Traffic-Increase

Consists of:

Module: Digital Analysis (through Google Analytics)
Module: Search Engine Optimization
Module: Search Engine Advertising Module

Course Description Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

During the course Search Engine Marketing , the students in groups of no more than 2 get to work with webshop management and the online activities involved. The course consists of 3 modules, whereby the theory is applied in the assigned webshops.
 
The three modules are as follows:
1. Module: Digital Analysis (through Google Analytics)
2. Module: Search Engine Optimization
3. Search Engine Advertising Module
 
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the student’s second introduction to online and digital marketing. In collaboration with partner “Hobbygigant”, webshops have been created for students where students can sell “real” products. Although the URLs are different, students all sell the same products. The student manual describes, among other things, the registration procedure and rules. In the SEM course, students develop theoretical and practical skills that can be used immediately in an internship or in business.
 
Particularities:
 
SEM is the sequel to online/digital marketing essentials course. All SEM students should have the Google Digital Workshop certificate (to be obtained at https://learndigital.withgoogle.com/digitalewerkplaats/course/digital-marketing). The SEM course consists of 2 lesson parts; 100 minutes a week. Students have to spent € 50 Adwords budget available per team to run a short-term Google Adwords campaign.  It is the student’s responsibility to stay within budget.
 
NOTE: This means that the team itself must stop the Adwords campaign in time.
Students must have access to an internet-connected device. PC or laptop is sufficient. Other devices with a smaller screen size (tablet or smartphone) are not suitable for fully displaying the information

Learning Objectives

Module 1: Digital Analysis (Google Analytics).
 
The purpose of Digital Analysis is to give the administrator of a website a clear picture of, among other things, visitor flows, traffic sources and page views. On the basis of this information, a webmaster can adapt any advertising campaigns or even parts of the website to the behaviour of the visitor.

After the Google Analytics course:
  • The student has in-depth knowledge of statistics in Google Analytics.
  • The student can interpret statistics and translate them into concrete improvements.
  • The student is able to understand the tool.
  • The student can customize the tool with his own dashboards, reports and overviews.

 

Module 2: High position in search engine results (SEO)

 
Search engine optimization is part of search engine marketing and can be defined as the whole of activities, intended to have a web page score high in the organic search results of a search engine, on the keywords, keyword combination (s), or search terms that are relevant to the web page. Since a listing in those organic search results is “free”, these search results are an interesting alternative to search engine advertising (SEA).
 
After the Search Engine Marketing (SEO) training:
  • The student knows how to influence your online marketing with SEO.
  • The student has knowledge of the signals that search engines pick up and use in ranking the search results.
  • The student can carry out keyword research himself and determine which combinations are interesting.
  • The student has knowledge of optimizing and rearranging the content on a website.
  • The student knows how to use tools to monitor and improve your SEO.
 
Module 3: Advertising on Search Engines (SEA)
 
Search Engine Advertising means placing advertisements above and next to natural search results for a fee. The ad is served when a search engine user enters a word or phrase associated with the ad. The advertiser only pays if the search engine user clicks on one of its ads. The ad redirects the clicker to the advertiser’s website. The advertiser only pays for the times the ad is clicked, not for showing in a search query.
 In this module, the student learns exactly which settings are relevant for the relevant webshop/organization. The student learns how the Adwords tool works and how relevant keywords can be selected. In addition, the student will start writing effective advertising texts that include those keywords. Subsequently, the student learns how to set up an effective campaign, and what the best bidding options are so that better results can be achieved for less money.
 
 After the Search Engine Advertising module:
  • The student knows how to set up a good AdWords campaign.
  • The student can find out the correct keywords for a campaign.
  • The student knows how effective advertisement (texts) are made.
  • The student is able to make optimal use of the budget.
  • The student knows how to advertise in a result-oriented way with Google AdWords.
  • The student is able to assess whether the campaigns contribute to the achievement of the objectives.
  • The student is able to set up an effective campaign himself, monitor it and steer for results and contributions to the objectives of the organization.

Practical Assignments for Search Engine Marketing course

The SEM course has a compulsory part as a practical assignment. These consist of three practical assignments: SEO, SEA, SEM-Advice. The context of these assignments have their foundation in the theory of the Digital Workshop of Google and is applied to a webshop). During the semester, students will keep their own student log, which includes screenshots of the actions  which were taken during the (lesson) week, and show cause and effect relationship. This log is to be used for all three assignments as it is proof of your actions.

The student will receive three grades for these practical assignments. All three assignments must be completed with a minimum of 5.5 to pass the SEM course.

 

The structure of the practical assignments is as followed:

1: SEO-report

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the three modules covered in the Search Engine Marketing (SEM) course. No matter how good your website is, you will achieve little without visitors. SEO is the perfect way to attract these visitors to your website. After all, achieving high search result positions makes your website visible to many potential visitors. It’s best to think of Google as one of the openings to your store. Besides Google there are of course several search engines active (Bing, Yahoo, Ecosia, Yandex, etc), but during this course the emphasis will be on Google Search Engine.

The investment requirements you have to make in SEO is relatively limited. Just look at other marketing tools such as television or newspaper ads. The costs quickly fly into the tens of thousands of euros and the question is how big the impact will actually be. For many companies it is therefore advisable to use SEO as support or even as an alternative. A big advantage of SEO, and of course also of paid traffic via other channels is the measurability. You can see on which terms visitors come in and which steps they then take on a website. A good measurement means good opportunities for optimization and therefore an investment with results.

You will produce a SEO-report, based on you weekly activities (that’s why you need a log) where you will analyze cause and effect relations and provide advice for your webshop. For an elaborate assignment description see below (Assignment Description SEO).

2: SEA-report

SEA stands for Search Engine Advertising, this means paid advertising in a search engine. By advertising on the internet you can focus very specifically on a certain target group. The difference with SEO is that you pay for SEA for showing your website in the search results.

Google’s search engine uses its own advertising system; Google AdWords. By means of an auction system you can bid on the paid advertising spots in the Google search engine. Bidding is based on search terms and / or keywords. In addition to the amount of the bid, Google also looks at the quality of an ad and the landing page. So you can save costs by optimizing your ads!

The importance of the SEA module?

Google AdWords is a popular way of advertising. Anyone can put together an ad and enter a few keywords. But how do you make your AdWords campaigns effective? What are the right keywords and how do you achieve more results at a lower cost?

You will produce a SEA-report, based on you weekly activities (that’s why you need a log) where you will analyse cause and effect relations and provide advice for your webshop. For an elaborate assignment description see below (Assignment Description SEA).

3: SEM advice report

Detailed regarding the assignments can be found below.

In the final weeks of the course, the students make an advisory report for the external company (SEM advice report). The student is assessed on the quality of the analysis, the completeness and quality of the recommendations and the substantiation of the advice.
The student does this for:

  1. the home page,
  2. at least one detail page and
  3. at least one landing page.

A big advantage of the ways of Search Engine Marketing through different channels is the measurability. You can see on which terms visitors come in and which steps they then take on a website. A good measurement means good opportunities for optimization and therefore an investment with results. You have already performed these actions and recorded them in your logbook. It is now the intention to turn this into concrete business advice.

Assignment Description SEO module

The SEO practical assignment is a group assignment.

The students draw up an advisory report for an external party. This external party is the assigned owner of the webshop that the students manage in teams of a maximum of 2 people. During the semester, students keep their own student log which documents their actions. Every week they note the material learned and the practical exercises.

SEO Report

A maximum of one week after closing the SEO module, each team uploads a Word document. This Word document contains the SEO advice report for the external company. This advice consists of 4 to 6 pages in A4 format (excl cover, introduction, table of content, sources) and includes:

  • Weekly outline of which team member did which tasks
  • What analysis were made and what are the results
  • Weekly overview of (webshop) actions. Use before and after screenshots, and elaborate on the changes which you made
  • Choice and motivation of 3 short tail and 3 long tail key words
  • Cause and effect of applied SEO actions. Use screenshots from Google Analytics on which the effects are visible
  • Advice on which keywords are recommended for the company website and why
  • Advice which keywords are not recommended for the company website and why

 

Information material and external sources

The Search Enging Marketing field is constantly changing. Search engines and advertising platforms change their algorithms several times a year so that books are obsolete before they are in the store. Blogs are more current. Some of the blogs that are well regarded are:

  • Google Analytics Academy (Dutch)
  • Google Help Center Adwords (set in Dutch at the bottom of the page)
  • Frankwatching (Dutch)
  • SearchEngineLand (in English)
  • Kissmetric (English)

Because the students in this course get to work with their webshop themselves, the teaching material is digital. In principle, students themselves are in charge of their webshop activities. Information sources therefore consist of digital sources, including:

 

Learning objectives SEO assignment

Search engine optimization is part of search engine marketing and can be defined as the whole of activities, intended to have a web page score high in the organic search results of a search engine, on the keywords, keyword combination (s), or search terms that are relevant to the web page. Since a listing in those organic search results is “free”, these search results are an interesting alternative to search engine advertising.

 After the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) training:

  • The student knows how you can influence your online marketing with SEO.
  • The student has knowledge of the signals that search engines pick up and use in ranking the search results.
  • The student can carry out keyword research himself and determine which combinations are interesting.
  • The student has knowledge of optimizing and rearranging the content on a website.

The student knows how to use tools to monitor and improve your SEO.

Assignment Description SEA

The SEA practical assignment is a group assignment.

The students draw up an advisory report for an external party (Practical assignment SEA report). This external party is the assigned owner of the webshop that the students manage in teams of a maximum of 2 people. Students in the same team create and implement an Adword campaign for an external company. The teams independently arrange in advance permission and access to the Google Analytics data of the relevant website. Subsequently, each team will operationalize, analyze and improve an Adword campaign.

SEA Report

A maximum of one week after the closing of the SEA module, each team (each student uploads the report individually) uploads a Word document. This Word document contains the SEA advice report for the external company. This advice consists of 2 to 4 pages in A4 format and includes:

  • Effect of SEA actions,
  • Screen dump Google Analytics on which the effects are visible,
  • Analysis which Adwords campaign works and why (not).
  • SEA recommendations and advice

Information material and external sources

The Search Engine Marketing field is constantly changing. Search engines and advertising platforms change their algorithms several times a year so that books are obsolete before they are in the store. Blogs are more current. Some of the blogs that are well regarded are:

Because the students in this course get to work with their webshop themselves, the teaching material is digital. In principle, students themselves are in charge of their webshop activities. Information sources therefore consist of digital sources, including:

 

Learning objectives SEA assignment

Search engine advertising is part of search engine marketing and can be defined as the whole of activities, intended to have a web page score high in the paid search results of a search engine, on the keywords, keyword combination (s) or search terms that are relevant to the web page. Since a listing in the search results is “not free” / not organic, this way of search engine marketing is interesting to generate fast (for a fee) traffic to a website.

 After the Search Engine Advertising (SEA) training:

  • You know how to set up a good AdWords campaign.
  • Can you find the right keywords for your campaign.
  • You know how to create effective advertisement (texts).
  • Are you able to make optimal use of your budget
  • You know how to advertise result-oriented with Google AdWords.
  • You can assess whether your campaigns contribute to your objectives.
  • You can set up an effective campaign yourself, monitor it and steer it towards results that contribute to the objectives of your company or organization

Assignment Description SEM Advice Report

The SEM advice practical assignment is a group assignment.

The students draw up an advisory report for an external party. This external party is the assigned owner of the webshop that the students manage in teams of a maximum of 2 people. During the semester, students keep their own student log which documents their actions. Every week they note the material learned and the practical exercises.

SEM advice Report

The SEM advice report is the final product of the student in which advice is given about the Search Engine Marketing activities of the past weeks. The student is assessed on the quality of the analysis, the completeness and quality of the recommendations and the substantiation of the advice. The student does this in response to the activities performed in the SEO and SEA field.

At the end of week 11, each team (1x for each student) uploads a Word document. This Word document contains the SEM advisory report for web shop. This advice consists of 6 to 10 pages A4 format and includes:

  • Comprehensive summary of the SEO report, provided with at least one new insight since the completion of the SEO report.
  • Comprehensive summary of the SEA report, provided with at least one new insight since the completion of the SEA report
  • SEM advice for the existing corporate website homepage,
  • SEM advice for an existing product detail page of the company website
  • SEM advice for an existing corporate website landing page

Decent substantiation and motivation of your findings are required. Unfounded answers will be considered unsatisfactory.

Information material and external sources

The Search Enging Marketing field is constantly changing. Search engines and advertising platforms change their algorithms several times a year so that books are obsolete before they are in the store. Blogs are more current. Some of the blogs that are well regarded are:

Because the students in this course get to work with their webshop themselves, the teaching material is digital. In principle, students themselves are in charge of their webshop activities. Information sources therefore consist of digital sources, including:

 

Learning objectives SEM advice assignment

Having gained insight into both SEO and SEA activities allows the student to determine quality keywords and successful campaigns. With the cause and effect analysis throughout the semester in both field, the student is now able to draw conclusion and formulate advice for the owner of the webshop, with specifications in for the home page, the product page and landing page.

 After the SEM advice report the student:

  • The student knows how you can influence your online marketing with SEO.
  • The student has knowledge of the signals that search engines pick up and use in ranking the search results.
  • The student can carry out keyword research himself and determine which combinations are interesting.
  • The student has knowledge of optimizing and rearranging the content on a website.
  • The student knows how to use tools to monitor and improve your SEO.
  • The student knows how to set up a good AdWords campaign.
  • Can you find the right keywords for your campaign.
  • The student knows how to create effective advertisement (texts).
  • Is able to make optimal use of your budget
  • The student knows how to advertise result-oriented with Google AdWords.
  • The student can assess whether your campaigns contribute to your objectives.
  • The student can set up an effective campaign yourself, monitor it and steer it towards results that contribute to the objectives of your company or organization.

Example timeframe SEM-course based on 11 weeks

  1. Course Introduction & Website registration
  2. Intro to webshops
  3. Introduction and applying SEO
  4. Analysing and improving SEO
  5. Analysing and improving SEO
  6. Analysing and draw SEO conclusions   –>Hand in SEO-report
  7. Introduction and applying SEA
  8. Analysing and improving SEA
  9. Analysing and improving SEA
  10. Analysing and draw SEA conclusions  –>Hand in SEA-report
  11. Analysing and advice formulation  –> Hand in final SEM advice-report

Criteria for writing reports

The practical assignments are considered group assignments. The same team members will work together during the semester. Both students need to upload the report before a grade can be appointed. In addition to the before mentioned criteria for the SEO, SEA and SEM-advice reports, the following applies to all practical assignment for SEM.

The report should look professional and include:

  1. A cover page
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Introduction
  4. Elaboration of all assignments (see Assignment Description)
  5. Summary, conclusion (and if applicable: advice)

 General criteria:

  • The English language is used correctly, has a consistent and attractive layout and a clear structure.
  • The cover page will at least contain the name of both the students, the field of study, the year and the name of the teacher.
  • Minimum number of pages is 12
  • APA-referencing is applied
  • Literature list with credible sources is included

Handing in digitally at universities system

All written or digital assignments available must be uploaded for the relevant course. The date of upload is the time of submission.

Assessment, fraud and retakes

The assessment framework can be found enclosed. Based on the learning objectives, it is assessed whether you have mastered the learning objectives sufficiently.

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