Marketing Society Star Awards
2009
Online Excellence:
Playing the Digital GAME
Company:
Bigmouthmedia Ltd.
Client:
GAME
Category:
Online Excellence
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Goals
GAME.co.uk engaged bigmouthmedia to develop a SEO and PPC campaign to
drive high levels of traffic to their site at a low cost per order. Goals included
ranking on the first page of Google UK’s natural search results for top consoles
during the Christmas period, a 100% rise in orders from search, achieve a ROI
target of over 35:1 with PPC and 50:1 with SEO, and hit a CPO target of just £3.00
with PPC.
Tasks
Bigmouthmedia ensured GAME could be found in both the natural and paid search
space for their available computer games. The full product inventory was placed
into the PPC campaign, with each individual game having its own bid strategy and
Hitwise data employed to predict the big games of the year. Bigmouthmedia also
ensured that all forms of offline advertising were incorporated in the online
campaigns.
Results
As a result SEO traffic to the site grew by over 62% and PPC traffic increased by
88% year-on-year in the period October 07 to October 08.
Supplied in confidence by bigmouthmedia, Edinburgh Tel: 0845 130 0022 www.bigmouthmedia.com
The GAME site achieved top organic rankings on some of the most competitive
keywords in the retail sector. The CPO from PPC was £1.28, significantly lower
than the initial £3 target, and online orders increased by over 414% YOY.
Supplied in confidence by bigmouthmedia, Edinburgh Tel: 0845 130 0022 www.bigmouthmedia.com
Introduction
GAME.co.uk engaged bigmouthmedia to work with them on their search strategy
in March 2007. Incorporating both SEO and PPC, the brief was to transfer their
strong high street presence online, with the emphasis on driving high levels of
traffic and orders to the site at a low cost per order.
Objective/Client Brief
Knowing that gamers are a particularly savvy online audience who search with
specific games in mind, the strategy was focused on ensuring GAME could be
found in both the natural and paid search space for the long list of computer
games which are available on the site.

Rank on the first page of Google UK’s natural results for the top consoles
(including Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii) at the Christmas trading period.

100% rise in orders from search

Achieve an ROI target of over 35:1 with PPC, and 50:1 with SEO

Hit a CPO target of just £3.00 with PPC

Combine joined up SEO & PPC strategies to yield maximum ROI.

Ensure PPC budget is not spent on any terms where there is zero stock.
Supplied in confidence by bigmouthmedia, Edinburgh Tel: 0845 130 0022 www.bigmouthmedia.com
STRATEGY & METHOD DEPLOYED

Ensure the full product inventory (with misspells) was in our PPC campaign,
with each individual game having its own budget, specific bid strategy and
creative copy (with price points in each PPC advert).

Develop quality, keyword rich landing pages beneficial for SEO and PPC.

Employing hitwise data to predict what were going to be the big games of
the year and allocated PPC budget accordingly to be ready for searches.

Ensured we were on the first page of results for key pre-order titles such as
Wii Fit – the biggest selling title of the year.
Christmas is the key trading period for GAME, with the site generating a large
percentage of their annual orders during the 10 week period leading up to
Christmas Day. It was therefore necessary to have all SEO recommendations
carried out well in advance so these had time to take effect and PPC budgets had
to be very reactive in order to cater for all the changes in price promotions which
occurred at this time.
Supplied in confidence by bigmouthmedia, Edinburgh Tel: 0845 130 0022 www.bigmouthmedia.com
CREATIVITY/INNOVATION
Constantly evolving keyword research on the likes of Google Insight and Hitwise
allowed us to update our search strategy with the keywords which users were
typing in. This was particularly relevant at Christmas, when huge demand and
scare supply for the top products meant that users changed their habits and began
searching for terms such as “Wii fit in stock”. We spotted this trend early and
ensured we catered for it in our search campaign.
We also worked hard to ensure all other forms of offline advertising (including TV,
radio and print) were incorporated into the campaigns. This meant working closely
with the GAME marketing department to find out exactly when TV spots were
running and changed the prices in our PPC adverts to reflect promotions.
Supplied in confidence by bigmouthmedia, Edinburgh Tel: 0845 130 0022 www.bigmouthmedia.com
Supplied in confidence by bigmouthmedia, Edinburgh Tel: 0845 130 0022 www.bigmouthmedia.com
OUTCOME

62% year on year growth of SEO traffic at £59:1 ROI

88% year on year growth of PPC traffic at £37:1 ROI

Conversion rate increased by 1%

Top SEO rankings for some of the most competitive gaming keywords

Maintained tight CPO target for PPC of under £3.00

Online orders grew 414% year on year
Bigmouthmedia grew SEO traffic to www.GAME.co.uk by over 62% year-on-year
from October 07 to October 08, while PPC traffic grew 88% in the same period.
Conversion rate on search traffic increased by 1% - evidence that bigmouthmedia
were targeting the shoppers and not the browsers.
Supplied in confidence by bigmouthmedia, Edinburgh Tel: 0845 130 0022 www.bigmouthmedia.com
The site achieved top organic rankings on some of the most competitive keywords
in the retail sector, including number one rankings for 'xbox games', 'wii games'
and ‘wii accessories’.
Supplied in confidence by bigmouthmedia, Edinburgh Tel: 0845 130 0022 www.bigmouthmedia.com
The cost per order (CPO) from PPC was £1.28, significantly lower than the initial
£3.00 target.
Bigmouthmedia also succeeded in growing online orders by over 414% YOY (Sept
07 – Sept 08) and sustaining healthy order levels well after the Christmas peak.
Supplied in confidence by bigmouthmedia, Edinburgh Tel: 0845 130 0022 www.bigmouthmedia.com
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
ROI from PPC = £37: £1
ROI from SEO = £59: £1
Supplied in confidence by bigmouthmedia, Edinburgh Tel: 0845 130 0022 www.bigmouthmedia.com