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If you haven’t heard it already, there is a buzz in the Indian
marketing circles about Search Marketing. Until recently, many marketers
dismissed search as a non-entity in India. So why the sudden buzz?
To begin with, estimates indicate that search engines will add as
much as 2.16 million unique Indian users this year. Given that there
are 24.2 million people on the web and millions of others accessing
the web from other devices, marketers can no longer afford to ignore
Search in their marketing plans.
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However, it is not Reach that makes search so special. When a consumer
searches on the Web, they are in “hunt mode.” This mode
is unique because it indicates that the person is looking for information,
usually of a direct or indirect commercial value. Marketers understand
that this “hunt mode” means that the searcher may very
well be somewhere in the buying cycle, researching a product or
service to try and satisfy an immediate need or future need. That
makes search engine results some of the best sources of targeted
traffic, whether that traffic originates from "organic"
unpaid search listings or paid advertising listings.
In Search marketing there are no wasted marketing monies.
This is because each visitor is pre-qualified having demonstrated
interest by searching for a specifically relevant keyword or phrase.
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Since
this is a two part newsletter, we will cover how to best manage
a Search Marketing program in the next part. However, it would be
well worth the while to explain few basic terms involved in Search
Marketing. |
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Basis certain algorithms, search engines throw up relevant websites
for a particular keyword search. Due to the amount of data available
on the web the search engine may throw up hundreds of links. Search
engines index pages on the web depending on the keywords present
on them.
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There are three methods of marketing on Search Engines. |
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Natural
Listings |
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Paid
Inclusions |
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Paid
Listings |
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Natural Listings are results thrown up by the search engine
when the user types in a keyword. They are not paid for by any marketer
and the Search engine company has no obligation to even
list any particular site. However, there are experts that
understand the Search Engine Algorithm. They can hence help marketers
tweak the content on their website so that it is indexed by the
Search Engine. However, no expert can assure a rank for a particular
website in Natural Listings.
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Paid
Inclusions on the other hand is a type of advertising program
where pages are guaranteed to be included in a search engine's index
in exchange for payment, though no guarantee of ranking well is
typically given. For example, a search network may list pages and
sites, not based on position but based on relevance. Marketers pay
to be included in this network on a CPC basis or per-URL fee basis
with no guarantee of specific placement. Not all search
engines offer paid Inclusions. |
Paid Placement: are advertising programs where
listings are guaranteed to appear in response to particular search
terms, with higher ranking typically obtained by
paying more than other advertisers. Paid placement listings can
be purchased from a portal or a search network. Search networks
are often set up in an auction environment where keywords and phrases
are associated with a cost-per-click (CPC) fee.
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Having said this, Search Marketing is a highly evolved technique
that requires extensive knowledge of search engine technology. Given
that only 75% of people ever go beyond the first page and over 90%
of the users drop out at the second page it is important that marketers
place their precious marketing monies only in the hands of the best
Internet marketing firms.
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