ONLINE SERVICES
PLAYING IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
in Google’s search engine
Findability in Google is everything to DPG Media Online Services. “If you have something to hide, you do it on page 2 of the Google search results, because no one ever looks there,” jokes Hans de Bruin, head of performance marketing. His team of experts ensure that brands such as Independer, AutoTrack, Gaspedaal and Nationale Vacaturebank and Intermediair are ranked as highly as possible by search engines.
Hans de Bruin
(46), head of performance marketing
Ranking highly on Google was a piece of cake 25 years ago, recalls De Bruin: “Back then, if you had a website the trick was to frequently use the search terms you wanted people to find you with. Of course, this strategy was often abused, often resulting in not the best but the smartest party coming out on top. Fortunately, these days Google is increasingly understanding which sites add real value and align with consumers’ search intent.”
MOMENT TO TAKE ACTION
According to De Bruin, the challenge lies in activating consumers. “For most consumers to be interested in changing their insurance or getting a new car, there really has to be something going on, such as a premium increase, family expansion or damage. In such cases, the search often starts by typing a concrete question into a search engine, so that’s where we need to be visible. At the same time, we try to lure people in with popular tools such as the cheap fuel checker on Independer or information about special cars on AutoTrack.”
Searching in Google
40%
40% of all Google searches lead to a click, in 60% of cases, they don’t.
On average,
34%
of the people click the first result that pops up. 17% click number two and 11% number three. After that, it goes down rapidly.
These figures strongly depend on the rest of the search result. For example, if ads are shown, these percentages are halved.
GOOGLE CIRCUIT
Nowadays, capturing consumers’ attention is a complex competition. De Bruin likes to dub it the Champions League, or maybe even better: Formula 1. Every day, a team of 32 people – all of them with their own area of expertise – work to promote the websites. Most of them focus on getting the sites to rank as highly as possible on the Google race track. “If you want to rank highly, your website must load quickly, provide a good user experience and contain the right, relevant information.” This’s why De Bruin has specialists on his team with knowledge of content, technology, ad campaigns, data and marketing.
But Google doesn’t allow just anyone onto its search result leaderboard. Expertise is important. Independer continues to rank well with Google because it’s reliable and an authority in the world of insurance. But you build a strong reputation not only by claiming to be good yourself, but also by getting recognition from others. “Good reviews help, but so does presence in relevant places outside your own website,” says De Bruin. “This is how you build a strong brand and get your website to do better in Google.”
SPECIALISTS
De Bruin’s team ensures that the DPG Media brands are constantly visible in relevant places. “We’re everywhere our target audience is: car sites, housing websites, user forums, you name it. In search engines alone, consumers run hundreds of thousands of searches to which our titles may be relevant.” One in five queries people type in is new to Google’s search engine. “So it’s important for us to keep a close eye on the market.”
Incidentally, the game isn’t just about organic findability (SEO), but also about well-placed ads (SEA). As a campaign specialist, you’re at the controls of the advertising platform yourself, De Bruin says. “Based on results, you determine whether placing an ad was a good idea, or whether it could be more relevant elsewhere. That’s a game that never stops.”
The power of an effective strategy is to keep consumers interacting with the brand even if they aren’t specifically looking to make a purchase. “Even if someone isn’t looking yet, we’ve already planted the seed.”
