Posts Tagged ‘SearchVoice’

Marketing Strategy, Search & SEO, User-Generated Content

Nadia King Discovering search in London

March 2nd, 2010 by Nadia King SEO Specialist, Social Analytics

A little over a week ago, I made the trip to chilly London to attend the Search Engine Strategies London show. Overall, it was an informative conference, with a solid cast of speakers and a nice variety of in-house and agency SEOs. I was especially looking forward to insight from the UK and EU SEO industry experts about what is unique – or maybe not so unique – about optimizing content for various search engines in Europe.

Across the UK, Google continues to dominate search engine market share (even more than they do in the US) at over 85%, and Yahoo and Bing split the remainder. And this ratio hasn’t changed in two years — it’s clear that Bing has not made as much effort as they have on this side of the pond.

Here are some thoughts from the various sessions throughout the week:

Keynote Day 1, Avinash Kaushik

  • Avinash spoke about monetizing the long-tail of keyword traffic, as he has discussed on his blog. We work on this consistently with our clients –user-generated content drives traffic from 1,000 – 100,000 different keywords in a single month across clients of all sizes.
  • To make this advice actionable: (1) Assign goal values to actions on the site (for example, £0.50p for a newsletter signup, or £0.30p for a downloaded whitepaper) and rank keywords based on the sum of their goal values. (2) Add long-tail keywords into pay-per-click campaigns.

Managing a Global SEO Campaign

  • Many of the panelists mentioned a standard best practice — put content on country-specific top-level domains (TLDs) so that the search engines are more likely to return your content to the correct country’s searchers. For example, put French content on www.company.fr and German content on www.company.de.
  • Actionable advice from the panel: (1) Create list of Keywords in English, (2) Create a glossary that includes definitions of every word, (3) Send both of these to your translation company so they have enough information to translate accurately. I’d also recommend: (4) Use Google Insights to determine which versions of translated words are searched most often and use those on your pages.

Duplicate Content and Multiple Site Issues

  • Defined the concept of Shingles: Adjacent words and sections of a page (for example, portions of a page that are the template) that are compared between pages to detect duplicate content. If duplicate content is detected, the duplicate portion is filtered from Google index and not likely to be returned in search results.
  • This has been a particularly interesting topic that we’ve been monitoring for some time, so I followed up with one of the panelists about putting a handful of reviews on the product page (PDP) with a link to a page with all reviews. The response was this is not duplicate content because Google can detect the difference in intent between the pages.

I’m an SEO Specialist at Bazaarvoice; I help shape our SEO Strategy with our product team based on previous experience, analysis of our products’ SEO performance, and client insights. All in all, I’m glad I went – I met a few great partners and some sharp SEO folks. I missed out on Piccadilly Circus this trip but made it for some delicious dishes at The Modern Pantry. Cheers!

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Ratings & Reviews, Search & SEO

Chad Bockius SearchVoice microsite proven to drive significant organic search traffic

July 23rd, 2009 by Chad Bockius Former Director of Product Marketing

You already know that 80% of last year’s holiday shoppers read reviews while deciding what to buy. And it’s likely even more will turn to online reviews this year – the latest Nielsen numbers show that 70% of customers trust online recommendations from unknown users, up 9% over 2007.

If your brand site already employs Ratings & Reviews, you’re building the UGC customers need to make purchase decisions. But with a 7.7% projected drop in back-to-school spending, the holiday shopping season will be more crucial than ever for online retailers. Many are looking for ways to bring more customers to their sites.

Bring in more searchers, capture more referrals

SearchVoice leverages review content to drive organic search traffic to ecommerce sites. Review content is collected on a single microsite, allowing search engines to crawl the content for the specific keywords and phrases customers use, thus making the content much more findable – our studies show an average 142% increase in search traffic for reviews with microsites.

Six months after launching their reviews microsite, one Bazaarvoice client had six times the number of visits to their reviews page.  Another Bazaarvoice client had 15 times as many referrals after six months, and after a full year, their monthly referrals were 92 times higher than before launching their microsite. Who was catching these customers before?

Increase and steady your search visits throughout the year

In addition to increasing your referrals, microsites help to steady referrals throughout the year. Companies without microsites will see more fluctuation in referrals before and after the holiday season.

One Bazaarvoice client launched their reviews microsite in November 2008. Their monthly referrals from the reviews page to the product page nearly tripled in the first month. Their referrals increased for the holiday season month-over-month from the previous year, and didn’t fall after the holiday season had ended.

With a truly make-or-break holiday season just around the corner, launching a reviews microsite will bring more customers to your product pages in time for the season. It usually takes only one or two months after implementation for the number of referrals to double or triple.

To discuss adding the SearchVoice microsite to your deployment, contact your Bazaarvoice Community Manager.

SearchVoice microsites

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Search & SEO, User-Generated Content

Mike Svatek Help shoppers cut through clutter by speaking their language

June 9th, 2009 by Mike Svatek Chief Product Officer

This blog post is guest-written by Scott Koester, Product Manager for Bazaarvoice Search.Cutting through clutter.

As you’ve read in our other search blog posts, we think “beyond search engines” in search. To be successful in attracting the right shoppers at the right time, today’s companies need to present information in places where searchers want to find it – via search engines, in on-site navigation, and through social networks, to name a few.

Today’s consumer seeks to cut through the noise – there is so much information out there, they just want what’s most relevant to them. To attract the most users, it’s important to speak their language. And what resonates best with them? Input and opinions from other shoppers like them.

The most obvious example of this is the “top-rated products” list. When searching for a new product, shoppers want to know what other people like them think. And top-rated products aren’t just top-sellers – they’re the products that people bought and liked.

PETCO found that people who used top-rated product navigation converted 49% higher compared to people who viewed the same products and didn’t use top-rated navigation. And people who used top-rated navigation had a 63% higher sales volume than the average visitor. Clearly, those who look at top-rated products were able to cut through the clutter and buy quickly.

It’s also important to mine your user-generated content for most popular words, then use those words in your marketing – play them back to consumers. Read how Nintendo Wii did this back in 2007. Remember that searchers search and shop using the same language as reviewers and storytellers, and capitalize on that – both on your site and beyond. Many of our clients have used review snippets in email marketing, increasing conversion up to 10% — but this practice goes beyond online marketing. Use popular customer-generated words to attract shoppers inside your store, then help them discover products through snippets on product tags, in signage, and by sharing this input with your staff.

User-generated content can also fuel paid search advertising. Office Depot mined its keywords and implemented an SEM strategy leveraging top review phrases, driving a 196% increase in paid search revenue, plus a 24% conversion increase.

In short, when customers are talking about your products in a certain way, leverage that – it will resonate with your customers more than any type of marketing-speak you use. Sure, customer-generated content is valuable to the shopper within the purchase cycle, but companies can also use it themselves to fuel effective marketing.

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BrandVoice, Search & SEO, User-Generated Content

Mike Svatek Google announces “Rich Snippets”

June 2nd, 2009 by Mike Svatek Chief Product Officer

This blog post is guest-written by Scott Koester, Product Manager for Bazaarvoice Search.

Reviews now have an even bigger impact on search results.

On Tuesday, May 12, Google introduced Rich Snippets, a new feature that allows Google to display product rating, review count, and actual review text direct in Google search results.

We already know reviews have a positive impact on search, and this further underscores the need for reviews on any and all websites that want to attract people researching or buying products or services. Organizations without reviews will be left even further behind in the search game.

And it’s great news for Bazaarvoice clients – this free feature will automatically be turned on for all 525+ brand sites Bazaarvoice powers, driving traffic to more than 2 million pages.

We already know that reviews on sites enhance the customer experience and drive sales. Now, Rich Snippets amps up the impact reviews will have on natural search results. Searchers – especially those who are ready to buy – won’t be able to ignore these review snapshots.

Google’s own experiments have shown that users find the new data valuable — if they see useful and relevant information from the page, they are more likely to click through. And we already know customers are looking specifically for product reviews – December 2008 Nielson research found that 81% of shoppers seek reviews.

Maximizing results with Rich Snippets

Review volume matters. Google’s Rich Snippets will show a summary of review information, and pages with more reviews will appear more favorable. In short, it’s important that all products are reviewed – and reviewed a lot.  Bazaarvoice Community Managers, who act as an extension of their clients’ marketing teams, constantly gather and share best practices for driving new volume and engagement, so our clients’ sites rank well.

Syndicate manufacturer reviews to retailers to boost traffic. Retailers need more reviews, and today manufacturers can help build this volume through content syndication. BrandVoice – Bazaarvoice’s product that enables manufacturers to capture reviews on their own sites, then syndicate them to retailer sites – allows the manufacturer to directly, positively impact search results for its key retailers.

Grab the long tail of search. Searchers are getting more specific: according to Avinash Kaushik, Google’s Analytics Evangelist, the average search string has increased 25% since 2008. And the more specific the search, the closer the searcher is to buying. For example, a search for “Nissan Sedan,” may be a search for generic information; however, a search for “2009 Blue Nissan Sentra SE Austin,” is an indication that the searcher knows what he wants and is looking to buy.

More and more, user-generated content drives the way shoppers search, and Rich Snippets is one more way Bazaarvoice clients can benefit from reviews on their site. Here is an example of how content powered by Rich Snippets could be displayed.

Google Rich Snippets

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Search & SEO, Word of Mouth

Mike Svatek Amplify UGC beyond your site to increase search and discovery

June 2nd, 2009 by Mike Svatek Chief Product Officer

This blog post is guest-written by Scott Koester, Product Manager for Bazaarvoice Search.

At Bazaarvoice, we don’t think of search in terms of just search engines. To us, “search” includes any way that consumers look for information, anywhere along the consideration or purchase path.Free People top reviewer

Social Amplification is a big part of this. Social Amplification is about extending your user-generated content beyond your site, wherever people congregate and influence others. This content is found on Facebook or in shopping portals, but it drives traffic right back to your site.

For example, ShoutIt! is a capability available for all Bazaarvoice products that lets consumers easily share their review, answer, or story on their own Facebook or MySpace page, or in their Twitter, digg or del.icio.us accounts.

One way shoppers are influenced is by people like them – or like they aspire to be – on their favorite sites. They read reviews, look for people like them, then visit that profile to discover other products this person reviewed and enjoyed. Deploying profiles helps companies amplify search within their own sites. A great example of this is how Free People highlighted their Top Reviewer on their blog. Now Christina influences Free People shoppers every day.

At Bazaarvoice, we firmly believe that searchers and shoppers will find information to fuel their buying decisions on their own terms – it’s about creating flexibility, not walled-garden destinations. That’s why we help our clients amplify their user-generated content so that users can find it where they want to find it – and where they are already looking.

Learn about our holistic view of search in our blog that introduces our Social Search Framework, and read our overview of technology that Bazaarvoice clients use to increase their search results.

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Search & SEO

Mike Svatek Technology to fuel social search

May 26th, 2009 by Mike Svatek Chief Product Officer

This blog post is guest-written by Scott Koester, Product Manager for Bazaarvoice Search.

While social search involves much more than search engine optimization, it’s important to have technology in place that attracts searchers at every level of the purchase path. The Bazaarvoice social search framework is designed to help customers find the right information at the right time for their needs, at every stage of the purchase path.

searchtechnology

While in the “awareness” mode of the purchase funnel for a new camera, a shopper might search for “top-rated cameras,” to help narrow down choices. The SearchVoice Microsite combines all user-generated content complete with category, subcategory and product level navigation, creating a great source for researchers looking for consumer recommendations. This site automatically creates fresh lists such as “top rated” or “most popular” for each category on the site, and it’s a first stop for online researchers looking for products other consumers like the most.

Once a shopper narrows down choices to select the Sony CyberShot, he may search for reviews, and their search will lead them to a search-optimized Review Landing Page. SearchVoice Landing Pages create a search engine-optimized page separate from – but linked to – the product page. This page also gets indexed by search engines and is targeted to broad, product- or service-related searches.  As more and more people turn to other consumers for recommendations, this search grows in popularity.

Finally, as a shopper is ready to buy their new Sony T900, they can again call on customer reviews to help with their purchases. SearchVoice Inline allows clients to index content directly on the product page, creating a source of fresh content that is continuously changing – Google prefers pages that get refreshed often. SearchVoice Inline gets to the heart of the searcher’s need, where the search is most specific and they’re ready to buy – when they land here, they are one click away from a purchase.

These combined technologies maximize search results for Google, creating a competitive advantage for our clients in the battle for search.
When looking to optimize your user-generated content, technology is important, but Bazaarvoice believes that technology alone doesn’t win the search battle. Bazaarvoice combines technology with Social Amplification, Dynamic Merchandising, and customized strategies based on our Social Search Playbook that help your site deliver the right content to the right person at the right time.

Learn about our holistic view of search in our blog that introduces our Social Search Framework, and watch Bazaarblog for more information about how we look at search – which goes far beyond search engines.

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Community, Customer Centricity, Ratings & Reviews, Search & SEO, User-Generated Content, eCommerce

Wayne Stribling Mighty Leaf Tea Means Business

April 11th, 2008 by Wayne Stribling Former VP of Client Services
Mighty Leaf Tea Logo

We recently launched a new client, Mighty Leaf Tea, a specialty tea company “born for the sole purpose of infusing life into an ancient indulgence by creating tea products that reach new heights of quality and innovation.” They are truly passionate about finding the best handcrafted teas in the world – just try some and you’ll see.

While not a huge company, they are very hands-on when it comes to maximizing their Ratings & Reviews solution. They’re already very engaged with their Community Manager, who is helping them create campaigns to build review volume, setting up analytical reporting to track ROI, and talking about using customer feedback in their marketing campaigns.

This innovative company is also adopting several  Ratings & Reviews features, including…

TagShare, where their customers can summarize their opinions with searchable  tags
QuickTake, so their customers can quickly scan tags, pros and cons for a more cursory view of reviews
SearchVoice Reviews creates a single portal where all product  reviews can be found and maximizes SEO value. See theirs here.
ShoutIt! allows their customers to share their reviews, products and profiles on social networking sites like Facebook, Digg, and Del.icio.us
Ratings snapshot – allows customers to visualize the distribution of ratings across products

Brett, our CEO, has long been a big fan of Mighty Leaf Tea and we’re proud to welcome them into the Bazaarvoice family….and to serve their teas in our kitchen. They’ve been a big hit both in our Austin and London offices and their positive word of mouth is spreading fast. They even create fun green tea leaves to denote their ratings, instead of stars…

Overall Rating:Five Leaves

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New at Bazaarvoice

Sam Decker 19 Million Reviews Served on Cyber Monday

December 15th, 2006 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer

We had three beta customers at this time last year. So a couple weeks ago was our first Cyber Monday hosting reviews for some of the largest online retail brands. For example, we serve 3 of the top 15 retailers including Sears, The Home Depot, and Overstock.com. Because we host the content through our clients pages, we tracked total number of impressions and reviews served. Through our logs we estimate we served over 19 million reviews to online shoppers on November 27, Cyber Monday.

Frankly, we expected a large number. Jupiter reports 77% of online shoppers seek product reviews and Forrester suggests reviews are the most widely read consumer generated content on the Web. And we learned from BuzzMetrics that 25% of google searches on top brand names bring up consumer generated content — that's where our SearchVoice SEO pages become very useful!

We're pleased that for our first big holiday there were no glitches or downtime. The origin servers and content distribution network are telling us to 'bring it on'! And so we shall.

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