When I first put a name to the concept of Reflective Marketing I explained that — in developing these techniques — I had set myself a simple goal: “Just ignore the search engines and build traffic through other channels.”
But can you build reflective marketing channels through search? Are there ways to drive search traffic directly to a Website without having to practice organic search engine optimization or manage pay-per-click advertising campaigns in search verticals? In fact, yes, there ARE a few ways to leverage “search outside of search” to do this. Here is one example.
This Google Isn’t the Google You Think It Is
Suppose you operate a network of 50-100 Websites. Many Web marketers succumb to the temptation to link all those sites together, believing (wrongly in most cases) that those links will help them with Google’s search algorithms. Sure, you can sometimes see a boost in search referral traffic but many a network owner has learned to his dismay that sooner or later the search engine figures out what is going on and puts a stop to it.
So instead of interlinking all your Websites you COULD just create a custom search engine that makes it easier for your visitors to search your network (and only your network). Feature that custom search engine prominently on all your sites and you’ll very quickly build a search channel outside of Google Web Search. What’s even better, if you have an AdSense account Google will even pay you to allow it to index all your content so that it can search all that content for you.
So, yes, technically, Google will still index and rank your duplicate content but if you’re really depending on duplicate content to populate your Websites you don’t need to index them all in a private search engine. Running your own custom search engine for YOUR network of Websites will help you learn what people who visit your sites are really looking for, and you’ll see quickly that they are NOT looking for more of the same.
The Custom Search Option Teaches You Good, Productive SEO
If you configure your own search engine using Google or Bing’s index (Bing’s index will not show all your content, however) then you’ll be able to fine-tune your search engine optimization with the goal of giving your visitors better value. You don’t compete with anyone in your own custom search results (unless you include competitive sites in that information).
Custom search tools are not perfect. Just because you eliminated 99% of the spam that you see in Google’s organic Web index doesn’t mean that a custom search tool will provide better value to your visitors. You need to watch those queries and look at the results yourself and ask yourself, “WHY did the search tool show my visitors THIS page?” If it’s the right page, cool, but a custom search tool will quickly fill up its results with a lot of fluffy content.
People are not always going to want to click on that 1st listing. In fact, most people will NOT click on the 1st listing. So you cannot rest on the fact that the 1st listing is (in YOUR opinion) the best listing the custom search tool could provide. You need to make sure that at least the next 9 listings are also great content to show your visitors.
For all intents and purposes the custom search engine is YOUR Website showing real people YOUR content. If you think it’s crap content you need to do something about that.
If One Is Good For Me 10,000 Must Be Great
The most common flaw in search marketing strategies is doing too much of the same thing. You see this in content production, link building, Website design — all aspects of Web marketing. It’s not just the “spammers” and the “affiliates” who do things to excess. Everyone sooner or later crosses that line. Good SEOs learn to recognize their mistake and make quick corrections, but most people don’t have time or the desire to become really good SEOs.
That said, there is an optimum range of Websites you want to use to populate your custom search tool. I don’t know the number because it varies based on a lot of criteria. You being the expert in your vertical will find that number quicker than I can, once you understand this principle. Think in terms of somewhere between 50 and 200 Websites there is a good mix of content that:
- Is NOT competitive with your sites
- Provides a good value to YOUR searchers
- Offers sufficient variety it will please MOST of your searchers
- Does not overwhelm searchers with too much information
Notice how I began this short list with “NOT competitive with your sites”. If it’s YOUR custom search tool, built for YOUR network, why would you include other people’s sites? Because in most cases no matter how good your Websites are you won’t be able to satisfy all those searchers. But you WANT them to come back and use your custom search tool.
So pick good, relevant resources for your custom search tool to index — resources that won’t take money away from your business if you send them traffic. These resources might be government Websites, maybe they are Wiki sites, maybe they are just blogs your friends run. They need to be RELEVANT to the content vertical your search tool has defined; they need to provide a good user experience; and they need to fill out the corners of your searchscape that your own content doesn’t capture.
Someone between “Just my sites” and “Whoa! That’s too many sites!” is the right number of other people’s sites to include in your custom search tool. You’ll have to review the data and find the right mix (or something close to it — don’t waste time being a perfectionist).
What Can You Expect From A Reflective Search Strategy?
At the end of the day people want to know how much traffic they can get from a custom search engine. As with all things in search marketing, THAT DEPENDS. How prominently do you feature and promote your search option? How much content does it index? How much time do you spend tweaking it? Do you run advertising on your sites to tell people about the custom search option? Do you link to it from your content? How well does it match user needs and expectations?
If you get 1 visitor a month from your custom search option you’re doing 1 visitor better than you were before. After all, this is someone who stayed “in network” to look for whatever they want to find. Rather than send them straight back to Google, send them to Google Junior, which you have defined and populated with content that YOU know and trust.
You can create a really crappy experience for your search users or you can create a good experience for them. The choice is yours. You’ll get more value in the long-run by building a really useful resource.
Conclusion
It won’t likely build up an audience of millions of monthly searchers but if you can build up a few hundred “in network” referrals a month, for most networks that will be pretty decent — especially if a lot of those people convert.
Reflective marketing isn’t JUST about building channels outside of search. It’s about building channels outside of the MAJOR Organic Search streams. That means you can cultivate other search opportunities where you have little to no competition. All you have to do is get people to use your search tools. And to do that about all you have to do is show those tools to people and then ensure that they find something useful.
Read More about Search Engine Optimization
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