Initially, I wanted to title this post “When Sales and SEO Don’t Communicate.” Still, I realized it was more about an all-too-common marketing failure: not ensuring Searchers can accomplish what they came to the site to do. Many companies fail to grasp the relatively simple concept of connecting keyword phrases they want to rank for to why a searcher uses them in the first place. Even more importantly, task completion – when the searcher gets to the page, can they do what they expected they could?
In the article below, it was fairly simple what I wanted to do but not asking that simple question, ensuring I could complete the task they lost a customer. Â How many customers are you losing since you did not connect the dots?
My wife loves her point-and-shoot Panasonic camera. It is compact, super zoom and takes great pictures. Unfortunately, upon reviewing our Cuba pictures, she discovered that dust had somehow gotten on the sensor, resulting in dark spots on all her photos. I assume many would just buy a new camera and call it a day.
Since I send in my pro-level camera every other year for cleaning and tuning, I assumed that it might be possible to do the same for hers. So, I did what most people would do – I conducted a Google search for “Panasonic Camera Repair” to see if there was a repair center near me. Here is what came up.
Skipping over the paid results, the Panasonic Support site appears first, so I log in and try to find the estimate for services on the Panasonic site, but I have a horrible experience, which will be the subject of my next article on how poor service can harm an already damaged brand.
For this article, let’s focus on the 2nd organic listing for Precision Camera. A few things caught my attention: first, the exact match title in the search result and, of course, the exact match URL. The snippet is not great, but the title sucks me in, and they are an authorized service center.
Upon entering the page, I notice more SEO efforts. Everything is about Panasonic camera repair, heading, images, and multiple references on the page, so the SEO has done a great job of actually over-optimizing this page, but it is ranking #2 after the brand, so we will take it.
- Exact Match URL
- Exact Match H1
- Branded images
- Multiple references to the phrase in the body
Given all these signals, I am clearly on a page that can help. Since they have repaired 4 million cameras – that is another good sign. So, I start the process to ensure they can fix my model and possibly get an idea of the cost to do it. I click the pull-down to select my make, which by now you know is Panasonic, and it is not there.
Come on now, how, can a page that ranks #2 in Google and is expertly tuned to the Panasonic camera not have Panasonic on the pull-down? This company took the time, effort, and cost to create a page and optimize it for a particular make of camera, yet did not list it on the page. One could argue that it should default to Panasonic, so the user would simply select the model number. However, at the very least, ensure that it is listed on the page you have optimized for it.
In most cases, when I have encountered this type of disconnect, it is due to the sales and marketing teams not communicating with the SEO team. Most companies will provide a list of words they want to rank for to an SEO or agency, without considering what people do when they arrive at the page. Unfortunately, many SEOs will do a great job of optimizing the page to meet the client’s demands but fail to connect the dots.
This ties back to the currently popular discussion on Searcher Intent, which is a topic in itself. But what did you expect a person searching for “Panasonic Camera Repair” to do once they got to the page? Has anyone checked to see if they can do it? Do you even support the brand?
Ok, so there is the option to select “Maker,” and Panasonic is not listed I choose “Other.” It pulls up a form. The form is the standard Contact Us form and does not even ask me for my model or some other irrelevant information.
- Company – why is my company necessary? Do you get a lot of company requests?
- Serial number – maybe you can find the make and model from the serial number, but wouldn’t it be easier to ask me the make and model of the camera and the serial number to make it idiot-proof?
- The comments suggest that I tell you what’s wrong with the camera.
I would be curious how many people just backed out of the page, never communicating with them. There is at least one, me, as it was not worth the effort to try and contact them. They are using Google Analytics, so a simple test would be to determine how many people clicked on the missing model. If I find a pattern for a model, I might add it to the pull-down.
So I wondered what happens if I choose Canon and then select a model from the list? I got a quote form telling me they they will apparently do something to my camera for $130.95. Of course, I have questions about this page. I did check, and they rank #4 for “Canon Camera Repair,” so that is great, but we have the new experience detailed below.
Burning Questions
- What do I get for this service? I couldn’t find any information on the site, even in the FAQ section, that indicates what will be done to my camera for $130. Nowhere on the site did it tell me what was to be done. There is a link to the service estimation tool, but that is the page I selected for the camera make and model. So, is the $130 the estimate for the work?
- My favorite is the promo code box, so I searched for a promo code.
What I found was a bunch of promos for a similar retail camera store in Austin, Texas, and one listing for this Precision Camera.
Since I was familiar with the domain, I clicked on the correct site, and this opened up another basket of goodies.
- The latest code is from 2008
- The text says to enter the promo code, but there is no one to add
- The offer is for inbound shipping only. Do you discount the offer based on the postage cost of my box? What if I send it overnight?
- While supplies last, yes, you might run out of budget for free shipping rebates
As I tell people, if you use the box, then you should have a code. Either remove the box from the form when it’s not available or create a page similar to those mentioned in the article above. You can also use it to capture social media followers or likes or an email address by offering an incentive to provide your contact information.
I wrote about this a few times with the most recent Maximizing Offer Codes and my fellow SEO Brett Payne goes a bit deeper on finding and optimizing coupon codes
In the end, after being unable to get service easily and seeing that most service centers charge $150 to clean a sensor, I found a YouTube video that walked me through the process. The process was relatively painless, as it showed step-by-step instructions on how to disassemble the camera and clean the sensor, which I completed in about 30 minutes.
I apologize for bringing this company’s missteps to light. If it helps them or another company make these changes, that is great. This was more a stream-of-conscious article than one well-researched. For the haters, this will be a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ article, as I assume that some will visit my sites and criticize them. I welcome that, as I already have a list of 217 items that need to be changed, and if you can find more, they will be added to the list. As I’m sure is the case with most sites, I’m focused on client deliverables and don’t have time to address them.
So what should this experience have been like – I was expecting something like Canon’s support process. They are ranking #1 for Canon Camera Repair with a couple of site links, and I clicked the one for “Repair Request.” The form starts out by telling me to type my Model – to be fair, this is Canon, and they only service Canon products.
This then brings up a page that lets me choose what I want done to the camera. If I don’t know, I choose the first repair option. Since it could be many things, they need to inspect the camera to determine the problem and then provide a quote. The other two options are a sensor cleaning, which is what I needed for Motoko’s camera, or a complete cleaning and tune-up. This is what I typically have them do. I don’t have to guess what will be done. I don’t have to pay $130 just to have the sensor checked if there is a one-price-fits-most option. This allows the searcher to be informed and make the decision that is best for them. I would suspect that the effort to box the camera and send it might as well include the full service since they have it.
Again, if you think about why the searcher did the query, when they come to the page, what do THEY want to do, and what do you want them to do next, you can move people through a more informed process and increase conversions. To be fully transparent, I don’t work with Canon or Precision Camera, and I had no reason to write this other than to help businesses do a better job of leveraging their high-ranking pages. I have a Canon Camera and have used their repair service for a couple of cameras in the past, it was painless, and I am a total Canon fanboy.
–Edit– Damn… people are quick…. I was just informed that Rand Fiskin recently introduced this groundbreaking concept as a critical ranking factor during last week’s Whiteboard Friday. I love that post, and it helps solidify the idea that this is a problem that needs to be solved. And no, I did not rip off Rand, Mike Moran, and I dedicated nearly a whole chapter to this topic in all three editions of Search Engine Marketing Inc. The first edition was published in 2004, and Chapter 4 provides in-depth details about how searchers search, Searcher Intent, and specifically, Searcher Task Completion – how to guide them to conversion based on the query, query intent, and phase of the buying cycle. In the current Edition of Search Engine Marketing Inc, in Chapter 2 we go deeper into this process but also introduce location and device into the equation as they also have significant impact on the completion.
