What's Missing from Search Engine Marketing August 27, 2008
Posted by debbiepascoe in accessibility, high performance site analytics, privacy, quality, search engine optimization, usability, web analytics, web design, web standards.Tags: SEM, SEO, web analytics
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First Michael Wexler holds up the mirror and asks “What Web Analytics is Missing”. Now Gerry Bavaro ponders the same thing about search engine marketing. Is there something in the water?
Gerry’s article is behind a password over at MediaPost, so I’ll summarize a few key points:
He starts out sharing feedback from people who attended the recent SES in San Jose.
“…it was really tactical…the widespread feelings primarily from agency folks about the state of our industry’s most popular trade shows reveal that they’re missing something….we’re not an industry that places the consumer at the center. Even worse, our channel (which gleans the most comprehensive, valuable intent data possible), is still a siloed, ancillary function in many organizations. “
OK, stop. I remember somebody else talking about disciplines fragmented (siloed) in organizations and how ineffective and ineffecient it is….oh, yeah, that was me, in February, 2007:
And again in February 2008 – Top Four Characteristics of the Optimal Web Team
And again in June 2008 – Web Optimization Defined
And again in July of 2008 – Continuing the Conversation with Joseph Carrabis
And again in the Response to Michael Wexler’s Post re:What Web Analytics is Missing
The words “broken record” come to mind.
So I wonder if they’ve been reading my blog, or have just finally come to the teachable moment on their own 
His next point:
“Where Are The Experts When “Everybody” Is An Expert? …we’ve created a virtually indistinguishable society of search marketers without a highly respected short list of true expert agencies….how to find the true experts…”
An excellent observation, and a question worth pondering. While I don’t eat, sleep and breathe SEM, and SEM and SEO are third cousins, not identical twins, analyzing a site for its “indexability” by search engines is one of the aspects of holistic site structural quality and an important part of SEM. You can’t run an SEM campaign extolling the virtues of nice cab savs and merlots and then attract people to a site selling soy milk. I would love to know how to find the true experts. We could have some interesting conversations.
“Do We Even Care What Clients Actually Think? …I’d love to know whether, as the WPP’s, IPG’s and Publicis’ of the world continue banking on digital and staffing up their search postures, their clients are happy or disappointed.”
What a clear-eyed and relevant question to ask. Congrats, Gerry for being brave enough to voice it.
“Where’s Strategic Vision & Best Practices Beyond Our Sandbox? ….Are discussions about the challenges and rewards of breaking down silos in global businesses and transforming operational processes to effectively manage change, what’s missing?”
Bravo – give that man a prize. None of these disciplines – not web analytics, not search engine marketing, not search engine optimization, not VOC, not A/B testing – none of them can stand alone. And the answer to his question is YES. We (I and my colleagues at Accenture Marketing Sciences) are out in the market every day talking to organizations about this very thing, and people are responding positively.
I do disagree with one concept:
“…the sleeping giants in the SEM industry are technologies that will go far beyond bid management, Web analytics, and post-click landing page optimization systems.”
The technologies are merely the means to an end. Without breaking down the silos, recognizing that Web sites must be treated as an asset, at the same level as land, labor and capital, with deliberate attention to the business strategy and how the Web properties contribute postively to it, and then implementing the governance structures, processes and infrastructure to support that vision, the technologies are nothing more than a shiny toy.
Do you agree or disagree? Isn’t it time to come together and realize that it’s not either/or…it’s and, and, and, and, and…..
Web Optimization Defined June 18, 2008
Posted by debbiepascoe in high performance site analytics, metrics and measurement, quality, search, search engine optimization, usability, web analytics, web design, web standards.Tags: page rank, SEM, SEO, transformation, web analytics, web optimization, web standards
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I have noticed that variations on the term “web optimization” are increasingly bringing traffic to the blog – “what is web optimization’, “how to do web optimization”, for example. In checking my stats, these variations were by far the top terms in the past 90 days. This just tells me it’s time to describe this in fuller detail.
Web optimization is much bigger than increasing your Google page rank, increasing your page views, having a sexier design, identifying web analytics KPIs or any of the other facets of the prism you can name. While each of those activities is important, and we are happy that there are people who focus on them intently enough to become subject matter experts, none of them can stand alone. None has the magic pixie dust that will, if sprinkled correctly, yield the optimal web experience for users and beaucoup dollars for the site owners.
The evolution of these different disciplines, while important and necessary, has had some unfortunate side effects. The surveys I conducted in Dec/January reflect an example of these side effects. Web analytics practitioners are often isolated in their organizations. They have significant challenges in getting people to listen and take action. The person they report to is frequently not at a high enough level to effect changes across the site.
Web optimization is the “big tent” that not only welcomes, but actually needs all disciplines. To optimize, site owners must utilize complementary solutions that enable them to bring together data from different sources so they can make informed decisions.
We are out in the market every day, talking to companies about their web properties. What we know is that companies are tired of being confused, and are looking for a way forward. And that way combines these elements:
- Strategic alignment – ensure that the site strategy is aligned with business goals
- Structural integrity – ensure the site is structurally sound and is delivering a good visitor experience and that the key areas are being continually optimized.
- Governance – implementation of solutions, methods and practices that facilitate continuous improvement and monitoring of digital assets all across the organization, for quality and compliance metrics, search optimization, web analytics measurements, survey results, advertising campaign effectiveness.
You can not optimize in a sub-optimal environment. The fragmentation has to stop. It is costly and inefficient. Companies are spending huge amounts of money, hiring agencies, buying solutions, and training employees to create, manage, market and monitor web sites, and this fragmentation muddies the waters and keeps companies from truly understanding whether their activities yield – or are even capable of yielding – the results they want for themselves and their visitors.
This message is resonating loud and clear with the people we talk to. It clears away the “magic pixie dust” cacaphony that surrounds and bombards their senses every day. It’s water in the desert, light in the dark, it’s……well, i’ve run out of pithy metaphors, but you get the picture
Do you agree or disagree? What are your observations?
Top Four Characteristics of the Optimal Web Team February 13, 2008
Posted by debbiepascoe in accessibility, content management, high performance site analytics, quality, search engine optimization, usability, web analytics, web design, web standards.Tags: accessibility, optimal web team, optimization, search, SEM, SEO, web analytics
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It doesn’t take too much reading and talking to people to recognize just how fragmented the various web management related disciplines are within organizations. This was recently reinforced by the results of the two surveys I did – Where in the Organization is the Web Analyst and What in the Organization does the Web Analyst Do. I also ran across a survey over the weekend that was done by the Internet Strategy Forum(PDF doc) that mirrored my findings in a lot of ways.
This is not a criticism – in fact quite the contrary. Even though the web has been around for what seems like a long time now – can you remember how you did certain things before the web, like locate addresses on a map, look up a phone number or make travel reservations – the “web” organizational structure has not yet reached equilibrium. It is still evolving, the moving pieces are still being identified, and people are working to get their heads around how those pieces fit together. With that as the backdrop, here is my list of the top four characteristics that the Optimal Web Team will have.
1. The Optimal Web Team will be multi-disciplinary. Currently, web analysts are gaining in numbers and growing as a discipline. SEO/SEM people may be in the same work group, but there are equal odds that they are in a different work group. Content contributors are scattered through the organization, and the people managing the content management system, if there is one, are in another organization altogether. The Optimal Web Team will be a multi-disciplinary team, where people with specific expertise will work closely and regularly to make decisions based on a 360 degree view of the complexities that impact data quality, site quality and compliance issues.
2. The Optimal Web Team will report to a senior level executive. Organizations have come a long way from “the web as IT…thing” to “the web as mission critical”. Increasingly processes are performed by employees, vendors, investors, customers, and prospects via web-enabled pages and forms. Even so, organizations have not yet fully recognized their web investment as equal to land, labor and capital. It is that important, and the management of it must be at a level in the organization that reflects that importance.
3. The Optimal Web Team will have a bigger seat and a louder voice. The current state of fragmentation results in people reporting into lower levels of the organization and despite investments in tools and training, the expertise that these people are developing is often not heard at a level within the organization that can effect changes as a result.
4. The Optimal Web Team will manage what it doesn’t directly control. Organizations everywhere are employing web analysts and people with SEO/SEM expertise. At the same time, other disciplines such as voice-of-the-customer (VOC) surveys, A/B and multi-variate testing are frequently best done by organizations that do it for a living. Content management will continue to loom large and touch many parts of the organization as the number of contributors continues to grow.
The Optimal Web Team will consist of people with specific expertise sharing knowledge across disciplinary lines, leveraging existing market expertise when it makes sense and coordinating requirements like content contribution and defect correction that are, of necessity, dispersed throughout the organization.
