Searching the World Wide Web
Part of understanding any industry is understanding the “jargon” used. This week I’m answering a reader’s question, “What are SERP’s and SEO?”
SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. It’s the page of answers you get when you type a search term into your favorite search box. In Yahoo you’ll get a page of results with a light blue area at the top and sides called “Sponsor Results”.
Sponsor Results are paid advertising from companies that want you to see their ad when you enter a particular search term. They can pay either for you to see them (Pay Per Impression or PPI) or when you “click” on the ad to go to their website (Pay Per Click or PPC). The prices they pay for this advertising can be quite high. PPC tends to be higher cost and some terms can easily cost $5-$10 per click.
That’s not a misprint. I have recently done research for clients that showed a $7.50 per click cost for their advertising. It doesn’t matter if you buy from the advertiser or not. If you click on their ad you will cost them money. It all depends on the product and how badly a company wants you to see their products how much PPC advertising will cost.
In the middle of the Yahoo page you will find a list of websites numbered from #1 to #10. At the top there’s a heading of Search Results that will tell you how many websites have what you want. Sometimes this number can be in the 10’s of millions.( Try entering the term Christmas Present and see how many turn up.)
These websites are at the top of this list because the Search Engines found them to be the most relevant to your search terms. You can’t buy your way into these results and it doesn’t cost the companies anything to have you look at their site. These are called the “natural” or “organic” results.
This is where you get the term, Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Websites can be optimized (designed well) so they are shown at the top of this list. It’s a good way to get advertising that doesn’t cost the companies any money. Plus, if the company doesn’t have to pay lots of advertising costs, you should be able to save money on your purchases. It’s a winning situation for you both.
So why don’t more companies use SEO to save money? The short answer is, it’s not easy. The Search Engines constantly change the way they rank websites in relation to each other. Most website designers don’t know how to do this. You have to work at double guessing how the Search Engines think. This is where the difference between most website designers and Internet Marketers becomes apparent.
A good Internet Marketer can show you how to get your website to the top of the organic results. You can always get a #1 result for your own unique name. Many unscrupulous companies promise you high rankings (for a fee) and only show you your own name.
The better companies can help you get high rankings for the search terms that apply to your product. Don’t settle for less. Always ask questions and take a healthy dose of skepticism with you to the Internet.
Mike Myklin is an author, a lecturer, and an e-commerce owner. If you have questions about the Internet and e-commerce, you can send them to him and he will try to answer them in his column. You can also read this article on-line at http://www.myklin.com/.
SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. It’s the page of answers you get when you type a search term into your favorite search box. In Yahoo you’ll get a page of results with a light blue area at the top and sides called “Sponsor Results”.
Sponsor Results are paid advertising from companies that want you to see their ad when you enter a particular search term. They can pay either for you to see them (Pay Per Impression or PPI) or when you “click” on the ad to go to their website (Pay Per Click or PPC). The prices they pay for this advertising can be quite high. PPC tends to be higher cost and some terms can easily cost $5-$10 per click.
That’s not a misprint. I have recently done research for clients that showed a $7.50 per click cost for their advertising. It doesn’t matter if you buy from the advertiser or not. If you click on their ad you will cost them money. It all depends on the product and how badly a company wants you to see their products how much PPC advertising will cost.
In the middle of the Yahoo page you will find a list of websites numbered from #1 to #10. At the top there’s a heading of Search Results that will tell you how many websites have what you want. Sometimes this number can be in the 10’s of millions.( Try entering the term Christmas Present and see how many turn up.)
These websites are at the top of this list because the Search Engines found them to be the most relevant to your search terms. You can’t buy your way into these results and it doesn’t cost the companies anything to have you look at their site. These are called the “natural” or “organic” results.
This is where you get the term, Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Websites can be optimized (designed well) so they are shown at the top of this list. It’s a good way to get advertising that doesn’t cost the companies any money. Plus, if the company doesn’t have to pay lots of advertising costs, you should be able to save money on your purchases. It’s a winning situation for you both.
So why don’t more companies use SEO to save money? The short answer is, it’s not easy. The Search Engines constantly change the way they rank websites in relation to each other. Most website designers don’t know how to do this. You have to work at double guessing how the Search Engines think. This is where the difference between most website designers and Internet Marketers becomes apparent.
A good Internet Marketer can show you how to get your website to the top of the organic results. You can always get a #1 result for your own unique name. Many unscrupulous companies promise you high rankings (for a fee) and only show you your own name.
The better companies can help you get high rankings for the search terms that apply to your product. Don’t settle for less. Always ask questions and take a healthy dose of skepticism with you to the Internet.
Mike Myklin is an author, a lecturer, and an e-commerce owner. If you have questions about the Internet and e-commerce, you can send them to him and he will try to answer them in his column. You can also read this article on-line at http://www.myklin.com/.
posted by Mike Myklin at 4:25 PM
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