Driving Traffic Through Effective Search Engine Marketing 
 
Paul J. Gibler

Introduction
How Search Engines Work
Site Submissions to Search Engines
Search Engine Marketing Today
Search Engine Advertising

Selecting Keywords
How paid placements work
Other Tips
Conclusion
Glossary
Resources
References
Author Profile

Introduction

As part of your overall Internet marketing strategy, it is important to devote resources to search engine marketing.  This component of your marketing mix has become increasingly critical due to the importance that search engines and directories play in how prospects access information.  Search engines have the advantage of driving highly qualified traffic due to the self-selection process initiated by the searcher in choosing their search query.

Research shows that people access a site through a search engine 48% of the time1.  Other research shows that 80% of people use search engines to locate information online2.  If they can’t find you, you won’t get their business.  In addition, research shows that most people will only look at 2 – 3 pages of search results3, so your rank order among the results is becoming increasingly important. 

When developing your search engine strategy you need to understand how search engines work, how they are different from directories, and how to maximize their effectiveness in making sure that your business gets as much exposure as your budget allows.  

How They Work

Search Engines populate their databases for search results through robotic software programs that crawl the web looking for content to index.  This crawling requires that the software find text-based machine-readable content to index and categorize a site.  The content accessed is from the meta tags (title, description, keywords, alt image tags), filenames and content on pages throughout your site.  Spiders tend to look at the root directory, 1st level files and occasionally will spider your site to 2nd level content.  To determine a site’s meta tags, right click your mouse and select View Source.   

If your site has not been developed with search engines in mind, you could have difficulty in having your content properly indexed.  Search engines also determine relative rankings of results based on proprietary algorithms that include other factors like link popularity, site traffic, site content, etc.

Metasearch engines develop their search results by aggregating the results of other database-driven search engines.  They do not maintain databases of information, but rather create their search results on the fly from other search engine results.  Examples of metasearch engines include Dogpile and Mamma.

Directories are indexed by human editors and categorized according to their editorial review of the site’s contents.  The most popular directories are Yahoo and Open Directory (http://dmoz.org). 

Site Submissions to Search Engines

When search engines first evolved, they were based on a “free” business model, where conceptually all sites had an equal chance of being indexed and displayed in search results if their developers optimized the sites and followed some basic steps.

1.      Submitting them to a search engine for review (preferably manually)

2.      Optimizing meta tags (title tags, key words, descriptions, image alt description tags) for spiders that crawled your site to be able to properly index the site.  This required both the site developer and the client to critically determine the relevant search terms.

3.      Designing for search engine crawling (no frames, no flash, etc.)

4.      Re-submitting periodically until the site is indexed

5.      Waiting for your site to be crawled for indexing and search display

Search Engine Marketing Today

While these steps are still an important part of your search engine marketing strategy, they no longer are enough.  This is due to the fact that many search engines (and dot bombs) found that it wasn’t just about capturing eyeballs, but was also about making money.  This has led search engines to modify their business models to capitalize on all possible sources of revenue generated by their traffic and/or technology.  Traffic was seen as a logical source for advertising revenues and technology was felt to be transferable for use at other sites requiring robust search engines.  To date, most search engines have not elected to go towards a subscription-based model where searchers get charged for accessing information.

These new business models require that site developers work even more closely with marketing strategists to ensure that the most effective business decisions are made.

Search Engine Advertising

On the advertising side of the equation, search engines have developed new revenue sources that require advertisers to pay for their search engine results.  Among the new fees that some search sites have instituted are the following: 

  • Paid Inclusion – Guaranteed listing of a site for a fee, but no guarantees as to where the site will be listed in rank order of search results.  For example, FASTSearch offers PartnerSite with a guarantee that your site will be included in their databases and that they will “crawl” your site every 24 hours to update your indexing and potential rankings.  In addition, they will provide your site with search capabilities.
  • Paid Submission – Submitters can speed up their site reviews for potential search engine or directory listing.  This does not guarantee that the site will be listed or that it will achieve a preferential location. Examples: Yahoo! Express ($299), LookSmart Express Submit ($299), Inktomi Search Submit, AltaVista Express Inclusion.  The Yahoo! Express service is only available for sites that have not already been indexed.

 The future looks even more expensive with leader Yahoo! instituting a pricing policy that requires an annual recurring payment of $299 to be contained in their directory.  This has created a good deal of furor in the marketplace, so it isn’t certain that they will be able to maintain this pricing strategy.

  • Paid Placements -  Guarantees a preferential listing on the top of search engine results based on buying or bidding for the rights to a keyword (like MRO supplies, accounting, IT consultants, etc.).  When a search is conducted on this word or set of words your listing will come up if you’ve purchased the preferential placement.

How do you decide what keywords to purchase?
Here are some tips:
1. Evaluate what your competitor's are doing (meta tags or keyword purchases)

2. Evaluate traffic being generated by the keywords that you are considering.  To help you in this task you can use  Overture's search term suggestion tool at: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ or you can see some of the popular keywords at http://www.wordtracker.com

3. Evaluate the taxonomy or vocabulary being used in your industry.

How do paid placements work?
With Google you can purchase text-based advertising on their site under the Premium Sponsorship or Adword programs.  You pay for this placement based upon the number of impressions and click-throughs to your site.  As part of this purchase, you’ll have access to reports that provide statistics related to your placement.  Google has recently entered into a syndication agreement with Earthlink, broadening the potential reach for your keyword purchases. 

Google has recently started a program called Adword Select that follows a bid model more similar to that being used by Overture and other pay for performance search engines.  The favorable variation that they throw in is that your rank order will improve if your AdWord Select ad is receiving more click throughs than other ads purchased.

When buying a paid placement at a search engine or directory evaluate the demographics of the audience that tends to use that search engine.  Yahoo! tends to be more consumer-oriented while Google is more high tech or business-to-business oriented.  For business-to-business organizations it would probably be more effective to purchase a Google listing than a premium placement bid purchase at Yahoo!

Overture (formerly GoTo.com), the pay for performance search engine firm, has syndicated alliances with Yahoo, Infospace, Looksmart, MSN, AOL, Netscape, etc.  Their business model is that you bid for the right to a given keyword.  The top 3 bidders (cost is calculated on a pay per click) receive premium placement at the top of the listings.  There is a minimum bid of $.05/click-through and a minimum monthly charge of $20.

How do paid search listings compare to banner ads?  
Research conducted by Overture, shows that premium search listings create far greater unaided/aided awareness and likelihood to click-through than traditional banner ads.

Some other tips to improve your rankings
In addition to some of the ideas mentioned earlier in this white paper there are various other steps you might take to improve your overall search rankings.  These include the following:

  • Include relevant keywords right up-front in your initial homepage content (first 50 keywords are critical).

  • Use appropriate page titles and filenames that match the content and keywords of your site.

  • Maximize the number of reciprocal links and in-bound links (some search engines base search engine results on an algorithm that includes link popularity for your site.)

  • Keep your site as flat as possible, since most search engines will prioritize the information based on the main page and first level directories.

  •  Keep your content fresh and relevant to your audience.  The more traffic you get the more likely your site will be indexed with a higher rank.

Conclusion
Remember when it comes to generating leads and referrals, business people will go to the web to search for appropriate resources as part of their review of available resources.  If you want your business to place well in the search results, you’ll need to devote both financial and people resources to making sure you rank highly.  You can increase your chances of this by doing the following:

  • Optimizing your site for search engine spidering by improving your meta tags

  • Buying appropriate keywords

  • Making sure your site has been indexed in all possible directories (paid and unpaid)

  • Trying to get as many in-bound links as possible.

  • Designing your site for search engine optimization

  • Keeping your content fresh and relevant to your target audience

  • Working with a Search Engine Marketing expert

Glossary

Directories – Directories use human editors to evaluate and categorize sites based on their content.  Major Directories - Yahoo, LookSmart, Open Directory (http://dmoz.org/)

Invisible Web – Online content that search engines can’t access due to design or technology elements limiting the ability of spiders to crawl and index the content (frames, flash, dynamic pages, image maps, etc.)

Metasearch Engines – Queries multiple search engines for results, aggregates the results and displays them.  They do not maintain a database of information. Examples: Mamma, Copernic, Dogpile, IXQuick, Metacrawler, and Vivisimo

Meta tags – These are the machine-readable terms invisible to the site visitor, but used for categorization and indexing of a site by spiders that crawl the web.  The key tags to be concerned about are the title tags, description tags, keyword tags and alt tags for images on your site.

Search Engines – Crawl or spider the web to find relevant content.  They work with text based information at a site. Examples: AlltheWeb, AltaVista, Google, Inktomi

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Seeking to maximize your search engine position through the adjustment of html pages (metatags) and content to rank higher on search engines

Resources

Glossary of Search Engine Terms (Adventive) http://www.adventive.com/tools/SEO.html

I-Search Digest - Search Engine Discussion List http://www.adventive.com/lists/isearch/summary.html

Pay Per Click Search Engines – http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com
Provides a directory of search engines offering pay per performance or click advertising opportunities 

RankWrite – http://www.rankwrite.com
Provides a weekly newsletter of search engine marketing tips.

Search Engine Day 
Provides a free daily newsletter on search engine marketing.  (Part of Search Engine Watch.).

Search Engine Forums – http://www.searchengineforum.com
Search engine discussion boards.

Search Engine Guide – http://www.searchengineguide.com

Search Engine Watch http://www.searchenginewatch.com
This is the leading site for information on search engine marketing.  Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Watch runs periodic training sessions on search engine marketing.

References
1Webside Story, 2/02
2.internet-stats.com, June 2001
3Jupiter Media Metrix, Sept 2001

Author Profile

Paul J. Gibler, is a Digital Brand Strategist and Principal Consultant for ConnectingDotsÒ higher resolution marketing, a strategic consulting firm with a focus on Internet Marketing.  The firm helps clients in the high tech, health care, pharmaceutical and life science sectors develop strategies to attract and retain customers using all available channels. 

For additional information visit the award-winning ConnectingDots website at http://www.connectingdots.com or contact Paul at 608 255 4092, pgibler@connectingdots.com.

This article reflects an updated expansion of an article published by The Advertising Dentist in their February issue.

 Prepared by Paul Gibler, Principal Consultant
©2002, CONNNECTINGDOTS higher resolution marketing