Search Engine Marketing - The Growth of Search
As access to computers continues to rise, so do our Internet searches. We search online for all sorts of products and services - from cars, real estate and appliances to swimwear, sports apparel and maps. And, our search for information is done both locally and worldwide.
Ken Cassar, Chief Analyst of Nielsen//NetRatings notes, “Web users are conducting more searches not because they can’t find what they’re looking for, but because search as a utility has become deeply ingrained into people’s everyday lives”.
Search engines are the major players in online marketing. Now that email campaigns are dropping their effectiveness due to email spam, Search Engine Marketing has become the main method for increasing a company’s online exposure. Companies marketing their services and products online can choose to target different segments of their market area by selecting in which specific country, state/province and city to show their ads.
Accordingly to Nielsen//Netratings (www.nielsen-netratings.com), an Internet media and marketing research company, online searching has risen dramatically in the last year. The report states that Internet searches have grown from 4 billion in January 2005 to nearly 5.7 billion in January 2006. These figures represent a 39% increase - the highest number of online searches to date!
The report also shows the three top search engines, in percentage of searches conducted, are first Google, with 48.2%; then Yahoo with 22.2% and MSN in third with 11%. Studies conducted by Nielsen//Netratings also show that the majority of Internet searchers use multiple search engines. The report states that 58% of Google searchers also have used at least one other search engine, most commonly Yahoo! and MSN Search. Yahoo and MSN users also show the same behaviour since approximately 71% of Yahoo! and 70% of MSN users also visited at least one of the other top three search engines.
Taking into consideration these statistics, it is crucial for a company marketing its services and products online to have good rankings on the top search engines. If your company offers products or services that can be marketed online, having a SEO/SEM company looking after your website will improve your exposure, broaden your customer base and increase your sales. Using your website as an online marketing tool with effective Search Engine Optimization will maximize its success.
Remember, your website is your salesperson 24/7 that can reach billions of searchers worldwide. Make it work for you!
About the Author
Carla Reis is the President of Quest Quality Solutions (www.questqualitysolutions.com), a company specialized in Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine friendly website design and development. Carla has a Bachelor Degree in Arts and a Diploma in Website Design; she also has several years of experience in Web site design, Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization. Carla can be reached at carla@questqualitysolutions.com