How Much is a Top Google Ranking Worth to Your Business?

"In 2004 at the New York Search Engine Strategies conference a JupiterMedia analyst stated that 5 out of 6 commercial purchases which originated from search originated from the organic search results. They also stated 'algorithmic listings in search indexes generate an estimated six in seven commercially natured search referrals.'

2008 Penn State research titled Determining the informational, navigational and transactional intent of Web queries [PDF] found that roughly 80% of search queries were informational, while approximately 10% were each navigational and transactional. With so many searches being informational and navigational, it is unsurprising that people click the organic search results more often than the associated PPC ads."

This is a very extensive article with a lot of information about how to estimate a value for different ranking positions. There is more in this article than I can summarize in a single entry, but the quote above jumped out at me.

To summarize briefly what I found interesting in this selected quote:

1. Most commercial activity originated from search is due to organic results!
2. Ranking determines 6 out of 7 commercially oriented referrals!
3. Some 80% of searches are informational in nature as opposed to transactional or navigational!

These points really emphasize how important performing on organic searches can be to a business. Participants in our free Internet Marketing Clinic receive current information on the best techniques for making your web site perform well in this crucial arena!

This article is well worth some time to study, but be forewarned that it is full of information and will take some concentration.

Internet Retail Growth Continues!

"... retailers should be worrying about a real long-term threat: the Internet. The 1990s-vintage boast that e-tailers would destroy bricks-and-mortar retailers all but disappeared after the NASDAQ went bust in 2001. But e-commerce has quietly been growing at a rate far higher than that of the overall economy. For the past four years, online retail sales have grown at an annual rate of more than 20 percent. In 2007, such sales, excluding travel, rose 21 percent to $175 billion, accounting for 7 percent of total retail sales. "Online retail is growing a heck of a lot faster than the rest of the pie," says Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research. Last year online sales accounted for 45 percent of computer hardware, software and peripheral sales, 19 percent of toys and videogames, and 19 percent of baby products. In the coming years, retailers, who are integrating online sales into their business models, simply won't need the same amount of acreage."

Another report shows how the Internet continues to grow. We have been observing this steady growth for years and talking about what it means to businesses, large and small. This article reflects the impact that this changing aspect of our world will have on real estate in the future.

I attended a real estate presentation years ago where the presenter talked about how the Internet was going to "kill" shopping malls. That warning has proved to be premature, but the speaker was certainly on the right track!

What does this mean to those of us involved in Internet Marketing? It means that the future is bright! The work that we are doing is more and more relevant to the economy, and the potential rewards are greater than ever! Stay current with the industry best practices through our free internet marketing class, offered twice monthly in downtown Houston.

Online Sales Continue to Jump

"ComScore Inc. reported on Tuesday that consumers spent $733 million online on Monday, a 21 percent gain from the same day a year ago. ComScore had expected that sales would exceed the $700 million figure."

Internet sales continue to set records in increases! Several reports (this is one) have cited gains over last year in Internet sales this year. This kind of increase over prior year results is consistent with the long term pattern that we have observed now for several years.

The truly significant aspect of this news this time is that retail sales for this retail season are not increasing over last year sales in the same . Loren Steffy reported in his column that, "During the weekend after Thanksgiving, a barometer of holiday retail spending, consumers spent an average of $347.44, according to the National Retail Federation. That's down 3.5 percent from a year earlier."

This kind of news should encourage every small business owner to keep working on improving the company website. There is plenty of opportunity to be taken advantage of in this arena of marketing!

U.S. Search Engine Rankings, April 2007

"Google continued to build on its lead in U.S. search market share, claiming nearly half of all searches conducted in April..."

New data shows that Google continues to dominate the search market. Experience within our class indicates that Google typically produces 80% or more of the search traffic that class participants get to their sites. This consistently exceeds the figures reported by these surveys.

One point reported in the survey may help to explain this phenomenon. When data was broken down by industry segment, and the traffic produced by Google compared to the traffic produced by search engines, Google's reported share rose dramatically.

In any event, the message is clear, "To compete effectively, you must focus your SEO efforts on Google!" Our weekly free Internet Marketing Clinic is your best tool for learning how to do this.

SEO Site Analysis: Knowing the Score, Part 1

"... prepare a report card for your current Web site. Think of the process as a scorecard of sorts, though the analysis could become a blueprint for any online marketing project.prepare a report card for your current Web site. Think of the process as a scorecard of sorts, though the analysis could become a blueprint for any online marketing project."

The author of this article provides an outline for evaluating the effectiveness of your web site. In the process, she describes, or mentions, many of the points that we regularly stress in our Internet Marketing Clinic in teaching how to create a powerful web site from scratch.

Two of her points that I found particularly interesting were, "If you don't have access to any information about your site, give your site a zero for Web metrics ..." and "... if you site is entirely Flash- or AJAX-based and doesn't produce an alternative site for non-JavaScript users, give your site a zero." She was unequivocal about these points, making it clear how important it is to avoid the mistake of Flash style sites, and how important it is to have statistics that your regularly utilize to understand what is going on with your site.

Some of the evaluation she recommends will require some tools that go beyond site statistics, but she offers some suggestions and links to places where they can be obtained. Some of the analysis may also go beyond the capability of many site owners, but we offer help on those points through our free internet marketing classes.

Alexa Toolbar and the Problem of Experiment Design

"... next time you see a statistic on web usage (or any statistic) that the results are only as good as the selection process that brings in the data. "

All of us are interested in tools that provide an insight into user activity on the Internet, and we all have different tools that we use to provide and evaluate the the information we are seeking. It is important to remember that each of these tools provides a particular, and biased, view of the data. When using the information we collect from these tools, we need to keep in mind what is the bias of the particular tool that we are using.

This article provides some insight into the bias inherent in the data offered by Alexa, one of the best sources of information about importance of different web sites and about the activity they attract.

The author points out that data collected by Alexa tends to reflect the activity of a rather select group of web users, that will not be completely representative of the Internet user community as a whole. This shows up in some distinctly biased reporting on activity on a few sites that he examined in his admittedly unscientific analysis.

One question that his report raises in my mind is, "how would this bias effect differences between different sites that I might be attempting to understand?" His analysis focused on sites that it seems might be particularly vulnerable to the specific bias that is part of Alexa data. Would that bias be as significant for sites that I might want to compare? I don't have an answer, but the point is to raise the question and think about it as I consider my findings.

As part of his analysis, he illustrates the capacity of Alexa to do comparisons of sites, which I had not explored to this degree and was happy to learn about (he graphed the activity on the sites he was comparing, making it easy to see how their activity varied over time.)

The caution in this article reiterates something we have emphasized on our classes: use the data available, but be careful that you understand what it means and what it does not mean when applying its lessons to your site management.

Internet sales continue to rise!

In another report of retail sales for the year end holiday season, Internet sales have again risen faster than retail sales in brick & mortar stores.

For a number of years now, quarterly Internet sales for the fourth quarter, the biggest retail quarter due to the holidays, have risen more than 25% over prior year sales. The current year is no exception!

Shopper behavior is contributing to the growth. Shoppers are making larger purchases over the web, and shoppers are beginning to execute more spontaneous purchases. This indicates that shoppers are really browsing on the web in the same way that they have always done in stores.

Other factors also contribute to this growth. Many more shoppers have broadband access, which makes the experience much more satisfying. Retailers are doing a better job of marketing their wares, becoming more sophisticated about offering complementary purchases, suggesting other items that might interest the consumer. And, finally, purchasing security has been improved, making consumers more comfortable with their transactions.

We provide a free weekly Internet marketing clinic to help small business owners and operators to understand how to make use of the Internet to promote their businesses.

Microsoft's Municipal Wi-Fi Push

Google continues to increase its dominance of the search market. In an artical that focuses on Microsoft attempting to enter the Municipal Wi-Fi market, I found this reference to their share of search.

"For the past year, traffic to its search and other sites has been falling, despite this year's launch of numerous Microsoft Live services. In March, for example, MSN Search grabbed 13.09% of all search traffic. But that figure dropped to 10.55% in October, according to market researcher Hitwise. Rival Google is picking up market share, which has reached 62.36% recently, while No. 2 Yahoo, has held steady at a 22.3% share. "

Our Internet marketing Classes on Wednesday evenings will help you to take advantage of this dominance by learning how to get Google to notice your site and show it to searchers.

Stiffening Competition Ahead for Internet Marketing?

"For those retailers that faced the tsunami of 1998 to 2001, the next few years may feel like a light windstorm, but for the majority, 2006 to 2009 will indeed bring the tumult of a hurricane at the very least. "

Forrester Research has just released some findings from their latest study of Internet commercial activity. Their figures document a continuing increase in business-to-consumer revenues on the web, but they are predicting that the increases from 2006 through 2009 will be even greater.

They are basing this prediction on changes that they see in the structure of businesses and their marketing teams. Online marketing has proven its effectiveness to many businesses so that the online marketers no longer have to justify their existence in order to get part of the marketing budget. Many businesses have integrated their online and offline marketing eforts so that they support one another now. and . finally, many businesses have made investments in online improvements that are only now reaching fruition and the point where they will begin to pay dividends to the companies.

What this means to we small business marketers is that the competition for real estate on the search engines is likely to increase. We still believe that attention to good basic internet marketing principles, and persistence in their application, will continue to pay off in positive results for small businesses.

Google | Fuzzy maths | Economist.com

Unfortunately, I think this link will require a login. If you have a subscription to The Economist, it makes a great read.

"Danny Sullivan, the editor of Search Engine Watch, an online industry newsletter, ranks Google as the best search engine, Yahoo! as second-best, Ask (the re-named Ask Jeeves) third, and Microsoft's MSN last among the big four. Google's share of searches has gone up almost every month of the past year. Including those on AOL, an internet portal that uses Google's search technology, Google had half of all searches in March. Excluding AOL, the figure was 43%. This is why people "google" rather than, say, "yahoo" their driving directions, dates and recipes. "

This article is a great overview of Google and where it is in the marketplace right now. The authors talk about how dominant Google is in the search engine space, but also cover the expansion of services that Google keeps introducing and the impact that has on their performance and their reputation.

In addition to its dominance of the search engines, its market performance is also a tribute to its success:

"These two interlocking “engines”—the search algorithms coupled with the advertising algorithms—are the motor that powers Google's growth in revenues ($6.1 billion last year) and profits ($1.5 billion), as well as its $117 billion market capitalisation."

Relevancy Rules in Top Sponsored Ads

Notes from an eye tracking study confirm that organic listings are still the most relevant for most searchers!

"Here's what we took from the numbers. On Google, although over 80% of searchers started in the top sponsored, only 26% found something relevant and compelling enough to click on, and remember, these were commercial, product oriented searches. On Yahoo, 84% started in top sponsored, but in Yahoo�s case, about 30% stuck around and clicked an ad. And with MSN, something entirely different was going on. It seems that MSN users have a bad case of banner blindness when it comes to top sponsored ads."

This blog points out that searchers focus initially on the sponsored ads at the top of the page (since our natural focal point on a new page is at the upper left of the page). It goes on to say that, although searchers focus first on the ads, they don't primarily choose to follow the ads with a click. In other words, even though they look first at the sponsored ads, they still choose to click on the organic listings!

Just How Important Are Top Rankings?

Another insight to the iProspect study:

"As I've explained time and time again to small business owners, there's something to be said for going after the long tail. I've given dozens of companies examples of what I call 'alternative keyword targeting.' The idea here is to skip over the super popular, super competitive phrases that apply to your market and to go after the highly specific, less competitive phrases instead"

This observer points out an important factor in marketing that we continually emphasize in our Internet Marketing Clinic, which is, pay attention to the long list of keywords that are relevant to your business.

There are several important reasons for this statement.

• It is typically easier to rank on more specific, less frequently used terms.
• These terms may also reflect a more targeted searcher, which is better for your business.
• Your ability to provide material on your target page that responds directly to the query string is better when it is more focused.
• Ranking on more terms that are related will help you to rank on the more competitive terms.

Once again we see that effective marketing on theInternet involves a longer view than just ranking on top terms, and persistence will pay off.

Why search is so hot today,

An article in Searchenginewatch reports from the Search Engine Strategies conference, February 27-March 2, 2006, New York, NY.

Searchers want more control over the information that they will base their opinions and purchasing decisions on. The Internet serves this preference with search engines. As the presenters at the conference made their point:

Searchonomics: Search Statistics Made Fun:
"1. Consumer skepticism and resistance to advertising. According to Insight Express, 'consumer trust in advertising has plunged 41% over the past three years' and only '10% of consumers say they 'trust' ads today.'
2. In the varied world of today's media, the consumer is increasingly in control. A 2005 study by Yankelovich showed that almost 70% of consumers were actively looking for ways to block, opt-out, or eliminate advertising."

The speakers went on to describe how advertisers are spending their money on Internet advertising, but this represents a real disconnect with waht is happening on the web. Note the following quote from the presentation:

"A 2004 Enquiro study found that B2B users had a 63% preference for organic. Interestingly, according to a 2005 MarketingSherpa report, "organic SEO gets a higher conversion rate than does sponsored search." The conclusion? "Advertisers should be spending more time, effort, and money towards improving their natural search results," said Ramsey."

The question this raises is, "Why do advertisers insist on spending their money so ineffectively?" One can only speculate. My personal reflection on this question is that there is a familiarity with advertising that is driving part of this phenomenon, whereas the dynamics of organic search are unfamiliar to marketing personnel. People will stick with what is comfortable to them even though all indications are that another approach would be more effective. In addition, advertising through a system like PPC (Pay Per Click) lends itself to statistical reporting and analysis in ways that organic search promotion does not.

Good organic results promotion is a more amorphous process. A PPC ad can be measured more precisely than the impact of good site development and promotion, which has a more holistic nature to it. I find this encouraging because it means that there will continue to be opportunities for those of us who are willing to put in the effort to focus on organic results. We will still be able to compete against the larger organizations with their bigger budgets.

Search Engines Have More Than Twice the Conversion Rate of Other Acquisition Sources, According to WebSideStory

A new report confirms the importance of creating your community for your web site. This article cites a conversion rate of 2.3 percent for sites found through search engines, compared to a rate of 0.96 percent for othersources such as banner ads, affiliate marketing links, shopping search engines and other referring links.

However, direct navigation achieves a conversion rate of 4.23 percent. Direct navigation basically means boookmarks, which reflects good old fashioned branding and customer loyalty.

See our materials from our clinic for more thoughts on community management and what it can do for your business.

Making your search engine marketing efforts pay off.

"... 42% of users clicked the top search hit, and 8% of users clicked the second hit."

How do you get results from your search engine marketing efforts?

This item from Nielsen 's Alertbox makes a couple of interesting points. First, the top ranking in a search clearly has a payoff. This little study indicates that a large percentage of searchers will click on the top link. Interestingly, it is not "most" searchers, as the study shows that when results of the search were artificially shuffled, searchers tended to move down the list for their first click.

What this tells us, as marketers, is that you need to pay attention to the content on your pages that the search engines will display in a search results page. This requires more effort, and more attention to detail on the part of the page designer, but, as always, attention to detail does have a payoff!

We have talked in our clinic many times about how to identify what different search engines will display on their results pages. Make use of what you learn to improve your performance on the web and the bottom line in your business!

Microsoft, Time Warner discuss online partnerships

"The AOL executive said one aspect of the talks originally centered on using Microsoft's new MSN search engine on AOL, replacing AOL's current relationship with Google.
More recently, the executive said, the two companies have been talking about the possibility of deeper relationships, such as collaborating in the lucrative market of selling advertising online.
Such a collaboration could allow the two companies to benefit from growing interest in search-based advertising, helping them better compete against search leaders Google and Yahoo.
But, the executive said, 'the discussions are not advanced.'
The person familiar with Microsoft's thinking said the company's MSN unit has always been interested in striking a deal that would allow it to benefit from AOL's market-leading instant messenger program.
AOL's instant-messaging product, AIM, had more than 53 million unique users in August compared to about 29 million for the competing MSN Messenger, according to Nielsen/NetRatings."

The Business Section of the Houston Chronicle reported on this news today. We have been talking in our classes for some time about moves that MSN is making and the impact that it will have on our activities. This is another indication of the serious interest that MicroSoft has in the search field.

Think how your efforts will be effected by AOL dropping Google as its search engine!

Paid Search not the way to go! - says eMarketer

"Paid search spending is up more than 40%, overshadowing all other forms of Internet advertising and marketing. Yet if you take a close look at the actions and attitudes of search users the people who monetize search with their clicks you may find that paid search ads are not the most effective way for you to advertise online."

This research study comes to a conclusion that we have seen echoed in many other studies that we have viewed on line and presented in Internet Marketing class.

We have seen information showing different demographic profiles for the major search engines that can be useful to marketers who are targeting particular markets.

Studies have indicated that trust in a web site or vendor can be a more important factor in a buying decision than price.

Searchers prefer natural listings over sponsored listings by a rate of 60-70% (although other studies have indicated that most searchers don't know the difference!) Different studies have shown us that searchers tend to see what is presented on the upper left side of the page more than any other page content. This finding could have something to do with the preference for natural listings, since sponsored ads tend to be placed on the right.

People more and more use the Internet to research purchases they are considering, sometimes far in advance of the actual purchase. In addition, many of those purchases occur "off-line", that is, the buyer will go to a store to complete the purchase after they have done the research on the Internet. It takes good marketing on your site to make these people convert on-line, where the site owner will get the direct benefit!

The lesson is that marketing on the Internet is a complex business that requires persistence and attention to detail in order to succeed. There is still no free lunch!

Continuing march of the Internet!

Excerpts from the article:

"... The internet is working wonders in raising standards. Good and honest firms should benefit most...."

".. But it is also intensifying competition. Today, window shopping takes place online. People can compare products, prices and reputations. They can read what companies say about products in far greater detail, but also how that tallies with the opinions of others, and most importantly of all discover what previous buyers have to say. Newsgroups and websites constantly review products and services..."
"... Ford is finding that eight out of ten of its customers have already used the internet to decide what car they want to buy—and what they are willing to pay—even before they arrive at a showroom..."

"... Many people now spend as much time surfing the web as they do with television, magazines or newspapers..."

"... It is true that the vast majority of people still go to shops for most purchases (though online sales continue to grow). Before doing that, however, most have used the internet. More than 90% of people aged between 18 and 54 told America's Online Publishers Association in a survey that they would turn to the internet first for product information..."

"... And soon this facility will be available not just on PCs at home or work, but on mobile phones. At a touch, consumers will be able to find a local store and then check the offers from nearby outlets even as they browse the aisles, or listen to a salesman..."

A new article in the current issue of The Economist re-emphasizes for us the importance of the Internet to business, and takes a look ahead at now much more important it will continue to become as technology advances. The information in this article resonates with that I covered in our last class pointing out how many people research products on the Internet for extended periods of time before actually closing a sale, and how many of those sales take place off-line, where they don't show up in eCommerce statistics! In other words, the growth we are seeing in Internet sales, which is remarkable, actually understates the significance of the Internet experience for business!

Search Engines Drive Traffic to Shopping Sites

"While visits to shopping sites are claiming a record share of total holiday season Web visits, search engines are continuing to contribute high levels of shopping referrals."

According to the latest research, search engines are increasing the amount of traffic that they refer to other shopping sites. This shows the importance of shopping sites being represented effectively in the search engine rankings.

The article reports Google as being the most effective, "Google contributed 4.26 percent of visits to shopping sites last week, while Yahoo! Search contributed 2.24 percent and MSN Search 0.54 percent." This distribution is consistent with the search results that we have regularly reported in our classes.

Another interesting finding of the study is the differences in types of shoppers that frequent the different search engines. Special strengths were noted as follows:

· Google: Books, Sports and Fitness, and Music.

· Yahoo!: Video and Games, Automotive and Classifieds.

· MSN: Apparel & Accessories, House & Garden and Appliances & Electronics.