Handpicked Search Industry Headlines And Posts
Issue #028: Problem With Paid Search
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"Understanding Internet Search Technology"
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January 10, 2005 Issue #028
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.....IN THIS DIGEST.....
// -- MODERATOR COMMENT -- //
"Nielsen's Problem With Paid Search"
~ SearchReturn
// -- CONTINUING DISCUSSION -- //
"Big Brand Spam"
~ SearchReturn
// -- ESSENTIAL NEWS -- //
"SEMPO Survey Results"
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// -- MODERATOR COMMENT -- //
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Hello everyone,
Jakob Nielsen has a problem with search engines. Danny Sullivan
has responded by deflating Jakob's article a little, saying the
narrow focus on paid listings neglects natural results. Jakob is
trying to point out a flaw in the model that paid search acts as
a parasite to sap the life out of your online marketing budget.
Jakob's argument effectively makes the case that paid search
advertising costs are not sustainable when increased competition
is factored in. Let alone click fraud, the bid architecture will
naturally auto-increase your costs to ever sponge more of your
margin until it's gone.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/search_engines.html
Danny's response:
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060109-132719
Increased costs for search advertising as unsustainable is not a
new concept, but one limited to certain industries. The truth is,
many are going to be able to participate with the current model,
which is beginning to adapt by factoring more for ad ranking than
bid amount alone. Search engines commit to the highest levels of
relevency possible, even with sponsored listings. Like it or not,
paid listings are here to stay and the competition between Google
and Yahoo! is intense, with more players vying for those dollars
too. The programs have got to make the advertisers money or they
won't participate, just as Jakob points out.
Stay tuned.
-SearchReturn
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// -- CONTINUING DISCUSSION -- //
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==> TOPIC: BIG BRAND SPAM
"Matt Cutts calls out mom and pop sites in his blog for keyword
stuffing using invisible text, but the moneyed cheaters go
without notice somehow. Apparently Matt Cutts has replied."
Hello everyone,
Matt used an example of an Internet auction site in Spain that
was caught cloaking, and was removed until they stopped. We
think that is weak next to the big brands pointed out. It plainly
shows the double standard where it is near certain the team has
seen examples of invisible code from one or more of the big
brands over a period of time. Some of the sites mentioned are
well known to have optimized. They would have been checked, and
if not, can easily be checked out today.
There is another matter. When invisible text is in places where
the Google algorithm handles it, (noscript for example), nothing
is done? This is the core of the problem. It gives big brands
reason to go further, or to start spamming when they see others
doing it. It makes SEO advisors look bad when they argue that
even big brands are susceptible to being knocked off the charts.
In fact, if a big brand dares a search engine with their code,
this shows that at times, search engines do nothing.
Stay tuned.
-SearchReturn
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// -- ESSENTIAL NEWS -- //
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==> Paid Search Dominated Search Spend in 2005
http://www.sempo.org/news/releases/Search_Engine_Marketers
Essentials: No surprise here. The 83% of search spend going to
sponsored listings during 2005 comes despite news about click
fraud and increasing costs. It is effective overall, and that's
all that matters. Marketers also like the level of control you
get with paid listings, where virtually no control is available
in any other search marketing process.
That level of control comes at a high price. With 11% of the
search spend on natural listings, the lowest cost and highest
valued search traffic goes relatively untapped. This is a missed
opportunity. The other missed opportunity may be the low 4% of
spend going to paid inclusion, where the level of control is at
least higher than pure natural listing optimization. Paid
inclusion provides greater information than auction-style
listings as well. You can use paid inclusion to model your
natural listing optimization campaign, and you get accurate query
statistics.
With sponsored listings, unless you buy only exact matches (not
offered by default), there is no information about the precise
query of your clicks. Take a look at independent tracking or
server logs and you will be surprised what the keyword buy on
your widget actually is a buy for. It's highly likely you'll find
plenty of negative terms to add. Negative terms are terribly
underutilized. You can get optimization help from search engine
advertising reps to add keywords, but you will never get help
optimizing your negative terms. You have to do that on your own.
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