Marketing in the Age of Google: Your Online Strategy IS Your Business Strategy

by Vanessa Fox

Search has changed everything. Search has become woven into our everyday lives, and permeates offline as well as online activities. Every business should have a search strategy. How a business appears online can impact consumer influence as much as if not more than offline advertising like TV commercials. A business's search strategy can have a dramatic impact on how consumers interact with that business. But even more importantly, search engine activity provides amazingly useful data about customer behavior, needs, and motivations. Accessing search data is like conducting focus groups with millions of people for free. Search isn't just for marketers and techies. It can provide valuable insight on business strategy and product strategy. Companies of all sizes – from startups to global enterprise level corporations, and even businesses without web sites – can benefit from understanding how consumers are searching for them and talking about them online, both as a powerful acquisition channel and a vast repository of market research. In this non-technical book forexecutives, business owners, marketers, and product managers, search engine strategy guru Vanessa Fox-who created Google's portal for site owners, Googgle Webmaster Central -explains what every marketer or business owner needs to understand about how search rankings work, how to use search to better understand your customers and attract new ones, how to develop a comprehensive search strategy for your business, and how to build execution of this strategy into the businesses processes. This isn't another book about paid search for advertisers. This book focuses on organic listings – the unpaid results that receive 86% of searcher clicks. With this book in hand, every businessperson will have the knowledge and the tools to maximize the potential of search engine marketing to build a brand, draw new prospects, and generate sales.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Google, Web, Research, Internet

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2010

Reviews

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pesar de estar cumpliendo 10 años, este libro sigue describiendo a la perfección la ciencia detrás de los motores de búsqueda y su importancia para cualquier empresa:

"Through organic search, you can reach potential customers at the very moment they are considering a purchase and provide them information exactly when they are looking for it."

También da consejos evergreen sobre cómo hacer un keyword research:

"Let your potential customers tell you what they are looking for. This way, you won’t interrupt your potential audience from the task they’re focusing on in order to get their attention. Instead, what you have to offer is crucial to their current task."

Y de cómo saber qué métricas medir en uns estrategia de tráfico orgánico:

The specific metrics that help you measure your business are unique to your site, but always evaluate them against the following:

-Do they give you insight into how well you are meeting your goals?
-Are they actionable? What will you do with this data?

Para el 2009, el SEO tenía fama de ser una basura. En este libro, Fox se encarga de aclarar por qué el SEO realmente es útil y no debería ser satanizado:

And the term ‘‘search engine optimization’’ is a bit of a misnomer because it implies that you’re optimizing your site for search engines when in reality you’re optimizing your site for your audience (who often are searchers) and ensuring your site is built to be successful in an online environment.

Al final, también habla de la actuación de las redes sociales y comunidades en línea en todo el panorama:

Social media can help on all of these fronts, working as a brand amplifier and customer support extension to deepen engagement with your customers.

[Aj_03 · Rating 4 out of 5]

We understand the importance of being on the internet in todays times, you do not need a business degree nor a digital consultant to tell you that, yet the magnitude of one particular organization we may all be familiar with, Google, has been shaping the way marketers must use the internet and search engines.
Venessa Fox, an Ex googler herself ,opens our eyes and helps us understand in her book Marketing in the age of google, how to build and integrate online strategies with your offline making sure we understand the internet is as important as our front door step. In addition she provides you with good examples and even tools that are free for us to use.
The book looks into various relams and it helps you answer the following questions:
- What is the purpose of your site?
- Who are you trying to reach?
- Who are actually entering your site, and their interest
- How to better accommodate your users
- How to make sure your site is accessible
- How to integrate other elements to successfully make your site accessible.
- Is your site ready for the future ?
As a digital marketer assistant I needed to learn more about the benefits of integrating online strategies into the overall plan. Not to mention that Google in this region is the only way to communicate with our customers, over 85 to 90% of the Middle east users use Google as their primary search engines.
I whisked through the 218 pages through the weekend and I was very happy and recommend this book to anyone who requires to learn more about how to make sure your website (whether business or not) is not lost within the million pages on the web.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn, understand and even anyone who wants to score a job at Google to read this book.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty dry but has good info; most useful is the last parts of each chapter as they give a summary/checklist.

[Lydia Roman]

Resourceful, easy read with information and assistance useful to my current profession.

[Aaron Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid book on Google marketing in general, but quite a bit out of date. Yet, there is good guidance for the beginner and can be thought of as a bit of a primer.

[Todd N · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book and one that all on-line marketing gurus, experts, architects, and even charlatans are going to have to read if they truly want to understand what marketing on the Internet means.

Every minute of every day people are typing their needs, desires, and questions into search engines, creating what John Battelle famously called the "database of intentions." This database can be scary -- search Wikipedia for information about the AOL search data leak of 2006 -- and it can be uncannily accurate. Google currently uses query data to predict and monitor flu outbreaks. I've personally seen it used to predict movie box office successes.

To a business with an on-line presence this data is too valuable to ignore. Vanessa shows how it can be mined with freely available tools by working through several real-world examples. This section, using search data to improve business and product strategy, is worth many times the cost of this book. This data simply wasn't available a few years ago except to a few companies who could afford it. Now it's free.

People experienced with PPC campaigns like AdWords will be familiar with most of these concepts. But the application of these concepts to organic search is where the book really shines.

Sites are broken down and analyzed from the point of view of specific "personas" who have specific intentions (and therefore use certain types of queries). The entire experience of this persona's workflow is considered from the way a page pops up in the search engine results to the "call to action" on the page the persona lands on.

Traditional SEO topics are also covered here in great detail. But they are treated as a means to an end, unlike other "SEO in 1 minute a day"-type books out there. After all the goal of a business is to get customers, not to get traffic for traffic's sake. The feedback loop with the customer is closed with chapters on analytics metrics and social media.

Recommended for SEOs and businesses with an on-line presence.

[Note: This is based on an early review copy. I worked with Vanessa at Google, and I work with her now on her current venture.]

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligent guide to effective search engine optimization

The more visitors come to your website, the more links it will have, the more people will look for it and the more sales you will achieve. The search is the consumer’s door to your site and search engine optimization (SEO) is the key. Some self-proclaimed SEO “experts” recommend using “link farms,” “spammy keywords” and verbose “nonsense” websites. These charlatans represent the dark side of the legitimate search strategy consulting offered by proven authorities like Vanessa Fox. A former Google executive, Fox explains how your company can create and implement an intelligent “search acquisition strategy.” The right approach calls for purposeful development of online content. You want searchers to click through to your website and find it relevant, so they buy your merchandise. getAbstract recommends Fox’s book as a pivotal SEO guide for marketing managers, website content developers and online sales professionals.

[Chey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the book to be very informative. For a none computer person (I’ve made websites but only very smalltime) I would have liked more descriptions on some of the technical considerations such as meta data and how it appears to the audience. That was really my only complaint about the book, the marketing ideas and suggestions were terrific. They were actually doable suggestions not just theory that would be difficult to apply. The screen shots were very helpful and the use of real life examples not only added to the creditability of the author but also to the reader in terms of making the ideas clearer. Some of the suggestions in the book I had already implemented (such as using Google webmaster) and I completely agree that it is an extremely useful tool. Overall I found the book to be very easy to read, it contained valid and useful points and suggestions, and I would recommend it to individuals who are building or want to improve their businesses website.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to all marketers, including C-suite professionals. I would also recommend this book to entrepreneurs and just about anyone else who has a product or service for sale. This book not only explains how search engines can have an effect on online sales, it also gives examples of how search engine optimization (SEO), when done properly, can increase offline sales. It is filled with useful information that people can use in their professional lives and in their everyday lives as consumers. This is a great book.

[HoopoeGirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to search engine marketing and the tools behind it. In-depth coverage of how search engines work, search engine optimization best practices, searcher behaviors, and quantifying SEO success. For being four years out of publication, the majority of the topics covered are still relevant to today's marketplace. A few small points showed old 2012 thinking, but for a tech book to still be able to hold its own after even just one year, much less four, shows how well Fox understood and captured the material.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book a great deal. The author reinforces my gut instinct that in today's age of transparency, a holistic approach based on nothing but honesty is the best policy. Of course her background as a member of the Googleplex may bias her with the "Don't be evil" mantra, but I sincerely believe that good guys can finish first in SEO, especially if they keep their eyes on the horizon and manage the entirety of a properties web presence.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very informative look into how you can use Google to further your business with little to no cost to your company.

This is now a bit dated from when it was written, but the overall ideas are still there: know who is looking for your product, how they are looking for it and how you can use that to further your sales.

A must read for any marketer or small business owner.

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read this as any sort of expert, or someone who had even really touched marketing, so I may not have gotten as much out of this as someone reading for specific tips or content. That being said, Fox organizes the book in a really nice way, summarizing information when it is relevant, which made this an easy read.

[Jason Bean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for a general overview how being in business today means you'll probably be doing business online. Even if you're 100% offline, people are online and looking for you. The question is will you be found?

[Josh]

I read about 3/4 of this book and found it helpful. It's very technical but also easy to understand. If you want to know how to incorporate an online search strategy into your overall business strategy then this is a good read.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

All very basic information that can be found online in a dozen places. This book does organize the information fairly well but does not dive deeper in any specific area. At times I wondered if it was even as thorough as a Wiki article on the subject...unfortunately, my answer was "no".

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introductory book to Search Engine Optimization. Doesn't get the reader bogged down in the nitty gritty details. I love the checklists at the end of each chapter that easily outlines what you need to do to to have the most effective strategy

[Ambili shyam · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a good read, very informative. It is about how to think strategically about the search and how to get your business fits into a serach based culture. I would recommend this book to all the business owners who want to improve their site to bring organic traffic to their site.

[Valiik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read.

[Jami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for CEOs and business managers trying to get a handle on the online marketing world.

[Adam Schweigert · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid overview for executives, small business owners, etc. who are new to search marketing.

[João Marques]

Reading it

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite marketing books. No fluff. Underrated.

[Seth Kenvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-

[Johnsondean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Online search behavior opens a window on collective consciousness. It can reveals what people want, need, are concerned about, geographic health trends, etc. This book is very insightful.

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for those who don't know anything about internet marketing. If you have been reading about online marketing for a year or two, this book has little to offer.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good explanations but many of the tools referenced are outdated