[WATCH] SEO and SEA: Together they are invincible – AGS Europe
Darlene
In an AGS Europe 2021 panel which was held in Malta, the moderator Oliver de Bono, CEO at WikiBet, and the panelists Cosmin Mesenschi, CEO & Founder of First Byte Media, and Andre Alpar, Investor at andrealpar.com discuss the topic “SEO and SEA: Together they are invincible”.
Oliver de Bono
De Bono starts the panel by saying that he wants “to go into detail into the benefits of paid media, and how we can create relations with organic SEO”. De Bono asks Mesenschi whether “he would you use paid media to support [his] content strategies, [his] link building strategies”. Mesenschi says that there are two perspectives, the start-up one and the corporate one. He adds that as a start-up, one would start with the one that costs less and then move to SEO. In addition, one should also invest in various PPC. However, it depends on the strategy and on the budget. If a company has enough budget to experiment and be present everywhere, thus creating an omnichannel strategy, than that would be the best.
Cosmin Mesenschi
De Bono says that content is king; however, this is not enough in today’s market and you need to have good solid backlinks. “But again”, he adds, “this has become a saturated market”. He asks Mesenschi what are they looking for “when trying to compliment that content with backlinks”. Mesenschi says that one needs to create as much content as possible, scale as much as possible through AI, and push that.
Andre Alpar
Alpar says that he would not want to work on anything automated unless it is very advanced and he would not do what de Bono suggested; and this because he [Alpar] comes “from the very opposite side of the spectrum”. Alpar says that in his opinion, “the question is: what’s your position, where you’re starting from, and where do you think you’re building towards”. He says that a brand should avoid shortcuts, because shortcuts imply a “danger of things running straight into the wall”. He says that he “would refrain from all that”. He says that if he had a limited budget, he would still do the same thing as if he had a lot. He would just do it on a smaller scale and he would “start more nich-y”. When he starts getting back the money invested, he will go broader. He says that if he thinks about integrated search marketing approach, “there’s classically three different areas where the two overlap and the two channels basically can work together”. The first one is keywords, topics, and landing pages. The second one entails having proper titles, descriptions, and ad copy. The third one entails varying the bidding strategies.
Follow the whole panel discussion here:
De Bono speaks now about recent changes, such as changes in Google’s algorithm and the concept of plagiarism. He says that today anyone can replicate content without being penalised as it has become “free for all”. He adds that he understands Alpar’s perspective about not taking shortcuts but, he adds, today’s market allows for monopolies. This is ultimately “pushing smaller businesses to paid media, because that is your acquisition source”. De Bono asks Alpar how he deals with the new plagiarism rules and how they avoid paid media.
Alpar says that paid search has its advantages such as being quick, whereas SEO takes time and this is not always an option. He adds that if from a paid search you learn what a good ad copy is, then you can try it out in the organic activities. It might also be used for a limited period of time to learn from its results and then use it for your SEO. He adds that this is not the same in all fields. Paid search might also be more expensive in some fields than in others. It might also not exist, such as for cigars. He says that he has a cigar shop and there are no paid searches for that, only organic. De Bono agrees, and says that “the good thing about paid search is you can test your market very, very quickly”. De Bono adds that “SEO, is not a clear, defined routine. You take what works for you and you focus on it. Whether that be content, paid search, or backlinking”.
De Bono asks Mesenschi how SEO is running in the crypto industry, how does he compete with the big established brands, because even though crypto affiliation is new, it is already saturated. Mesenschi says that the crypto market is a very competitive market, even more than gambling. He suggests innovation, doing things that the competitors did not, bringing something new, something others did not create, something unique, and being fast. Content needs to be top-notch and published immediately because people are constantly looking for information. However, unless people know you, they will not come to you. De Bono adds that it is even expensive to outrank the industry giants and asks Alpar what other strategies could be developed to counter these monopolies.
Alpar says that he would “look at industries who had a similar level of competitiveness, but are riper”. He adds that he would probably look at the adult entertainment industry who do not use PPC but found a creative way around it. He would also look into areas with high PPCs and who do not work because they do not put emphasis on the content side. He would then translate this data into the industry he wants to be in, crypto in this case.
De Bono says that one really needs to look ahead at the next media because things change fast and markets become saturated. Alpar adds that one should think about what is moving the crowd, try to find opportunities, and not be only driven by numbers. De Bono closes the panel by suggesting to “spend your money at the time”.
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