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Search Engine Marketing: An Introduction

 What is Search engine marketing? 

Search engine marketing involves all of the search-related activities associated with the visibility and accessibility of products and services available on the Internet. Search engine marketing is multifaceted.  It involves traditional search engine marketing, pay per inclusion search engines, and pay per click search engines. Search engine marketing is an all-inclusive term which includes recognition of the various types of search engines, as well as the entire process of being listed high enough to be found by individuals searching for specific search terms. 

Current studies related to search engine marketing, consistently find that 80% - 85% of Web users find web sites they are looking for through the use of search engines. Search engines make sense of all the data linked together through the World Wide Web, and organizes it in a way that makes it available to individuals searching for specific information.  It is well-known fact among search engine marketer’s, that most people looking for specific information or products, usually go no further than the first page of search results. Usually the goal of search engine marketing is to place information, products or services in approximately the highest 30 listings, which would usually appear on the first page of search results. 

Search engine marketing on traditional search engines:  

Search engine marketing on the traditional search engines involves understanding the ways that specific search engines categorize information. Each search engine has established specific algorithms for categorizing information in terms of its relevance to the search term being searched for. The algorithms include such information as the amount of keywords that show up in the content of the information, as well as how many other web sites are linked to information available on the specific web page. Search engine marketing includes an understanding of all of these factors, and how they are rated in terms of getting specific web pages ranked within the top 30 listings on the first page of the search results. Many companies specialize in this process of gaining high rankings for specific web pages, and provide services called search engine optimization services. Many people are well acquainted with the very largest of the traditional search engines, Google. 

Search engine marketing using pay per inclusion search engines:  

Search engine marketing using pay per inclusion search engines is becoming more popular all of the time. Some of the largest pay per inclusion search engines include Inktomi, AltaVista and Yahoo. Some of the same dynamics apply with several of the major pay per inclusion search engines as with the traditional search engines. Most have algorithms used to rate data in terms of relevancy to the search terms being searched for, similar to the traditional search engines.  However, pay per inclusion search engines require  payment to even be entered into the database of search inquiry information. 

Search engine marketing using pay per click search engines.

 Search engine marketing using pay per click search engines is probably the easiest and quickest way to have your products, services or information listed on the Internet.  The largest pay per click search engine is Overture, followed by Google’s adsense program.  All that is required in using pay per click search engines for search engine marketing, is to open an account and bid on specific search terms.  If you’re bid is the highest, you will receive the number one ranking for that specific search term.  You will then pay for each time anyone clicks on the hyperlink to your web site.  There are many smaller pay per click search engines, and they are continuing to grow in popularity as an alternative to the labor-intensive and expensive process of attaining high rankings utilizing the traditional and pay per inclusion search engines. 

Paul Susic MA Licensed Psychologist  Ph.D. Candidate CEO/President  Susic Psychological Consulting P.C.