1. @annstanley
Top tips on integrating your PPC
and SEO strategies
by
Ann Stanley
February 2012

2. @annstanley

3. @annstanley
Contents
1. Keyphrase selection:
PPC gives you real data on search volumes and allows you to
determine the target audiences' response to these phrases. This
will allow you to optimise for the keyphrases that generate
conversions, not the ones that have high impression or clicks
2. Ads and click through rates:
PPC ad copy testing allows you to maximise click through and
conversions. This data can be used for SEO to improve the
effectiveness of your meta tags (titles, descriptions or snippets)
3. Landing page conversions and site effectiveness:
The effectiveness of your site (bounce rates and conversions) can
quickly be determined using PPC. Improvements can be made in
order to maximise the benefits of your SEO traffic

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Part 1:
Keyphrase selection

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Traditional approach to
keyphrase selection
Find keyphrases with:
1. High volume of searches
2. Low competition (i.e. low number of indexed pages for the
keyphrase)
Choose your keyphrase selection strategy:
• Target a few high volume phrases and work very hard to
overcome the high level of competition
• Target a large number of “Long Tail” or low volume phrases
with little or no competition
• Calculate the ratio of searches vs. competition and target the
phrases with the best ratio

6. @annstanley
Tips on using the Google Keyword Tool
• Set-up an AdWords account and use the tool within your
account – learn how at:
http://www.anicca-solutions.com/images/downloads/Introduction-to-
AdWords-Facebook-and-LinkedIn-Pay-per-click-August-2011.pdf
• Advantages of being logged in:
– No CAPTCHA code
– 800 keyphrase suggestions (rather than 100 in the external tool)
– Cost per click data provided
– Save keyphrases in your ad group, so you can go in more than once
and add new ideas
Don’t forget to select *Exact+ or “Phrase” match
and your local region or country

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AdWords Keyphrase Tool
• Change keyphrase match type to *exact+ and/or “phrase”
• Top phrases are the ones you entered, the lower ones are suggested keyphrases
• Download into a spreadsheet

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Determining competition
Allintitle: operator

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Problem –
These techniques do not take
into account whether the
keyphrases are likely
to drive actions or sales
(conversions)

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Why use PPC data to determine the
most effective keyphrases for SEO?
• It can take 6 -12 months to see the result from your SEO
activities
• But you may have wasted your efforts on optimising for
keyphrases with high volumes of searches but no conversions
• We recommend you use PPC data as part of your SEO
strategy
– Narrow down your target list to the keyphrases that convert
rather than those with the highest search volumes
– Use as many months data as possible and use “See Search Terms”
on the Keyword tab to see the actual phrases that converted
– If you are not currently using PPC then you may want to run a PPC
campaign before starting your SEO, in order to understand your
keyphrase profile and what keyphrases convert

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Google.co.uk Allintitle: Ratio Conversions Target
search volumes “keyword” (12 months)
[plumbing courses] 6,600 56,600 0.12 343
[electrician courses] 4,400 2,060 2.14 22
0 – but 6 in “See
[gas safety certificate] 3,600 15,000 0.24 Search Terms”
[electrician training] 1,900 3,590 0.53 8
[electrical courses] 1,600 20,200 0.08 12
[electrical training] 1,600 51,500 0.03 13
[gas safe courses] 1,000 32 31.25 107
[plumbing course] 880 4,610 0.19 26
[gas training] 720 7,930 0.09 15
[electrician course] 590 479 1.23 11
0 – but 38 in “See
[electrical course] 320 1,610 0.20 Search Terms”
[plumber courses] 320 360 0.89 12
[gas safe course] 110 9 12.22 23
[plumber course] 110 42 2.62 9
645 conversions 559 (86.7%)

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Analysis –
Relationship between keyphrases
that have impressions and
conversions
Data from 5 PPC accounts

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Understanding the “Long Tail”
(12 months of PPC data)
Number of
keyphrases Training Travel Food Glasses Apparel
Total keyphrases
included in account 31,041 53,457 17,697 98,258 52,667
Active keyphrases 30,418 37,855 3,241 10,447 26,736
See Search Terms 85,696 14,814 43,259 39,243 19,040
Number of
keyphrases * Training Travel Food Glasses Apparel
>1 impressions 12,770 6,299 6,002 5,044 6,759
>1 clicks 6,890 3,027 3,677 2,346 2,947
>1 conversion 2,195 74 292 180 499
% keyphrases
with a conversion 17.2% 1.2% 4.9% 3.6% 7.4%
* Keyphrases included in the account rather than “See Search Terms”

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Keyphrase profile – by impressions

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Keyphrase profile – by conversions

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Comparison of the number of keyphrases with
>1 impression, >1 click or >1 conversion

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Did the keyphrases with the most
impressions also convert?
Training Travel Food Glasses Apparel
>10,000 impressions 35 5 37 33 68
>1000 impressions 387 82 535 263 353
>100 conversions 8 0 0 0 0
10 - 99 conversions 16 2 3 7 23
1 - 9 conversions 11 24 23 11 33
0 conversions 0 56 11 15 12
Keyphrases with
conversions 35 26 26 18 56
Keyphrases reviewed 35 87 37 33 68
% keyphrases with
conversions 100% 30.0% 70.2% 54.5% 82.4%

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Conclusions – Keyword selection
• The number of keyphrases used by searchers was between 14,814 - 85,696
(as shown using See Search Terms)
• The number of keyphrases that resulted in conversions varied between 74 –
2,195 for each account (based on keyphrases bid on)
• Training account
– There was a high proportion of keyphrases which resulted in conversions as compared to the
number of impressions (17.2%)
– Using “See Search Terms” in the training account, there were 5,900 keyphrases that actually
generated a conversion (as compared to the 2,195 included in this account) – many of these
have now been added into the account
– All the top 35 keyphrases (by impressions) also had conversions
– This would infer a broad SEO strategy – targeting many more keyphrases
• The other accounts
– There were 74 to 499 keyphrases with conversions; which was a very low proportion of
keyphrases as compared to the number getting impressions (1.2% - 7.4%)
– The top 33-87 keyphrases with the highest impressions had 30.0 - 82.4% with conversions
– This would infer a narrow SEO strategy targeting the keyphrases that have had conversions

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‘Take home’ message
If you limit your SEO to a few keyphrases with the
highest impressions then you are very likely to
choose the keyphrases that do not convert –
so use your PPC results
to determine your SEO strategy!

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Part 2:
Ads and click through rates

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Weight To Go – ads, titles and descriptions
PPC ad with Sitelinks, +1
and strong call to action
CTR = 41.7% for brand
keyphrase (‘Weight to go’)
Organic results for 3
pages, with titles,
descriptions and sitelinks
(top result only)
CTR = 39.9% for brand
keyphrase (‘Weight to go’)

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CTR for organic results
(Analytics linked to Webmaster Tools)

23. AdWords Ad Copy testing @annstanley
(1-8th Jan)
Keyphrase:
Weight To Go
Champion Challenger
Ad Ad
Impressions 2,186 Impressions 1,961
Clicks 470 Clicks 453
CTR 21.5% CTR 23.1%
Conversions 8 www.weighttogo.com/4-easy-steps.html www.weighttogo.com/4-easy-steps.html Conversions 24
Conv rate% 8.1% Conv rate% 5.3%
CPA £5.46 CPA £7.22
1000 x 21.5% x 8.1% = 1000 x 23.1% x 5.3% =
17.4 conversions at £5.46 12.2 conversions at £7.22
Ad Copy testing is as much about conversion rate as CTR

24. @annstanley
Conclusions – Ads and CTR
AdWords ads
• AdWords copy is easy to test and small changes can have a big effect on
CTR% and also conversion rates (both positive and negative)
• AdWords title should contain the keyphrase to increase Quality Score, so
testing should focus on varying “calls for action” and offers (in description)
• Effect of Sitelinks and other ad extensions can also be easily measured
Page titles and descriptions
• Select the relevant web page to experiment with i.e. it is listed for the
keyphrase/ad group you have already tested in AdWords
• Use Webmaster Tools data and Analytics to understand current organic
CTR and visits (accounts can now be linked)
• Also use Webmaster Tools to demote any site links you don’t want to
emphasise

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Part 3:
Landing page conversions and site
effectiveness

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Why use PPC landing pages data for SEO?
• Landing page relevancy is now a more important part
of AdWords Quality Score
• Having a good load speed time and relevant
keyphrases on the landing page will help both your PPC
Quality Scores and your organic SEO
• AdWords landing pages are often built solely to
maximise conversion rates, so why not use these
lessons to optimise the rest of the pages on your site?
• A good PPC landing page may be the best page to
optimise – so use successful landing pages for both!

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Methods to test landing pages
AdWords landing page testing
• Use the same ad in rotation with different landing
pages (50:50)
• Use “experiments” to vary the url of the landing page
(you can change ratio of how often they show)
Conversion optimisation on your website
• Use winning ads/landing page from AdWords testing
• Use Google Optimiser to do A:B testing or multi-variate
testing – this tests landing page for all traffic not just
PPC

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How to measure landing page effectiveness
AdWords
• Ads tab – CTR and conversion rates for a specific ad group
• Dimension tab - Gives overall data for URL across the whole AdWords account, but does not
take into consideration keyphrases e.g. effect of brand keyphrases
Analytics KPI
• Site performance (bounce rates, dwell time etc)
• Conversions - use of goals to measure conversions on a ‘Thank You’ or success pages (also
use goals to measure events for clicks or downloads)
• Ecommerce tracking for sales and revenue – conversion rates, average order value, total
sales
Analytics metrics (where to find the results)
• Landing page metrics – use different tabs, secondary dimension, and segmentation (to
compare by traffic source); to measure performance and conversions (goals or ecommerce)
• Keyphrase metrics - with performance and ecommerce tab (Note: old version of Analytics
allows you to see total, paid or non-paid in the same area)
• Funnel visualisation – see the abandonment at each stage on the way to a completed goal

29. @annstanley
Dimensions in AdWords
Dimensions gives an overall idea of landing page
conversion rates but does not compare like with like –
need to test ads using same keyphrases

30. Landing page testing – @annstanley
rotation of 2 ads
Keyphrase:
Weight To Go
Champion Challenger
landing Landing
page page
Impressions 1,961 Impressions 336
Clicks 453 Clicks 95
CTR 23.1% CTR 28.3%
Conversions 24 www.weighttogo.com/4-easy-steps.html www.weighttogo.com/reward1.html Conversions 5
Conv rate% 5.3% Conv rate% 5.3%
This page
appears to be
the new
champion, but
what about
revenue?

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Analytics –
landing page metrics by source

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Keyphrase/Landing page conversions
All
Paid

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Example of a low PPC conversion rate –
using Funnels to solve a site-wide issue
• Is the conversion rate the
same for all traffic sources?
• If yes, review in “funnel
visualisation” and determine
at what step there is a
problem
• Review site to fix problem on
the first page of the shopping
cart

34. @annstanley
Conclusions – Landing pages
• There are a number of methods of testing landing page
effectiveness – PPC is fast and immediate (especially for new
sites with little traffic from other sources)
• However ads can effect CTR and conversion rates – so make
sure you look at overall conversions and CPA
• Only change one variable at a time and compare “like with
like” e.g. keyphrase, ad text, landing page, etc
• Check to see if average order value or sales are affected
(Analytics data) – more conversions does not necessarily
mean more revenue!
• Use funnel visualisation to understand the user journey and
to diagnose problem areas
• “Combine and conquer” – use a successful landing page for
both your PPC and SEO

35. @annstanley
Thank You
Ann Stanley
@annstanley
ann@anicca-solutions.com
www.anicca-solutions.com