UNSH Part 1: Using Paid Search Engine Optimization to Increase Web Traffic

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Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to detail the use of paid online Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and its impact in comparison to past traditional mass media campaigns.

Methods: In the spring of 2014, UNSH contracted with LaughModel LLC to do online promotions of utahsafehaven.org. Google Adwords, and paid advertisements through social media platforms were utilized to increase traffic to UNSH content through paid SEO.

Results: A total of 2,300 engagements across all platforms were realized from May 6th through the 19th, compared to an average of 166 total engagements per month prior to LaughModel’s involvement.

Conclusion: Based on the data collected, the benefits of online advertising in comparison to traditional mass media

are considerable. Basic recommendations for UNSH online marketing include using Twitter as a central media platform, and creating online content to manage and drive future traffic to the website concerning adoption.

UNSH Part 1: Using Paid Search Engine Optimization to Increase Web Traffic

Ben Cannon, MPH(c); Cameron Lister, MPH; Leon Hammond, MBA

1. Objective

The Utah Newborn Safe Haven (UNSH) is a

state-funded organization through the Utah

Department of Health (UDOH) that serves

to educate the people of Utah about the

Safe Haven Law.

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Passed in 2001, the Safe

Haven Law provides legal protection for

mothers wanting to dispose of their babies

by allowing them to anonymously drop-off

their infants at any 24-hour hospital.

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The

aim of this program is to prevent mothers

who are desperate from leaving their babies

for dead either in dumpsters, train stations,

or alleyways.

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This paper is part of a two-part series

detailing the use of search engine

optimization (SEO) in driving increased

online traffic to the Utah Newborn Safe

Haven website utahsafehaven.org. The

purpose of this study is to detail the use of

paid online SEO and its impact in

comparison to past traditional mass media

campaigns.

2. Methods

2.1 Project Background

In the spring of 2014, UNSH contracted with LaughModel LLC to do online promotions of utahsafehaven.org. This contract was detailed to run from May to June in 2014 with a residual $5,000 budget remaining from an annual allocation of $25,000 used to promote the website traditionally through mass media channels (TV, radio, billboards, etc.). This was done to test whether online promotions and SEO could be more cost-effective for driving traffic to the website than mass media.

2.2 Campaign Development

The project that was proposed and approved by UNSH and the state involved a two-part SEO campaign involving 1) Paid SEO, and 2) Organic SEO. Paid SEO focuses on using Google Adwords and the Display Network, and paid social media ads to drive traffic to the desired online content. Organic SEO focuses on utilizing key words and phrases within the text, Google+ code embedded into the website, and back-links to and from the website all to increase the likelihood that the desired webpage appears first in search results on

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search engines. For this paper, the remainder of the paper will focus on detailing the first part of the campaign: Paid SEO.

2.3 Campaign Dissemination

First, a Google Adwords campaign was developed to ensure that individuals who typed in related keywords into the Google search engine had access to information regarding the safe haven law. In total, two campaigns were developed, one in English and one in Spanish.

Secondarily, a YouTube channel was created as well as a Google Plus page for UNSH in order to disseminate the Public Service Announcements (PSAs) developed prior to this contract. One of the videos was selected and a paid promotion campaign through YouTube was created. Other ads promoting the Facebook and Twitter pages linked to UNSH were created and sent out via paid promotion with the intent on increasing the program’s followers on both platforms and linking to the website. Paid promotions ran from May 6th through the 19th 2014 on all platforms to gauge reach and response from the selected audience.

Audiences for the ads were narrowed based on age, location, and demographic interests as indicated through their social network. For instance, ads were targeted at mothers or individuals interested in adoption or child safety.

2.4 Data Analysis

For a baseline, Google Analytics for the Utahsafehaven.org website was used. Two similar time-periods were selected to compare to in order to gauge effectiveness; March 6th through March 19th 2014, and May 6th through May 19th 2013.

Several indicators were recorded including number of impressions (individuals who saw the ads appear in their newsfeed or search results), number of engagements (clicks, likes, shares, etc.), as well as which media channels most frequently led users to the website.

3. Results

3.1 Social Media Reach

During the length of the campaign there were 317 new Likes on the UNSH Facebook page (from 228 to 545), with a total of 422 engagements and 17,291 impressions. Twitter received 71 new follows (from 161 to 232) with 220 engagements and 32,291 impressions. Additionally, the UNSH Twitter account received 9 re-tweets. The advertised YouTube video received 1,305 engagements (or views) and 12,371 impressions.

Engagement rates varied considerably between platforms, with YouTube being the highest at 10.55%, followed by Facebook at 2.44%, and Twitter at 0.68%. However, it should be noted, as shown below in Figure 2, that Twitter resulted in the most “click-through” behavior from users by a large margin (users clicking from social media to the UNSH website).

3.2 Website Reach

Google Adwords were used to drive more clicks to the website, in addition to the advertised links through social media sites. In total 353 sessions or engagements were measured for the website during the two week period, with 42,286 impressions—an engagement rate of 0.34%. Figure 1 below shows from where the clicks were generated. The online advertisements not only include the Paid Search below, but also the last four sources listed.

31% 18% 17% 12% 10% 7% 5%

Figure 1: Click Sources - 5/6 -

5/19

Organic Search Paid Search Direct Social Display (Other) Referral

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Figure 2 illustrates which social media networks lead to the most click-through traffic to the website. In this instance, Twitter was the most successful at generating new web traffic.

The Adwords that generated the most clicks for the Google campaign were “Utah adoption,” “adoption Utah,” and “Utah baby.” This was also shown in the majority of emails and contacts generated from this campaign from individuals were regarding adoption information.

Figure 3 illustrates the number of impressions from all of the advertising platforms used during this paid campaign. In total, there were 104,239 impressions made throughout the duration of this campaign; meaning, that the advertisements appeared in the newsfeed or search results, with an overall engagement rate of 2.2% (2,300 engagements).

3.3 Comparison to Baseline

As illustrated below in Figure 4, the total website sessions recorded for online campaign run this month was compared to the same timeframe in 2013. Total web traffic during this time period in 2013 totaled 115 sessions, compared to 353 sessions for the same time this year. It should be noted that impression comparisons were not made because no data was found for this or any other time period.

Engagements for the month of March during the 6th through the 19th of 2014 were taken from the web analytics, Facebook, and Twitter; these were then compared to total engagements across all platforms for the same days in May. Total engagements for March were 75, compared to 2,300 in May.

78% 17%

5%

Figure 2: Social Referrals 5/6 -

5/19

Twitter Facebook YouTube 12% 17% 31% 40%

Figure 3: Impressions 5/6 - 5/19

YouTube Facebook Twitter Adwords 0 10 20 30 40 6th 7th 8th 9th _10th _11th ₁₂th _13th _14th _15th _16th _17th _18th _19th

Figure 4: Website Traffic Year

Comparison

May 2013 May 2014 Website Only

0 200 400 600

6th 7th 8th 9th _10th ₁₁th _12th _13th _14th _15th _16th _17th _18th _19th

Figure 5: Total Media Engagement

Comparison

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3.4 Costs-Benefit Analysis

The average number of monthly hits to the UNSH website prior to the LaughModel campaign was recorded at 161, for a total of 1,940 engagements in a year, compared to 2,300 engagements on all platforms for only the first two weeks of May. Since this paper only details half of the contract agreed upon by LaughModel and UNSH, only $2,200 were spent on Paid SEO. This means that UNSH invested 95 cents per engagement on online content, and 2.1 cents per impression. This compared to $10.30 per engagement from other advertising sources prior to LaughModel’s involvement in this campaign.

4. Conclusions & Recommendations

Based on the data collected, the benefits of online advertising in comparison to traditional mass media are considerable. Not only were the paid online advertisements able to result in better cost-effective engagements on the website (around ten times more effective), but the accuracy of data collected proves to be an advantage. For instance, knowing the exact number of impressions and where they are coming from is possible with online marketing, but not with mass media marketing.

Recent attention within the last decade has been growing in regards to the need for marketing in public health.2 The primary focus has been historically on social marketing and how to use business strategies and merge them with the needs in the public sector.3 Additionally, it has been noted just how little has been done to transition the field of public health in this much needed direction.4,5 To date, however, very little research has been conducted showing the benefits of SEO for health.

Although, there were many hits to the website, it may still remain unclear as to whether or not anyone’s health or behavior was impacted as a result. In regards to this campaign several behavioral indicators stand

out. First, a total of 10 shares occurred during this two-week period. Meaning individuals took the time to take online content from UNSH and recreate it on their own social media feeds. Secondly, multiple emails from interested volunteers and parents seeking information on adoption occurred during this same time-period.

Lastly, one hit was measured to the website that occurred from an individual in Utah typing the following phrase into Google: “I want to drop off my baby at safe haven.” Given the research that individuals do not search beyond the first page of results on online platforms, it was crucial that the UNSH website hadn’t appeared on the first page of results.6,7 As a result, an alert was able to go out to hospitals throughout the state of Utah almost operating as a real-time alert system.

The results of this campaign offer several recommendations for future efforts to market UNSH. First, utilizing Twitter as the central platform in which to engage audiences in content. Second, creating online content about adoption information and UNSH to increase organic traffic to the website, and provide interested individuals with how to get involved in these efforts. Lastly, it is recommended that new networks online are tapped into through back-links suck as viral YouTube channels and blogs online to drive organic SEO.

5. Limitations

Recently in the news, seven dead babies were found in the garage of a woman located in Pleasant Grove, Utah.8 Due to the horrific nature of this news story, UNSH received a lot of publicity and free press during the month of April discussing ways in which this tragedy could’ve been averted. As such, around 3,000 hits to the website occurred in the Month of April, the majority of which occurring during the second and third weeks. The web analytics from this month were not used in the discussion of the results as they were not the result of

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previous advertising techniques and methods, but rather press.

Since the test for SEO started in May of the following month it could be argued that some of the reported success could be attributable to this press as well. However, web analytics do show leading up to the 6th of May and following the events in April and drastic decline in web hits comparable to past months and years

*The contents of this publication are for academic distribution and citation purposes only. All for-profit or monetary use of the contents of this document without prior consent by LaughModel LLC is strictly prohibited. For questions or permissions regarding this manuscript please contact Cameron Lister via [email protected]

References

[1] Utah Newborn Safe Haven. 2014. Available at: http://utahsafehaven.org/. Accessed May 22, 2014.

[2] French J, Blair-Stevens C, McVey D. Social marketing and public health: Theory and practice. Oxford University Press; 2010.

[3] Bernhardt JM. Improving health through health marketing. Prev Chronic Dis. 2006;3(3).

[4] Royne MB, Levy M. Does marketing undermine public health? J Consum Mark. 2008;25(7):473-475.

[5] ROYNE MB, LEVY M. Marketing for Public Health: We Need an App for That. J Consum Aff. 2011;45(1):1-6.

[6] Briones R, Nan X, Madden K, Waks L. When vaccines go viral: an analysis of HPV vaccine coverage on YouTube. Health Commun. 2012;27(5):478-85.

[7] Bromberg JE, Augustson EM, Backinger CL. Portrayal of Smokeless Tobacco in YouTube Videos. Nicotine Tob Res. 2012;14(4):455-62. [8] Allred C. Pleasant Grove woman arrested after

police find seven dead babies. Daily Herald. 2014. http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/north/ pleasant-grove/pleasant-grove-woman- arrested-after-police-find-seven-dead- babies/article_36ee4c12-c34c-11e3-a573-0019bb2963f4.html.