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Qualifying Leads
Putting your message in front of search engine users is a way of qualifying your leads. The search engine user has entered the keywords or phrases that relate to your product or service, so you know they're interested. To qualify those leads, you want to reach them with highly ranked organic or paid results, the right keywords, and well-crafted advertisements.Organic versus Paid Results
When people enter a word or phrase in a search engine such as Google, they are asking the search engine which web pages most relate to the information they seek. To compile their lists of web pages, Google and the other search engines use special software programs, sometimes called "spiders." These programs use algorithms to crawl through virtually every website on the Internet. They look inside each website, seeking information and cataloguing the site based on keywords, links, number of visits and other variables. What they are looking for is a correlation between the site and its relevance to the users' search terms.Organic Results
Those websites deemed the most relevant appear at the top of the list of search results. This ranking, determined by the software program' algorithms, are known as "organic results."In addition to these organic results, many search engine results pages also feature a list of "sponsored links."
Paid Results
These sponsored links are also known as "paid results." These listings are actually advertisements, purchased by companies who want their ads to appear when prospects type in relevant keywords or phrases.Ranking of paid results in a search engine like Google is also determined by algorithms. In the case of paid results, the ranking is based on factors that include the amount bid for keywords, daily spending limits set by the advertiser, and the number of clicks the ads receive.
Keywords
Advertisers will assemble lists of words that most relate to their product or service. They then bid on the right to use these keywords to match their ads to the search terms.For example, a bank might bid on words such as "credit cards," "loans" or "mortgage." Or, they may take a more creative approach, using "buying a house," "having a baby" or other phrases associated with the lifestyle changes that might need financial services.
Finding the right keywords can be a challenge, especially because the cost of keywords can be driven up by a company that bids the highest. Since every company wants its ad to appear at the top of the sponsored links, a top word for an industry—such as "credit" for financial services—might cost several dollars per click. However, the highest bid might not always rank first. Sometimes an ad gets more clicks when it appears in the middle of the pack, which some search engines will then "reward" by moving them higher in the rankings.
Advertisements
One key to successful conversion is producing an ad that works effectively within very small confines. For example, Google restricts ads to a mere 90 characters. How small is that? The following sample gives you an idea:| Sample Search Ad Marketers don't have a lot of space to get their messages heard! www.cstonecanada.com |
Because the ads are so small, it is very important that they be finely targeted and as relevant as possible to the likely search terms. This is especially important because Google will, in fact, drop an ad that is not generating a satisfactory number of clicks for a search term.
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