The Top of the Page

How to Reach Today’s Demanding Searcher

News Flash: The expectations of search engine users are up. And their patience? Down!

But is this truly news to you? I doubt it. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you probably know that these measures have been trending this way for some time now.

However, what may be new info is that such user behavior and attitudes have important implications for marketers. Before we begin our discussion of how you can capitalize on what your users think and do, take a look at the findings from an April 2008 study conducted by JupiterResearch, as it illustrates these trends:

Search Study Image 1

Search Study Image 2

So what are the implications of these findings?

There’s an obvious need to optimize your Web pages and obtain links from credible, relevant sources to maximize the chance of your site to be found on the first few pages of search results. But there are also two other important implications.

Low-Hanging Fruit
First, by using and optimizing all of the assets in your digital library, such as images, videos, audio files and press releases, you can gain a competitive advantage. Seek out these assets within other areas of your company, and if they are appropriate to use, place them on your website and support them with other relevant content.

But don’t stop there. Take these same assets and find resource sites (e.g., YouTube) and social media sites (e.g., Facebook) to post and tag them, so that you can expose your brand to visitors of those sites who may otherwise have never visited your corporate website.

This step is especially important now that all of the major search engines show more than just text in their search results, in what we call “blended results.” Now, such digital assets—on your website or elsewhere—have the potential to supplant your competitors’ listings on the search results pages for your most important keywords. And performing these steps with all your digital assets in a holistic manner will help your brand to dominate the search results page.

Pay for Play
The second implication is that barring the ability for you to effectively compete with other organic (algorithmic) search results—either with your Web pages or the digital assets just discussed—implementing some new paid search strategies can help obtain a greater presence for your brand within top search results. The questions from the study were specific neither to organic nor paid search results, so search engine users are looking at both types of results prior to making their “click or re-launch” decision.

In organic search results you may be competing with competitors that have several years’ head start, thousands of pages of optimized content, thousands of incoming links, and thousands of digital assets that they’ve distributed all over the Internet. But paid search (like Yahoo! Sponsored Search), using compelling ads and strong calls to action, can be used as a great equalizer to overcome any advantages they have in the algorithmic results.

Clearly, users’ expectations continue to rise, and their patience continues to wane. Smart marketers will capitalize on these trends by showcasing their digital assets, and initiating paid search campaigns to help their companies into the first few pages of results.

— Robert J. Murray, President, iProspect

Robert J. Murray is president of search engine marketing firm iProspect in Watertown, Massachusetts, and can be reached at rob.murray@iprospect.com.

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15 Comments Add your own

1. » Are Searchers Byp&hellip | May 28th, 2008 at 6:00 am

[...] your pay per click ads in the search results? That may be an important question and according to a new study by Jupiter Research you may want to find out. In organic search results you may be competing with competitors that have [...]
2. SearchCap: The Day In Sea&hellip | June 2nd, 2008 at 4:54 pm

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3. Yahoo!: 1ª Página de Re&hellip | June 3rd, 2008 at 11:38 am

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4. A view of changing search&hellip | June 10th, 2008 at 2:04 am

[...] behalf of iProspect in the US and a follow-up posting by one of iProspect’s executives on the Yahoo! Search Marketing blog sheds more light on the data that was collected by this [...]
5. Alexis Kauffmann | June 15th, 2008 at 5:14 am

This is the main trouble with SEO. There is only room for 10 sites at the first page and thousands of sites competing for it.
6. Alex Tsatkin | June 17th, 2008 at 12:48 pm

I disagree with you wholeheartedly about your assumption when it comes to paid search.

The type of people who click on paid ads are one type of person, fitting into one demographic. Most people who stick to organic listings only look at organic listings.
7. Bob Frantz | June 17th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

I agree with posting blogs and the like on social media sites to gain visitors you might not otherwise get, but the Pay for Play idea, at least in my field of web design and hosting, can become very expensive if you want even a hope of competing with the big guys. For now, I’ll just stick with the back links.
8. Does Yahoo’s SEM Bl&hellip | June 17th, 2008 at 6:54 pm

[...] Yahoo’s Search Marketing Blog posted an article recently called The Top Of The Page . Granted, this is a blog mostly about paid search, and thus, promotes spending money. This article [...]
9. 5 SEO Tips | June 18th, 2008 at 10:05 am

Organic + PPC is a dynamic duo. It’s best to optimize any pages, and use a PPC budget to pay for the keywords that convert.

There are buyers and readers on the internet; SEO for both, and PPC for buyers.
10. You dont deserve to be nu&hellip | June 18th, 2008 at 3:55 pm

[...] great results for your campaigns. (We should also note that there are plenty of times when you do want to be number one. When that is depends upon your business.) Here are five ways to help make sure you’re bidding to [...]
11. ahmed | October 19th, 2008 at 11:09 am

I already use Sponsored Search but wecant ad our sit in yahoo serch we wnt help us
12. xuxppxxuxyyy | December 27th, 2008 at 2:54 am

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13. Dino | March 30th, 2009 at 4:25 pm

I have been first page on Yahoo for 13 years. I also paid site submit basic for a year 2 months ago. now I have a renewal for another. No matter how many I change a password none of them take. Question. I have dissapearear from Yahoo (www.coloradovacation.com) completly and they want to charge me. They also say that I have unsutiable content. I’am using the same original content with updates… all suitable for traveling in Colorado and they won’t index me. Does anybody know why?
14. Hansi | April 3rd, 2009 at 3:25 am

Yeah, that a pretty good bLOG, I like it. Give me more man
15. Why this is the year to i&hellip | June 4th, 2009 at 5:52 am

[...] over 90% of search engine users only refer to the first three pages of the search engine results (Yahoo Search Marketing blog). This makes it vitally important for your website to outrank your competitors on search [...]

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