Attracting traffic: Search engines and affiliates

Question 1

What is the initial importance of what search should provide? (2 points)

Answer 1

1. The perfect search engine understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want
   - Larry Page
2. Search can influence important decisions about someones life, health or a major purchase, or an entrepreneurs quest for an acquisition target (employers looking for a profile)

Question 2

What is the intentions of databases? (3 things)

Answer 2

1. Location is vital: (google realised it needed to use ads for its revenue)
2. Paid and Organic- slots
3. Search solutions aim to provide relevancy

Question 3

What are spiders? (4 points)

Answer 3

1. A program that visits websites and reads their pages and other information in order to create entries for a search engine index.
2. Ranking measure to see how good websites actually are
3. Can only read a certain type of content (e.g. no images)
   need alternatives that a spider can make sense of is then needed.
4. Important for people with equal opportunities that can’t see images

Question 4

How was search optimisation developed? (4)

Answer 4

1. Getting to the top of results: achieve higher rankings in the organic result
2. Early days keyword locations and frequency was crucial (lots of key words would get you to the top of the page)
3. Junk results dominated the web, difficult to find what you searched for (porn, gambling) made millions of pounds= pages which trick SE and users.
4. Assumed position of google: they assumed the web master is devious, what dubious pages do we not like add to algorithm

Question 5

What are some spamming techniques? (5)

Answer 5

1. Automated content (generated text, exact same text. no effort in developing content)
2. Key word manipulation: pages should not suggest they are about something else
3. Doorway pages: set up 50 pages about every popular subject then redirect people to the real page (SE will watch for redirects)
4. Hidden text: e.g. white text, user can’t see it but the search engine does see it.
5. Link schemes: one of the measure is backlinks, number quantity and credibility. people start to buy and sell links.

Question 6

what are the key issues in search optimisation? (3)

Answer 6

1. Search register: image optimisation issues
2. Duplicate content: can make it difficult for google to register the most authoritative version, which makes it harder to appear higher up in searches
3. Lack of meta description content: Having an engaging meta description can entice people to visit a page or reassure them they are about to view the content they are looking for.

Question 7

What are the key ideas of page rank? (5)

Answer 7

1. Work on citation idea: Many citations means it is good (quantity and quality)
2. Age of page: Means credible (older the better)
3. Anchor text: text that is on a link. should never say “click here”.
4. The higher up the better, should be naturally done not paid for.
5. PR is really big in this area. will build traffic.

Question 8

What is text analysis? (4)

Answer 8

1. The process of deriving high-quality information from text.
2. Google uses hyper text analysis on page
3. Use of relevant keywords: frequency and density (one word, 100% keyword score)
4. Title tag: the top that has the search term in them, this is what search will see. have to be descriptive and tell people what it is.

Question 9

What are sitemaps? (3)

Answer 9

1. A site map is a list of pages on a site
   2 form of index that secure that bot see relevant information (meta data), normally not needed
2. for search engines only

= help bots understand your page and relevance “crawlers”

Question 10

What are the issues of user generated content in search results? (2)

Answer 10

1. It should be harder to manipulate, but bots are still alternating contents

Question 11

Does Social Media help SEO? (2)

Answer 11

Yes,

1. Idea of the crowd, a lot of content coming from a lot of people.
2. It is natural in the way it comes through

Question 12

How does the growth of mobile search help SEO? (2)

Answer 12

1. Can add call extensions and app extensions to search engines
2. 30% of app download are from search

Question 13

What is a landing page? (4)

Answer 13

1. A single web page that appears in response to clicking on a search engine optimised search result, marketing promotion, marketing email, or an online advertisement.
2. It is a key for all methods of attractions
3. Should connect to what they’ve searched for (no extra work) landing page needs to fit the idea of the decision making process
4. Customised

Question 14

What is the Long tail? (1 + ex)

Answer 14

1. A long tail of some distributions of searches is the portion of the distribution having a large number of occurrences far from the “head” or central part of the distribution.
   E.g. Coffee (bigger traffic) -> Coffee Beans -> coffee beans machine -> Nespresso barista coffee filters (niche)

Question 15

What about limits of search? (4 points)

Answer 15

1. Typically broad
2. Search is limited
3. Customers act in a variety of ways (thinkwithgoogle)
4. Walled gardens

Question 16

What is good about paid search? (3)

Answer 16

1. Results are auctioned off (dynamic PPC auctions)
2. Flexible and accountable: Turn and off
3. Removal of side results increase value of results (property is more valuable)

Question 17

What are the dangers of paid search? (3)

Answer 17

1. Fraud (general issue)
2. ROI
3. Limits

Question 18

What determines the bid level of paid search? (3)

Answer 18

1. Depends on the trigger to switch (often you have to renew it). e.g. car insurance or bank accounts are not as often renewed, therefore higher bidding price.
2. More money in certain industries and higher competitions: will drive bidding price. E.g. dentist more expensive than doctors due to things such as teeth whitening and other services.
3. Conversion therefore has to be good if bid level is high

Question 19

What are affiliates? (5)

Answer 19

1. 3rd parties which provide clicks on a CPC’s (cost per clicks), CPS ( cost per sale) or CPA ( cost per actions)
2. Should offer information relevant to market
3. Most large sites have affiliate programmes
4. Typically run via a network (3rd party) or sometimes in -house directly
5. Links are typically quite long, can tell by the source of the link

Question 20

Why do brands use Affiliates? (2)

Answer 20

1. It generates interest and revenues (e.g. daily mail)

2. Get a rate on the sale if clicked through the website

Question 21

What is meant by influencers as affiliates? (2)

Answer 21

1. They are also affiliates, through affiliate marketing
   e. g. bloggers generate content and click through shops links on blogs.
2. ASOS have influencers in the company (vertical integration)

e.g. of affiliates for influencers (in-styles)

Question 22

What are the dangers of affiliate marketing? (4)

Answer 22

1. It can damage the brand and brand consistency (what kind of cites do they come out on, e.g. next to a dodgy ad)
2. It is notorious for click fraud (use for on sales basis)
3. Problems of controlling and policing such sites
4. Quality issues (networks are used to secure this)