Search Engine Marketing
James Hawkins, Group Head for Search, Director for SEA and HK, Deal Group Media, Plc

James introduces Deploy Digital, and their Search Team which is the first to deliver a pan-European SEO solution, and apparently the winner of IAB Search Marketing award this year.

He defines Search Marketing as type of online marketing that encompasses both organic SEO and PPC. Search Engine is advertising. You are buying space in a search engine page. He differentiates Paid Search and Natural Search:

Paid search (PPC) — useful for instant exposure, TACTICAL
+ Immediate visibility — your website can be present within minutes!
+ Ability to tailor and deliver precise messages to your target audience
+ Guaranteed first page exposure
+ Ability to target consumers at tactical times of the day
+ You only pay when a targeted user clicks on the ad and arrives at your site

Natural search (SEO) — a more long term solution, STRATEGIC
+ Continued exposure regardless of budget.
+ Endorsement from Search Engines
+ Development takes 1-3 months but process is ongoing
+ Improving the user journey and engagement with your website

PPC and SEO goes hand in hand. Aside from PPC being an instant solution and SEO a long-term exposure, running a PPC campaign allows you to gain insights and learnings for SEO (keyword research).

PPC and SEO should be integrated. It leverages the knowledge gained frmo one campaign to enhances the success of the other.

Enquiro Study: Benefits of Integrating SEO and PPC

• 16% point increase in brand association when brand is in top ad and top organic listings.
• 2.2x lift in aided brand recall when brand is in top ad and top organic listings.
• When brand is in top ad and top organic listings, purchase consideration increases 8%.
• Consumers are less likely to consider purchasing a brand that doesn’t appear on the search results page.

He mentions that right as he speaks, Googl-ing the term “Flight to Manila” does not show Philippine Air Lines and Cebu Pacific in the results. This only goes to show how our local airlines do not really care about this particular online market, and is missing a great deal of opportunity.

What happens when you don’t appear in search? Not having a search presence to support your offline activities will simply deliver your customers to your competitors. It’s effectively like not answering your phones, or having a closed sign at your door like you don’t want business.

Interestingly, 67% of online search is triggered by offline media. 37% by TV ad, 30% by newspaper ads, and 17% by radio ads. James here is strengthening Eric Hsu’s statement on merging online and offline medium for the overall marketing success of a product or brand. It does make sense how people would go search online for stuff they see in a TV commercial, which, by nature, would just flash by for 30 seconds — not enough time to capture specific information. Websites, meanwhile, are always there. Search results are always there. One has to make sure your brand is searchable because it’s an automatic reaction for people to search the stuff they see in TV online.

PPC and SEO are two distinct disciplines. Search is no longer all about acquisition, it is also a branding tool.

While James didn’t talk much about the actual optimization process — on-page and off-page — he did answer a question (in the Q&A portion) regarding link building, and how the quality of backlinks is more important than quantity.