Advertising on the Content Network vs. Search Network

In the last few years Google AdWords has gotten increasingly popular. One of the biggest reasons for this surge in popularity is the wide reach AdWords can help companies achieve. The extensive network of Google-related sites and the lack of a minimum ad spend makes it so that even companies with the most minimal ad budget can advertise online with AdWords and know that their ads can be seen by thousands overnight.

When setting up an ad campaign with Google AdWords one important decision that you will need to make is whether to advertise on the Content Network, the Search Network, or both. Google’s Content Network places ads on sites based on the content of the sites and how well it aligns with your ad. The Search Network places ads on Search Engines where potential customers are looking for information and products.

AdWords Learning Center

Content Network
When an advertiser utilizes the Content Network the ad he/she creates will be placed on sites that have similar themes to the keywords that are chosen for that ad. So for instance say you are using “gourmet coffee beans” as a keyword, using the Content Network your ad will be featured on coffee review sites, sites selling coffee makers, and perhaps coffeehouse blogs. With your ad on these related sites you can choose to pay each time that ad is clicked on, or each time it appears for someone to see. Content Network advertising is mostly used to create brand awareness. The thought behind this style of advertising is that when someone is searching for a coffeemaker and sees your ad they may or may not click on it, but due to the brand loyalty that can developed with a well structured ad, perhaps after they order their coffee maker they will need some coffee beans and go to your site.

Search Network
When an advertiser utilizes the Search Network the ad he/she creates will be placed on Google search engines and when a customer types in a keyword you are using your ad will be pulled up on the right-hand side or top area of the search results page. In the same example from above, when a potential customer goes on Google and types in “gourmet coffee beans” your ad can appear. Customers then click on the ad and are taken to your site where they can find the item or items they are seeking. With the Search Network you only pay each time you ad is clicked, not each time it appears. The benefit to this style of advertising is that you find the consumer at the very moment they intend to purchase “gourmet coffee beans.”

Criticisms
The question of advertising on the Content Network versus the Search Network is a divisive one.

Criticizers of the Content Network say that while it can reach more people the traffic it creates is not qualified in any way. Based on our coffee example, a click on your ad on the Content Network may be a person who, after searching for a coffee maker, is interested in seeing how much the coffee beans will run them if they buy the maker, thereby helping them make a decision on the coffee maker purchase. Or perhaps someone clicks on your ad after seeing that their local coffee house has started offering a new blend and wants to see if you have any customers who reviewed that product so they can decide if it is worth it to go down to the coffee shop and try it.  Additionally, if an internet user is trying to find song lyrics that contain the phrase “coffee beans” or a movie with “coffee” in the title or even a celebrity with the last name “Bean” your ad may appear even though it is of no use to the searcher. While Google offers the ability to filter out sites that you do not think are relevant on the content network, it can tend to get tedious and is a hassle for the more general keywords.

On the other hand, criticizers of the Search Network say that many times consumers go online to search engines to do a lot of research before buying and you could just be throwing your money away if you are paying every time someone comparison shops from site to site looking for low priced gourmet coffee beans.

Picking A Direction
Some advertisers split their budget between the Search Network and the Content Network, whereas others just stick to one approach. When deciding what is best for your business you should decide on the goals you hope to accomplish with your online advertising and then pick your approach from there. Keep in mind that if you try one approach and do not get the results you were hoping for, there is enough flexibility in the AdWords system to change your approach at any time.

More marketing help!

-Kate Pierce eCommerce Specialist

Search Engine Optimization & Search Engine Marketing (SEO / SEM)

When people hear about online marketing, they often think of two of the more popular methods that a company can use to enhance its visibility on the Web: organic search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising.  Organic search engine optimization campaigns offer several distinct advantages over pay-per-click advertising campaigns, as many recent studies have shown. What follows is a brief listing of some of the findings.

Propensity to Click

Study after study indicates people are less likely to click on paid search ads rather than on results from organic search engine optimization. For example, one study found that search users are up to six times more likely to click on the first few organic results than they are to choose any of the paid results, while an eye tracking study showed that 50 percent of users begin their search by scanning the top organic results. Other studies have shown that only 30 percent of search engine users click on paid listings, leaving an overwhelming 70 percent who are clicking the organic listings.  And a 2003 study found that 85 percent of searchers report clicking on paid links in less than 40 percent of all of their searches, and 78 percent of all respondents claim that they found the information they we searching for through sponsored links just 40 percent of the time.

Trust

Studies are beginning to indicate that the trust level for organic results is much higher than that of paid results, and that paid results are looked upon as a nuisance by some searchers. One study found that only 14 percent of searchers trust paid listings, and 29 percent report being “annoyed” by them.  Another study found that 66 percent of customers distrust paid ads.  Clearly, it’s not generally a good idea to upset potential customers before they even click on your link.

In an ideal world, you would use both SEO and Pay-Per-Click advertising strategically to maximize your site’s profile. However, budgetary constraints often make this impossible, and trying to do both on a limited budget or with minimal resources can result in neither campaign producing ideal results. In this case, it’s usually better to focus on one or the other. But which is best for you?

Pay-Per-Click Costs Rising

Pay-per-click costs are rising steadily. Between October 2004 and December 2005, average keyword prices rose from around $25 to just under $55.  And the cost of keywords can increase by as much as 100 percent during the holiday season.  These costs aren’t going unnoticed either; one study of problems experienced by U.S. companies found that 57 percent of respondents felt that their desired keywords were “too expensive,” while 51 percent expressed concern that they are overpaying for certain keywords.  On the other hand, when you outsource to an organic search engine optimization firm, your costs will likely remain more stable than the prices for pay-per-click advertising.

This document will also give you insight into our SEO / SEM strategies which have helped many websites to receive excellent rankings in organic search engines.  If at any point you have questions, please feel free to contact our SEO manager through email or IM mentioned below.

Contact:  Jerry Suhrstedt

Email:      jerrys@heavygu.com

About Us

We are a professionally managed, full-service, marketing and advertising agency located in Olympia, Washington.  One of our specialties is the field of Search Engine Optimization & Search Engine Marketing.  Our team is comprised of a national based team of 50 full time employees working on various SEO and SEM Projects serving right now more than 100 sites on the internet.

At Heavy Guerrilla we believe the most effective way of offering the some of the highest quality work in the search engine optimization industry is to keep up with the latest technological developments. We are a fluid and dynamic company that keeps abreast of current trends in order to remain one step ahead of the competition and to give our clients a continued reason to choose us to manage their Search Engine Optimization and Marketing. We learn from developing trends and assess their potential to help our customers.

SEO Process Flow

Below are the details of our SEO process & strategy:

On Page Optimization

• Before beginning SEO work, we measure how your site is currently performing. This phase helps us to understand strength and weakness of your site.
• Key phrase research and analysis – A Key Phrase is a combination of keywords that most appropriately define your product offerings and/or your area of operations. One of the most crucial steps in Search Engine Optimization is the process of Key Phrase Identification. We carry out a deep analysis of your products and offerings and then sort out the most appropriate key phrases. We consult with you and combine your ideas with current research in order to come up with a list of the most effective Key Phrases for your products. Then our SEO experts identify and finalize a set of target key phrases for your site’s search engine optimization.
• Target Pages – As with keywords, it is important to select the proper page within your site to be targeted for each keyword. After your approval of the suggested keywords, we analyze and find the most important pages of your site that we should target for optimizing for each keyword.
• Analytics Setup – Before making any changes in the website, we setup google analytics so that we can measure the results after completion of SEO work.
• Comparative Analysis – Competitors & Client Website – We don’t work without benchmarking. Our SEO experts analyze the top competitors of your site and compare it with all the aspects with your site. Here we check the various server related parameters like header status etc… along with the various website parameters like Number of indexed pages, Link Popularity, etc.
• Web Pages Analysis – Here we check all-important parameters of important pages of your website like site architecture & layout, Title tags, images, code to text ratio etc… This gives us the current standing of your site. We check all these figures throughout implementation of SEO and keep close watch on it.
• Meta tags & Header tags Optimization – After in-depth analysis of shortlisted keywords, results of comparative analysis & Web pages analysis we prepare the optimized title tag, description tag, keywords tag & header tags ( H1, H2 and H3) for all important pages of the site. A report is sent to you for confirmation.
• Content Creation (If Required) – “Content is the king” . Search engines like good and unique content in the website. Our copywriting team will analyze all important pages of your website to check if any page needs correction/addition/deletion in the text. If content changes are indicated, we will send you a report containing suggested changes.

SEO Implementation

After your approval of our above reports, we start implementing it on your website. It includes content optimization, title tag optimization, meta tags optimization, image optimization etc. If your website is static, we first implement it in dummy pages, send it to you, and after your approval we make the page live. If your site is dynamic, we make changes on the live site. It includes but is not limited to:

• Implementing Architectural changes if required
• Correcting the findings of comparative analysis
• Optimization of title tags, header tags, and other meta tags of important pages
• Optimizing internal linking structure
• Image optimization
• Content optimization according to finding of analysis
• Analysis & optimization of h1, h2, bold, a, table, alt etc.. tags as per meta tags optimization report
• Optimizing JavaScript and CSS codes
• Adjusting Code to Text Ratio as per the finding of analysis
• W3c Validation
• Off Page Optimization
• Off-page optimization (off-page SEO) are strategies for search engine optimization that are done off the pages of a website to maximize its performance in the search engines for target keywords related to the page content. It includes:
• One Way Inbound Links – In bound links are one of the most important factors that guide your ranking. The more inbound links, the better your chance of getting ranked. We build one way links to your site with other related websites.
• Directory Submission – Here we submit your site various directories available on the net. These are the good source of getting inbound links.
• Submission to Dmoz Directory – DMOZ is the most reputed human-edited directory on web. They have very strict criteria for inclusion. We optimize the title & description of your site especially for DMOZ & submit it manually.

Social Media Optimization

Social media optimization (SMO) is a set of methods for generating publicity through social media, online communities, and community websites like digg.com, del.ico.us etc… Primarily, SMO focus on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit of successful SMO. It includes:

• Blog Setup – Search engine likes content and having a blog in the website is the best way to provide unique content to search engines. We set up a wordpress blog to your website and add articles written by our copywriters. This blog is also use for link baiting – an unique link building technique.
• Article Submissions to Directories – We create & optimize content rich articles of about 300 to 500 words & submit it to reputed article directories available on the net. These articles are submitted with 2-3 links to your website in the authors box. Article submissions not only give you one way links but also the visitors.
• Submission to Social Book Marking websites – Social bookmarking is one of the latest powerful SEO tools to promote your website. We submit your website to various high traffic community websites like digg.com, delicious.com, orkut.com etc. It not only helps in getting you better ranked in search engines, but also exposes your website to thousands of community members visiting these websites.
• Link Baiting – Link baiting means encouraging others to link to you. Legitimate linking brings you quality traffic. Here we create an unique blog post ( or you provide the content) related to your service or product and submit it to various bookmarking websites. It not only helps in getting you better ranked in search engines, but also exposes your blog posts to thousands of potential customers visiting these websites.
• Squidoo Lense creation & bookmarking. Squidoo.com is a reputed website where you can create your own page with link to your website (same as blog) called a lens (ex: http://www.squidoo.com/forex-currency-trading). This lens is then submitted to various high traffic social bookmarking websites. Squidoo lens’ helps to generate sales and huge traffic.

Suggested Service Details

• Number of targeted keywords 25 (15 Primary Keywords and 10 Secondary Keywords)
• Services: ON Page Optimization
• Keyword research and Analysis
• Doc type Analysis
• Optimization of title tags of all important pages
• Optimization of other meta tags (Description etc…)
• Optimization of header tags H1, H2, and H3
• Analysis of bold tag
• Optimizing JavaScript and CSS codes
• Optimization of non index able attributes like Frames
• Optimizing HTML Source Code
• Image optimization
• Hyperlink Optimization
• Optimizing internal linking structure (Navigation)
• Optimization of external Links
• Broken links analysis & correction
• W3c Validation ( for home page)*
• Creation & Optimization of HTML Site Map
• Creation, Optimization & Submission of Yahoo (TEXT) Site Map
• Creation, Optimization & Submission of Google (XML) Site Map
• Website architectural correction (if required)
• Content Optimization ( if required)
• Canonicalization error correction
• Blog Setup (Separately on WordPress.com)*
• Google Analytics Setup

OFF Page Optimization

• Link Building – 65 Nos.
• Directory Submissions ( including DMOZ.org) – 75 Nos.
• Search Engine Submissions – 100 Nos.
• Social Media Optimization
• Article Submission to Directories ( 3 FREE optimized articles) – 75 Nos.
• Submission to Social Book Marking websites – 75 Nos.
• Setting up Optimized BLOG(1 FREE blog post) * – 1 Nos.
• Link Baiting* – 75 Nos.
• Squidoo page creation (1 FREE lense with images) – 1 Nos.
• Squidoo Lense Submissions – 75 Nos.
• Comparative Analysis – Competitors & Client Website
• Google Page Rank
• Pages recognized by Search Engines (Google, Yahoo & BING)
• No. of Back links (Google & Yahoo)
• Header Status
• Code to Text Ratio
• W3C Validation
• Social Bookmarking Presence

* W3C validation depends upon your site structure. Validation will be done only if it is possible to do it without making major changes in the website structure.

*Canonicalization error correction is done in site hosted on LINUX server and your web host has provided you the access to .HTACCESS file.

*Blog installation will be done only if proper access to your site FTP and database is provided.

*Link Baiting is done with reference to Blog. Therefore Link Baiting service will be provided only if Blog is installed in your website.

Post SEO Monthly Maintenance

• Service Details
• Article Writing 1
• Link Building 25
• Directory Submissions 25
• Article Submission to directories 25
• Submission to Social Book Marking Websites 25
• Blog Posts 1
• Link Baiting 25
• Squidoo Lense Creation 1
• Squidoo Lense Submissions 25
• YouTube Video Creation & Submission 0
• Search Engine Ranking Report Weekly

When people hear about online marketing, they often think of two of the more popular methods that a company can use to enhance its visibility on the Web: organic search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising.

In an ideal world, you would use both strategically to maximize your site’s profile. However, budgetary constraints often make this impossible, and trying to do both on a limited budget or with minimal resources can result in neither campaign producing ideal results. In this case, it’s usually better to focus on one or the other. But which is best for you?

Organic Search Engine Optimization

Organic search engine optimization campaigns offer several distinct advantages over pay-per-click advertising campaigns, as many recent studies have shown. What follows is a brief listing of some of the findings.

Propensity to Click

Study after study indicates people are less likely to click on paid search ads rather than on results from organic search engine optimization. For example, one study found that search users are up to six times more likely to click on the first few organic results than they are to choose any of the paid results[1], while an eye tracking study[2] showed that 50 percent of users begin their search by scanning the top organic results. Other studies have shown that only 30 percent of search engine users click on paid listings, leaving an overwhelming 70 percent who are clicking the organic listings.[3] And a 2003 study found that 85 percent of searchers report clicking on paid links in less than 40 percent of all of their searches, and 78 percent of all respondents claim that they found the information they we searching for through sponsored links just 40 percent of the time.[4]

Trust

Studies are beginning to indicate that the trust level for organic results is much higher than that of paid results, and that paid results are looked upon as a nuisance by some searchers. One study found that only 14 percent of searchers trust paid listings, and 29 percent report being “annoyed” by them.[5] Another study found that 66 percent of customers distrust paid ads.[6] Clearly, it’s not generally a good idea to upset potential customers before they even click on your link.

Value of Visitors

Organic search engine results tend to be seen as non-biased, and they therefore are able to provide visitors that are more valuable. The overall conversion rate, or the rate at which searchers take a desired action on a site, is 17 percent higher for unpaid search results than the rate for paid (4.2% vs. 3.6%).[7] Trends also have shown that more of the sales that result from search engines originated in organic search listings.[8]

Visitors Becoming More Aware of Pay-Per-Click as Advertising

As more and more people turn to the Internet for research and information, more searchers are becoming aware of paid results as a marketing tool. One study showed that not only are 38 percent of searchers aware of the distinction between paid and unpaid results, 54 percent are aware of the distinction on Google, which is widely recognized as the most popular search engine.[9]

Pay-Per-Click Costs Rising

Meanwhile, pay-per-click costs are rising steadily. Between October 2004 and December 2005, average keyword prices rose from around $25 to just under $55.[10] And the cost of keywords can increase by as much as 100 percent during the holiday season.[11] These costs aren’t going unnoticed either; one study of problems experienced by U.S. companies found that 57 percent of respondents felt that their desired keywords were “too expensive,” while 51 percent expressed concern that they are overpaying for certain keywords.[12] On the other hand, when you outsource to an organic search engine optimization firm, your costs will likely remain more stable than the prices for pay-per-click advertising.

Long Term Results

While a pay-per-click campaign may produce results more quickly than an organic search engine optimization campaign, organic search engine optimization campaigns can give you results that last. When the budget runs out for a pay-per-click campaign, or when your company decides that the pay-per-click campaign should be terminated, the results end as well. With organic search engine optimization, the optimized site content and other changes made to your site can have an impact on your search results until the next change in a search engine’s algorithm, or possibly even beyond.

Relevance

Users also have rated organic search engine results as more relevant than paid results. On Google, 72.3 percent felt that organic results were more relevant, while only 27.7 percent rated paid results as more relevant. Yahoo offered similar results, with 60.8 calling organic results relevant compared to only 39.2 percent for paid.[13]

Pay-Per-Click

While the above statistics may make organic search engine optimization seem the clear choice in all cases, in certain situations it actually can make more sense to do pay-per-click advertising. For those looking for fast results on a small budget, a pay-per-click campaign may be the answer.

Results

As previously stated, the results from pay-per-click advertising are immediate. On the other hand, an organic search engine optimization campaign may take up to three months or more for results to be apparent. In this case, pay-per-click is advantageous for those who are looking to promote an initiative that will go live in a short amount of time, or whose business is seasonal in nature and who only do promotion during certain months of the year.

Budget

Small businesses with extremely tight budgets may find that pay-per-click is a better investment than organic search engine optimization because a pay-per-click campaign will almost always cost less – good search engine optimization companies simply do not work for $100 per month. By limiting a campaign’s keyphrases to highly specific terms relevant to a company’s business, there will not be a large amount of traffic generated, but the traffic that is generated will be specific to the desired result. Plus, choosing such specific phrases can make them less expensive on a per click basis. Moreover, in niche markets with a high average dollar sale, where there’s not a great amount of search activity because the prospect pool is limited, it may not make sense to engage a quality organic search engine optimization firm at several thousand dollars per month when you can instead buy varying niche-specific keyphrases and generate traffic in that way.

Easier to Handle In-House

Non-complicated pay-per-click campaigns can be handled much more easily in-house than an organic search engine optimization campaign. Such campaigns generally involve business to business and high-end, service oriented companies, not those geared toward a large consumer base. Since organic search engine optimization requires a steep learning curve and since there are so many questionable tactics that can put a site at risk of penalization (the tactics that neophytes to search engine optimization are likely to use), it may make more sense to run a pay-per-click campaign. Since you are dealing directly with the engine, i.e., Yahoo Search Marketing and Google AdWords, you don’t need to pay a middleman, and these sites offer helpful tutorials on how to use pay-per-click marketing. Perhaps most importantly, the concept of pay-per-click is much easier to grasp and understand at the outset.

No Contracts

Most organic search engine optimization campaigns require a contract of a certain length because SEO companies know that meaningful results will rarely happen overnight. When dealing with an in-house pay-per-click campaign, obviously a contract is not an issue. But in general, even when you are dealing with an agency, you will not tend to need to sign a contract because the agency instead makes money on a percentage of the spend, although there may be a setup fee. Without a contract, you are free to reallocate marketing dollars elsewhere if you discover that the pay-per-click campaign is not providing the desired results.

Conclusion

Clearly, organic search engine optimization has some distinct advantages over pay-per-click advertising. However, there are undoubtedly certain situations and scenarios where pay-per-click advertising makes more sense fiscally and strategically. With a high enough budget, you would be able to have an effective organic search engine optimization campaign running in tandem with an effective pay-per-click campaign. But if you have to choose one, look into your unique situation before you decide.

By Michael Fleischner | Marketing Expert, Internet Marketing Secrets*

If you’re like many people in today’s economy you may be thinking about starting your own business. Any new business needs a website and websites are only good if others can find them. All new website owners quickly find a need to focus on the search ranking of their website in all major search engines. Search ranking is the organic placement of your site, also referred to as ranking, on Google or some other search engine.

The challenge for all website owners is learning the key factors for improving search ranking. Getting to the top of search engine result is rather complex and requires more than just a quick study. In fact, website owners will spend more than a billion dollars on search engine optimization this year and much more of that on other forms of Internet marketing like pay-per-click.

You can pay for traffic or you can focus on improving search ranking across all major search engines. Here are a few search ranking strategies you can apply to your website to improve traffic and build your business for the long term.

Build your website with sound search engine optimization techniques. Start your search engine optimization from day one. Don’t wait until you’ve invested tons of money into your website before you find out that it hasn’t been built for effective search ranking. Apply on page techniques like meta tags, headers, and keyword density to improve search ranking.

Construct a search engine optimization plan. Don’t assume that because you build a website you are going to have top a top search ranking. It takes a website that is built on sound principles as well as a significant effort in off-page optimization. Off page optimization is the process of building links to your website from third part websites. The higher the Google PR of these sites, the better your search ranking will be. Be sure to include your keywords in the actual link text.

Make search ranking improvement an ongoing focus. Leaving your search engine ranking to chance is not a good strategy. You must focus on SEO if you are going to make progress and ultimately dominate search ranking for you website. Follow your plan and work that plan until you are in the number one position. Once you’ve achieved your desired outcome, put a maintenance plan into place so that you hold and retain that position over the long term.

Achieving top search ranking is no laughing matter. Those sites listed in the top 2 – 3 positions get the major of traffic. If you’re site isn’t there, you’re not growing your business as large or as profitably as you can. So don’t settle for anything less than search ranking dominance.

Begin from where you are. Achieving rankings that you can be proud of does take work, persistence and confidence. Do the right things and you will get to where you need to be.

Are looking to improve the search ranking of your website? Learn more about The Webmaster’s Book of Secrets and download your FREE search engine optimization lessons to instantly improve search ranking!