DMA09: The Rise of Universal Search

Posted on October 19th, 2009 in Shows and Events by Angie

I arrived in San Diego for DMA09 this morning just moments before the show started. Luckily, our hotel is right next to the conference center. Still, I was glowing after the two minute walk to the center. The wet, buttery sea-level air is too much for this Denver girl. I’ll just have to grin and bear it for the next few days–or just hide out in the air conditioning the whole time, which is my preference.

I b-lined it to our booth to greet our team already there, then headed off to my first session: “The Rise of Universal Search.”

I wanted to attend this session to see what the direct marketing community–a group that we clearly identify with because of the direct response nature of search, but one that has not always shared our fascination with online marketing–was doing with search marketing. Most of the shows we attend are specifically search or at least online marketing focused. So I was curious to see how advanced these sessions were, and thus how advanced the DM community is as a whole.

As I said, I missed the first half of the session, so I can’t speak to the entire panel, but I noticed that the level seemed to be intermediate at most. This was especially apparent during the Q & A section at the end when all talk focused on keyword selection advice. But I did catch a few snippets of knowledge from the last two speakers:

Unfortunately, I did not get the woman’s name, but the first thing I heard from her was a perfect one-liner: “Rankings don’t mean revenue.” This is a great piece of advice and something we intimate to all of our clients. Moving up in the positions is fabulous to see, and typically means more traffic, but it doesn’t guarantee sales. You must take steps on your actual website to ensure that you are getting sales (e.g., clear paths to conversion, motivational calls to action, etc.). You need to be aware, and be okay with the fact, that SEO is a long process.

She also touched on branded vs. non-branded keywords; most sales come from branded keywords, but you should understand how general, non-branded terms are adding to your sales. Don’t discredit these terms.

These are a few of her fav-orite tools: SpyFu; Wordle (she uses it for blogs and competitor sites to get a visual representation of the main words); Thumbshots.com (for search engine comparisons); Touchgraph.com (networking/relationship tool); YSlow (site performance), Aardvark (quick view of CSS and tags on a page); and all Firefox SEO plug-ins.

Next up was David Lloyd, search marketing manager for Cisco, Inc. David started out discussing some case studies for work done for Cisco. He mentioned a YouTube video they pushed out, and highlighted the two places you can put links: in the video descriptions section, and in the actual video.

When it comes to finding the best keywords, David stressed that you need to find the “sweet spot” (or what one audience member later called the “Golden Triangle”) between the three Ds–demand, distinction and delivery.

As I mentioned before, the Q & A section focused mostly on keywords and how to select the best ones. Each of the panelists stressed the need for relevant keywords, and that they are “the number one thing you must do right.” A very true statement, but if you select the proper keywords then simply bid on them and optimize site structure once, you’ll never be successful.

I did, however, enjoy one of the last statement made: “Unbranded keywords are the point of market entry; branded keywords are the sale.”

I’ll be posting recaps or reviews of others sessions, so be sure to check back often or subscribe. And follow us on Twitter (@Location3) for more updates and random thoughts.