Blog #3: Websites: The importance of Search Engine Optimization and Display Advertisement

This week we focused our attention in some of the "behind-the-scene" work that businesses and companies have to go through to appear among the first results without spending any money on display or text ads. I am talking about  "search engine optimization (SEO), also called organic or natural optimization. It involves optimizing Web sites to achieve high rankings on the search engines for certain selected key phrases" (Stokes, 2013). Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide says that [s]earch engine optimization is often about making small modificationsto parts of a website. When viewed individually, the changes might seem like incremental improvements, but when combined with other optimizations, they could have a noticeable and more powerful impact on the site's user experience and performance in organic search results (Google, 2010). The textbook describe the SEO practice as technical and brakes it down in five main parts:

1. A search engine-friendly Web site structure.
2. A well-researched list of key phrases.
3. Content optimized to target those key phrases.
4. Link popularity.
5. Emerging Trends.

On the Internet I found a figure that explains the SEO process similar to the way it is explained in the book.

Figure 1: The SEO Process. Source: point b communications.

Both descriptions of the SEO process emphasize how important it is to do research. Key phrases, which are made up of keywords, but you can get away with referring to a key phrase as keywords (Stokes, 2013)," are the very foundation of search. When looking to optimize a website, we have to do "exhaustive keyword research to define the search phrases that provide the largest opportunities for your offering (point b communications, 2012). As you probably realized, I am very interested in how small businesses can take advantage of tools available online. As we know, optimizing a website is the result of finding the right keywords that will lead to high rankings. But, given that not everybody is familiar with this tools, what resources do you think will be more effective to learn about SEO? Google Guides? Forums? Any other creative resource that will not  require high investments?

 A second concept that I learned more about this week was display advertisement.  Just as the SEO process, the goal of the display ads is to attract visitors, increase traffic and revenues. The main difference is that you have to pay for the ads. Display advertising is well-known and a key component on the media mix. "Online advertisements are also much more interactive than offline advertising" (Stokes, 2013). Ads are always helpful because: they build brand awareness, create consumer demand, informe consumers of the advertiser’s ability to satisfy that demand and drive response and sales (Stokes, 2013). I have seen ads when I am searching for things, or when I am watching videos in YouTube, but I didn't know that each of them were called differently, for me they were all "ads." Now I know that the most common are:

• Banners: is a graphic image or animation displayed on a Web site for advertising purposes.
•  Video: encompasses online display advertisements such as MPUs that have video within them. They are more engaging and. can drive strong interaction metrics.
• Rich text: are banner ads that have more interactive like playing videos. Involves more participation from the user.
• Sponsorship online: are similar to sponsorship in real-life. A brand will pay a premium to be able to "own" a web property for a set period of time, usually paid in cost per day (CPD) (Google, 2013).

Given that the book and videos I saw this week said that banner was usually the most common, I wanted to see a comparison between the 4 main formats of ads. I found this graph (figure 2) that shows that banners is by far the one that people choose the most when looking to advertise online. Figure 3 shows how a company can use one or more types of ads to get to their customers. My question is: should everyone use display ads? Why or why not?

Figure 2: Display Advertising in Billion of Dollars. Source: eMarketer.

Figure 3: Display Advertising example. Source: SEO Advisors

As far as skillset, I have a better understanding on Google Analytics (GA) and how it is connected to SEO and ads. I think that every company and business should turn on GA and gather information. Even if they are not going to use it right away, although it would be a mistake. Why? Because with that tool turned on, they can collect a huge and valuable amount of data that can help them make decisions in terms of investment in SEO and ads to increase traffic, awareness, revenues, conversions, etc. Learning how Google Analytics work and the benefits of it allowed me to see a new opportunity to apply what I learn in class, and now my best friend's website is tracking information that she is going to use to optimize her website, and try to appear among the first one when people search for the products and services she offers.
The most challenging part this week has been to fully understand some concepts because I could not hear the person talking in the videos. The recording was not very good, and the speaker had a different accent, to which I am not used to. This let me with some gaps that I tried to eliminate by reading more about the topics I did not understand. I also asked to my classmates to get their opinions. I do think I feel more comfortable with the material, and hope to keep learning practical tools.

References

Google (2013). Display 101 - Introduction to display. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/partners/#p_content;idtf=rQQAAAAAAACthM;

Google (2010). Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide. Retrieved from https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en/us/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

Point b communications (2012). Chicago Professional SEO Service | Point B Communications. Retrieved from http://www.pointbcommunications.com/search-engine-optimization/

Sasseen , J., Olmstead, K., & Mitchell, A. (2013). Digital: By The Numbers | State of the Media. Retrieved from http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/digital-as-mobile-grows-rapidly-the-pressures-on-news-intensify/digital-by-the-numbers/

SEO-Advisors.com (n.d.). Display Advertising Some Key Takes. Retrieved from http://seo-advisors.com/display-advertising-some-key-takes/ 
Stokes, R. (2013). eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing 1.0 | Flat World Knowledge. Retrieved from http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/19?cid=1515571