Paid Search or Organic Search?

by Larry Neilson 21. July 2010 23:27

In a recent interview Andrew Goodman of Page Zero Media said organic search and all of the optimization efforts directed toward organic search could soon become obsolete. He sited a Microsoft study of thousands of websites, equally optimized for organic and paid search, that  showed 60 percent of revenue across thousands of sites was driven by paid clicks versus 40 percent for organic. He also said as more companies optimize and submit content it will become more difficult to define the “10 blue links” as either paid or organic. I say this is very interesting but Andrew and Page Zero are purveyors of paid search so his leanings toward paid search make perfect sense. The real answer is you should be coordinating an effort that includes both.  However, there is a deeper message here for the insurance business which is; the world of search is moving at warp speed and if you’re not optimizing your agency’s website and formulating a complete insurance internet marketing strategy now, you’re wasting valuable time and falling further behind. The race is on and believe me, this is one race you want to part of. Watch for Neilson Marketing Services next Monday! When you get there click on “Internet Marketing”.

We used to be able to tell a lot about an agency by looking at employee to revenue ratios, or which agency management system they had. Much like you probably learned a lot about your prospects by the way their office was decorated and or maintained. Today I heard a new term “technographics” which measures technological sophistication by criteria like the browser you use, or even your email address. Did you know younger people tend to use Gmail, while those of us who have been around longer use hotmail, or yahoo. Did you know tech savvy people use Google and Firefox while more consumer oriented people use Bing and Internet Explorer. This is GREAT insight for creating and managing an insurance Internet Marketing Strategy!

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Comments (4) -

7/22/2010 7:05:38 AM #

Jeff Neilson

PageZero has been around since 2001 in search marketing & Google AdWords.  They act as a Media buyer and have implemented hundreds of paid search for clients.  So yes I agree his interview is very one sided.  With that said eye tracking studies have cleary shown that most clicks are toward the top left to right of the first page on the organic results. Based on eye-tracking studies, we know that people tend to scan the search results in order. They start from the first result and continue down the list until they find a result they consider helpful and click it — or until they decide to refine their query. Heatmaps can showsthe activity of participants scanning a typical Google results page. The darker the pattern, the more time they spent looking at that part of the page. This pattern suggests that the order in which Google returned the results was successful; most users found what they were looking for among the first two results and they never needed to go further down the page.  check this link out for more information Eye Tracking Study meets more than the eye. I my opinion agencies should focus on organic and paid once they have the organic SEO under control.

googleblog.blogspot.com/.../...ore-than-meets.html

Jeff Neilson United States | Reply

7/23/2010 1:58:51 AM #

Warren

I have to stop using Internet Explorer! I never heard that before that Internet saavy users are more likely to use one or another. I wonder if anybody's ever done a study of buyers versus tire kickers to see whether either group was more likely to use Explorer or Firefox or Chrome.  

Also, is there a "politically correct" browser?  OK...I'm taking it too far, right? Smile

Warren United States | Reply

7/23/2010 11:36:50 PM #

Jeff

Warren because Internet Explorers very survival could be at risk. If Microsoft doesn't, then Google could certainly afford to offer similar support for companies to move their systems over to Chrome. Overnight, we might see Chrome's market share balloon to 35% and all versions of Internet Explorer shrink to below 45%.

Experts have pointed out that Explorer's market share is being further threatened by empowered Web developers and a more educated Web-going public. There's this assumption that people are going to go straight from Internet Explorer 6 to Internet Explorer 7 or 8, but, the thing we should realize is that browsers as a whole have become more popular. Five years ago, most agencies/people probably didn't know what a browser was, but more and more they're able to indentify them. And as Web sites drop IE6 support, developers are going to steer people toward the browsers they like. Firefox, Chrome and Safari are going to be pitched a lot more than IE and I think those browsers have a good chance at being the next step for people.

But IE6 is something many Web developers will have to tangle with for years to come. For any Web site considering following Google unto the breach, I ask you to remember a few things. First, Google.com isn't going to suddenly stop working for folks using IE6. By dropping support, Google is saying that future upgrades to sites and services like YouTube, Gmail and Google Docs will no longer prioritize IE6 compatibility. Second, let your user base determine your course of action. Neilson Marketing, for example, is targeted at professional insurance business in the property andcasualty industry. Performing a study of what your clients and prospects are using us crucial and will determine your course of action.  So I don't really care about it unless my target is  100% IE6. A good example would be a site like the New York Times who will care about IE6 until the bitter end. No matter what you do, consider this comment to one the above-mentioned Microsoft blog posts:

And yes, every desktop PC and laptop runs WinXP and IE6. More than 85% of all browsing is intranet. Basic news sites etc deliver the information without the frills. For our vendors who offer Web portals we'll simply dump them if we can't access their sites after a no-IE6 revamp.

So, there you have it. Continue at your own risk. And in the meantime your decision tostop using IE6's and a celebratory funeral might be too quick.

Jeff United States | Reply

3/3/2011 4:39:03 AM #

freelance web design jobs

Organic Search Results and Paid listings have their own advantages. If you are looking for a short term or a seasonal listings, paid listings are one of the easiest and fastest way to get in to search results, Organic search listings are long term and will take time to get into search results depending on how much you follow the guidelines and dedicate the time to optimize the site.

freelance web design jobs United States | Reply

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