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What Should You Know About Search Engines and Pay-Per-Click?
by Chet Childers
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Here’s a fact for you, 85 to 95% of Websites are found through
a search engine. You may have the most incredible Website on the
Internet, but it will receive little or no traffic without search
engine visibility and ranking. Can you imagine a billboard in the
Sahara desert? Who sees it?
So, how will searchers find your website? What types of search engines could they use?
Search
engines fall into two categories. The first is referred to as
natural, organic or standard. The second is called pay-per-click,
paid inclusion or paid placement.
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Natural, organic and
standard are interchangeable terms describing a search engine that
bases its search rankings on a ranking algorithm. The algorithms
involve a number of criteria and parameters, all relating to the
content of the website, the website’s size, the number of incoming
links to the website, and the content’s relevancy. You will hear
terms such as keyword relevancy and keyword density to describe various
components of the algorithms.
For the standard
search engines, you, your webmaster or hired search engine optimization
specialist could spend considerable time optimizing your website to
achieve top rankings. The goal is for your website to appear on the
first or second page of the search engines’ results when your target
user searches keywords or keyword phrases.
The good news is
rankings on standard search engines are free. The downside is the
tremendous amount of time and effort required to achieve exceptional
search engine rankings. Let’s confess to each other that
top rankings on standard search engines can be tough and timely to
achieve!
The interchangeable terms pay-per-click, paid
inclusion or paid placement describe a search engine that bases its
search rankings on a "bid for position" basis. Simply stated, you
"bid" a price to be in a specific position of the search rankings
for a particular search keyword or keyword phrase. For example,
the #1 position on the search phrase "pay per click" recently required
a bid of $3.55 per click, whereas the 15th position required only a bid
of 55 cents. As a result, your differential website advertising
costs between position #1 and #15 can be considerable.
With
pay-per-click search engines, your ability to bid high can dramatically
impact your website's search engine ranking when the search results
display website domain names or URL's for the search keyword or keyword
phrase. The benefit is your website gains visibility with the
searcher, but you are not charged the pay-per-click "bid" until a
searcher actually clicks on your website domain name or URL displayed
in the search engine results. The selection of your website in the
search engine results is called a click-through.
In
general, click-through rates range from 1% to 5% of the number of
impressions. What is all of this? A click is when a
searcher selects or "clicks" your pay-per-click ad. An impression
is one display of your pay-per-click ad on the search engine
results. So, the click-through rate is a measure of the total
number of ad clicks versus the total number of impressions in a period
of time:
Click-Through Rate % = Total Number of Ad Clicks / Total Number of Ad Impressions * 100
Let's
do the math for our #1 position bid of $3.55 per click. In
September, 2004 there were 21,535 searches for "pay per click."
First, let’s assume a 1% click-through rate. The top bidder spent
$764.49 (21,535 * 1% * $3.55). Now, at a 5% click-through rate
the top bidder spent $3,822.45 (21,535 * 5% * $3.55). Budgeting
and controlling marketing expenses with such a broad range of potential
costs could be tough. Plus, such costs could be the tip of the
iceberg. We still must consider derivatives of the keyword or keyword
phrase. So, was being #1 worthwhile? That depends on your
website’s cost per visitor, conversion rate and profit margin of your
product or service.
From what we’ve covered so far, you
should realize you can achieve a top or high ranking through the
pay-per-click search engine. But, a high ranking will cost money and
these costs can be volatile. Meanwhile, the standard search engine
remains free.
However, pay-per-click offers one
significant advantage. It enables you to achieve website
visibility with a high ranking instantaneously or overnight. If
you want to draw traffic to your website fast for any reason,
pay-per-click can make that happen. Remember, maximizing the standard
search engine process takes time!
Let’s summarize the pros and cons of pay-per-click marketing:
Pros
* Improves your website’s ranking and traffic quickly.
* Tests the marketability of your product or service swiftly.
* Determines the ability of your web site to convert visitors to a call to action or make a purchase promptly.
* Identifies which keyword phrases will provide the best conversion rate rapidly.
* Provides complete control of the search engine campaign, both position and cost.
Cons
* Cost
Many
individuals criticize pay-per-click because of the costs involved. But,
have you really thought about the cost issue? Unless you or
someone in your organization has expertise in search engine
optimization, you’ll probably pay several thousand dollars in fees to a
search engine optimization specialist to improve and optimize your
website to achieve higher rankings in the standard search
engines. So, my question to you is. Are the standard search
engine rankings really free?
At the end of the standard versus
pay-per-click search engine debate, it’s like the old saying, “There is
no such thing as a free lunch.” Or, it’s like the old commercial, “You
can pay me now or you can pay me later.” The reality of the debate is
you must evaluate your specific website situation and utilize the
search engine approach that maximizes your website promotion goals and
investment.
About the Author
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Chet Childers is a successful Internet marketer utilizing both
pay-per-click marketing and search engine optimization to increase
website traffic. His clients’ websites promote products such as window
treatments, furniture, medical uniforms, swimming pool tiles, capital
equipment, computer software and much more. To learn more, visit
http://www.ThePayPerClickMarketer.com and enroll in our free e-course.
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