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Charleston, S.C. – August 21, 2007 - An eye tracking experiment published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication revealed that college student internet users have an inherent trust in Google's ability to rank results by their true relevance to the query. When participants selected a link from Google's result pages, their decisions were strongly biased towards links higher in position, even if that content was less relevant to the search query.
“Despite the popularity of search engines, most users are not aware of how they work and know little about the implications of their algorithms,” says study author Bing Pan. “When websites rank highly in a search engine, they might not be authoritative, unbiased or trustworthy.”
According to Pan, this has important long term implications for search engine results, as this type of use, in turn, affects future rankings. “The way college students conduct online searches promotes a ‘rich-get-richer’ phenomenon, where popular sites get more hits regardless of relevance,” says Pan. “This further cements the site’s high rank, and makes it more difficult for lesser known sites to gain an audience.”
The author says users need to be aware that search engines have tremendous influence on what and how information is accessed. An effort on the part of search engine developers to provide users with information on how the algorithms function could help to raise user awareness.
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This study is published in Volume 12 Issue 3 of Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Media wishing to receive a PDF of this article may contact journalnews@bos.blackwellpublishing.net.
To view the abstract for this article, please click here.
Bing Pan is Head of Research with the Office of Tourism Analysis and an assistant professor with the School of Business and Economics at the College of Charleston. He can be reached for questions at panb@cofc.edu.
The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (JCMC) is a web-based, peer-reviewed scholarly journal. Its focus is social science research on computer-mediated communication via the Internet, the World Wide Web, and wireless technologies. For more information, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/jcmc.
Sean Wagner
Public Relations Specialist
350 Main St.
Malden, MA 02148
United States
781-388-8550 (phone)
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swagner@bos.blackwellpublishing.com
http://www.jonathanleger.com/coolest-guy/
According to Google, the coolest guy on the planet is SEO Expert, Brad Fallon. Do a search at Google for "the coolest guy on the planet" and you'll see what I mean. However, Brad is NOT the coolest guy on the planet according to Yahoo and MSN. Why? This goes back to Google's modifying its algorithm in January to prevent "Google Bombing" (or "link bombing").
The famous "miserable failure" search that used to point to George W. Bush's biography page is an example of how it used to work. You'll notice that both Yahoo! and MSN still pointJonathan Leger to Bush's page for that phrase, but Google does not. This holds the key to a lesson for you if you're trying to rank well in Google.
It used to be that all you had to do was get a whole lot of links pointing to your site with your keywords, and you would rank well for those keywords. Now, however, it appears that Google is checking your page content against the link text used to point to your pages. Since Bush's bio page does not have anything to do with the phrase "miserable failure", it does not rank for that phrase in Google, no matter how many links point to it with that phrase.
On the other hand, Brad Fallon's page does actually contain the phrase "the coolest guy on the planet"-- and that's all it took for Google to see the links pointing to his blog with that phrase as being legitimate. So be sure that you're getting links pointing to your pages using anchor text that you want to rank for, AND make sure that your page content is actually relevant for that phrase.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
First Page Search Engine Listing Provides Brand LiftAccording to new research conducted by Jupiter Research and sponsored by iProspect, 62% of search engine users click on a search result within the first page of results, and a full 90% of users click on a result within the first three pages of search results. These figures were just 48% and 81%, respectively, in 2002. (But even beyond the benefits of being found within the first three pages of results, the study reports that brand equity is bestowed upon those entities listed in the top results. Robert Murray, President, iProspect, said "... a percentage of search engine users ascribe industry leadership to those brands within top results, and believe them to be leaders in their fields given their placement in the results. Cleary, this brand lift is a critical element for brand marketers." The study revealed that 82% of search engine users re-launch an unsuccessful search using the same search engine as they used for their initial search, but add more keywords to refine the subsequent search. High-level findings include:
Murray concludes that "Search engine users are demonstrating a preference to remain with a particular search engine and re-launch unsuccessful initial searches as longer keyword searches...marketers need to...target these longer keyword phrases so they can be readily found by searchers."
Google Adwords: Online marketing made affordable
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I'm not an online marketing expert, and am just now starting to get a grasp on it after years of being immersed in the development of printed marketing materials. But since the launch of my company's own online storefront, MarcomAndPOP.com, it's been vital to learn more about online marketing and concepts like “Cost-Per-Click” (CPC), “Cost-Per-Impression” (CPI) and “Search Engine Optimization” (SEO). Calling in the experts If you also have a Web storefront that needs a marketing boost, it pays to frequently attend seminars or webinars (http://www.MarketingProfs.com), read up on industry news (http://www.SearchEngineGuide.com), and pay an expert to analyze your site (http://www.RedwoodTech.org). Online marketing experts can offer strategies to improve your site's ranking on the Web, and work with you to implement them. You can find these experts locally, just visit the RTC's member roster or e-mail me for our printed Member Directory. Recently, my company worked with a fellow RTC member company that specializes in this area. This team of experts assisted us with the understanding of SEO tactics; implemented certain rank-building strategies such as use of “Alt Tags,” “Page Titles” and “Meta Descriptions”, gave us background on “keyword” strategies, and provided an overview of online advertising options. Adwords pays off One advertising option was Google's Adwords program, which you've undoubtedly seen in action whenever you Google something. Every time you do a search, those unobtrusive but relevant text ads that appear to the right and top of your search results are not only how Google makes most of its money, but they're also one of the best ways that small business owners can experience Web advertising success. The Adwords program is based on a “Cost Per Click” (CPC) concept. Each time someone searching Google clicks on your ad, you get charged a small fee. You pay only for the clicks you've received at a price that you've already set. You can choose a maximum CPC from 1 cent to $100, and a maximum daily amount that you're willing to spend. There are no monthly minimums, and just a relatively small fee to set up the account. What sets Google's program apart from other online advertising is that you are in total control of your campaign and what you spend. For MarcomAndPOP.com, our Adwords campaign currently consists of two product categories. For each category, we've written multiple ads. Each ad links directly to a specific product that we want viewers to see if they click on the link. We can change the ads 24/7, and change the individual amounts that we're paying for each ad that gets clicked on. Google provides us with tools to find the best key words for our ads, see how everything is performing, track who clicked on what ad, and who purchased what product. Without adding staff and by spending a fraction of what we would with other advertising tactics, we've experienced a noticeable sales increase directly related to our Adwords campaign. If you want to try it, be sure to take advantage of Google's “Jumpstart” program for new advertisers. For $299 Google's team will analyze your website, put together a number of suggested ads and keywords to get you started, and even give you $299 in credit toward your clicks fees. Just be sure to review your campaign to gain an understanding of how to mange it prior to starting your ads. Do your keyword homework With Adwords, I've noticed that there are those who tried it and love it, and those who tried and say it was a big waste of money. Yes, it can be a money pit if you don't do your homework. Don't start until you learn what key words people are looking for when they search for your products. Words we often use to describe our products are just industry speak, and nothing like what people use when they search online. Try the online service www.WordTracker.com for ideas. WordTracker is practically free, and offers a selection of subscription rates that start at around $8 for a one day use. Finally, there is a growing risk of “click fraud” and you should know what to look for to make sure it doesn't happen to you (”How Click Fraud Could Swallow the Internet,” by Charles C. Mann, Wired Magazine, January 2006.) RTC members: your neighborhood experts The SEO firm we hired has paid off nicely. Adwords has been the best marketing strategy we've implemented for our site, and the only one that has shown immediate return on our investment. If you have a storefront or just want to drive traffic to your site, you too can boost your online sales today by going to the RTC's website and contacting a local online marketing expert to help you get started. Rene Agredano is a RTC member and co-owner of Agreda Communications, a one-stop shop for total marketing communications and point-of-purchase graphic solutions available online at www.MarcomAndPOP.com. She can be reached at rene@agreda.com. |
Google Tests AdWords Tweaks
› › › ClickZ News
By Kevin Newcomb | January 25, 2006
Google has been testing out two new features for AdWords advertisers, including longer text ads and a desktop application to manage AdWords campaigns. AdWords Editor, which launched in beta on Tuesday, is a downloadable account management application for Windows that lets users make changes to multiple AdWords campaigns, in multiple accounts, and then upload changes in bulk to Google's system. According to the FAQ on Google's site, "AdWords Editor can work for any Google AdWords advertiser with any size account. The application is particularly useful for advertisers with large accounts containing multiple campaigns and long keyword lists." A spokesperson for Google declined to share details on the scope of the beta test, or how advertisers could become involved, saying only, "We are currently conducting a test of the AdWords Editor with a limited number of advertisers. In the future, we plan to open this up to a broader set of advertisers. At this time we don't have any specific details to share about the scope of the test or future plans." The application is so far only available in English, for Windows 2000 or Windows XP users, but Google says it is working now to create versions in other languages, and for other platforms. Another feature Google is testing is longer text ads on search results pages. For a limited number of advertisers and keywords, ads are being shown that are longer than the 70-character limit Google generally imposes. In one instance, as reported by Search Engine Roundtable, shows the top result of a search for "California weather" returning a four-line, 199-character ad from the non-profit College Board. A similar search at press time returned a one-line, 58-character ad from College Board. In December, Yahoo! made the decision to crop its text ads from 190 to 70 characters. That move was met with the approval of many SEMs, while others objected to the move.
A Google spokesperson said the ads are part of a "limited test" that has been running since the summer. Again, details were sparse, and Google declined to comment on the ads other than to say, "We are always exploring ways to improve the way we display ads. User and advertiser feedback is an important part of this process."
Yes, more software from Google appears to be coming. Spotted on Greg Yardley's Yardley.ca blog is news that Google is testing (via a private beta, you'll need a login and password) a desktop AdWords editor that allows you to work offline, make bulk changes, export snapshots, and more. The apps web page (it's available to all) includes a screenshot and says:
AdWords Editor is Google's free, downloadable account management application for your computer. Now you can download your AdWords account to your computer, make your changes, then upload your revised campaigns.
Plenty of the documentation is online including an FAQ but no info (at least I was unable to find it) about where to register for a beta invite.
Sorry Mac folks. The FAQ points out that the Google Desktop Editor is only available (if you can test it in the first place) for Windows 2000 and Windows XP (Home/Pro). However, Linux and Mac versions are being developed.
Postscript from Gary :
Here's a statement I just received from a Google spokesperson.
Google is always considering new ways to provide value to its advertisers and we frequently run limited tests of potential new products. We are currently conducting a test of the AdWords Editor with a limited number of advertisers. In the future, we plan to open this up to a broader set of advertisers.
Google, in the present internet world, is one of the most successful and fastest growing companies. This is also in part due to the particular service which Google offers to its users – that of a search engine. Thus, people turn towards it as a reliable source of information. So, Google found itself in a unique position of bringing marketers and consumers closer to each other. The result of this was the creation of the Google Adwords advertising process. This service is Google’s own improvement on the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising model.
We all know how a Google search works. You type in your query and Google displays the top ten results on the page. Google Adwords takes the advantage of this fact of a captive audience – the researcher – and displays a list of unobtrusive advertisements on the right side of the web page. These ads link directly to your website, immediately guaranteeing a focused audience. Also, Google offers the same facility for many of its partner sites like AOL and Earthlink etc. Recently, Google has started another service – Adsense. This service enables you to display your advertisements on a website relating to the product or service you are selling.
There are a few guidelines on how to optimize Google Adwords to work profitably for you. While choosing keywords (on whose searches your advertisement will appear) be very careful, otherwise you will just be wasting your money on some very general keywords. Also, since Google allows you to bid for the keywords you want, decide beforehand how much you are able to pay for a link. One of the crucial advantages of Google Adwords is that this is a Pay-Per-Click model. This means that you only need to pay money to Google when a searcher actually clicks on the link to your website and ends up visiting it.
Also, Google offers you a number of customization tools to help you reach your favored section of the consumer population. For example, you can choose the countries to which you want your advertisement to reach. Google offers a list of more than 250 countries for you to choose from. Along with this, you can decide from over 14 languages in which your advertisement would be displayed. Google also has a novel Discounter program. This software automatically calculates the lowest you need to offer to stay ahead of the competition and immediately informs you of the same.
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You know you're in blog trouble when you start your posts with, "It's been too long since my last post…." Hey, we're busy as hell and we're hiring: SEO Specialist, SEO Copywriter, Linking Specialist, Admin. More about all that on the TopRank site.
Now on to this malarkey about discount search engine optimization:
Over the years I've had many opportunities to give prospective search marketing clients "good deals" for a variety of reasons. Early on in your business, there are some compelling reasons to do so, but my advice? Don't. Here's some classics along with my feeble replies:
"We want to see what you can do with organic SEO for a month or two, and if we see results we'll pay more."
Great, sounds like you're focused on results. For the short term, your best bet will be a paid search program. We can have a Google AdWords account setup with the approriate keywords, ad creative, landing pages and conversion tracking within 2-3 business days. We can monitor progress and scale the program up or down accordingly.
At the same time we can begin the process of optimizing your site for improved organic rankings which will take some time. Organic SEO should be thought of as a long term strategy. As we refine your site to be crawlable by search engines and enhance content as well as incoming links, your site will become more relevant for the search terms your prospects are using. If you're going to optimize your site for organic rankings, it should be done correctly and long term or not at all.
"Our brand is very strong in the marketplace and working with us could be an entry point to bigger things. So give us a lower rate now and we'll introduce you to bigger opportunities with our other companies in the future."
I can see you're very proud of your brand. We're very proud of the results we've been able to deliver for our clients. The value we provide our clients is not something we discount. We would be happy to try a smaller project with you and scale accordingly based on the merits of that program.
"We want you to optimize our site on a pay for performance basis."
Unless we have near full control over your site's content and design, a pay for performance program is not practical. An effective search engine optimization program almost always involves improvements to the content, organization, linking and usability of your website.
There are many others and it's tempting to just say, "thanks but no thanks". I can say every time we've ever given a discount for any of the reasons above, it almost always turns out for the worse. That's why we don't any longer. What's needed is better education on what SEO is, what it can do and when it is appropriate.
Two or three years ago, who would have thought Search Engine Marketing will dominate almost all marketing conferences.
My suggestion to you is this: don't do any search engine optimization. I do not mean that you stop search engine marketing. Forget about search engine optimization like coding, spamming and all other methods that will eventually get you in trouble. Don't try to fool search engines. It won't work. Read Google Guide carefully and follow every word of it. Here it is :
http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
Read Yahoo Guide or Terms of Service: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Keep everything normal and natural. Google and Yahoo will find you and if you have something of value, Google will eventually recognize your value. Keep everything simple.
I strongly suggest Google Adwords Select, Yahoo or Overture. Get to know your keywords. Do lots of keyword analysis. Find out which keywords have the highest impressions. Try to advertise your website locally using Google Local Adwords.
You need to invite people to visit your site and examine what you have to start with. Show off your keywords and make them clickable as text anchor. Then as search engines collect more information about your website through Toolbars, your site standing in the organic section will improve. In summary, use the Google Adwords to start your campaign.
I also suggest Google News or Google Alerts ( http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en ) on "Search Engine Marketing" and "Search Engine Optimization" terms. I have been receiving Google News through email on these terms and it is unbelievable how much value you can receive from Google News Alert by email. Some very knowledgeable people write valuable tips. Here is an example: http://www.marketingprofs.com/4/wehr1.asp
When it comes to search engine optimization, Google has one of the best guides. Here it is:
http://www.google.com/about.html
We believe, the only and the only way to have a high Google ranking is by creating value through your web pages. A good website that provides good information, advice, guides, and tips might deserve to be on the first page or on the second page of Google. Take an important keyword such as "mortgage". If you do a Google search for this keyword, you find companies such as BankRate.com (with more than 400 employees), Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, MBAA,.....and companies which produce good output everyday.
Creating value is the only way; there is no other way. We believe our mission is defined by creating value.
Here is what Google says in her email:
| Please review Google's webmaster quality guidelines (http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769#quality). While we've included the following excerpts from these guidelines, we recommend that you take the time to review them in their entirety. Publishers that adhere to these guidelines and our program policies should not be penalized. * Make pages for users, not for search engines. * Don't employ cloaking or sneaky redirects. * Don't load pages with irrelevant words. * Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content. * Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. * Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines, or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content. * Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?" * If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first. |
You can create value by explaining the technology behind the product you sell, by interviewing the right people, talking about books on a subject, developing communities that can post valuable comments on message board or forums.... A good example is www.blueear.com
We will be glad to help you install match making software provided by AE Dating Software. This software is capable of searches based on zip code. The bottom line is to create value by software or other means. You can not cut corners.
You need to go an extra mile and also think how you can create value for other websites. Only when you can create value for other websites, you could benefit from the links pointing to your website from other benefiting websites. A good example is opencontent.org. They provided licenses for other websites to use free content of other websites. Since you had to point to the license, you naturally pointed to opencontent.org.
Here how we create value. We find one free article and then we search as much as we can about that article. Sometimes we find great addittions and sometimes we dont. Here are several examples:
Getting The Right Mattress Is Important For Your Health.
Hot Tub Preventive Care and Maintenance ;
Notice each article has more than 7 other articles about it which are scientific and valuable.
We create even more value by translating these articles to ten other languages in addition to english.
Most knowledgeable eMarketers involved with Internet Marketing believe Search Engine Marketing is the most effective and the most valued way to market your Website. We believe an effective Internet Marketing is in reality the art of Search Engine Marketing. Search Engine Marketing is not just search engine optimization. Search Engine Marketing is the combination of the Right Content, Search Engine Optimization and the Link Popularity concept. For an effective Internet Marketing not only your site has to be optimized with the right content, it also has to be effectively linked with other websites in your field.
Search Engine Marketing is Internet Marketing because it's a challenge to be found in search engines these days. The challenge is to be optimized and to have good content that can be recognized by major search engines such as Yahoo and Google. We can not emphasize the power of content more.
In today's Internet Marketing, Branding and eMarketing are really equal to Search Engine Marketing. Soon Spam will be eliminated and Marketers still have to spend that advertising money somewhere. The money will go into Search Engine Marketing or even Pay Per Click Marketing. As the demand for Pay Per Click Marketing increases, the bids will be even higher. Being found on the first page of Google, Yahoo, and other search engines is vital to any Internet Marketing efforts. That is why Branding is Search Engine Marketing.
Source : Touchpoints Effective Marketing Sequences in the Interactive Media Age : www. doubleclick.net
Why is Google effective? Why is Google good? Why is Google used so much?
Discover how you can optimize your ads so they get seen by the greatest number of targeted customers--without having to pay sky-high click-through fees.
February 28, 2005
By Corey Rudl
If you've ever done any research on how to promote your site online, you've no doubt read about pay-per-click search engines and how they can really boost your sales. If you're not familiar with them, let me explain: A pay-per-click search engine allows you to bid on keywords that relate to the contents of your site. If you're the highest bidder on a given keyword, your site will appear at the top of the "results" page when someone types that keyword into a search engine.
Many of you may have also heard of Google AdWords--which isn't exactly a pay-per-click search engine, but it is an advertising model that's proven extremely powerful. Google is quite simply the largest advertising network on the Internet, so if you use Google's pay-per-click service, your ads can be seen by huge numbers of people all over the world.
Just what is Google AdWords? You've probably seen Google AdWords advertisements on countless sites on the net, particularly on Google itself. They're the little rectangular ads that often appear to the right of the "organic" (free) search results.
AdWords members create their own ads and bid on the keywords they want to trigger the appearance of their ads on Google and its member sites. Each ad consists of a headline--up to 25 characters, including spaces--and a product description--up to 70 characters, including spaces.
Once you submit it, your ad is posted within minutes and may be featured as one of the "sponsored sites" listed to the right of the organic free listings whenever one of your targeted keywords is plugged into the Google search engine. Unlike pure pay-per-click engines such as Overture, Google's AdWords' ranking system isn't based solely on the amount of money you bid on the keyword. Instead, Google's ranking formula looks something like this:
CPC (cost per click) x CTR (click-through rate) = Ranking
By factoring the click-through rate into the equation, Google is trying to ensure that the top positions are filled by ads that are actually pulling traffic and producing meaningful results. Google doesn't want the companies with the largest advertising budgets to buy up all the good spots and leave their competitors--who might offer quality products and services--in the dust. Google simply wants to deliver good search results to searchers.
AdWords ads are everywhere. The Google Network reaches more than 80 percent of regular internet users, so a well-written ad with a great keyword list has the potential to reach a huge number of people. Your ad will not only get great exposure on Google's search page--which gets 81.9 million unique users a month, or 2.73 million a day--it will also appear in the following high-traffic places:
< click-through high a has ad your ensure to ways best the of seven are Here it. on click possible as people many compels sure make is money more paying without listing optimize way equation, ranking its into rate ad?s an factors Google Because this: know site, about out word get AdWords using try want you decided you?ve>
1. Compile a comprehensive keyword list. The keywords you bid on are the triggers that prompt your ad to appear on Google and its member sites. If your site has a high ranking for a particular keyword, your ad will appear when someone types that phrase into a Google-powered search engine. Your ad will also be placed on AdSense member sites that feature the same keyword in their text and/or coding. The more relevant keywords you have, the better--they'll help ensure that your ad gets seen by as many people as possible.
By using a tool like WordTracker, you can make sure your keyword list includes all the possible words and phrases people might use when searching for information related to what you're selling. Add relevant modifiers to generate more specific phrases. Instead of just advertising bikes for sale, for example, describe the kind of bikes you offer. If you sell used mountain bikes at low prices, then include this information in your keyword phrase, for example, "cheap used mountain bikes." The more specific you are, the more targeted your customers will be, and the more likely they'll be to click on your ad to see what your site has to offer.
2. Test different headlines and product descriptions to determine which ones drive the most traffic to your site and result in sales. It's important that you test different versions of your headlines and your product descriptions. Test them together and separately. This is one step you don't want to rush! The more testing you do, the better your ads will become. Also, be sure to include your main keyword phrase or a close variation of it in your ad's headline.
3. Use Google's "keyword matching" options to increase the targeting efficiency of your keywords. Google features four different "keyword matching" options to allow you to customize how your keywords are matched to words your potential customers are entering in their searches:
Broad match. This is the default setting. It matches your ads to every mention of your keyword phrase, whether the words appear in order or with other words in between them.
Example: cheap used mountain bikes
Will match: Mountain Motors used lawnmowers motor bikes fixed cheap
Phrase match. This option matches the exact keyword phrase, but other words can appear before or after the targeted phrase.
Example: "cheap used mountain bikes"
Will match: cycling equipment cheap used mountain bikes touring cycles kids' bikes
Exact match. This option matches the exact phrase ONLY -- no words can come before or after the targeted phrase.
Example: [cheap used mountain bikes]
Will match: cheap used mountain bikes (and nothing else!)
Negative match. This option specifies terms that should be excluded, ensuring that people looking only for your keyword term and nothing else will get to see your ad.
Example: -cheap -used -mountain -bikes
Will match: children's touring bicycles (or anything that doesn't have those four words included in the search engine entry)
The more specific your keywords are, the better. You want your ads to attract people who may be interested in your product or service, but you also want to stop them from being seen by people who probably won't buy what you have to offer.
4. Target your ads by location. Google allows you to target your ad toward specific countries, regions and languages. This is especially helpful if you sell a product that's only usable within a given region or regions, such as tax software or bear repellent.
Once you determine where the majority of your customers live, target your ads to those regions only. You can really boost your click-through rate by making sure your ads are seen only by people who are likely to become your customers.
5. Direct your link to the page that most directly relates to the content of your ad. This isn't always going to be your home page! If your ad is about cheap used mountain bikes, then it should lead visitors to the page that shows cheap used mountain bikes. It shouldn't lead them to a general home page or a catalogue page that shows a number of different items for sale.
6. Create separate ads to focus on the different products you sell. If you sell a variety of products or services, it's a good idea to create a separate ad for each different item. This allows you to use more specialized keyword terms for each ad, and ensures you can direct your advertising to a highly targeted customer base.
7. Be sure you continue to monitor and manage your ad campaign! Google tracks all click-through activity related to your ads and shows how much the bid rate was for any given click. By analyzing Google's reporting data, you can figure out which keywords yield the best results and focus on them to better optimize your ad performance.
Of course, Google AdWords isn't the only worthwhile pay-per-click search engine service out there. There are other pay-per-click search engines you should definitely check out, such as Overture, FindWhat and GoClick. However, be warned: Unlike Google AdWords, these search engines are considered "pure" pay-per-click search engines because their ranking is based solely on the amount of money people bid on their keywords.
Advertisers Expected to Spend on Average an Additional 39% in 2005 on Their Combined Search Engine Marketing Programs Compared to 2004
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) December 14 2004 -- The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), a non-profit professional association working to increase awareness and promote the value of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) worldwide, today published a research paper, "The State of Search Engine Marketing 2004," which concludes that in the U.S. and Canadian market, advertisers will spend $4.087 billion dollars this year on search marketing programs. That figure comprises payments to search engines and search-related media companies, search engine marketing agencies as well as in-house expenditures in support of such programs, including "paid placement," "paid inclusion," "organic search engine optimization" and "search engine marketing technology platforms" (terms which all are further defined in the report).
“The data indicate that current size of the market for Search Engine Marketing services is the tip of the iceberg; we have the beginnings of a healthy industry,” said Kevin Lee, Board of Directors Member and Chair of the Research Committee of SEMPO. “The research also suggests that marketers are using a mix of internal and external solutions to deal with the high level of complexity of the search marketing space. SEMPO expects increasing competition among marketers to drive significant growth in Search Engine Marketing and related services over the next several years.”
“Our mandate is to promote and help grow the search engine marketing industry for our members and sponsors,” said Barbara Coll, Chairperson and President of SEMPO. “The logical first step is to measure how large the industry is today in order to set our objectives and directions to support future growth. We believe our 2004 advertising and marketing activities are having an effect already and these results will allow us to confirm these perceptions moving forward.”
The research, conducted by Executive Summary Consulting, Inc., is based on an extensive survey of 288 search engine advertisers and marketing agencies, executed via IntelliSurvey, Inc., as well as in-depth interviews with 31 leading industry experts. The final report breaks down advertiser spending for 2004 in several areas: $3.058 billion to search media companies; $618 million on SEM-related in-house expenses within advertising corporations; $380 million to search engine marketing agencies, and $30 million in SEM technology licensing fees. The report also estimated that marketers will spend (including both in-house and external media, service and licensing expenses) $3.342 billion on paid placement campaigns; $492 million on organic search engine optimization; $182 million on paid inclusion, and $72 million on SEM-related technology services.
“Most SEM market size reports to date have focused on paid search advertising and overlook search engine optimization work by companies and agencies, also ignoring the human resource costs incurred by companies for paid search marketing operations. This survey indicates that companies see SEO as an important part of the search marketing spend, while also staffing their marketing departments to manage paid search. Both areas have an opportunity for strong growth,” added Lee.
Notable findings in the study include the following:
- The return on investment of SEM paid placement advertising continues to stay ahead of price inflation: advertisers said on average they have witnessed bid prices rise 26% in the last 12 months for keywords they commonly buy but said they could stand on average another 33% increase in the price and still make a profitable transaction.
- Only 41% of advertisers reported that SEM budgets were newly created funds for this purpose; the rest said SEM budgets were coming in whole or in part from shifts away from traditional or Internet marketing programs. The biggest shift in terms of share of budget was transferred from paid listings on shopping directories, e-mail programs, web display advertising, and print magazine and newspaper ads.
- Brand awareness was overall the #1 objective advertisers set for search marketing programs, just beating out sales and lead generation initiatives.
- 50% of advertiser respondents said that their senior executive staff considered the company's search marketing initiatives a "high priority" (although that figure dropped to 32% of companies with staff sizes larger than 500).
- Advertisers expect to spend, on average, 39% more on all search marketing programs (organic SEO, paid placement, paid inclusion and SEM technology) in 2005 compared to 2004; smaller firms projected 32% more while larger firms (larger than 500 employees) projected a 43% year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, SEM agencies optimistically projected budget overall gross revenue increases for 2005 of 79% on average.
- Most advertisers plan to manage the majority of their search marketing spending in-house as opposed to via an agency: 52% of advertisers said they would manage 100% of their 2005 spending on both paid inclusion and organic SEO in-house; on average, advertises said they would outsource 28% of their spending on paid placement and 29% of their organic SEO through agencies. Large advertisers were likely to outsource more of those budgets, but still a minority of their spending for both organic SEO and paid placement.
Google's New SEO Rules
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Google has recently made some pretty significant changes in its ranking algorithm. The latest update, dubbed by Google forum users as "Allegra", has left some web sites in the dust and catapulted others to top positions. |
Publication Date: 2/28/2005 4:27:24 PM Google has recently made some pretty significant changes in its ranking algorithm. The latest update, dubbed by Google forum users as "Allegra", has left some web sites in the dust and catapulted others to top positions. Major updates like this can happen a few times a year at Google, which is why picking the right search engine optimization company can be the difference between online success and failure. However, it becomes an increasingly difficult decision when SEO firms themselves are suffering from the Allegra update. An expert at organic SEO, John Metzler has held executive positions in the search engine marketing industry since 2001. He is the President of FreshPromo.ca, a PPC management and SEO firm.". |
Keyword Advice - on keyword research and identification, keyword placement, keyword density and keyword marketing:-
Keyword Identification is one of the most important part in a SEO process. Keywords are the doors and windows for search engine traffic. Surfers and information seekers through out the world use internet via keyword to find information on any products or services. These set of keyword phrases are vital for your search engine placement.
Keyword Identification is the first step while creating your content for your site. Identify keyword related to your niche topics should be the first priority while creating web content. The quality of these keywords is critical for a good ranking in search engines. Researching the right keywords for your website should be the key, so that when people perform a search for a particular keyword phrase they will be able to find your site. So how do you do that will be the questions in everybody's mind. I have categories this article into 3 phrases like keyword research or keyword identification, keyword selection, keyword placement, keyword density, keyword ranking and keyword marketing.
Before I would go further I would like to discuss about building your website for your business you should focus on certain other SEO strategies like clean navigation, a search engine friendly website architecture so that search engine spiders or robots can easily gather information from your website.
Once your site structure is done it is time to create the content for the site, which is the crucial part and where they keyword research, keyword density comes into play. If you follow these steps which I have mentioned below it is sure that your website can enjoy a higher ranking in search engines.
Step 1 Keyword Identification or keyword research:- This should be first step while building your content, because your content will be build around with the keyword and phrases which has been identified at this stage. Which is very critical and if not done correctly you won't achieve the desired results. There are different ways to identify how people search on the web. 1) Think about what keyword would you chooses while you search for certain products or services. Think from the customer point of view and not from search engine or SEO point of view. Collect and write it down. I suggest using a spreadsheet so that it will help you in the stages as well. 2) The other way is you can ask your own customers or friends that how do they search on the net to find that particular products or services. Usually all people think differently and might not use the same keyword phrase to find that product or services. Collect them and store it. 3) Keyword suggestion tools. There are 100's of tools on the web some of them are free and other charge a fee. I suggest using Overture keyword tool and Google keyword tool (free) and wordtracker (paid). Type in your keyword and phrases into these tools you will find 100's of keywords for that particular products or services is been search on the web every month. Also it will show how many times that words are been searched on the internet. Tools like wordtracker will help you to find that how many times these keywords are been searched and how much competition is there for that particular keyword phrases. If you focus on high searched keyword it would be hard for your website to rank well because of competition. So always choose a keywords that is less competitive, so that you website will rank well for that particular keyword phrase on the search engine results. 4) The other way is if you have already had a website online check its web log and gather that keywords which helps people to find your site. This will help for existing website to recreate the content.
After these steps are done use your spreadsheet to determine the keywords It is ideal to have more keywords rather than focusing on a few words. In that spreadsheet matches the following keyword in terms like how many times the keywords are searched and how much competition is that keyword facing on the web. As I said before always choose less competitive keywords. Once these stage is over start constructing your website content with the identified keywords.
Step 2 Keyword placement:- Placing the keyword is very crucial, because if the keywords are not place properly the search engine spiders will have a difficult time in identify and storing information from your web pages. You most important keyword should appear on the title of the page at least once which all search engine given relevancy. Next the same or related keyword should be there on the heading of the page. Also use a related keyword while starting a paragraph and through out the web page evenly. The density factor is discussed below.
Step 2 Keyword density:- Search engine robots are very intelligent spiders they can determine while some tries to cheat them. Some webmasters and SEO experts use keyword spamming or keyword dumping which is ethical for a good search engine optimization. If search engine spiders indexes a web pages it determine who much times that keywords has been used on a particular web page. So Keyword density is important. An ideal density would be anything between 10-15 % keyword densities on the page. Also use keywords which are related to that phrase so that it gets relevancy for that web page. For example When I search for a keyword "dog supplies" I found 100 of related terms which like "dog supplies online" "dog supply store" etc so think and figure out keywords which are more related to that topic. Also Sprinkle the keywords phrases right across the web page and not concentrate at a certain place.
At this stage you website content should be ready keep in mind with the 3 top priority factors. This will determine your website success or failure in search engine. The next stage is keyword marketing.
Keyword marketing:- Some of the techniques you will use as a off site factor rather than on the side, because it affects only the marketing process. As you all know all search engines give links more relevancies in the algorithm. So after your keyword identification, density and placement are over you should focus on marketing your site. Like site submission, article submission, link popularity while all these techniques are for increasing inbound links to your site. So you would be using your anchor text for creating a link pointing to your site. So here is where keyword marketing comes to play. You should use your key important phrase in these anchor text also mix up your related keywords. Keyword marketing is also vital for Pay per click marketing where keyword is the king. So gather keywords related to your business and use it widely in your PPC campaign. Pay per click industry is solely depends on keyword marketing. If you website want the maximum ROI (return of Investment) you will have to apply the maximum keywords while bidding your keywords. For example your website visibility will increase if you choose maximum keyword for your Pay per click marketing.
The bottom-line is to gain a high ranking in search engine use keyword which is related to your business on your onsite and offsite website marketing. Keyword is the king when it comes to content and content is the king when it comes to Search Engine Marketing.
About the author:
Thomson Chemmanoor is a webmaster and a search engine optimization expert who operates the following websites Guaranteed Web site Promotion , SEO Services , Submit Articles
Lee Odden