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If you’re an organization that has separate teams working on SEO/PPC then here are 9 ways to ensure they’re working on the same team for your benefit.
1. Goal Setting & Tracking
Have the two teams agree on how they’re going to go about tracking/goal setting. If they’re both going to use Google Analytics then they need to be on the same page as to what your business goals are, and how to properly track important KPI’s.
2. Keyword Research
If you’re starting up a new SEO campaign why would you waste time optimizing for a keyword that PPC has already discovered doesn’t convert? We’ve found that PPC can get on the ground data quickly to help lead the overall SEO Strategy.
3. Cannibalization Prevention.
If you’re ranking for a particular keyword should you bidding on it? Some studies say yes and others say no.
- If no one is bidding on a keyword and you rank #1 organically, then there will likely be some cannibalization if you decide to bid on it.
- If everyone is bidding on a keyword (all 10 positions) and you’re ranking #1 for it organically, then if you advertise on it, you’ll likely cannibalize your competitors more than yourself (Perhaps bid on it in a lower position so you have two shots at the searcher if they don’t feel the organic Search engine result applies to them.)
- If only a few companies are bidding on a keyword and you’re ranking #1 for it organically, that’ll be a tough call.
Have the teams sit down and discuss where cannibalization is potentially occurring, and make the decision as to if you should continue to bid, decrease your bid, or stop bidding altogether.
4. Landing Pages
The PPC team needs a landing page that is relevant to the keyword you’re bidding on to ensure a high quality score, good impression share, and a reduced CPC. The SEO team typically will handle new content development and posting so make sure PPC submits content needs and either utilizes what SEO produces for their organic purposes; or reutilizes a shortened version that is more action oriented. If a shortened version is created for PPC ensure you don’t run into duplicate content that will hamper the SEO efforts.
5. Compare Messaging
If certain messaging is working well in your Paid search efforts perhaps these titles/descriptions can work in your advantage as Titles/Meta Descriptions. If you want to check how a new meta description might effect organic CTR’s then try out a new ad in that keyword space with the proposed meta description as part of the ad. Does it perform better or worse that your other ad copy? This can provide good insight for both teams.
6. Attribution Analysis
The PPC team is generally trying to cut the fat in a campaign as soon as possible; however if they’re smart they’ll be looking at the long-term impact of early-funnel keywords to discover their ultimate return on investment. Thus, early-funnel terms that don’t convert on the spot are likely to be discovered in PPC sooner than they will be by the SEO team; however once these terms are discovered this information needs to be passed between the teams to assist the long-term investment.
So if you have two separate teams handling the SEO/PPC aspects (even if they’re in the same external agency) ensure that these items are considered and that information is in fact being passed between the two to increase efficiency and ultimately your return on investment.
Special thanks to Ted Ives guest blogger at Search Engine Land.
Written By: Michael Knorr – Director of Marketing and Sales
