NENMA Search Panel Discussion October 30, 2008

1. NENMA Search Panel DiscussionOctober 30, 2008 Stephanie Kohn Director, Brand & Loyalty Marketing Boston Globe Media

2. Our Situation • Challenge • Ensure consumers are referencing Boston.com or The Boston Globe for news & information • Breaking stories, special features, new sections, events, things to do, local search, etc. • Proof of Boston.com brand positioning: “For Locals. By Locals.” • Reciprocal relationship… see something in print and expect to see it online or vice versa • One Solution • Optimize content for search- Organic & Paid • In the right place at the right time • Cost efficient & flexible

3. Organic Search Educate newsroom on how to convert content from print to online for search-ability without compromising the journalistic integrity of the content • Search Engines use web headlines to determine what an article is about • Clever headlines in the paper have no context online; spiders can’t associate them with related searches and users won’t know what the article is about Headline Winners Headline Sinners • Candidate, 28, shakes up Fitchburg mayoral race • Lisa Wong, 28, shakes up Fitchburg mayoral race • Beat the clock • Shepherd Law Group bans the billable hour • On a spending spree • Canadians in Boston take advantage of weak US dollar • Gloucester to raise an emergency $250,000 for fire department • Council eyes fire bailout • They made good in Maine • Bowdoin ends Williams’ football winning streak at 14 games

4. Organic Search Boosts brand credibility • Keyword-centric headlines help articles gain visibility, leading to search referrals and greater impact for Globe journalism Boston.com’s article appears above Obama’s official website

5. Paid Search Critical component to capturing traffic • Control user’s destination • Quickly change both message and destination • Assure advertisers of traffic • Be strategic How we do it • External agency • Geo target • Select dayparts

6. Paid Search Allows for a certain level of control in messaging, destination and timeliness Special Events/Things to Do: “Neil Diamond at Fenway” • Anticipated that there would be people in the Boston area looking for information on the concert • Created and optimized a landing page specific to the concert • Developed a short term SEM strategy, geotargeted, to drive people to Boston.com • Only ran the paid campaign around the time of the concert to minimize costs Local Ownership on an International Level: Head of the Charles • Paid search allows Boston.com the opportunity to take ownership of local events with international attention

7. Paid Search Requires us to be more strategic • Dictate the message communicated on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) • Expose your brand to users who were initially looking for competitor’s information

8. Paid Search Important channel to promote breaking news Organic search is not the mechanism to deliver breaking news • Takes time to index and display web entries • Users expect a reciprocal relationship immediately • Outdated content can lead to disappointment and can have a negative consequence on the brand

9. Friday at 5:15pm Sunday at 5am Friday at 12pm Friday at 3pm Friday at 4:30pm Globe newsroom lands major, exclusive interview with Clark Rockefeller to run in Sunday’s newspaper Boston.com marketing approves SEM strategy for Rockefeller interview The newspaper arrives on the doorstep A paid search listing for phrases related to “Clark Rockefeller” goes live on major search engines directing users to the article on Boston.com Radio spots and point of sale marketing materials are produced to promote the Globe exclusive Boston.com SEM agency is informed of the coverage Paid Search Breaking News: “Clark Rockefeller Interview” • Boston.com could not post the information prior to its release in the Globe – no time for the article to be crawled and indexed by the search engines • People outside of Boston, who don’t receive the Globe, would be looking for the article • People expect more and fresher content online

10. Paid Search Breaking News: “Clark Rockefeller Interview” While the quantitative metric of success is the number of page views received the greater value may be examined by the impact on local reach and brand exposure on a national level. Had the paid search listings not have been in place, the buzz and marketing efforts surrounding this editorial win would have been squandered.

11. Philadelphia Nashville Paid Search Breaking News/Special Event: “SNOW DAYS”You wake up to find three inches of snow on the ground. Do you have to get the kids ready for school or are they home for the day? • The organic search results are not timely, and aren’t necessarily relevant to the Boston area • A lack of presence can also drive your potential users to a competing site Competitor

12. Paid Search With paid search you can anticipate and prepare in advance for events and cyclical news. • Paid search can be launched quickly and can direct the user to the exact page with school closing information. • The user has now had a positive experience with Boston.com and may return to the site when looking for other local news.

13. Paid Search Complement Planned Editorial Content: “Globe 100”Leverage the offline marketing efforts of our “Globe 100” issue to drive users to a more robust and engaging online experience • Creative emphasizing local content within the messaging drove clicks and helped to brand Boston.com/Business • Timed the campaign to coincide with The Boston Globe editorial piece • Included terms related to the companies & CEOs featured in the section, in addition to those related directly to the editorial title (“Globe 100”) • Geo-targeting helped to reach users in the Boston DMA

14. Paid Search Key metrics to measure success There are many measurements, but hard to specifically say “success!” • Incremental page views generated: Big lift? • Average PV per user: Are they engaged with relevant content or still searching? • Cost per PV: What are the benchmarks? • Compare to revenue per PV: Did this pay for itself?

15. SEM/SEO SEO & SEM work together for best results • Dominate page real estate with both Paid and Natural presence for maximum traction • Heat map below shows how and where people look at search results. There is a huge amount of traction in terms of people looking at both the Paid and Natural results.

16. Thank you!Stephanie KohnDirector, Brand & Loyalty Marketing617.929.7599skohn@globe.com

17. Looking Ahead As the lines blur between search marketing, social media and other forms of web communication there is always more to do. Upcoming areas of exploration… • Integration of static topic pages to help with organic search • Implementing search best practices into the execution of our core social media strategy • Execution of paid search in the social media networks (e.g., paid ad units on Facebook)

18. The Boston Globe Store & Facebook Targeted keywords let you align the audience to the product In one week, this ad generated 3.8 million impressions and 517 clicks. Daily reports show ad effectiveness, and campaigns can be updated or stopped within 15 minutes. Costs are easily controlled by setting daily and per-click minimums