SearchEngineMarketing.ppt

Search Engine Optimization Search Engine Marketing Stephan Spencer President, Netconcepts sspencer@ Search Engine Marketing 6 times more effective than a banner ad Delivers qualified leads 80% of Internet user sessions begin at the search engines (Source: I) 55% of online purchases are made on sites found through search engine listings (Source: I) Not doing SEM? You’re Leaving Money on the Table How much? # of people searching for your keywords x expected clickthrough rate (10% is achievable) x avg. conversion rate x avg. $ you make per conversion Example: top-selling Christmas toy “Harry Potter game” had no big retailers in Google’s top search results. Opportunity cost to Kmart, Target, etc. = millions!! Search Engines and Directories The search engines periodically explore and “index” your web site Directories are lists of sites organized by topic, usually editorially reviewed (e.g. Yahoo!, Open Directory, LookSmart) Most Important Search Engines Google (also powers Yahoo!, AOL Search, N) Inktomi (powers MSN Search, LookSmart’s secondary results) Overture (supplies paid results to Yahoo, MSN, Lycos, AltaVista, etc.; Now owned by Yahoo) FAST (powers AlltheW and Lycos) Most Important Directories Yahoo! Open Directory () (also powers AOL, Lycos, Netscape, Hotbot, AltaVista, Google) LookSmart (also powers AltaVista, MSN Search - but not for long) Do search engines know you exist? Are ALL the pages in your site in Google, Inktomi, FAST, AltaVista, etc.? On Google, type the following allinurl: site: Comparative Search Visibility Report Announcing Your Site Search engines won’t include you if they don’t know your site exists Don’t submit if already in their index or if the search engine will likely find your site on its own (e.g. Google, FAST) Submit only once and only your home page Definitely submit to Open Directory, JoeAnt. Probably also Yahoo! $299/year, possibly LookSmart ($0.15/click) When submitting your site to directories, include relevant keywords in