Organic Search - Overview
Search Engine Results Pages (SERP's)
When using search engines to find information, the search results can be broadly divided into two categories: Organic Listings (also referred to as "natural" or "free" listings), and Paid Advertisements usually bought on a "Pay Per Click" basis (PPC).
The Emergence of Organic Search as a Marketing Weapon
According to PEW Internet, "using search to find information" now rivals the popularity of e-mail.
Despite the early popularity of Pay Per Click among marketers, roughly 80% of clicks at Google occur not on the PPC ads, but within the organic listings. Here's a nifty little eye tracking chart showing how consumer attention gravitates to the left and upper part of search engine results pages, where the organic search results are featured.
Many of the companies that were earliest to the Web entered the search space via PPC, because results were measurable and repeatable, as long as one could afford the prices (and initially, most could). But as more and more businesses realized the importance of search, PPC prices steadily rose. Advertiser margins were squeezed, forcing many small and middle tier players out of the marketplace. Today, even if you're a very big company, there's only so much traffic you can access at an affordable ROI.
Given the extraordinary popularity of organic search, and rising PPC costs, advertisers who were previously reluctant to get involved with the less predictable and controllable nature of organic search, have reconsidered. Web based and traditional marketers alike are currently moving more strongly into the organic search space.
Millions of Battles Won & Lost Each Day
Most searchers decide in a matter of seconds which search listings to click on.
What does that mean for your business? It means that it's not even enough any more to simply show up somewhere in the search engine results (SERP's).
When looking at your site's rankings in top search engines, what you really want to see is:
- the most relevant page from your site (for a given search query),
- high in the organic search results,
- with a clear and compelling link text and site description,
- that relates to the query
... like this recent search on Google for the query "seo book" ...
If your site's pages are not high in the SERP's, showing the best possible page for a given search query, with a compelling link and site description, then you need SEM help.
There’s an old saying in business:
We have a different take:
Search marketing isn't just about showing up.
It's about managing all aspects of an online presence, from site structure, to internal navigation, to language and context, to external marketing channels ... in order to achieve results in the SERP's that attract the attention of the right users, at the right time, in a compelling way.
We can help.
Learn more about us, why we're different and our services.
Or, just contact us today.
Clientside Search Engine Marketing. Good for Business.