Winning the war of search results

THE PHILIPPINES, NOVEMBER 2011: Google has become an unconscious part of people’s daily lives. The verb form “google” has even become an acceptable, politically correct term for looking up something through the search engine. 

 

But Google is so focused on arranging information that marketers can lose control of their own brands. “Every keyword search result is a raging battle,” said Todd Malicoat (left), an internet and search engine marketing specialist and consultant, best known online as “Stuntdubl”. So what do you do to come out on top of the results list? How do you use search engines in order to market your product effectively? Are social media marketing strategies as effective as they claim?

 

These were the questions discussed in detail during the three-day Search Engine Marketing Conference (SEMCON) held at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City last October 25 to 27. The event, organized by Fiera de Manila, included an SEO workshop for the first day and website clinics at the end of the last two days.

 

 

Leading the pack of seminar speakers were Malicoat and Charlie Ellis, SEO Specialist of Gallant Fish. Malicoat and Ellis both agreed that while a presence in social media platforms would definitely raise your chances of being found through search engines, it is not right to create a Facebook or Twitter account just for the sake having them. “Social media is a double-edged sword,” warned Ellis. “Page views don’t translate to value. People go online mostly to complain. It’s easier to hate on something than to praise it.”

 

It is best to use terms that your customers and potential clients already use. Study and analyze the way people use their search engines – they might be using “gear” instead of “equipment” and you might not rank in these searches. However, simply using the terms repetitively in your website will not do the trick. Google Panda, launched just this year, is an algorithm developed to push down the suspicious, unreliable sites and push up the trustworthy, high-quality sites up in the search results.

 

Structuring a website in a linear (not too many links to get to the “deepest” level) manner and scheduling posts so that they do not come on top of one another are among the best solutions. Posting one after another “covers” the other posts or updates that may be significant to your audiences. Myles Vives, COO of Internet Marketing Inc., puts it into perspective: “It’s not that they (the consumer) don’t want to see it. It’s because they don’t actually see it.”

 

Conference topics covered tools and methods that can be used to determine your site’s performance, Facebook edge-rank ratings, online reputation management, and better user experience for better page rankings.

 

Speakers for the 5th SEMCON also included Carlo Ople, Head of Multimedia at TV; Allan Caeg, senior product manager of US Auto Parts;  Marc Macalua, founder of SEO Philippines; Benj Arriola, SEO director of Internet Marketing Inc.; and Hans Koch, president of Search Marketing at ClickEleven.com.