Paid Search and 'Natural' Search Optimization

Most Internet users run one or more searches every time they are online to the tune of billions of searches per day.  Search Marketing grew out of the knowledge that showing up near the top of a search result list (as opposed to several, or even several hundred pages back) is a great way to have thousands of motivated customers find a company or its products and services.  The term is also used to refer to the many services and even larger number of techniques used by companies to obtain a high profile in the search results and it has become a vast field.

Generally speaking, search marketing methods fall in one of two key categories: 'natural' search engine optimization (also called SEO), or paid search inclusion (also called pay-per-click, PPC, or pay-for-performance).  These are two very different methods, and while a larger campaign is likely to combine both, they're not both right for everyone and it is important to understand the difference.

"Natural" Search Engine Optimization or SEO
Optimization (SEO) involves making modifications to a website (design, content, page structure, technical structure, relationship with other websites) to make search engines like Google perceive the site to be of such high relevance that it will show up on top of the search results page when certain searches are conducted.  Sounds easy - until you realize that for most searches the number of results are in the tens of thousands - or even hundreds of thousands.  Yet a high rank is in the reach of most companies by a highly skilled search engine optimization company.

While SEO requires an initial investment in time and money, this is usually modest relative to other promotion costs, and the real bonus is that once a site obtains a high position, it is usually a relatively easier and inexpensive to maintain that spot. In short, the results are usually obtainable and well worth it. It typically takes a few weeks to a few months to make the necessary changes and have the search engines respond with a high ranking.  Just how long search optimization takes to produce strong results depends largely on your starting point - is your website even recognized by the search engines?  Is it coming up for any of the terms of interest?  Does the site have enough useful content to make it truly relevant to searchers, etc? 

Paid Search or PPC
On the paid search or PPC side, though there is expertise involved in managing the campaign, it is easy to put yourself on top of any search term in a matter of days - you just buy your way there by bidding against other advertisers.  The 'Sponsored Links' to the top and often the right side of the results page in Google and Yahoo are PPC paid links that most people would recognize and represent the largest two PPC networks available.  PPC promotion's strength is that it is fast, and you know exactly what you're getting into.  Exact costs are predictable and documented in black and white. It is relatively easy to measure the outcomes because PPC tools measure the click through rates for different terms (i.e. which search ads were clicked more, and how much you paid for them). 

The downside of PPC is that it may be very costly, and you will pay a price every time someone clicks on a link to your site whether they spend any time there (or more importantly, any money!) or not. And of course, only a small percentage of clicks result in purchases.  For large margin products and services this may be less of an issue, but for companies with less leeway, this can be an important factor.

Which is Better: Paid or 'Natural' Search Marketing?
The answer to this question depends on your circumstances, goals, and to a large degree - your budget.  For large campaigns with a media-buying budget it often makes sense to do both. And for most companies, and SEO campaign is virtually a no-brainer given the cost-to-return ratio over time. For most clients we suggest SEO right off and then move to the real issue is typically whether to do PPC or not.

Paid search advertising tends to be seen as part of an overall advertising and marketing campaign rather then something that every small company needs.  Such is the value of this paid online promotion method that advertisers are starting to incorporate it into most campaigns.  By 2005, it is estimated that 35 percent of all online advertising spending will be earmarked for paid search (eMarketer), totalling nearly US$3 billion by the end of next year and $7 billion by 2007.  So PPC is becoming a staple of the online advertising world.

Yet for smaller players, PPC is often less attractive, unless the position is not very competitive allowing for very low-cost clicks, or unless the margins are high. Note that because PPC is based on a bidding system, the cost per click may be a moving target because there are always competitors vying for the same top spots, and if you outbid them, they are likely to come right back and up the price. Which is one of the other important issues with PPC campaigns - they need to be monitored more closely, sometimes daily.

In highly competitive areas, it's not uncommon for the PPC cost per click to be as much as several dollars. This is a hefty price and the reason why for most smaller companies (with smaller ad budgets) an investment in natural search engine optimization (SEO), is typically the better way to go by far.  But larger companies are foolish to ignore SEO as it can bring just as a good campaign can bring as much traffic as a PPC campaign with a much better (medium and long-term) ROI.

How do we get started?
Both methods start with some keyword research to identify which terms are best for your company to be going after. For best results it's a good idea to cast a wide net at this point - the words you use and the words your customers use to refer to your products or services may be different. I have even seen cases where certain common misspellings or mispronunciations have accounted for up to 10% of a site's traffic.  That's potentially 10% new customers because a smart optimizer thought to look where others hadn't. 

Along with the keywords, for an SEO campaign, we conduct a detailed (and we mean detailed!) assessment of your site's technical structure and content. In addition to dozens of design and technical issues, we analyze things like the number of words on a page, the percentage of words on specific pages that fall into certain categories, and the number of, and nature of websites that are linked to you and that you link to.  Depending on your situation and the size of the job we will make modifications in several, or even all of these areas. 

For a PPC campaign, mini-advertisements must be written to use in the paid promotion campaign, and a PPC network has to be chosen.  This network might be one of the  major two - Google and Yahoo (Overture), or could have a specific focus.  For example, if you're selling a business, political, or literary product, you might want to advertise on CNN.com, which has paid (PPC) ads and is part of a specific network.  Once this is chosen, the campaign has to be set up and monitored to see which terms are working best, in what locations.  Improving on-going campaigns can produce huge ROI benefits.

Edunova is a Nova Scotia organization mandated to recruit students from abroad. They are using SEO to attract more students to study abroad in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Adastra is also using SEO to recruit students from other countries. They have a wider mandate, to attract people to study abroad in Canada.

Thompson's Moving, a leading Halifax moving company, is using SEO to expand their local business.