Advanced

Search Engine Marketing

Clay Cazier
Director of Web Services
LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell

September 2009
 Agenda

• About our Team

• Review of Basic SEM
• Advanced SEO Topics
• Advanced PPC Topics
• Q&A
 About our Team
• The LexisNexis Web Operations team has been building, supporting and marketing
websites for legal professionals for nearly a decade (since 2000).

• Our team offers a breadth of products and services including turn-key websites,
custom website design, development & post-launch support, PPC (pay-per-click),
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and video development services.

• With a team of more than 200 web professionals, the Web Operations team produces
more than 2,500 websites per year and manages more than 1,000 SEO / PPC
campaigns at any time on behalf of customers across the US.

• We have earned the Google Adwords Qualified Company

designation and are members of the Search Engine Marketing
Professional Organization as SEMPO Circle members.

• Sales and department leaders are individually qualified

with Google and/or SEMPO certification.
 Review of Basic
Search Engine Marketing
 Review of Basic SEM
• Websites
– Must Have
• Good design/structure
• Sufficient content development
• Page-level keyword targeting
• Clear conversion path
– Must Avoid
• “Stops” to indexing like 100% Flash, framesets & broken links
• Duplicate content, keyword stuffing & hidden text
• Unnecessary elements like splash pages & sounds on load
 Review of Basic SEM
• Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”)
– Defined: “…refinement of website content, the development of inbound
links to the website, and publicity about the website aimed at raising the
position of the website in the Search Engine Results Pages (‘SERPs’).*”
– Keywords: Target keywords being used by potential site visitors… don’t
assume you know. Google’s Keyword Tool is a great place to start:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.
– On-Page: focus on an architecturally sound site (clean code, no errors,
good load time) + targeted TITLE/META & content development.
– Off-Page: quality websites linking to yours paint you as an “authority”
online. Develop quality links through PR, participation in blogs & select
advertising placements.

* www.writerswebsiteplanner.com
 Review of Basic
SEM
• Pay Per Click (“PPC”)
– Defined: “…an Internet advertising model …in which advertisers pay
their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers
typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market.*”
– Principles:
• An impression is when an ad is shown on a search engine
• A click is when a prospect clicks an ad and arrives on a landing page
• Advertisers only pay for clicks
• Bid amounts are determined by competition
• Ad position is determined by bid + Quality Score (“QS”)
– Best Practices:
• Perform keyword research
• Do not bid on topics/keywords that do not appear on your website
• Segment ad groups and landing pages
• Use multiple ads
• Improvement of landing page can drive costs down
* www.wikipedia.org
 Review of Basic SEM

• Measurement
– Measurement is key to SEM to allow marketers to calculate return on
advertising spend (“ROAS”).
– There are two primary SEM measures: traffic and conversions.
– Traffic is tracked using web analytics software or tagging and is judged by
metrics like number of unique visitors, page views and time on site.
– Conversions can be purchases, downloads, phone calls or website contact
form submissions by a potential client.
– Connecting traffic & conversions to a PPC, SEO or other ad campaign allows
marketers to identify the most profitable channels.
– Best Practices:
• Install web analytics
• Use call tracking
• Include a website contact form
 Advanced
Search Engine Optimization
Topics
 Advanced SEO Topics
• Increasing Conversions
– Defined: “…ratio of visitors who convert casual content views or
website visits into desired actions…*”
– A desired action could be a sale, a download or a phone call
– An average conversion rate is about 2%, but varies widely by industry
– Good problem to have! You’ve got the visitors, now how do you
refine your site to get their attention?
– Best Practices:
• Ensure your website is attractive and error free
• Display a phone number above the fold
• Make the site contact form easy to find
• Include calls to action in your copy and headlines
• For law firms, clearly present the practice areas covered
• Use analytics to look for low page views per visitor or low time on site per
visitor. This can indicate mis-targeted traffic or poor content.
• Test, test, test!
* www.wikipedia.org
 Advanced SEO Topics
• Safe Link Building
– Google Quality Guidelines say “Don't participate in link schemes designed
to increase your site's ranking or PageRank.” This includes:
• Links to web spammers or bad neighborhoods on the web
• Excessive reciprocal links or excessive link exchanging
• Buying or selling links that pass PageRank
– Knowing that incoming links are an important part in getting SEO rankings,
how does a website build incoming links without running afoul of Google’s
guidelines?
– Google’s answer, “The best way to get other sites to create relevant links to
yours is to create unique, relevant content that can quickly gain popularity
in the Internet community. The more useful content you have, the greater
the chances someone else will find that content valuable to their readers
and link to it.”
 Advanced SEO Topics
• Safe Link Building (cont’d)
– Questions remain:
• Are all paid links bad?
• Should I shut down my reciprocal linking program?
• What is a “good” incoming link?
• Other than writing good content, what are best practices for getting new
incoming links?
– Answers:
• Some paid links are ok as long as they are placed for advertising value
and/or are on pages sharing the same theme as your website.
• Not necessarily, but the value of reciprocal links has been deprecated in the
search engines and run the risk of linking participants to bad neighborhoods.
• A good link is all about quality and relevance. A good link:
– comes from a blog, directory or other website that has advertising value (traffic)
and shares the same theme as your page(s).
– uses a keyword or keywords in the anchor text that links to your website. This is
much better than just www.yoururl.com as the link text.
– exists only one or a few times on the host site – sitewide links are deprecated
 Advanced SEO Topics
• Safe Link Building (cont’d)
– Best Practices:
• Take an inventory of all of the associations, organizations and clubs you
belong to. These organizations’ websites could be the source of a link to
your site. Just ask the webmaster.
• Review your current incoming links and contact those webmasters with a
friendly request for them to modify your link and improve the anchor text.
• Issue press releases through reputable services like PRWeb.
• Participate in blogs by leaving comments. Join forums and include your URL
in your profile and signature line.
• Take advantage of Social Media by establishing social profiles and
participating in web communities.
• If you are going to pay for a link (such as a directory submission), make sure
that directory is a clear authority online and can deliver advertising value.
• Trust your gut: don’t submit to or buy a link on a site that doesn’t appear to
be fully developed or that features dubious inclusions.
 Advanced SEO Topics
• Blogging
– Defined: “A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative
space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links.
Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.*”
– Terminology: Blogs are websites composed of daily/weekly/monthly
posts & more traditional pages like privacy, contact & sitemap. Posts
often have comments entered by visitors and site moderators. Most
blogs also publish RSS feeds summarizing the site’s contents.
– Business Reason: the easy-to-update and social nature of blogs allows
them to be used to forge stronger relationships with target groups.
Become an expert, test new markets, give & receive feedback from
interested prospects. For lawyers, this means blogs are a great way to
develop market attention and new client leads.
* www.blogger.com
 Advanced SEO Topics
• Blogging (cont’d)
– The “Location Consideration”
• Free independent (wordpress.com, blogger.com, etc.)
• Free community-based (gather.com, lawyers.com, etc.)
• Integrated
– Best Practices
• 1 post = 1 topic
• Keywords in a brief title and within the first paragraph
• Use boldface, bulleted lists, blockquotes and other HTML elements to help
structure posts
• Quote and/or include a few links to authoritative sites
• Include a link or two that point to pages within your core website
• Write posts that solicit feedback or that beg to be commented upon
• Announce your posts through sites like twitter.com, diggo.com, del.icio.us &
mybloglog.com.
– Why is Blogging Good? (for teenagers, for SEO, for our quest for knowledge…)
 Advanced SEO Topics
• Video
– YouTube continued to rank as the No. 1 video Web
brand with 5.5 billion total streams in April 2009*
– The average online video viewer watched over 200
minutes of video
in April 2009 alone*
– Not just kids: 35-49 year olds are the fastest
growing segment of video viewers. People 65+ are
second.*

• How can businesses capture a

piece of this growing
marketplace?

* Nielsen Online, YouTube Maintains Top Ranking …, May 2009

 Advanced SEO Topics
• Video Optimization
– Mention your top keywords early and often in the video (i.e. I am a
personal injury lawyer in Dallas, TX)
– Create an eye-catching opening image (the image which users see
before playing the video) that tells users they can play the video to learn
more.
– Keep the video engaging and no longer than 4-5 minutes (play rates
drop off significantly after 45 seconds).
– Deliver key messages early in the video, because users may not watch
the whole thing.
– Provide clear next steps for users to take after finishing the video, such
as making a purchase or visiting the website or store.
– Provide your URL and a telephone number within the video.
– Use top keywords in your video filename and title.
– Distribute!
 Advanced SEO Topics
• Video Distribution – On Site
Feature video prominently on
your site
Surround your video with
relevant content
Build 1 page per video
Keep all videos in one
directory
Use keywords in your video
filename
Make sure your page TITLE
and META tags reflect your
content & include “video”
 Advanced SEO Topics
• Video Distribution – Off Site
– Since video is featured within Google’s “Universal Search” results,
distribution to websites like YouTube is becoming more and more
important.

Use a title that includes top keywords

Include a description that is topical,

informative and includes your URL

“Tag” your video with relevant words

like lawyer, attorney, injury and
probate

Share your video, rate it and

encourage others comment
 Advanced SEO Topics
• Social Media
– Social media is part of the Web 2.0 movement focused on growing collaboration
and interaction online.
– Defined: websites or online applications featuring user-generated content.
Examples include:
• blogs (Blogger.com, Wordpress.com, etc.)
• social networks (LinkedIn.com, MH Connected, Facebook, etc.)
• wikis (Wikipedia.org, WetPaint.com, etc.)
• photo sharing (Flickr.com, Photobucket.com, etc.)
• social bookmarking (StumbleUpon, del.icio.us, Diigo.com, etc.)
• social news (Digg.com, Mixx.com, Reddit.com, etc.)
– Why should I care about social media marketing?
• low barrier to entry (generally free & easy)
• superior customer engagement with direct communication
• primary & secondary traffic generates leads and supporters
• links benefit SEO
 Advanced
Pay Per Click
Topics
 Advanced PPC Topics
• Distribution
– Google and Yahoo still represent 87% of traffic. Bing < 10%.*
– The “big three” offer SERPs, local search and content networks.
• When viewing ads on the SERPs, prospects are “in search mode” and more
likely to convert. Focus here first.
• Take advantage of local search distribution options. They’re “safe”.
• Use caution when distributing ads on the content networks; prospects are in a
more passive mode and less likely to convert to be a client or sale.

• There are choices beyond the “big three”

engines: 2Ask.com
Tier Engines
nd
Vertical Search
Zillow.com
AOL Lawyers.com
Business.com Kayak.com
MIVA & Marchex Shopping.com & Froogle
* Hitwise, Top Search Engine Volume, 09/05/09
Advanced PPC Topics

• Campaign Targeting
– Geographic
• Target campaigns by location: city, state, country, zip code, DMA,
custom polygon…
• Consider geo-targeting via keyword selection (eg “new york injury
lawyer” in a national campaign + “injury lawyer” in a geo-targeted campaign
for the 5 boroughs)

– Dayparting
• Target campaigns by time of day and day of the week.

– Language & Demographic Targeting

 Advanced PPC Topics
• Quality Score
– PPC ad position in Google now depends on $ and the
Quality Score (“QS”) of your ads.
– Quality Score is a factor based upon*:
• The historical clickthrough rate (CTR) of the keyword and the matched ad on Google
• Your account history, which is measured by the CTR of all the ads and keywords in your account
• The historical CTR of the display URLs in the ad group
• The quality of your landing page
• The relevance of the keyword to the ads in its ad group
• The relevance of the keyword and the matched ad to the search query
• Other relevance factors

– So Quality Score is a factor that can be influenced by

refining ad targeting and landing page optimization.

* www.google.com AdWords Help

Advanced PPC Topics
• Quality Score – Refining Ads
– It’s all about the relevancy of your ad copy to the keywords in the
ad group.
– Inaccurate ad copy results in low CTR and relevance test failure.
– Segment Ad Groups: Improve QS by segmenting your keywords into
semantic ad groups. This will allow for better targeting.
– Create More Targeted Ad Copy: once your keywords are segmented,
you can create ads that directly address only those topics in the ad
group’s keyword list. (You won’t be asking generic workers comp ad
copy to succeed for scaffolding accident keywords.)
– Display URL: consider using a display URL that includes the ad group’s
primary keyword.
Advanced PPC Topics
• Quality Score – Landing Pages
– Relevance of your PPC Landing Page (“Destination URL”) increases your
Quality Score.
– Prerequisite: landing page loads quickly and is free of errors, pop-ups &
redirects.
– Implement Keywords: make sure many/most of the keywords in the ad group
appear on the landing page. This includes META tags.
– Create Trust: make sure your landing page allows users to find your Privacy
Policy, Terms and Conditions and/or About Us page.
– Segmented ad groups, targeted ad copy and landing page(s) will result in a
higher Quality Score. This leads to lower bid costs, higher ad position &
increased conversions by more targeted prospects.
 Advanced PPC Topics
• PPC as a Test Bed
– PPC is great because it’s quick to market, has relatively low barriers to
entry and can be measured, refined and re-measured.
– PPC is much like the scientific method: observe, hypothesize, test,
measure and repeat.
– Use PPC campaigns to test new markets.
– Use PPC to test multiple landing pages and improve ROI.
– Use PPC to target specific regions or different demographics with a
carefully crafted message speaking directly to them and them alone.
– Overall, PPC is not about traffic volume, it’s about improving click
through rate and, ultimately, conversions. (I’d take 10 conversions from
100 visits any day over 15 conversions from 1000. )
 Thank you!

For more information on LexisNexis

Products and Services, visit our Legal
Marketing Center at
www.lexisnexis.com/lmc
Clay Cazier’s Law Firm Marketing Blog: http://www.casedetails.com
Questions & Answers