User:223.252.33.130/Online Audience Optimization

Online Audience Optimization (OAO)
Online audience optimsation is a relatively new strategy within the field of digital marketing and is an advancement of search engine optimisation (SEO) while also encompassing aspects of content marketing, social media marketing, conversion rate optimisation, copywriting and user experience. It has developed due to a maturing in the industry and increasingly sophisticated search engine algorithms that have made dodgy/spammy 'Black Hat' SEO techniques less effective.

Online Audience Optimisation is a return to traditional marketing concepts of the 1960's and applying them to search marketing. Instead of focusing on a sites keyword density and link profile, as is the case with many SEO strategies, the heart of OAO is understanding the motivation behind search queries and creating high quality content to correlate.

The difference between SEO and OAO
Let us imagine a person who is searching for 'best jackets'. If you were a company that sold jackets it would be great to rank in the top 10 of Google for this search term, as it would increase visitors to your site and potentially lead to sales.

Previously, the SEO technique would be to attempt to manipulate your 'buy jackets' page with keyword dense content and building a large link profile - and this would work. It is exactly because it worked that many companies started doing it and it became harder and harder to rank your 'jackets' page highly. On top of this the motivation behind the search 'best jackets' wasn't being considered. When a user searches for 'best jackets' it is fairly likely they are in the research phase of their buying decision. Therefore, they want to see a lot of different styles, prices, colours and brands and be able to compare them easily. Search engines realised this and as they want to give their customers the best match for their search query they will rank lists, articles and blogs that rate and compare jackets much higher than one brands page with a few of their own jackets.

OAO centralises on understanding the motivation behind searches. As the user is probably not looking for a single brands jacket page by searching 'best jackets', proponents of OAO don't try to use SEO techniques to rank that page highly on a search engine results page (SERP). Instead a company could create their own list of 'Top 20 Jackets of Winter' and create an informative list of different styles, prices, colours and brands (including their own). This is what search engines want to rank highly for 'best jackets', so with some solid technical SEO and high quality content it could rank very well. Once the potential customer has finished reading the list there could be a link to your own jackets page at the end of it for a customer conversion.

Proponents of Online Audience Optimisation
Linda Ruth, CEO of PSCS Consulting, is an early innovator of online audience optimisation. She describes OAO as "the collection of techniques that online content publishers use to rise above the pack".

Ewan Watt, CEO and founder of roi.com.au, believes the major benefits of online audience optimisation to be "connection, amplification and sustainability". Greater connection results in user engagement and sharing of content. Amplification of a sites performance metrics such as increasing conversions and reducing bounce rates. Sustainability because advancements in search engine algorithms will not penalise sites that deliver valuable and relevant content to their visitors, whereas 'Black Hat' SEO techniques are often found out and subsequently penalised. Brett de Leijer of roi.com.au writes, "implementing an online audience optimisation strategy that embraces every digital channel will engage prospects and lead to the building of a brand loyal community of followers".

Brian Clark a writer for marketingland.com believes that traditional marketing concepts have been forgotten by some in the digital marketing world. His "idea is to constantly increase the level of trust the audience has in you, a process [he] calls audience optimization. This, in turn, results in conversion optimization". A focus of his article is that using SEO techniques to get a high ranking on SERP's is not enough if the content is not of high quality and highly relevant - otherwise visitors to the site will leave straight away.