If you use both natural and sponsored listings in your search engine marketing campaign, brand reinforcement will build trust with users who skip around to multiple search engines, Paul J. Bruemmer argues.

By Pandia Guest Writer Paul J. Bruemmer

There are marketers whose idea of an SEM campaign is paying their way to the top. And there are those who will focus an organic SEO campaign on Google alone.

Sure, Google is important, and yeah, PPC is popular, but when it comes to planning a successful SEM campaign, you must go deep and wide to reach the largest number of potential prospects.

Google Rules, But…

The Big G is king, and it continues to beat the competition in almost every area of search. Besides, all users love Google. An eMarketer 2005 opinion poll of U.S. adult users reported an 89 percent “strongly positive experience” for Google users. In the 2005 MarketingSherpa and Enquiro study on the role of search in B2B purchase decisions, Google was favored over other search engines by 83 percent of users. Heck, even children will tell you that Google is the best.

But despite Google’s great popularity, it just doesn’t make sense to focus your SEO campaign solely on one search engine. That’s because other major search engines have a following as well, with different demographic groups favoring one engine over another.

The June 2005 comScore data show that users at Yahoo!, MSN, AOL and Ask Jeeves are skewed slightly toward women, whereas Google is used by a higher percentage of men. BTW, women purchase or influence the sale of over 50 percent of consumer electronics goods and 75 percent of the over-the-counter drugs, in addition to 80 percent of overall consumer goods, which includes vehicle sales.

More telling is the data on searcher buying power and intent. The June comScore study found that Google users were 42 percent more likely to buy online than your average Internet user. Yahoo! users were 31 percent more likely to buy; MSN users, 48 percent; AOL users, 3 percent; and Ask Jeeves users, 17 percent.

It Pays to Spread the Love

Statistics show that Google is not the only major source of qualified website traffic.

• Hitwise reports for the week ending July 23, that Google, Yahoo! and MSN account for approximately 73 percent of all search activity with the following breakdown: Google, 40 percent, Yahoo!, 18 percent and MSN, 15 percent.
• Nielsen/NetRatings report for July, that Google ranked first with 47 percent of searches, Yahoo was second with 20.9 percent, and MSN was third with 13.6 percent.

Note that if you optimize only for Google, you are missing access to about 60 percent of your potential audience if the Hitwise data is accurate. If Nielsen/NetRatings is more precise, you miss 53 percent. When you don’t balance your SEM campaign, you’re creating a situation where you leave money on the table.

Another problem with narrow targeting is the fact that users admit to using several search engines in their quest for information. This was reported by Nielsen/NetRatings when it found that 58 percent of those using Google also went to either Yahoo! or MSN. Multiple search engine use was also noted in the B2B MarketingSherpa/Enquiro study.

You don’t want to risk not being found across multiple search engines for your strategic keyword phrases because this undermines your brand’s credibility. And it certainly limits exposure and awareness, as well as conversions. Fact is, your competitors will likely take a good organic position if you fall asleep at the wheel.

Organic Listings Attract Users

Multiple research studies observing search engine user behavior conclude that users prefer organic listings to sponsored (PPC) listings by 70 to 80 percent.

Do users know the difference between organic and sponsored listings? Yes and no; it probably depends on their level of search sophistication. Research by Enquiro reported “significant confusion” over sponsored links, but that users favored organic links overwhelmingly: 77 percent chose organic over paid listings when searching. When making a purchase, 67 percent chose organic over paid listings.

To further buttress the case for organic links, Jupiter research found that six out of seven sales resulting from search engines originated in the organic search listings. And a Marketing Sherpa study found that conversions from organic links average about 25 percent higher than those from sponsored link conversions. It should be noted that the landing page call-to-action is definitely a factor when it comes to conversions, whether using paid placement or organic SEO.

Sponsored Listings Attract Advertisers

While organic listings show their power in research studies, most marketers planning SEM campaigns prefer to bid for the top sponsored listings with Google AdWords or Yahoo! Search Marketing. This is the quick way to achieve immediate visibility in the major search engine results pages (SERPs). Marketers want that visibility to jump start conversions.

SEMPO’s research, The State of Search Engine Marketing 2004, shows that paid placement received 82 percent of SEM spending, while organic SEO received 12 percent. This coincides with reports that Google receives 97 percent of its revenues from paid search. Yahoo! also gets a major portion of its revenues from advertising, as paid placement continues to be a major revenue stream for search engines.

So what does all this mean? Your PPC campaign will get immediate results, but it requires time and expertise for proper management. Cost-per-click rates are escalating, and there’s the risk of click fraud. On the other hand, your organic SEO campaign takes time to generate results, but those results are long lasting when properly maintained. It’s counter-productive to pit one against the other; leaving the obvious conclusion that one needs to leverage both for success. Most serious marketers need organic SEO and PPC ads to cover all the bases for meeting their website objectives.

A Balanced SEM Campaign Spells Success

On the SEO side, you need to focus on gaining high rankings in the Google, Yahoo! and MSN SERPs. We’ve already pointed out that if you optimize for Google alone, you’re missing access to at least 50 percent of your potential audience.

When it comes to paid search campaigns, the obvious choice is Google and Yahoo!. But there are other PPC programs that can be viable, depending on your industry, site objectives and the nature of the products and/or services you offer.

The top search engines feed paid listings to a number of other search engines, giving you exposure on multiple search sites. For instance, Google feeds paid results to AOL, AskJeeves, HotBot, iWon, Lycos, Netscape and Teoma. Yahoo! Search Marketing feeds paid results to AlltheWeb, AltaVista and MSN (for more information, see the Bruce Clay, Inc. Search Engine Relationship Chart).

As a savvy marketer, it’s wise to focus on both organic and paid listings for repeated exposure and credibility. With both natural and sponsored listings, brand reinforcement builds trust with users who skip around to multiple engines while searching for your strategic keyword phrases. Organically optimizing beyond the top three engines can further extend your exposure, elevate your brand and gain more effectual conversions. Balance is the key to your successful SEM campaign.

About The Author

Paul J. Bruemmer is founder and president of trademarkSEO, a search engine optimization firm serving clients nationwide.

Paul specializes in organic search engine optimization, competitor intelligence reports, web analytics and SEO consulting. He has provided search engine marketing services to over 10,000 websites, including many of the most prominent names in American business. His articles are online at ClickZ, MarketingProfs, Search Engine Guide, Pandia, WebProNews, SitePoint and ISEDB.

trademarkSEO specializes in organic search engine marketing services aimed at increasing traffic, boosting conversions and achieving lower customer acquisition costs. The company’s complimentary SEO Guide to search engine marketing can be downloaded for free.