Integrate SEO PPC Analytics

SEO, PPC & Analytics:
Integrating the New Digital Team

A Search Marketing Now E-Book


Introduction
S
earch engine marketing (SEM) has become an integral marketing tool for brands of all sizes and in all
industries – from the Fortune 100 to mom-and-pop dry cleaners and pizza shops. And with paid search
now representing the largest portion of online advertising budgets, according to the Internet Advertising
Bureau, more marketers are looking for their search tools to provide 360-degree visibility across digital channels
to improve results and budget forecasting.

As a result, a new generation of integrated search campaign management platforms has emerged to help
marketers more effectively integrate, manage and measure the effectiveness of their digital marketing programs,
including paid search (PPC) and organic search (SEO). SearchCenter+ powered by Omniture, for example,
provides cross-channel attribution, campaign management and optimization, including PPC, display, email,
SEO and affiliate marketing. Real time attribution platforms can integrate third party data sources and provide
comprehensive views of prospect and customer actions.

But while technology has enabled most brands today to leverage both PPC and SEO, integrating the
two disciplines within the organization remains a challenge. Staff and data are still held and managed in
organizational silos that fail to reap the benefits that truly integrated search can provide. For example, PPC has
typically been handled by marketing and advertising, while SEO is usually considered a web or engineering tactic.

The majority of consumers, on the other hand, don’t distinguish between PPC and organic listings when viewing
and clicking on SERP pages. Instead of treating PPC and organic search as different disciplines, marketers need
to look at the search experience from the searcher’s perspective and more effectively structure their marketing
organizations to capitalize on PPC and SEO data and resources, as well as get departments and back-end systems
working together strategically and cohesively.

This E-book presents several best practices to capitalize on the synergies between PPC and SEO data, as well as
address the role that analytics plays in unlocking that value. We also provide guidelines for building an integrated
digital marketing team, including good hiring practices, as well as an effective organizational structure and
communications strategy that encourage management buy-in.

Adobe/Omniture and Third Door Media would like to thank the following SearchEngineLand columnists and
contributors for their contributions to this E-book: Brian Kaminiski, Evan LaPointe, Stephan Spencer, Duane
Forrester, Tony Adam, Siddharth Shah, and David Roth, director of SEM, Yahoo! Inc. We’d also like to thank
Brennan Brooks and Michelle Anderson, Internet Marketing Specialists with Ecreativeworks. n

2 © 2011 Third Door Media, Inc. http://searchmarketingnow.com • Email: whitepapers@searchmarketingnow.com • (203) 664-1350


Managing Digital Data: How to recommendations based on organic search performance.
Virtually any type of digital marketing promotion –
Bring the Pieces Together from launching a new product, website or microsite
to maximizing tight budgets and site redesigns – will
Search Engine Marketing traditionally has consisted of benefit by leveraging both PPC and SEO. n
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and paid search, also
known as Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. While search
engine marketing has evolved to include the impact
of additional digital channels such as social media, it’s
Using PPC to Guide SEO
essential the marketers understand how SEO and PPC Efforts
work together.
PPC campaigns are an efficient way to gain short-term
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of visibility while awaiting the longer-term results of
generating traffic from free or organic search engine organic search. It is very simple to first test keywords
results. All major search engines, including Google, in a PPC campaign and then utilize the best performers
Yahoo! and Bing have such results, where web pages in SEO. Marketers can further expand the integration to
and other content such as videos or local listings are the copy and keyword phrases that compelled visitors to
shown and ranked based on what the search engine click on an ad or buy from a site. Good PPC ad copy can
considers most relevant to users. be also be used as a great meta description and the best
performing PPC headlines can be great page headers
Paid search (PPC) advertising, on the other hand, are (H1tags) and anchor text.
the search engine results that marketers pay for in an
attempt to raise the ranking and visibility of their listings. PPC’s targeting and measurability can also provide
Industry experts agree that SEO drives 75 percent of valuable SEO insight. Every PPC transaction is monitored
search traffic yet only 15 percent of budget; PPC gets and every landing page is constantly refined. By
80 percent of budget yet generates only 25 percent of capturing this data, marketers can track the keywords
search traffic. that are driving conversions and cross reference
them with SEO lists to identify areas that are missing
Each search discipline has its unique benefits. PPC offers exposure. In many cases there will be overlap, with
more precise targeting and measurability and yields the differences in conversion typically due to where
greater short-term results. SEO more can have a better users were in the conversion funnel at the time of their
ROAS due to free clicks but can also be unpredictable searches. Either way, integrating this data across both
due to engine algorithm updates. PPC and SEO programs will provide clues to the phrases
and terms that are driving visitors to act. n
There are synergies that exist between PPC and SEO.
Marketers that effectively utilize both search disciplines
can increase the clickthrough rates of their top organic
rankings by as much as 20 percent with complementary Going Organic to Help PPC
sponsored ads above them or in the right-hand column,
according to Stephan Spencer, co-author of The Art of Highly refined, dedicated landing pages for individual
SEO. When both types of search data are integrated, ads are the best practice in paid search. Such pages
marketers can see and analyze organic and PPC are laser-focused and use very specific calls to action to
metrics side-by-side, gaining the ability to optimize reach their goals. But too many times, marketers spend
bids using organic rankings and produce keyword all of their time and budget on the PPC advertising and

Industry experts agree that SEO drives 75 percent of search traffic
yet only 15 percent of budget; PPC gets 80 percent of budget yet
generates only 25 percent of search traffic.



not enough on designing the dedicated landing pages.
In larger companies, the resources to manage these
Ads aren’t the only campaign
page-level changes often don’t even reside in the group
spending the money or managing the campaigns, which
elements that can be measured and
makes cross-channel communication an issue. changed – landing pages and the
SEO provides the opportunity to blend organic page website itself both play leading roles
content with dedicated calls to action. By integrating
the message, a single page can do double duty for in marketing campaign performance.
both organic rankings and as a landing page. With
today’s budgets shrinking and resources harder to come
by, streamlining costs and creating efficiencies is an
For PPC, analytics are built into the process of managing
approach that resonates with C-level executives.
campaigns. From one place, campaign managers can
view impression levels, clicks, average cost per click,
Both SEO and PPC require pages that are highly relevant
conversions and average cost per conversion.
and focused on targeted keywords. Smart digital
marketers will take advantage of this requirement to
There are also many factors that determine performance
create economies of scale by developing content that
beyond the inherent value of a keyword and good
satisfies the needs of both organic and paid search
analytics will help the organization identify those factors.
campaigns as long as neither the ranking or conversions
KPIs such as performance by landing page, as well as
goals are compromised. Go one step further and
funnels for PPC segments vs. other segments will show
combine the resulting statistics to uncover additional
where to boost the return of top performers or improve
value. For example, while advanced search marketing
the potential of underperformers.
applications allow digital marketers to create bid rules
based on deep funnel metrics, combining SEO and PPC
Ads aren’t the only campaign elements that can be
data enables them to expand bid rules to include SEO
measured and changed – landing pages and the website
metrics and performance. As with everything search,
itself both play leading roles in marketing campaign
test, refine, test and refine.
performance. n
Taking this type of holistic approach will lead to terms
and phrases that are unique to the organization’s site,
product or service and resonate not only with those
Best Practices for
searching for information, but with those looking to buy. Integrating PPC and SEO
Regardless of where a user is in the conversion funnel,
they will see what they are looking for. n #1: Leverage Each Program’s Strengths

Analytics Unlock A key element in maximizing both PPC and SEO
performance is to leverage each discipline’s strengths.
Integration Value For example, short-term promotions should focus on
PPC campaigns since they provide both speed and
Analytics, including attribution modeling, hold the key flexibility. In addition, start and stop dates can be easily
to realizing the bottom-line value of integrating PPC and controlled, while exact messaging and new landing
SEO programs. Many search marketers attempting to pages can be quickly created to accomplish specific
integrate their search programs fail to discern what their goals.
individual PPC and SEO campaigns are delivering. This
insight can be easily developed through the following Conversely, SEO can drive large volumes of quality
four steps: traffic by optimizing for longer-term site content. It is
ideal for maximizing the impact of core terms and to
1. Develop a clear understanding of the program’s maintain consistent SERP placement. To leverage SEO
specific goals, which often differ for PPC and SEO. for more immediate ROI, optimize for video and image
2. Have a plan for how to measure everything. search, which can encourage quicker traction.
3. Create a rigorous analytics system.
4. Adhere to internal performance accountability.



#2: Prove Both SEO and PPC Value management tools can now combine organic rankings,
Within the Organization impressions, conversions and clicks into one source,
there is generally a time lag between when SEO
The most successful integrated SEO/PPC programs keyword lists are chosen and organic traffic starts to
measure the results of each individually before grow. PPC boosts keyword traffic quickly and provides
integrating the data. It’s important to find the data, enough data in a short period of time to know which
and provide the research, analysis and case studies to keywords are most valuable to the organization’s
prove each program’s value. Lay out the opportunity marketing goals.
analysis, costs, issues and risks involved in the process
and provide a high-level impact analysis to back up Thanks to web analytics, SEO and PPC managers can
each case. easily tell which keywords are driving traffic to which
landing pages, whether people stay, leave or buy. This
Reporting on wins will help push future agendas data should cause immediate action, but rarely does.
across the organization. Before beginning any program While PPC campaigns are almost always ROI-driven,
or campaign, think through what data needs to be too often SEO turns into a trophy collection of rankings
tracked and analyzed, as well as what goals need to be rather than a return-focused business investment.
achieved. When a campaign goes live, make note of
its goals and early achievements and start distributing The keyword research process can be at issue. Most
that data across the organization. For example, here SEO marketers and agencies automatically focus on
are some SEO metrics that can be driving large volumes by optimizing their sites for
tracked and reported on: relevant keywords with the highest
Before beginning any search frequency. While this may
drive significant volume, it may
• Number of pages indexed
within the first week program or campaign, not drive conversions.
• Unique visitors
• Page views think through what data Head terms captivate the
imagination of the masses and
• Time spent on site
• Bounce rate needs to be tracked and deliver them to the site, but they’re
hard to diagnose and understand.
Relate this data to the
analyzed, as well as Mid- and tail terms provide more
organization’s key metrics and what goals need to be focused traffic that will drive more
conversion-prone and focused
spell out how SEO and PPC
achievements contribute to those achieved. visitors to the site. They make it
easier to understand user intent
KPIs. Communication can be as
informal as announcements at and alter the site to improve
team meetings or as formal as weekly status reports or conversion, as well. Identifying mid- and tail keywords
monthly updates. involves looking at what happens from both an SEO
and PPC perspective.
Be prepared for the times when campaigns fail to meet
expectations and understand the reasons why. It is At the same time, it’s important to make sure to
okay to fail as long as mistakes are fixed and turned look beyond the ‘what’ and ask ‘why?’ While it’s
into positives. Often a site re-launch or change in critical to understand which keywords are driving the
URL structures across a site will lead to a small dip in most traffic and conversions, it’s just as important
search traffic that eventually picks back up. The key to know why those keywords are working – or not.
is preparing data, presenting that data and analyzing Are they winners on their own, or is it because the
how the results will impact site traffic. Forewarning landing page is working so well? Is the ad copy not
management and other stakeholders will earn their working, or is it something inherent in your website?
respect and confidence. Knowing ‘what’ happens is important, but with a good
analytics package – and good communication among
the marketing team – getting the ‘why’ can prove
#3: Act on Keyword Research and Analysis even more valuable. Centralizing SEO and PPC data
accelerates all of this learning and subsequent actions.
Keyword optimization takes a lot of time, research
and creativity. Although some search campaign



Cannibalization, or a decrease in organic traffic caused by the addition
of a PPC campaign, can occur most frequently to brand keywords and top
ranking (first and second position) organic keywords.
alternating weeks.
#4: Quantify Lift to Maximize Synergies • On/off daily: For a two-week period, alternate pausing
and activating paid ads on consecutive days. This is
Putting a sponsored ad near (i.e., above or in the the minimum duration required to get both “on” and
right-hand column) top-ranking organic keywords can “off” data for each day of the week.
increase clickthrough rates by as much as 20 percent.
To identify a baseline for organic traffic, create a
This type of lift occurs when PPC campaigns provide third data point: either averages of organic traffic
additional traffic to already well-performing organic during “off” periods that bookend an “on” period or,
keywords. When the additional lift outweighs the rate if available, use search volume for a given keyword.
of cannibalization (i.e., negatively impacting the other’s The key is to come up with an approximation for
results), it makes sense to continue to do integrated, cannibalization and lift, which will determine what to
additional campaigns. The keywords that benefit most pay per click on PPC ads.
from this strategy are unbranded product or service
keywords, organic rankings above the fold and the top For example, assume that the baseline for one day
three paid positions. of organic traffic is 100 clicks. An additional PPC ad
then provides another 100 clicks. If the total of organic
Cannibalization, or a decrease in organic traffic plus paid is 180 clicks, that means that of the 100 PPC
caused by the addition of a PPC campaign, can occur clicks purchased, 80 were “lift” while the other 20
most frequently to brand keywords and top ranking were “cannibalization.” The solution to minimizing
(first and second position) organic keywords. The cannibalization in this example is to discount the
key to monitoring cannibalization is to accurately maximum allowable CPC on the brand keyword by 20
track attribution and ROI to ensure that PPC and SEO percent and adjust the organization’s bids accordingly.
campaigns are being properly credited.
But say that PPC traffic turns out to be 100 percent lift
Many variables affect PPC and organic search traffic, and your total clicks is 200 clicks. That will provide
including search volume, page layout, keyword bids proof that buying brand terms is absolutely justified. A
and rankings. There are several ways to analyze these third and not uncommon scenario is to see a combined
and other variables to draw actionable conclusions synergy between PPC and organic that results in a lift
about lift and cannibalization. First begin with the that’s higher than 100 percent; the clickthrough rate is
following assumptions: higher when both ads are present compared to each on
its own.
• Internet (and search) traffic patterns move in weekly
cycles. Another set of dials to turn is what is displayed in
• Search volume is affected by seasonality, media and the PPC ad. Test calls-to-action, mentioning specific
other factors. product features, branding, “official site”, etc. and
• Testing should occur in a period of minimum measure the impact on synergy. The ultimate goal is to
volatility, i.e. avoid holidays and seasonal peaks and optimize ad creative and rebalance the company’s paid
dips if possible. search spend based on the true, adjusted ROAS where
synergy is taken into account. n
Now consider the following approaches to gather the
data required to quantify lift versus cannibalization:

• On/off weekly: Pause paid ads for one week and then
resume them. This is the simplest approach and takes
the least amount of time. If there is more time, try



Managing a Digital Hiring the Right Analyst
Marketing Team:
Breaking down Organizational Barriers

While analytics and search technology now facilitate
digital campaign integration, many organizations
still operate with siloed marketing data and
departments, creating a huge challenge to cross-
channel integration and management. SEO is often
managed by engineering or operations, while PPC
resides within marketing (thanks to its generally larger
budgets). Building an integrated digital marketing
team incorporates good hiring practices, as well as an
effective organizational structure and communications
strategy that encourage management buy-in. Here are
four ways to begin that process.

Step One: Hire a Generalist
Web analytics is about making and proving sound
SEM is a young industry and constantly evolving; business decisions. A good analyst determines
search tactics and strategies that worked two years ago which search decisions were good…and which ones
may not work now. As a result, it is more important were not. Decide what the role of the analyst will be.
to hire smart marketers that learn quickly and can Will this person be a leader on the digital team? Or
translate ideas into actions than specialists with prior an evangelist that advocates to management and
industry experience. the rest of the organization? Perhaps the analyst will
provide a service to the organization and operate
The leader of the digital marketing team should be independently.
someone who can understand numbers as well as
understand concepts and marketing strategies. For Web analysts must grasp sound business concepts
smaller teams, the CMO or VP of Marketing could first and data crunching second. A good analyst
play this role. In the enterprise, a strategic manager will understand how revenue and cost create cash
reporting to the CMO or VP should be given this flow, as well as understand how various disciplines
role. Skills become more important in more tactical, and points on the organization chart map to either
campaign execution positions. or both of these key factors. Don’t underestimate
the importance of operational efficiency and
To avoid political maneuvering for budget and process. The real value of web analytics isn’t only
resources, data analysts should be channel agnostic web outcomes and increased performance but a
(i.e., independent of any channel team) and directly metamorphosis of the organization through vast
report to the CMO. This will prevent any politics improvements in processes and operations.
regarding attribution and set up the digital team to
answer important questions such as: Secondly, figure out where the organization
needs “wins” and hire a personality that will be
• How do my channels interact? compatible with the naysayers and win them over,
• If I do any TV advertising how long will the effect knowing that their competency will make up for
persist in other channels? whatever personality mismatch results. Hire for
• What is the right media mix to maximize revenue? those wins even if the personality doesn’t match –
in the long run, the wins and the business are more
Step Two: Eliminate Silos, Centralize Search important. n

Maintaining separate SEO and PPC staff and
departments can negatively impact the organization



by creating inconsistent programs where different Step Three: Secure Management Buy-in
keywords are assigned different priorities and landing
pages offer confused messages and branding. Securing management or client buy-in for digital
The solution is to centralize the search function as much marketing is critical. There is always some measure of
as possible to encourage digital team members to work politics involved and different levels of understanding
collaboratively and not competitively. One way to do during each phase of program or budget approval.
this is to add a bonus structure that is based in part It is crucial to have the right conversations with the
on individual performance, channel marketing team right people and speak to them in a language they
performance and overall marketing team performance. understand.
Ask staff to learn about emerging channels such as
social media to further pollinate the cross-channel For example, some people love detail while others love
communication. bullet points and summaries. A VP looking for a project
update will not want or even necessarily understand a
Better cross-channel communication will lead to more 19-page email with every campaign detail. Knowing the
data sharing and improved results. For example, PPC differences across client and organizational audiences
campaigns provide a great way to quickly test creative may mean the difference between getting work moved
messages and utilize the results to inform the meta data forward and having it forgotten. Factor in the audience
for SEO campaigns. High-performing PPC keywords and adapt to their needs based on how they ingest data.
and phrases should be leveraged in SEO campaigns,
while underperforming terms can benefit from better Step Four: Create a Communications Strategy
PPC coverage. At the same time, when ROI or ROAS
metrics make some PPC terms unaffordable, they can A sound communications strategy includes both
instead be made an SEO priority. in-person and written tactics. Here are three

A Fun Way to View Multi-Variate Data

S
tatistician Herman Chernoff introduced “Chernoff faces” in a 1973 paper where he used simple cartoon
faces to display complex multi-dimensional data. Chernoff faces capitalize on the human brain’s innate
ability to simultaneously recognize small differences in many facial characteristics to assess a person’s
emotion or mood. Chernoff encoded each of several variables to a facial characteristic such as the nose, eyes,
lips or smile to generate faces that represent data points. In this example, campaign data metrics are mapped
to facial features:

The data shows the CPA in
Boston is high, apparently
due to the conversion rate.
However, the data brings
up several other questions
including: How much better
or worse is this performance
with respect to the others?
How are the high volume
campaigns doing with
respect to the lower volume
ones? Does CPC have any connection with performance? For a quick, qualitative assessment map the
following characteristics to the above metrics:

Face size = Spend
Hair length = Number of clicks
Face shape = CTR



A Fun Way to View Multi-Variate Data continued
Smile = CPA (spend/leads)
Conversion rate = Size of eyes
Avg. position = Size of nose
CPC = Ear size

Chernoff faces can be used to represent multi-
dimensional data in a compact manner and are a
quick way to qualitatively assess the performance of a
campaign. Even without viewing the data metrics the
facial expressions below intuitively tell which campaigns
did well and which did not based on the perceived
“mood” of each campaign. Even though the metrics
represent the performance of 25 campaigns in six
dimensions, it is fairly simple to pick out the good and
bad performers very quickly.

One caveat: Chernoff faces cannot make quantitative
assessments about data. For example, the faces show
that Boston is not doing well – but without specifics. For
more information on Chernoff faces and understanding
how to use them in campaigns, visit the Wikipedia
Chernoff face page.

communications tactics to improve your digital showing all the numbers – even the negative – the
communications across the enterprise, with newsletter will be viewed more objectively and read
management and with clients. more frequently.

1. Newsletters 2. Executive Updates
A dedicated, monthly newsletter is a great way to Someone somewhere is always watching the numbers
spread news. The challenge is to get people to read and it is better to be seen as the go-to person for data
it. The best approach is to apply best practices for about digital marketing programs. Set up regular
email marketing to the newsletter. Focus on relevant face-time with executives to discuss all aspects of
information for the audience; include graphs tracking the team’s digital campaigns and articulate the wins,
the KPIs readers watch. Another tactic is to include challenges and opportunities. This way it is easier to
short-form tips and how-to articles that are just a manage the message and ensure that critical PPC and
paragraph in length but allow readers to assimilate SEO programs stay top of mind in the executive suite.
information quickly. This makes the newsletter useful Ultimately, it is critical that management understands
and easy to consume. how this work fits into the organization’s overall
strategy and direction.
To shake things up a bit, consider adding an element
of fun to the newsletter by reporting multi-dimensional 3. Face-to-Face Meetings
data using the Chernoff method (see sidebar), which Too many search marketers spend too much time
adds a human element to data results. building reports and sending them to people, when the
best way to encourage those people to act is to meet
Don’t publish negative numbers in a newsletter that with them face to face after they’ve received automated
haven’t been previously discussed face-to-face with reports. This is effective relationship building and will
the group responsible for the data. By meeting prior to pay dividends when critical cross-channel work items
publishing the newsletter, problems can be addressed need to be completed.
and a consensus gained on how to fix the issues. By



This type of meeting can be as simple as stopping in Today’s search technology has made such integration
the hallway or as formal as a planned session with possible – but not necessarily easy. The challenge
a pre-set agenda. Discuss with co-workers which is to put the organizational structure in place to
approach best fits their styles and daily schedules and support such integration. Too many brands still hold
try to be flexible to fit their needs. n and manage staff and data in silos that fail to reap
the return that integrated search can provide. The
solution is to centralize the search function as much as
Conclusion possible to encourage digital team members to work
collaboratively and not competitively. Better cross-
Ultimately, well optimized and successfully integrated channel communication will lead to more data sharing
SEO and PPC campaigns are a powerful combination. and improved bottom-line results. n
Numerous synergies exist between PPC and SEO and
virtually any type of digital marketing promotion –
from launching a new product, website or microsite
to maximizing tight budgets and site redesigns – will
benefit by integrating and leveraging both.

Search Marketing Now webcasts and white papers provide authoritative and actionable education about search
engine marketing issues. Register today for one of our free webcasts covering topics about search engine
optimization, paid search advertising and search marketing in general.

Search Marketing Now is a division of Third Door Media, which publishes web sites, and produces in-person
events and webcasts. Each of the four brands - Search Engine Land, Search Marketing Expo, Search Marketing
Now, and Sphinn - fosters continuing education, evolution and engagement for the community we serve.


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