**by Lori Weiman**
Achieving and sustaining top ranking visibility for your brand on
important organic terms is increasingly getting tougher. This is
because natural text listings no longer rule on the search result
page. There are many other elements that appear sometimes ahead of or
intertwined with the natural results, including local listings with a
map, shopping listings, latest news, top blogs, images, videos and
even book reviews can appear. Google calls these mixed result types
Universal search; others call it blended search. These other elements
can push what were once top performing organic listings into second or
third page positions.
Consider these keyword examples:
"Desktop computers". The natural listings are intertwined with
three shopping listings. If you want your brand to show in the number
one spot, you have to compete with the shopping listings that will
appear above you.
"Pizza delivery". Three natural listings on top, followed by
seven map listings. If you are a pizza shop showing 4th in natural
results, you are below the fold.
"Refrigerator deals". You'll see a forum with a description and
four forum listings intertwined in the SERPs before you even get to
the organic listings.
"Ghost". If you're looking for a product named with a word with
multiple meanings, such as "ghost," you may find several videos
and image listings beating you out.
Just as SEO has finally become a commonplace tactic in the online
search marketing mix, we now find that the evolution of the layout of
the SERP requires a new approach. As brand marketers, we need to
re-think our strategy for how to achieve top visibility for our brand
on our major terms on the free SERPs.
I think of this as a new opportunity to be found in a growing class
of page elements. Here are four new things that you need to do to
accomplish top visibility for your brand using the page elements to
your advantage:
Determine your true rank. To determine your true page rank, look at
the page layout of the actual page for each of your important
keywords—the terms where you need your brand to be identified at the
top. Natural ranking reporting tools will not provide you with this
information. You will need to study the actual SERP by either running
searches by hand or by deploying an organic monitoring tool that
offers true page ranking. Identify the order in which your page(s)
appear in the overall page ranks. Your page order will be impacted by
the other elements that exist on the page. For example, if you are #1
in the natural listings, but there is a map ahead of you with seven
listings on it, than you are in position #8 on the page—not #1.
Design a strategy based on the elements that are topping you. Once
you identify the page elements that are essentially topping you on a
result page, you are ready to develop new strategies. For example:
If there is a map above you, then you will need to combine a local
strategy along with your natural SEO to regain your top position on
the page.
If there are shopping listings ahead of you or surrounding your
listings, you may find that you are not in the mix. To gain strength
here you will need to determine how the shopping listings achieve top
rank on specific phrases, and tailor a comparison shopping engine
strategy. Sometimes this can be as simple as a willingness to pay
more, or may be more complicated and relevancy or popularity driven.
If there are video or image listings beating you out, you need to
add an image/ video SEO strategy to your game plan. This should
include uploading your own brand-oriented videos to YouTube.
If there are blogs on the page and you are not a major mention, you
need to gear up your social media strategy.
Constantly monitor the effectiveness of your strategy. Non-text
universal search results sometimes can impact rank faster than
traditional SEO. For example, in the case of time-sensitive elements
like news or blogs, up-to-date fresh information may beat you out. For
this reason, you need to monitor true rankings more often than you do
for "regular" SEO. I suggest that you monitor your rankings daily,
but if this is too overwhelming, try once a week.
Don't forget geotargeting. You should engage in this exercise for
each of the major markets where you generate leads or sales because
the page layout can change depending on the searcher's market.
With the holiday season upon us, now is the time to engage in this
new strategy for your most important keywords—the terms where your
brand had better appear on page one of search results.
Opinions expressed in the article are those of the author, and not
necessarily Search Engine Land.
Lori Weiman <http://searchengineland.com/author/lori-weiman/>
is head of product management and marketing for The Search
Monitor <http://thesearchmonitor.com>
. The Search Monitor monitors search results and social media web
sites to provide insight to SEM, SEO, and Affiliate agencies regarding
competitors, keywords, ad copy, market share, trademark abuse, brand
buzz, and affiliate compliance.
<font size="-1">
Upcoming Search Marketing Expo events you won't want to miss:<ul><li><a
href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/west/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=text&utm_content=footertext&utm_campaign=SMX%2BWest%2B2010">SMX
West - Santa Clara, CA</a> - March 2-4, 2010</li><li><a
href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/advanced/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=text&utm_content=footertext&utm_campaign=SMX%2BAdvanced%2B2010">SMX
Advanced - Seattle, WA</a> - June 8-9, 2010</li></ul>Attend a <a
href="http://searchmarketingnow.com/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=textlink&utm_campaign=SMN%2Bgeneral">Search
Marketing Now</a> Webcast - it's free! Upcoming webcasts:<ul><li><a
href="http://searchmarketingnow.com/webcasts/wc091020">PPC Bid Management
Rules That Actually Work</a> - October 20, 2009</li><li><a
href="http://searchmarketingnow.com/webcasts/wc091022">Maximizing
Conversions: The Power of Call Tracking and Analytics</a> - October 22,
2009</li><li><a
href="http://searchmarketingnow.com/webcasts/wc091028">Managing Search
Marketing Success at the C-level: What Your CMO Should Know</a> - October
28, 2009</li><li><a
href="http://searchmarketingnow.com/webcasts/wc091103">Ask iProspect: PPC
Strategy & Tactics from the Experts</a> - November 3,
2009</li></ul>Interested in advertising or sponsoring Search Marketing Expo
or Search Marketing Now webcasts? <a
href="http://thirddoormedia.com/contact/sales.shtml?utm_source=searchcap&utm_medium=email&utm_content=textlink&utm_campaign=General%2BSales">Contact
us</a>.
<div><a href="http://www.superbhosting.net/"><img
src="http://www.searchmarketingnow.com/_images/superb.gif"
border="0"></a></div>
You are receiving this email because you subscribed to a Search Engine
Land, Search Marketing Now or Search Marketing Expo newsletter. To update
your subscriptions or unsubscribe, use your newsletter preferences page at
http://third.thirddoormedia.com/lists/?p=preferences&id=2&uid=f9779113b77d03598707df46ae032f9b.
Or send your written request to: 279 Newtown Tpke., Redding, CT
06896</font>
--
Powered by PHPlist, www.phplist.com --
0 comments:
Post a Comment