For our November meeting, the DC Search Engine Marketing Meetup group shared the tools we were most thankful for. Melanie Phung presented case studies of how she's used three of her favorites: remote user testing (UserTesting.com), click mapping (Crazy Egg), and site crawlers (Screaming Frog). #SEMdmv

1. Melanie Phung
DC Search Engine Marketing Meetup
November 12, 2013

2. If you have ever asked…
What are my
users really
thinking?
What design
elements and
content do users
engage with?
How do I wrap my
head around
what’s on my site?
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

3. Try these tools…
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

4. Case Study #1
Teacher Search Motivations
We wanted to know:
Does my keyword research really reflect the
search motivations of my target audience?
Supplement:
– Legacy organic referral data
– Site search terms
– Standard keyword research data

5. #SEMdmv
@melaniephung

6. What We Asked:
• How do you typically look for “this type” of
content?
• Give examples of recent searches you
conducted.
• Explain your reactions to these results.
• What catches your eye?
• What makes you more likely to click?
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

7. What We Learned
Insight:
Implicit search intent didn’t match explicit
search query.
Recommendation:
Tweak the messaging to speak to unspoken
motivation.
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

8. What We Learned
Insight:
Long-tail search behavior different than
behavior in the head.
Recommendation:
Focus on scaling SEO efforts via training and
automation to address this behavior.
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

9. Other Uses
•
•
•
•
Remote, moderated tests
Agile testing of mobile apps
Competitor site testing
Poor man’s focus group
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

10. Case Study #2
PBS Parents Homepage
We wanted to know:
Does the design and layout of the page lead
users where we want them to go?
Supplement:
– Google Analytics data

11. #SEMdmv
@melaniephung

12. What We Asked:
• Are people using the scroll buttons on the
carousel?
• Do they use the tabs on the tool box?
• How far do they scroll down the page?
• Where on the page are users clicking?
• What we can now ask: How does click
behavior differ between desktop and mobile?
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

13. What We Learned
Insight:
Users didn’t interact with the links in the feature
carousel.
Recommendation:
Make the cues to click much more obvious.
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

14. What We Learned
Insight:
Character thumbnails were the most engaging
part of the homepage.
Recommendation:
Add character navigation to the navigation, so
these links are accessible on every page.
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

15. #SEMdmv
@melaniephung

16. Result:
Lowered bounce rate and increased
time on site by 8-10%
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

17. Other Uses
• Use real-time data to make editorial decisions
“on the fly”
• Baseline behavior before testing changes
• Compare click patterns between desktop,
tablet and phones to identify UX issues
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

18. Case Study #3
Content Inventories for Site Migrations
We wanted to know:
How much and what content are we dealing
with?
Supplement:
- Manual reviews
- Other data sources

19. #SEMdmv
@melaniephung

20. What We Asked
• How much content does this site have and
how is it organized?
• What URLs are thin or duplicate content?
• What kinds of errors are on the site?
• What content does Google have indexed?
• What content should be prioritized for
migration?
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

21. Scrape SERPs for Indexed URLS
• Run importXml in Google Docs to scrape
indexed URLs from Google.
• Dedupe against your crawled URLs
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

22. VLOOKUP to insert other types of data
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

23. What We Learned
• Site was MUCH bigger than originally thought
• But only a small portion of pages had traffic
• A number of pages were published in the wrong
place (easy to miss)
• A lot of duplicate or missing titles and descriptions
 A full audit led to a much more realistic content
migration strategy
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

24. Other Uses
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Identify internal link-building opportunities
Audit pages for GA code
Audit response times
Find and filter duplicates
Find all pages containing specific code elements
Generate an XML Sitemap
Do all of the above for competitor sites!
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

25. Where to Get Them
• UserTesting.com
Remote user testing - $49/participant
• CrazyEgg.com
Click mapping – Starts at $9/mo
• ScreamingFrog.co.uk SEO Spider
Site crawl/diagnostics – FREE up to 500 URLs
#SEMdmv
@melaniephung

26. THANK YOU!
www.melaniephung.com
@melaniephung
/melaniephung
+melaniephung