In today’s age of social media, search engine optimisation & search engine marketing, there is a misconception that anyone can do it.

If you know how to edit some meta tags, insert alt tags in images and stuff your content full of relevant keywords you can carry out SEO on your website.

If you create a group for your company on Facebook and get 50 members, you are a Social Media expert.

If you can setup your own PPC account in Google AdWords and broadcast your ads to the nation, then you earn the title of Search Engine Marketing Manager.

The truth is that this is all a misconception. Because there is so much information floating around about SEM, SEO, PPC and the like, both bad and good it is difficult for anyone to know if they are really doing a good job or not. I can say for a fact that a lot of people are doing a bad job, and Google is not helping in this area because all they are thinking about is their revenue stream.

99% of Google’s revenue comes from Google AdWords. Without this revenue stream Google wouldn’t exist as it does today.

As a specialist in this field it upsets and frustrates me that Google project the misconception to it’s AdWords advertisers that anyone can open and successfully run their own account. Of course, it is possible to open and start a new account quite easily, just as it is possible to do SEO on your website with a few META tag adjustments and keyword placements… not.

With basic help on how to run your own AdWords campaign, Google makes it look easy for the average person to run a successful campaign.

When you think about it, Google is the next Microsoft. Microsoft make it easy for anyone to open a new spreadsheet, word document or powerpoint presentation. While this is great, it doesn’t mean that you are an expert in any of these programs, it just means that you can spend a lot of money on a program in which you are going to use maybe 5% of it’s total features.

This applies equally to Google AdWords. AdWords is a fantastic platform and offers advanced analytics and adjustments to the ads run on this platform. The average user will use 5% of AdWords capabilities. A specialist in the field will use 90%+, giving their client maximum Return On Investment (ROI) and maximum benefit through Google AdWords.

Just because you can open and appear to run your own account in Google AdWords, doesn’t mean that you are not flushing your money down the toilet in overpriced keyword bids and under-optimised account setup. The basic user will lose out big time with their 5% knowledge and 95% ad spend. Don’t be fooled into thinking your are an expert just because you know the basics.

Remember that AdWords amateurs spend 95% of their money as they only use 5% of the programs features. Professionals use 95% of AdWords features, while spending only 5% of their money.

Yahoo have lost 15%, MSN have lost 21% and Ask has also lost 21% over last year.

Searchers are also now using longer search queries when searching for what they want on the web. What does this mean? This means that the average searcher now knows (better) how to use a search engine to find the results that he/she is searching for.

Longer search queries are becoming more popular as year over year increases (and decreases) show just that.

• 1 word search queries have dropped by 3%
• 2 word search queries have dropped by 5%
• 3 word search queries have remained stable
• 4 word search queries have increased by 2%
• 5 word search queries have increased by 6%
• 6 word search queries have increased by 8%
• 7 word search queries have increased by 12%
• 8 word search queries have increased by 22%

This means that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) management have become a lot more difficult as search queries become longer and therefore more varied.

Paid advertising using keyword targeting will become more difficult as accounts become larger due to increased keyword numbers. As keyword phrases become more targeted, so too must paid advertising campaigns such as Google AdWords, in order to maximise quality score, reduce Cost Per Click (CPC), and thereby increase Return On Investment (ROI).

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday – Email Marketing and SEO from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

• Most executive management teams don’t yet fully understand the economics and far-reaching business implications of SEO.
• Search engine marketing’s transformation of legacy enterprise profitability is in its infancy.
• Most people outside of the search engine community do not fully appreciate the magnitude of the shift from push to pull marketing.
• Management teams must understand SEO to effectively manage it.
• Measuring SEO is still an imprecise art form, which Google appears determined to prevent from becoming a science.
• Search engine marketing might be the largest change management project in history.
• Executive recruiting needs to look beyond the job title to hire effective search engine marketing leaders.
• Search marketing-centric organizations will outperform.

“Many SMBs, however, simply have a “Do-It-Yourself’ mindset. It’s that mindset that encouraged many owners to go into business for themselves, and there are plenty of examples of business owners who simply have a knack for marketing themselves online.”

This statement is very true, and therefore I recommend this article as I too am a SMB. David take us through the following steps:

1. Take a few hours to learn the basics of search marketing
2. Learn what your customers are searching for
3. Create a web presence
4. Submit your business to the local search engines
5. Track and analyze your results
6. Get social
7. Stay informed about best practices in small business and local SEO

One thing all of this comes down to however is whether you have both the time and the interest in doing all of this for yourself. If not, then it may be more beneficial to hire someone to do the work for you. That decision is of course up to you.

In the first part, Joshua distinguishes the differences between ‘Best Practices’ and ‘SEO Marketing’. With an easy to understand example relating to a Bricks and Mortar store, Joshua helps the client to understand the difference between telling your customers what you sell, to promoting your products/services. Another easy to understand example shows the difference between getting a website constructed and having it optimized for search engines.

In the second article, Joshua discusses the important aspects of SEO Marketing as well as when SEO should stop.

Therefore the main focus of Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click marketing is on keyword phrases. Keyword phrases consist of numerous keywords stringed together. Usually when we type our search query into, say, Google, we will start off with something basic like ‘books’. If that keyword is too broad we may refine it by adding another keyword, ‘books hong kong’. Further we could add to that ‘dean koontz books hong kong’. In fact, the number of keywords strung together could be infinite, but usually we will look at a maximum of about 5 keywords in a keyword phrase as users are less likely to use more than that.

When it comes to optimizing ones website, or managing a Pay Per Click account such as Google AdWords, these keyword phrases come into play.

With Search Engine Optimization it is highly important to have these keyword phrases visible throughout your site. This may mean:

• Keywords in your domain name eg. www.hiking-hong-kong.com
• Keywords in your Title and Meta tags (coding tags used to describe the content within your website)
• Keywords in your website content
• Keywords in your image description tags
• Keywords in the links that point to your page from other websites eg. Hong Kong Hiking Trails

The more relevant your website looks to a search engine in terms of the keyword phrase a user searches for, the more likely that your website will be listed higher in the search engine results.

However it is not as simple as just adding keywords wherever you can at a whim. Careful placement has to take place to ensure that there are not too many keywords used on a website. In the past, spammers or Black Hat SEOs used to take advantage of search engines by inserting hundreds of keywords into a page to trick the search engines into ranking their websites above the rest. These days, as a result, search engines are much more diligent.

Consequently, Keyword Density plays a big role alongside the use of keyword phrases to make sure that there are not too many incidences of a keyword in any particular area, which, if too many exist, may result in a penalty consisting of a drop in rankings on a search engine rather than that which was sought, a rise in rankings. Search Engines are very strict now, as they want to provide the best user experience by providing the best search results. 

Similarly, Keyword Phrases play the most important role in Pay Per Click marketing. Search Engines use Pay Per Click engines such as Google’s AdWords to list sponsored links on their search results as well as on content sites. These sponsored links (ads) are triggered to appear when a user types in a keywords phrase in a search engine that matches the keyword phrase bid upon by the advertiser. This also works with content placement ads (ads that appear within the content of other websites) in that a site about ‘dean koontz books’ will trigger your ad selling ‘dean koontz books’ if the content on that site mentions Dean Koontz and if you have also bid upon that keyword phrase.

With Google AdWords, for example, different factors play a role in optimization such as:

• Campaigns focused on certain demographics (in relation to where your product/service is and which languages you provide it in)
• Ad Groups focused on different keyword groups eg. Dean Koontz, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle
• Keyword phrases related to these specific Ad Groups
• Exact Match, Phrase Match, Broad Match or Negative Match keyword phrases (different ways to bid on a keyword phrase depending on the variations of what a user may actually type into a search engine)
• Ad Text and the use of keyword phrases used therein
• Keyword Phrases used on your website (where your ad points to) in relation to the keyword phrases you are bidding on

In both cases, Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click marketing, Keywords or Keyword Phrases to be more precise, play one of the most important roles. Therefore it is paramount that you get this right when either establishing a Search Engine Optimization campaign or in targeting the correct clients in a Pay Per Click engine. Because if the keywords you target are incorrect, then your entire campaign will be worthless and your Return On Investment (ROI) will be nothing as you will be targeting the wrong group of people.

Pay Per Click management involves placing paid adverts on the side of search results.

In Google, these paid adverts are located on the top and to the right hand side of natural search results. Google use the application, Google AdWords, to manage these paid search listings.

In Yahoo this is also the case and the application, Yahoo Search Marketing is used.

Paid search results have several benefits over Search Engine Optimization. 

• Paid search results are instant whereas it may take months to be listed in natural search results.
• Paid search results are ideal for websites whose products change regularly such as shopping cart sites where new products are released often and old ones taken off the site regularly. Since SEO takes months to list a product, it may very well be taken off by the time it is listed and then it may take several more months until the search engine recognises that that product is no longer visible before removing it from the natural search results (free listings).
• Paid search results can specifically target different contries, areas, districts, suburbs.
• You are able to change your message whenever you want. With SEO this is often not the case as a search engine may take either the page description or a snippet of text from the website to describe the page in question.
• You can use day parting to display your message during certain times of the day to maximise Return On Investment (ROI).

Search Engine Optimization, on the other hand, is the practice of modifying your website’s coding as well as off-site modifications (such as people linking to your website), in order to show the search engines how important your website is in regards to the search keyword phrase that a user has typed into a search engine.

Search engine listings for this aspect of Search Engine Marketing are located in the main body content of search engine results – usually the most looked at results on the pages and therefore the most relevant to be listed in.

There are many aspects (over 100) to Search Engine Optimization that must be considered when a project is undertaken to increase your website ranking in order to list your website closer to the top of search engine listing results. Some of these factors include:

• Website coding used – there are many coding methods used to build a website. Some are HTML, PHP, ASP, JSP, FLASH, etc.
• Website content – the more relevant your content is to the search term, the higher your website will be listed.
• Frequency of content changes – a website that is kept up to date will rank higher than one that is out of date.
• Number of pages on the website – the more pages you have, the more visibility you will have in search engines as more opportunities exist for your site to show up (this also relates to content)
• The speed at which your website loads – your hosting speed may have a huge affect on your visibility. Search Engines don’t have time to wait around for a website to load as they have billions of pages to index. If your website takes too long to load, the search engine may just move on to the next website and leave yours un-indexed.

As well as Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization also has it’s benefits:

• Natural search results are the most valued results. They are scanned by the human eye more often, they are hard to get and therefore valued highly, and they are generally trusted by most people to be worthy of visiting – especially when listed on the first page of search results.
• SEO can rank your website high in the natural search results and keep it there. Paid Search results are only there as long as you are paying search engines to list your adverts.
• SEO offers the highest Return On Investment.
• Brand visibility. The more listings you have on a search results page, the more visible your brand will be. Studies show that out of 1000 impressions, natural search results get 20 clicks and paid search results get 10 clicks. If you are listed in both natural and paid search results you will get 60 clicks.

Which you decide to use depends on the services that you have to offer and which service will benefit you the most.