Search engine marketing: Getting beyond our obsession with keywords
Keywords are no guarantee of sales any more than successful advertising is. They can at most take the horse to water. They get the seller a high ranking on the list to attract the buyer, but they can’t make him drink. What is worse, because keywords can be inserted into a site page without being visible to the reader, they can generate more hits than the page’s visible contents may merit.
A former employer once disclosed, in passing, the nub of the problem caused by the global obsession with successful tweaking of keywords as the golden path to better SEO, which is supposed to maximise both revenues and ROI.
His son, a whiz kid wildly successful in the early years of SEO, unregulated and unburdened by ethical considerations, had improved a client’s search engine rankings till he actually got to the top of a category. The client was bowled over happily. But to no avail. He got a lot of clicks but little clickthrough, and negligible sales.
“You know why?” – “Why?”
“The client’s product. He was selling goats.” (Or may be sheep).
Or whatever. It doesn’t matter. The point is that keywords are no guarantee of sales any more than successful advertising is. They can at most take the horse to water. They get the seller a high ranking on the list to attract the buyer, but they can’t make him drink. What is worse, because keywords can be inserted into a site page without being visible to the reader, they can generate more hits than the page’s visible contents may merit.
Too much keyword-tweaking SEO can get the search engines themselves to de-rank a sales site – though many an innocent Internet marketer in India might not know about that from what their SEO experts promise. So, before you get into something slippery and (semi-) fraudulent as this practice, be warned.
This is not to say that keyword searches and keyword-rich text are undesirable or even avoidable. They will be important so long as search marketing exists. But persistence with traditional keyword-tweaking is wasteful. There are two possible steps, as experience and research in the more organised markets suggest.
One, to balance higher and lower rankings through astute use of keywords, including a certain amount of automation and a sizeable cut in search costs (one author in an excellent site claims by 30 per cent).
Two, to adopt copywriting tactics – drawing on the experience of traditional direct marketing copywriters – to engage site visitors both during the critical first eight seconds said to decide whether a visitor stays on the site or clicks out of it.
A recent issue of that great site, ‘Marketing Sherpa’, illustrates with an elaborate case study how one company, a book distributor, did that. Lessons from that research could help us, not to imitate it, but to think out of the box.
The Internet marketer reviewed was in a Google programme with a few lakh active keywords at any time. And despite the numbers and costs, he was still finding new ways to improve returns. But revenues remained low, and something had to be done.
He already knew that though the top-ranked ads in paid search got the most traffic and cost more, ads lower down the listings often got much higher conversions. He knew this was because they represented shoppers who knew what they wanted – and fewer numbers of the undecided who would click on every high ranking ad. So, his goal was to look for a ranking that would be the optimum of both traffic and conversions.
To begin with, his team decided to prune their list of active keywords while continuing to add new ones for SEO. Then they programmed their AdWords management software to calculate revenue per click produced by each keyword phrase.
The programme helped them home in on the most profitable keywords and scale back or delete the laggards. Such keywords might be placed deeper in the ad, where only the serious shoppers would find them.
Having drawn up their list of keywords, they began recording their performance at various points in the rankings from day to day. This was because, depending on changes in data, a keyword would rise or fall in the rankings. So, this company’s system enabled it to get a comfortable fit with changes in customer preference.
They also set themselves a strict ceiling on their keyword purchases: they would not spend more than so many cents per click for most keywords. The only exceptions were keywords with the best conversion rates and those that netted high value orders.
Finally, they used keywords designed to target college students, their prime target segment, during the period they bought most of their text books. They made bids on keywords containing their ISBN numbers. At one point they targeted 35,000 textbook titles, making up over 100,000 keywords.
They beefed up the copy, too. They used stronger actions than before. They also made it more product specific, using not only book ISBN numbers like their competitors, they included the book titles, at the same time keeping to Google’s strict limits on the number of characters per ad.
They also worked on the ad copy and used stronger action words in the ad copy, switching “Find Now” to “Buy Now.”
The Result
The new system worked like gangbusters. Some key metrics:
• Search engine marketing revenue increased 28 per cent
• Costs dropped 30 per cent
• ROI improved 83 per cent
In contrast, during the same period the year before, they had seen a 4 per cent decrease in revenue.
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E4M Our strategy is to target younger audiences through Sports: Rajiv Dubey, Dabur
The Head of Media at Dabur India spoke exclusively to exchange4media on the World Cup, associating with Indian Idol, the company’s digital spending and much more
With quirky campaigns, memes and moment marketing, timed with the ongoing World Cup and particularly the India-Pakistan matches, Dabur India has got considerable consumer attention for its popular brands – Red Paste, Cool King Hair Oil, Chyawanprash, Dabur Vita and the recently launched Bae Fresh Gel toothpaste.
The 140-year-old company is going big on key sporting events, World Television Premiere (WTP) movies and reality shows. It is now gearing up to become the title sponsor of popular talent show ‘Indian Idol’ on Sony TV for the first time, shared Rajiv Dubey, who leads the media strategy at Dabur.
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ShareSwapan Seth's new book 'COOL' is out
The book is a reflection of the author's 'eclectic taste across categories'
Advertising professional and art collector Swapan Seth has announced the launch of his new book COOL. The book is described as "a ready reckoner to the hip and the happening, of the known and the very unknown."
The book is a reflection of the author's "eclectic taste across categories: from boltholes to exotic hideaways."
COOL has been published by Simon & Schuster India and is available on Amazon.
Seth is an ad veteran with a long and illustrious career in the industry. He became the youngest-ever Creative Director at Clarion at age 24. He was VP at 26 at Trikaya Grey. Two years later, he started his agency Equus.
He writes for publications such as The Economic Times, Hindustan Times and India Today. This is his second book and he has previously published THIS IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY.
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Disney Star signs 9 sponsors for Asia Cup PAK
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up come on board
e4m Staff Disney Star has signed nine broadcast and digital streaming sponsors for the upcoming Asia Cup.
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up have come on board for the upcoming tournament.
As reported earlier by exchange4media, Disney Star has sought Rs 26 crore for the co-presenting sponsorship on TV and Rs 30 crore for Disney+ Hotstar.
According to industry sources, the associate sponsorship on Star Sports has been priced at Rs 19.66 crore, whereas for the ‘powered by’ sponsorship on Disney+ Hotstar, the broadcaster is seeking Rs 18 crore.
As per the information available with exchange4media, Disney+ Hotstar has three sponsorship tiers-- co-presenting (Rs 30 crore), powered by (Rs 18 crore) and associate sponsorship (Rs 12 crore). The broadcaster is offering an estimated reach of 120-140 million for co-presenting sponsors, 90-100 million for powered by and 60-70 million for associate sponsorship.
A spot buy for 10 seconds has been priced at Rs 25 lakh for the India vs Pakistan matches, while for the non-India matches, the ad rate for 10 second is Rs 2.3 lakh. The India matches plus the final for ODIs has been priced at Rs 17 lakh per 10 seconds.
Asia Cup is scheduled to be held from 30 August, 2023, to September 17, 2023.
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Sorted 360 wins creative & social media mandate of Reliance Mall
The agency will manage offline and online campaigns for Reliance Mall
Sorted 360, an integrated creative and social media agency, has won the mandate to providing brand solutions for Reliance Malls across India.
“Sorted 360 is set to enhance Reliance Malls' market presence with their unparalleled creative prowess and strategic thinking,” read a press release.
“Sorted 360's commitment to pushing the boundaries of creative communication aligns perfectly with Reliance Malls' ethos. With a pan-India presence spanning across 19 cities and growing, Reliance Malls has consistently captivated customers by offering an array of Reliance brands and third-party fashion & lifestyle brands. The mall has established an unparalleled connection with its patrons through superior quality, a remarkable value proposition, and an unmatched shopping experience,” it read further.
"We are thrilled to welcome Sorted 360 as our trusted partner in advancing our brand presence across the nation," said the Head of Marketing at Relaice Malls. "Their proven expertise in retail, shopping center management, and innovative creative strategies make them the perfect fit for our vision."
"Partnering with Reliance Malls is a testament to our commitment to shaping extraordinary brand experiences," remarked Prerana Anatharam, Co-founder of Sorted 360. "We are excited to leverage our strategic and creative acumen to further elevate Reliance Malls as the epitome of convenience, choice, and excellence."
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KlugKlug onboards Hemang Mehta as Country Manager for Indias
Mehta was most recently Head of Agency Relationships at Network 18 Media & Investments
KlugKlug has appointed Hemang Mehta as its Country Manager for India.
Mehta will play a pivotal role in driving KlugKlug's growth and expansion within the Indian market and be responsible for Sales & GTM Strategy
Prior to that, he has also represented organisations like Exponential (now VDX.tv), India Today Digital and Rediff.com. His expertise spans various domains including digital media sales, mobile marketing, media planning, and buying, social media marketing, and more.
Hemang Mehta expressed his enthusiasm about joining KlugKlug, saying, "I am thrilled to be a part of KlugKlug, a forward-thinking platform that is reshaping the influencer marketing landscape. As much as I look forward to collaborating with the exuberant team at KlugKlug, I am super excited to interact with the brands to deliver powerful data-backed Influencer solutions that will guarantee business outcomes."
Commenting on the appointment, Kalyan Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of KlugKlug, stated, "We are excited to welcome Hemang Mehta to our team as the Country Manager for India. His extensive experience in digital media sales and marketing will be instrumental in driving our efforts to provide influencer marketing solutions to our clients. We believe Hemang's leadership will be key in scaling our operations and expanding our reach within the Indian market."
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