State of Organic Search

The State of Organic Search:

Understanding the Digital Audience

Index | Contents

The State o f the Industry and the Rise of Search Marketing

Navigating Industry Dynamics

Customer Case Studies

The State of the Industry and the Rise of Search Marketing

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The explosion of content, dominance of mobile devices, and the emergence of social media are transforming how brands connect with consumers. According to a joint study conducted in 2013 by Response Mine Interactive and BrightEdge, 65% of businesses attribute more than $1 million in monthly revenue to digital channels—and over 35% of marketers credit SEO with at least 30% of monthly revenue—giving digital consumers a greater influence in driving profit than ever before.

of businesses attribute more than $1 million in monthly revenue to digital channels.

How much revenue does your company generate on a monthly basis from all digital channels?

60%

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brightedge.comThe State of Organic Search: Understanding the Digital Audience

60%

2

The State of the Industry and the Rise of Search MarketingBetween the ease of sharing content and the accessibility of information, over 60% of consumers are online several times per day, giving marketers fantastic opportunities for connection and outreach.

of consumers are online several times per day according to Internet Society

Search engines are an essential resource for consumers to research potential purchases.

The Response Mine Interactive and BrightEdge study reveals that 40% of respondents classify SEO as a direct response channel, spurring consumers to make purchase decisions and thus motivating marketers to make SEO an integral part of their marketing strategy.

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60%In order to remain competitive, brands have adopted new techniques to understanding the dynamics of SEO within the industry: 60% of marketers regularly review the competitive landscape of their SEO channel. Once an optional investment, SEO has become a necessity for digital marketers to better understand the competitive landscape.

40%classify SEO as a

direct response channel

regularly review their

SEO channel

3


Search marketing remains one of the highest ROI channels for delivering significant business results. Organic search tactics prove particularly lucrative and e�cient when optimizing content accordingly, generating 25% of quality leads and an industry-leading 15% of sales conversions for brands.

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15%25% of quality leads

of sales conversions

SEO

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1

1 Hubspot

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Response Mine Interactive and BrightEdge report that 56% of survey respondents plan to increase investment in SEO over the next two years, solidifying SEO as a key channel of the search marketing industry.

56%

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The search industry’s constant evolution has given rise to various movements in the marketing industry and has provided invaluable opportunities for brands to further grow their reach, engage with consumers, and increase conversion rates.

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grow reachengage with consumersincrease conversion rates

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The Shift from Keyword to Content

The recent release of Google’s newest search algorithm, Hummingbird, has initiated a transition away from the keyword-centric SEO tactics that marketers had grown accustomed to. With Google’s move to secure search, marketers can no longer rely on keyword-level conversion data, inspiring them to develop new solutions to increase reach and measure organic conversions.

Now, marketers are gearing their focus toward high-quality, sharable content to drive connection with consumers across channels and devices. Consequently, content marketing has become the backbone of marketing e�orts industry wide. While SEO is certainly not dead, it has been swept up in the content marketing movement and integrated to create an entirely new industry model.

7

focus toward high-quality,

sharable content


The Emergence of Mobile

Mobile also presents a significant marketing opportunity for brands to extend their reach and engage with consumers. With the wide range of mobile devices and digital material accessible around the clock, consumers expect to interact with brands almost constantly.

As far as revenue goes, the return on mobile is staggering: mobile revenue more than doubled from $1.2 billion in the first six months of last year to $3 billion in 2013, an increase of 145%.

Plus, in 2014, 3 in 4 marketers plan to spend more on mobile.

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145%

3 in 4

8

increase in mobile revenue in 2013

marketers plan to spend more on mobile in 20142

3

2 IAB3 Webmarketing 123

Navigating Industry DynamicsMarketing for Social MediaThe extreme popularity and immediacy of social media o�ers even further opportunity through sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Consumers spend over 3 hours per day on these social channels , so keeping up to speed on social channels guarantees consumer reach. In addition, 1 in 5 B2B and 1 in 3 B2C marketers have generated revenue from social marketing tactics. For an all-encompassing marketing strategy, spreading content across social channels and optimizing these platforms for search success o�ers an entirely unique medium for brands.

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Connecting directly with consumers has never been more interactive.

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4

4 IPSOS5 Webmarketing 123

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Navigating Industry DynamicsSearch TechnologyWith extensive opportunities for accelerating the reach of a brand and content across channels, these changes in the marketing industry encourage companies to adjust their search strategies to adapt. BrightEdge’s S3 has become the industry standard SEO platform by providing a comprehensive solution that allows marketers to maximize business results from their SEO and content programs in the new secure search world.

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As a result over 8,500 brands trust theBrightEdge platform to drive tra�c, revenue, and engagement from their content across channels including search, social, and mobile.

1Navigating Industry DynamicsSearch TechnologyAccording to the Response Mine Interactive and BrightEdge survey, SEO is viewed as the channel with the highest potential for growth. In addition, the Response Mine Interactive and BrightEdge survey is based on median spend of $200,000 on digital marketing programs every month. Of these, 24.6% spend between $200,000 and $1,000,000 while 23% spend over $1,000,000 on their digital marketing programs every month.

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SEO is viewed as the channel with the highest potential for growth

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Navigating Industry DynamicsSearch TechnologyWith BrightEdge’s S3 platform, marketers manage the entire lifecycle of their SEO and content marketing programs end-to-end. In the following, we discuss three key use cases that critically determine the success of the programs.

Paid searchSEO

Display/RetargetingPLA&CSEs

EmailPR

Content MarketingA�liate Marketing

5

34

21

0

5

10

15

20

Marketers rate the growth potential that exists for their programs in the following digital channels on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the best).

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Search Technology

Forecasting enables brands to evaluate the impact of ranking improvements, while creating high-quality content to cover all marketing opportunities. Additionally, as new mobile and social movements emerge, determining how to optimize e�orts using mobile SEO, hash tags, and relevancy is increasingly important.

5 10 15 20 25 35

The State of Organic Search: Understanding the Digital Audience13responsemine.com

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Paid search

Display/Retargeting

PLA & CSEs

Email

PR

Content Marketing

A�liate Marketing

For which channels do you currently perform regular revenue forecasting?

SEO

Navigating Industry DynamicsSearch TechnologyForecasting

With BrightEdge’s Forecasting capabilities, marketers can analyze the performance of their content across all channels; including search, social, and mobile and marketers are able to focus SEO e�orts on pinpointing high-impact keywords and content themes to predict revenue on search projects especially since keyword data is no longer available.

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Forecasting

Knowing what keywords will add value to a brand presents a huge advantage to marketers, allowing brands to align resources at the lowest cost.

Navigating Industry DynamicsSearch Technology

Share of Voice

For higher-level competitive analysis, a search marketing strategy is not complete without BrightEdge’s Share of Voice capabilities. Share of Voice technology o�ers a detailed competitive analysis across digital channels, where marketers can determine how a competitor ranks based on individual keywords or groups of keywords, and how their pages rank using those keywords.

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In light of the marketing industry’s recent move toward content-centric search marketing, Share of Voice technology proves particularly valuable.

Navigating Industry DynamicsSearch TechnologyShare of Voice

Content marketing aims to generate a consumer following through leading industry thought, and consumers often trust brands with the largest Share of Voice on important industry topics. Especially socially, curating and dominating online conversations on industry topics establishes brands as leaders even further.

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Navigating Industry DynamicsSearch TechnologyShare of Voice

Understanding Share of Voice within search marketing can help marketers determine where to pinpoint search strategy to stay on top of industry competitors and can solidify a company’s position as a trusted industry thought leader.

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Share of Voice can solidify a company’s position as a trusted industry thought leader.

Navigating Industry DynamicsSearch TechnologyPage Reporting

With so many di�erent opportunities available to connect with audiences —via search engines, mobile devices, and social channels—and so much resulting content, understanding performance is more important than ever and allows brands to adjust their strategy accordingly. BrightEdge’s Page Reporting o�ers a full analysis of site content across the board and picks up where secure search analytics leave o�, guaranteeing valuable information for companies to better develop a successful search marketing strategy.

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Using Page Reporting, companies are given access to extensive page breakdowns across revenue, growth, and conversions, o�ering knowledge about public reception and predicting future growth accordingly.

Case Studies

For house cleaning company Maid Brigade, search marketing serves as a productive companion to the company’s overall marketing strategy. Maid Brigade partners with Response Mine Interactive, an agency that uses BrightEdge technology to help the company with its goals of increasing organic site tra�c and acquiring submissions via online estimate forms. As a national brand with over 100 franchises, local and national content is leveraged as a key onsite tool in the search space.

At the local level, search marketing is the key strategy in Maid Brigade’s repertoire. So far, the company’s e�orts have been rewarded: Director of Marketing, Whitney Samuelson reports that the company’s content often appears on the first search results page. If the brand were to increase their SEO budget, Samuelson says, they would continue to emphasize local content. “Our budgets are really driven by franchises contributing to royalties, so when spending our budget we have to keep in mind what’s important for them. Over the past 4-5 years, their message to us on where they want their dollars spent has been SEO,” she explains.

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by franchises contributing to royalties, so when spending our budget we have to keep in mind what’s important for them. Over the past 4-5 years, theirmessage to us on where they want their dollars spent has been SEO”

“Our budgets are really driven

Case Studies

According to the Response Mine Interactive and BrightEdge survey, 63% of respondents invest in content marketing.

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10 20 30

Paid search

Display/Retargeting

PLA&C

Email

PR

Content Marketing

A�liate Marketing

With search marketing software as a reliable partner in their future marketing endeavors, Maid Brigade continues to rely on digital search marketing strategy to spotlight local content and spread the brand’s story.

While their locally driven plan works well, Samuelson does highlight predictive technology like forecasting as a potential benefit to their plan. “It would be particularly helpful in our case, because we could see how it’s working for some of our localities. It would be helpful for testing and piloting di�erent ideas,” she says.

SEO

Case Studies

Lawn care company TruGreen, utilizes carefully curated social media practices to strengthen the company’s search marketing strategy and ultimately drive engagement with the site. With social media strategy assistance from a 3rd party partner, TruGreen utilizes Response Mine Interactive for important keyword insight that helps the brand tailor their content to a relevant audience. As TruGreen’s John Hasselle explains, “We’ve layered on a social and content component to our SEO. The approach is more about getting our visitors engaged and putting content out there that is available to them. We are getting information to people that they want to see.”

To best provide this essential information to their audience, TruGreen has developed a presence across several social networks, including Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest. By building a solid following on social channels and posting consistently sharable content, the brand has supplemented its search marketing e�orts to allow for extensive improvement.

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“We’ve layered on a social and content component to our SEO. The approach is more about getting our visitors engaged and putting content out there that is available to them. We are getting information to people that they want to see.”

Case Studies

“We have had a ton of growth this year in terms of organic business and organic sales. Going forward, our plan will be more about defining our service for customers so we can grab people who are searching for this information. We will focus on who is visiting our site and how can we tailor content to attract potential customers,” Hasselle says. Utilizing industry keywords and implementing their use across social media has allowed TruGreen to take advantage of the follower engagement made possible by these social networks and direct attention to the TruGreen site.

While Hasselle is satisfied by TruGreen’s social program and its benefit to the brand’s overall SEO value, he believes that predictive capabilities, like forecasting, would be a hugely valuable addition. Because social media is a relatively untapped resource for many brands, determining where to align e�orts would help TruGreen optimize return and secure a position at the forefront of social strategy. As Hasselle explains, “it would be great to know where our gaps are and where our opportunities are. We don't have a holistic view into keyword relevance and conversion rates yet.” Using social media to propagate relevant content and valuable keywords to their target audience, TruGreen’s social media marketing strategy has allowed the brand to escalate reach and drive search success.

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“Utilizing industry keywords and implementing their use across social media has allowed TruGreen to take advantage of the follower engagement made possible by these social networks and direct attention to the TruGreen site.”

Case Studies

For social expressions company PaperStyle, balancing search marketing with customer demand has facilitated the brand’s success. As part of their overall strategy, PaperStyle has implemented a two-pronged focus on SEO, prioritizing both on- and o�-site e�orts. On-site, Response Mine Interactive o�ers extensive keyword data in order to ensure proper content terminology, this allows PaperStyle to cater appropriately to site visitors and attract search engine attention. O�-site, PaperStyle counts on Response Mine Interactive to promote valuable content, making sure that Google recognizes the brand as an important resource for customers.

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“We’ve found that an amazing amount of our site tra�c can be attributed to this content, and so all of that goes into our SEO e�orts with other websites to establish links to valuable content that we o�er.”

Among PaperStyle’s own priorities, thoughtful, valuable content ranks high. As President David Grocer explains, “We provide content that’s valuable, and a lot of people find suggested wording posts helpful. We’ve found that an amazing amount of our site tra�c can be attributed to this content, and so all of that goes into our SEO e�orts with other websites to establish links to valuable content that we o�er.” By partnering PaperSyle’s original, relevant content with the SEO tactics provided by Response Mine Interactive, the brand’s marketing e�orts align with their commitment to assisting their customers with emotional purchases.

Case Studies

In terms of the longevity of the SEO industry, Grocer was extremely hopeful. By capitalizing on search engines, where consumers make many important spending decisions, Grocer believes that SEO has the significance necessary for a successful marketing movement.

The ROI on SEO provides an advantage to many companies, including PaperStyle itself: “Paid search has become even more competitive and costly, and less e�cient; you’re lucky to get out with a small margin. As an alternative, SEO is more a�ordable,” Grocer says. Despite the success of PaperStyle’s integrated search marketing strategy, Grocer believes that predictive capabilities would enhance the program dramatically: “If we knew, for example, that we had content on our baby shower page that would resonate with the search engines—or if we knew it wouldn’t—it would make a big di�erence for us. We compromise on web aesthetics because we fear that, if we improve our aesthetics, we will lose our SEO performance. So if we knew this kind of data ahead of time, that would be hugely valuable.” Even without forecasting capabilities, PaperStyle’s search marketing strategy has proven successful, especially as it remains under the scope of the company’s commitment to its customers.

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competitive and costly, and less e�cient; you’re lucky to get out with a small margin. As an alternative, SEO is more a�ordable”

“Paid search has become even more

The State of Organic Search: Understanding the Digital Audience

About BrightEdge

BrightEdge is the global leader in enterprise SEO, helping more than 8,400 of the world’s largest brands stay ahead in the rapidly evolving Internet landscape. The BrightEdge SEO platform harnesses the power of analytics on big-data to drive revenue from web sites, search engines and social networks across the globe in a measurable, predictable way. BrightEdge is based in San Mateo, CA with o�ces in New York City and London.

About Response Mine Interactive

At Response Mine Interactive (RMI), we believe that our marketing e�orts should deliver better profits. How we do that is through a holistic and systemic approach that allows us to focus on your needs in a way that produces results. Our proprietary methodologies were formed based on our belief that everything should be measured and that testing improves marketing. Underlying all of our processes to get the most out of those results is our devotion to providing truthful feedback in all situations.

State of Organic Search

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