will help brands. Keyword related to a brand or product by creating an association of the keyword and brand. The keywords in the pilot study, 95% of the keywords were associated with Food & Drinks. The first and second research questions are answered through the result of Food & Drinks association. The brand is in the food and drinks category so almost all of the keywords are associated with the brand. Also, the generic keywords were associated with the brand through the Food & Drinks category. Through the analysis, it is proven that generic keywords produce search results for specific brands. By using generic keywords associated with the brand allows this to happen. Example is food, which is associated with Food Network. The structure of the website is very important for SEO ranking. By analyzing the website, the research question three is answered. Not all the keywords selected by the researcher were frequent on the website. But still shows a strong search result when searching specific brand keywords such as tasteful, simple, simply delicious, etc. Restrictions & Limitations
The study is an innovative and new concept. Without the tracking abilities for a specific website, the researcher relied on Google Trends for the analysis. Having access to Google Analytics for a specific website would allow better tracking and understanding for each keyword category and type of search. Discussion
The research conducted was very broad and needs to be using advanced tools that were not available to the researcher. SEO is an important factor in Internet marketing. The research currently conducted is minimal and as a new topic will continue to grow. The research will help organizations that are interested in doing SEO for their own websites.
CONTENT ANALYSIS CODE BOOK Brand ID _____________
Coder ID
_____________ Brand Name ___________________________________________ Website URL __________________________________________ Part I: Keyword Analysis Type of Search Query Search queries define the style of searching one does
V1. Informational – looking for information – to answer a question 0. No 1. Yes V2. Navigational – a search intended to find a certain webpage, i.e., “Facebook”, “Twitter” 0. No 1. Yes V3. Transactional – intent to complete a transaction such as shopping 0. No 1. Yes V4. Other (Indicate the intent) ________________________________________________ Branding V5. Brand Relationship Is the keyword related to the brand? 0. No 1. Yes V6. Keyword Category What category does the keyword fit into? a. Food & Drink 0. No 1. Yes b. Arts & Entertainment 0. No 1. Yes c. Health 0. No 1. Yes d. Home & Garden 0. No
1. Yes e. Autos & Vehicles 0. No 1. Yes f. Beauty & Fitness 0. No 1. Yes g. Books & Literature 0. No 1. Yes h. Business & Industrial 0. No 1. Yes i. Computers & Electronics 0. No 1. Yes j. Finance 0. No 1. Yes k. Games 0. No 1. Yes l. Hobbies & Leisure 0. No 1. Yes m. Internet & Telecom 0. No 1. Yes n. Jobs & Education 0. No 1. Yes o. Law & Government 0. No 1. Yes p. News 0. No 1. Yes q. Online Communities 0. No 1. Yes r. People & Society 0. No 1. Yes s. Real Estate 0. No 1. Yes
t.
u.
v.
w.
x.
y.
Reference 0. No 1. Yes Science 0. No 1. Yes Shopping 0. No 1. Yes Sports 0. No 1. Yes Travel 0. No 1. Yes Other (Indicate) __________________________________________
V7. Keyword Trending List three most popular states the keyword is trending in. 1. ______________________ 2. ______________________ 3. ______________________ Part II: Website Analysis Review the top page when searching each keyword and look into the HTML to determine SEO. V8. Keyword Occurrence How many times does the keyword come up in the HTML? 1. 0-20 2. 21-40 3. 41-80 4. 81-100 5. Above 101
V9. HTML Title (Indicate) _________________________________________________ What is the title (in HTML) of the website? V10. HTML Header Is the h1 (
[word]
) header the keyword? 0. No 1. Yes V11. Permalink Does the permalink (the main link on the Google search bar) house the keyword? 0. No 1. Yes
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