A Competitive And experientiAl Assignment in seArCh engine

optimiz Ation strAtegy

theresa B. Clarke and irvine Clarke iii
Despite an increase in ad spending and demand for employees with expertise in search engine
optimiza- tion (SEO), methods for teaching this important marketing strategy have received little
coverage in the literature. Using Blooms cognitive goals hierarchy as a framework, this experiential
assignment provides a process for educators who may be new to SEO while helping students engage
competitively in SEO marketing strategies. Assessment results indicate that the majority of students
successfully learned how to conduct SEO.

Search engine marketing (SEM) is an aspect of online

mar- keting strategy that involves increasing and
maintaining a Web sites rank on search engine results
pages (SERPs) in order to be easily found by searchers.
This is an important domain of marketing to understand
because the higher a sites ranking on a SERP, the more
clicks are expected for the Web site (Mikulin 2013).
Compared with other forms of Internet marketing (e.g.,
display ads, mobile marketing, e-mail), search engine
marketing is a clear leader and rep- resents nearly half the
total online ad spend in the United States, with $12
billion in 2010 and projections of $24.45 billion in 2016
(eMarketer 2012). SEO (search engine opti- mization) is a
driver of new marketing approaches (Harrigan and
Hulbert 2011), an element within marketing education
typology (Finch, Nadeau, and Norman 2013), and a
promi- nent career area in digital marketing (Wymbs
2011). In a study of marketing jobs, Schlee and Harich
(2010) reported that about one-third of the job ads
sought candidates with specialization in Internet
marketing tools, including search engine optimization.
Furthermore, the 2013 Marketing Jobs Outlook reports
that demand continues to rise for employ- ees with SEM
expertise (Rossheim 2013).
Marketers typically use t wo distinct SEM strategies
to help their Web sites rank high in the SERPs. The first
strat- egy is pay-per-click (PPC), also called cost-per-click
or paid search, where marketers bid on keyphrases,
develop ads to

theresa B. Clarke (Ph.D., University of Kentucky), Professor of

Marketing, College of Business, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, clarketb@jmu.edu.
irvine Clarke iii (Ph.D., Old Dominion University), Professor
of Marketing, College of Business, James Madison University,
Har- risonburg, VA, clarkeix@jmu.edu.

appear based on search queries, and pay the search

engine whenever a user clicks an ad. Google AdWords and
Bing Ads are the key platforms used by marketers to
engage in PPC. The other SEM strategy is search engine
optimization, which involves three optimization factors
as part of a compre- hensive online marketing strategy:
on-page, off-page, and sitewide. On-page optimization
deals with aspects on the Web page itself such as the page
title and file name. Off-page optimization involves
generation of relevant social signals and high-authority
backlinks to the
targeted Web page. Sitewide
optimization includes techniques to influence rankings
of the entire site, not just one specific page.
Both PPC and SEO strategies involve boosting
rankings on a SERP, but there are differences in where
those results might appear. As seen in Figure 1, paid
results from PPC strategy tend to be displayed along the
top and right-hand side of a SERP, whereas the organic
results from SEO strategy appear in the main body of the
page. Based on a sample of
1.4 billion searches, GroupM UK and Nielsen found that
consumers click on organic results by a margin of 94
percent to 6 percent for paid results (Goodwin 2012). As a
growing and important area of online marketing
strategy, students should be
equipped with
an
understanding of current technologies such as SEO. In
terms of the marketing cur- riculum, the use of PPC,
especially as used in Google Online Marketing Challenge,
is well documented in the literature (Neale et al. 2009).
The Google Challenge is one of the most effective,
global academic endeavors to teach students about the
PPC side of SEM, but a problem is that pedagogi- cal
research is lacking regarding the SEO side. Because new
technologies can pose challenges to facult y (Tuten and
Marks 2012), this paper aims to provide clear guidance
for
educators who want to develop a mastery of SEO and

pass
Marketing Education Review, vol. 24, no. 1 (spring 2014), pp. 2530.
2014 Society for Marketing Advances. All rights reserved. Permissions: www.copyright.com
ISSN 10528008 (print) / ISSN 21539987
(online) DOI: 10.2753/MER1052-8008240104

Spring 3

Figure 1
serp locations for ppC and seo
Notes: SERP = search engine results page; PPC = pay-per-click; SEO = search engine optimization.

that knowledge along to their students. Through this

SEO assignment, students can acquire a deeper
understanding of factors that contribute to high organic
rankings.

the seo Assignment

Most marketing students have a general sense about the
importance of high organic rankings in search engines,
but they lack an understanding about how such rankings
are actually attained. To help students develop an appreciation for the complexities associated with
SEO
strategy, the learning objective for this assignment was
for students to
acquire hands-on experience and
enhance skills with SEO. To be as realistic as possible,
this experiential assign- ment involved active Web sites
that competed against one another to achieve top organic
rankings in search engines. Students in an e-Marketing
course aimed to outrank their peers in organic search
when conducting a search query using an assigned
phrase. Classical elements from Blooms taxonomy
(Bloom 1956) were used to organize aspects of the
assignment.

landing page Creation

The first phase involves a few preparatory activities
for the assignment. A prerequisite is that each student
needs

one live Web page, or blog post, that they can fully
con- trol and edit. This may be a personal Web site or a
client Web site, with social media accounts, where
students have been granted editing access. In situations
where Web site creation is not a focal element of a class,
students can very easily and quickly create a Web site on
free platforms such as WordPress.com and Blogger.com.
Next, the instructor assigns one keyphrase such as I love
XYZ college, XYZ University marketing major, or
even something such as homemade pizza recipe. The
keyphrase could be about most anything, but should
represent a topical area where st udents have general
interest and knowledge. St udents are instructed to
create a simple 250- to 300-word landing page (e.g., the
page/post a visitor arrives on after a click) that
incorporates the assigned keyword phrase as the main
topic. One reason for assigning a phrase, rather than
letting students select their own phrase, is to level the
playing field so that everyone in the class has an equal
opportunity to rank high on that targeted keyphrase.
Another reason is to emphasize the importance of
identif ying and using a primary keyphrase as part of an
on-page optimization strategy. To avoid spillover across
semesters, the assigned keyphrase should vary from one
semester to the next.
About one to t wo weeks after the Web page is
created, to allow the search engines to crawl and index
content of pages, students conduct an SEO pretest. This
test is a simple

Figure 2
example of diagnostic Quiz results
Note: SEO = search engine optimization.

search query to determine where their page is currently

ranked in Google.com using the assigned keyphrase. For
example, if a students page appeared on the seventh
page of search results and was the fifth result on that page,
their location score would be a 75. Assuming that there
are 10 results per page, 7 times 10 is 70, and the fifth
result on that page gives an additional 5. This score is not
an exact SERP location, but rather a close approximation
of ranking at a specific point in time. It helps students
understand the starting point for where their page
currently exists in the rankings based on the assigned
phrase. If students could not find their page after looking
through the top 20 pages of results, they simply report
that their page was not found. The SEO Pretest takes less
than five minutes to complete. The instructor conducted
the same search query at the same time to verif y that
students page location scores were accurate. When
discrepancies were found, students were personally
notified about their reporting error. The next phase
assesses students general knowledge and aims to
motivate them to pursue the topic further.

seo
Knowledge
Comprehension

and

Students are assigned a 30-minute online quiz at http://

mz.cm/163wsV/. This
diagnostic quiz
can
be
completed in or out of class and consists of 75
questions about the three pillars of SEO (content, links,
and social media). If the instructor would like a record of
quiz results, students can print the final results page, such
as the one in Figure 2. Alternatively, the entire completed
quiz can be saved and e-mailed to the instructor for
further assessment. Students with no prior experience
working with SEO will often get
20 percent to 40 percent of the questions correct. The
purpose of the quiz is to ascertain current knowledge
and to sensitize students to the complexities associated
with SEO. Next, the instructor poses questions such as
What do you know about SEO?, What do you want
to learn about SEO?, and What do you think needs to
be done to get your page ranked higher? Responses can
be recorded on a board, a viewing screen during class, or
in an online discussion board.

100
90
80
Nu
m
be
r
of
St
ud
en
ts

70
60
50

Pretest

40

Posttest

30
20
10
0

Not found within

the first 20 pages of
results

16-20

11-15

6-10

1-5

Student Page Location in SERP

(in increments of five pages where lower numbers represent higher rankings)

Figure 3
Comparison of pretest and posttest serp locations of student
pages
Note: SERP = search engine results page.

Next, the instructor leads a deeper discussion about

the role of SEO in marketing strategy to help students
com- prehend what
it means to implement SEO.
Accompanying
slides
are
available
at
ht t p://slidesha.re/13IZSbe/ to assist with this phase of
instruction. These slides provide a wealth of information
to describe both the theoretical and practi- cal aspects of
SEO. Included is a coverage of topics such as the search
landscape, how search engines work, how to build
accessible sites, conducting keyword research, linkbuilding strategies, social media effects on SEO, the
Webs influencers, and essential SEO resources. This
material can be used as the basis for lectures, class
demonstrations, or discussion. After the students have
been given an adequate foundation in SEO, they are ready
for the next phase.

seo
Application
Analysis

and

The third phase involves hands-on practice to help

students experience how to improve their organic
rankings. Here they are challenged to outrank each other,
using the assigned keyword phrase, based on their
knowledge gained about SEO strategies thus far. Students
engage in any number and com- bination of SEO
strategies of their choosing to maximize organic search
rankings. For students wanting additional resources for
this phase, supplementary materials are avail- able in the
Google SEO Starter Guide (ht t p://bit.ly/11Xze/). To assist
in analysis, students are advised to utilize some of the
free applications available, such as Google Analytics to

gain a deeper understanding of how others are finding

their page, and Google Webmaster Tools to alert them

to potential structural problems with their site.
Because of the time it takes for SEO strategies to
take effect in the search engines (Sparks 2013), at least two
weeks is desirable for students to fine-tune and
experiment with the
applied optimization efforts
outside class.
St udents should be encouraged to
regularly check their rankings, and the rankings of their
peers, by searching for the assigned keyphrase in search
engines.

seo
synthesis
evaluation

and

Toward the end of the semester, and using the same process
as the SEO pretest, students perform a SEO posttest to

determine where
their
page ultimately ranked by
conducting a search query in Google.com using the
assigned keyphrase. This location score is reported to and
verified by the instructor. In most cases, students will have
observed an improvement in their rankings as compared
to their pretest score. Students write a 500- to 600-word
paper addressing the following issues: (1) location scores
from the pretest and posttest to evaluate net change in
rankings, (2) a synthesis of the on- page, off-page, and
sitewide SEO strategies used, and (3) a discussion of ideas
to improve and maintain organic rank- ings in the future.
This reflective component helps students strengthen their
understanding of SEO. Further, it provides an opportunity
to provide feedback to students who did not quite
understand what on-page, off-page, and sitewide factors
might have affected their performance in the SERP.

Table 1
Summary of the Four Phases of the SEO Assignment
Phases

Deliverables

Recommendations

1. Landing Page
Creation

One Web page and the pretest

Plan for 30 minutes outside of class to create the landing page. Add an
additional 20 to 30 minutes if students need to get a basic Web site started
from scratch. If possible, wait a week or so before conducting the pretest.

2. SEO Knowledge
and Comprehension

SEO quiz

Plan for 30 minutes outside class to take the quiz. Two class sessions (about
2.5 hours) were dedicated to this phase for class discussion and delivering
material about SEO.

3. SEO Application
and Analysis

None

Students work on their own outside class.This is a good time to move on to

other course topics.

4. SEO Synthesis and

Evaluation

Posttest and the reflection paper

Conduct posttests as late as possible in the semester. Grading of the

reflection paper should be straightforward for instructors who
successfully teach the knowledge and comprehension phase.

Note: SEO = search engine optimization.

Assessment results oF the

seo Assignment
To assess the effectiveness of this assignment, location
data from the pretests and posttests were analyzed. The
sample consisted of 97 st udents enrolled in an eMar- keting elective course during t wo semesters at a
Mid- Atlantic public universit y. The overwhelming
majorit y of st udents had no experience with SEO
strateg y prior to taking this class. Figure 3 presents
the distribution of st udents rank in the SERP based on
their pretest and posttest location scores.
The average pretest score was 200.10, with a range
of
159 to 201. Only 3 of the 97 st udents could locate
their page within the first 20 pages of results (20 pages
10 results). The other 94 st udents were assigned a
pretest score of 201 to indicate their page was located
somewhere beyond the first 20 pages. After optimizing
their Web pages for four weeks, 88.7 percent of st udents
observed an improvement in rankings. The average
posttest score was
82.24, equating to an approximate SERP location of
page
8, result #2. The average improvement was 117.86, representing a 114 percent increase in rank of at least 11 and
a half pages. Eight st udents even managed to rank on
the very first page of results. Overall, 43.2 percent of st
udents attained a position within the top five pages (1
5) in the SERP, 23.7 percent were in the next five pages
(610), 11.3 percent were in the next five pages (1115),
10.3 percent were in the next five pages (1620), and 11.3
percent were not found after viewing 20+ pages of
results. St udent reflection papers indicated that it was a
fun, rewarding, and practical learning experience. St
udents expressed a sense of achievement, and
sometimes even surprise, from seeing improvements in
their rankings. For the minorit y

of st udents that
observed no
improvement in
rankings, they articulated quite well why their organic
results did not increase in rank (e.g., incorrect
strategies used, not enough effort expended).

overComing ChAllenges And

AdAptABility oF the seo Assignment
Unlike PPC, where results in SERPs can be viewed
almost immediately, SEO takes time. As such, sufficient
time should be built in the course to allow the engines to
index the page content after student optimization. Table
1 features each assignment phase, recommended time to
complete each phase, and other helpful guidance for
instructors. Likewise, st udents should be advised not to
procrastinate on this assignment. Consistent with what
actually happens in the engines, pages optimized earlier
have a better chance of outranking those optimized
later.
Search engines regularly change the algorithm
affecting search results. Because search engines are so
dynamic, it is important to capture student rankings at
one consistent point in time using the same search
engine. Although results may be similar across different
engines, they are unlikely to be exact. The focus of this
assignment was in Google.com, but similar optimization
processes are avail- able within Bing as well, such as
SEO for Bing (http:// binged.it/10s8KgD/).
Black hat refers to unethical or deceptive SEO techniques. Students may inadvertently or purposely employ
black hat to improve rankings. Regardless of intent,
students should be warned not to engage in such
practices because of detrimental long-term effects on
rankings. A brief sum- mary of black hat techniques is
available at ht t p://bit.ly/ EHV89/.

Students could follow the steps in this assignment to

engage in SEO for a real business or nonprofit; we identif
y this as a limitation, however, as each organization
would need to provide students with editing access to
their Web site and social media accounts. While this
assignment was administered in an e-Marketing course,
it could be integrated into other courses where the
instructor wants to infuse a technological element, offer
extra credit, and/or provide exposure to SEO. Because
SEO is one of the t wo main strategies of SEM, this SEO
assignment serves as a stimulating complement for
professors who might be teach- ing PPC as part of the
Google Online Marketing Challenge. Courses such as eCommerce, Social Media Marketing, Advertising, IMC,
and
Public
Relations are ideal
because of the
technology and communication skills required in these
courses. In lieu of the students editing actual Web sites
and working in real social media accounts, they could
develop SEO strategic plans as part of a larger course
project in these courses.
It is the responsibility of marketing educators to
prepare students for marketing with
technology
(Matulich, Papp, and Haytko 2008). Because SEO
strategies likely were not part
of the
traditional
curriculum taught to todays mar- keting educators, this
innovation may serve as a valuable resource. The
assignment empowers st udents by
giving them
marketable and technical skills that are in demand in
practice. By learning how to successfully optimize one
Web page on their
own, students have developed
potential to effectively optimize an entire site.

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