Being listed in the organic or natural search engine results is valuable
third-party endorsement. And that's the best promotion of all.
21st Century shoppers are sceptical ones. And why shouldn't we* be. With TV advertising, posters, sponsorship and the like, it's easy to become mistrustful.
That's why companies are taking more interest in public relations (PR) nowadays. If PR works, it can be a more cost efficient and effective way of building awareness than advertising. Why? Well, because someone else is doing the selling - not the company themselves. Media consumers are more likely to believe a journalist's review of a product than an advert that tells you your life's not complete without it.
"Third party endorsement is invaluable"
So, what has this got to do with search engine marketing?
Think of it from the search engine visitor's point of view. She arrives at Google, she types in her search words, and Google tells her which pages are the most relevant to her request. The key here is that it is the search engine giving the information. It's a third party endorsement of sorts - the new PR for a new web enabled world.
At the end of the day, search engines are the ultimate 'pull' medium. The user decides what she wants, asks for it, and then gets to choose from a list. Search engine users feel they're in the driving seat. And they are, even though they are probably unaware of a company working behind the scenes.
"Everybody's happy"
Don't feel you're being underhand by choosing search engine marketing as
a promotional tool, though. Even though most search engine users are not
aware of pay per click bidding, if companies are doing their promotion well
the users should benefit too. Why would a company pay for keywords that
don't give them a return on investment? If they are listed, they should
be able to help the web user with their request.
So, in short, pay per click ensures search returns are as relevant as they're ever going to be. It's a win-win situation, where the consumer benefits as well as the advertiser.
Could you claim this for traditional offline PR activity? We don't think so.
* Remember we're all shoppers.
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