Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [264]
By looking deeper than statistical performance (numbers of visitors, time on site, and pages viewed), a group of keywords can be measured in the proper context—success. In this way, you can determine the best place to invest in future marketing. By investing in segments that are already profitable, you know that your search engine optimization campaign will provide even more return on investment, because there is proven return already.
Segment Word Variations
One of the most dramatic realizations was the measurable difference between searchers who used the singular or plural version of a word. The behavior was distinctly different and noticeable across a wide spectrum of other markets, websites, and industries. Based on a single letter, searchers do not have the same intent and tend to act very differently.
In the example in Table 21-2, the comparison is between searchers using the plural version of a term, vacations, and searchers using the singular version of a search term, vacation. For this travel site, the words vacation and vacations were used interchangeably throughout the website and in the terminology of the organization. However, when the two terms were analyzed based on rankings and conversions, it is clear that a different approach is needed. This specific segment shows searches that included the word vacation or vacations in any form or order for a day.
Table 21-2: Analytics Information for the search terms vacations and vacation
Metric Data for vacations (plural) Data for vacation (singular)
Ranking in Google #3 #34
Search referrals 600 1800
Conversion Rate 0% 2%
In comparing the two segments, it became immediately clear that the singular version was the more profitable version of the phrases. Even with being listed in the fourth page of results at #34 (at the time of the analysis) in Google, the singular version far outperformed its plural counterpart, with three times as many visitors and significantly more conversions. More measurement over longer periods of time confirmed this trend.
Some SEO agencies would be very happy to report that they attained a top ranking for a term. This shows that success goes well beyond a good ranking—a lower ranking term was much more profitable (as is often the case), and it showed a trend among the searchers. More investment could be made in growing the content and optimization of the singular term throughout the website. More money and time could be invested in the singular term, because the term was already profitable, and the results were measurable. The more it would increase rankings, the more profit it would produce because it was already proven to be a profit-generating word.
The plural version of the term, despite having a great ranking, was not as immediately profitable. By analyzing the behavior of this segment, we found that plural-version searchers were seeking information but not ready to commit. They had an idea of what they wanted but were not yet ready to commit. They were looking for additional information, more options, and more ideas. The singular-version searchers (sharpshooters) were looking for different types of information than the plural-version seekers.
This finding created implications about the content provided to searchers throughout the website. This simple indicator of intent showed that searchers were looking for different types of information based on this small difference of wording. The behavior of the searchers enabled a content survey to be made, focusing on the types of preferred content by each segment and then customizing the wording within the groups of content to be more focused on the exhibited need.
Segment Entry Points by Search Term
Beyond having the right ranking for the wrong word, it is also possible to have the right ranking but for the wrong page.
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