Understanding the basic structure of how search engines register websites is crucial to succeed in search engine optimization (SEO).

It is one of the most effective web site promotion techniques, referring to improvements and changes made to web pages so that they conform to the search criteria utilized by search engines to rank and position listings, taking into consideration criteria such as keyword frequency, prominence, weight and proximity, as well as keyword placement within the HTML.

They like "content rich" or thematic text (sufficient enough to support the primary keyword phrase) about your products/services and use this to find the best result.

In general it is actually not necessary to submit a website as the search engines will find it sooner or later, but achieving a higher page ranking means a lot of work.

Often the optimization is an exercise performed by the search engine that determines how relevant the page is to a searcher's request. Alternately, a firm specializing in search engine marketing does it.

The pay per placement engine market is a billion dollar industry and is a platform that requires so little set-up and capital investment that a multitude of firms have embraced it as a front-line marketing channel. But as more and more companies sign up, the click costs have to meet the demand and increase.

Just like all other marketing tools, this one isn’t without pitfalls and obstacles, so you might want to pay attention to the following advice:

  • Understand your objectives - the first is to isolate your website objectives and tailor your traffic to achieve them.
  • Track your clicks - whether you own or adopt an advanced web analytics tool or simply add an affiliate code to the URLs submitted to the engine you must make sure you track click activity against your objectives. This is such an important factor that even engines themselves are starting to offer this service recognizing that accounting for click to conversion is a sure way to measure success.
  • Choose the right search engine(s) - don't be mistaken in thinking that all engines are equal; some are all-rounders, some B2B focused, and some B2C focused. Make sure you are aware of which one is most effective for you.
  • Choose the right words - make sure you take into account the selection of words and phrases you use.
  • Write 'killer' creative – firstly, drive more qualified traffic and secondly, reduce the amount of irrelevant clicks. Make the visitors qualify themselves before they even click the link by adding a call to action - such as buy, visit, compare, search - into your title and/or description which will prompt interest. Qualifying them further with relevant descriptions that include enough information to wet their appetite yet, at the same time provide enough information to dissuade a user who is uncertain whether he should visit your Website or not. Find out what buzz words your search engine recommends for your industry.
  • Manage your bids and placements - the biggest difference between paid search and any other type of search engine optimization is that you have to bid for your position.
  • Get to know the search engine distribution partners and where their listings are going. Actually, the number of options available for managing bids is extensive - from doing it manually to buying a service to perform it for you. It is definitely the missing link to many paid search campaigns and can mean the difference between success and failure. Try to match conversion with costs and placement. For example: can you get a better ROI from averaging in position 3 rather than position 1?
  • Be aware of seasonality - at peak times in your industry a lot of business can be achieved online, at the same time you can bet that a large number of your competitors will also be aware of this so make sure you watch your bids very carefully. Don't be afraid to change creatively, you can make adjustments within a week to turn around seasonal trends and demand.
  • Choose the most appropriate landing page - just ask yourself the question when selecting the page “would you be happy if you'd searched for a product or service and then had to search for it a second time on the destination site?”

Now that I explained the process a little bit more in depth, use the provided information to plan your campaign or fine tune your current campaigns to get the most from your marketing dollars. The pay-per-click search engine market is definitely a very competitive, efficient, and effective means of Internet marketing. Understanding it will give you the ability to turn search into an extremely profitable channel.

By Daniela La Marca