The Power and Effectiveness of Search Marketing
Marco! Polo! Marco! Polo! Welcome to the game of search marketing. However, this is one serious game. Search marketing is on fire, and this is clearly demonstrated by market activity. Search marketing accounts for 40 percent of all online ad spending. Online advertising is currently a 10 billion dollar industry and rapidly growing. With search marketing leading the way, it’s no surprise that Google’s stock just passed $300 a share. It’s powerful, it’s effective, and marketers MUST learn how to take advantage of this advertising tool.
Why is search so powerful? In traditional forms of advertising, consumers are bombarded throughout the course of their day with advertisements. This assault for mindshare is intrusive in nature. Consumers are interrupted as they watch television, read magazines, listen to the radio, attend sporting events and on and on. Search marketing is the complete opposite. A consumer only sees your listing or advertisement when they have searched on a term that is relevant to your listing. The consumer actively seeks out information, and your advertisement appears only at the time of immediate relevance. This is what makes it so powerful. It is advertising on demand from a consumer point of view. If I’m in the market for home improvement products, I can find anything I want instantly through search. It’s immediate gratification, and it’s simple to use.
There are two primary methods to utilize search marketing, paid placement and search engine optimization. Both are effective but operate in different ways. Paid placement acts as an auction of search terms. Advertisers bid on select keywords or keyword phrases. Their listings appear in the “sponsored listings” area of a search results page. The advertiser does not pay any money for the user just seeing their listing. They only pay when the user actually clicks on the listing, which then takes the user to the advertiser’s website. In other words, advertisers only pay for the leads generated through visits to their website. Prices vary depending upon the search term and the paid search provider. The two biggest players are Google and Yahoo. The other method, search engine optimization (sometimes referred to as organic search marketing or natural search marketing) attempts to manipulate the “natural” search results from any search engine. The natural search results are website listings that have not paid for that placement on the page. Most users do not distinguish the difference between paid and natural search listings. When conducting a search engine optimization program, the marketer adjusts their website to help it get listed higher on search engines for given keywords and phrases. Other techniques are employed as well since many factors influence the listing of any given website. The challenging aspect of this technique is that each search engine behaves differently with their own unique set of rules, and these rules are constantly changing. Search engine optimization programs are normally conducted by experts and consist of a startup fee and a monthly maintenance fee.
Other variations of search marketing exist such as contextual advertising, Google Adwords, Gmail and more. The best place to start is with paid placement and search engine optimization. Both tools can be conducted separately or in conjunction. It is best to seek out an expert that can help you understand the complexities of available options and to determine a program best suited to obtain your goals. Search marketing is going to continue to evolve over time. I predict rapid changes as we are in the infant stage of this medium. Search will become more creative and intertwined with our user experience across various destinations. Do not miss out on utilizing this highly effective interactive tool. The concept of search is revolutionary, it is here to stay, and it will evolve. Familiarize yourself now with the medium so you are not an advertising laggard. This is the future.