Professional Search Engine Optimization and SEO Marketing Firm

Home

Package Deals

Optimization

Submission

Pay-Per-Click

Paid Inclusion

Conversion

Free Tools

Blog

Welcome to the ineedhits Search Engine Marketing blog, where we share the latest search engine and online marketing news, releases, industry trends and great DIY tips and advice.

We encourage you to get involved in our blog community - so share your opinions and experiences by leaving comments on our posts.

If you're looking for help with promoting your website - check out our range of affordable search engine marketing services.

Monday, March 27

Getting Personal - Meet the Contributors

We were talking about our favorite newsletters in the office last week and were pretty surprised to find that all of us thought that personal comments by authors added quite a lot to the overall experience for us.

For example, Jill Whalen from the High Rankings Advisor always ends her newsletter with some comments about her kids and her Mini, Anne Holland from Marketing Sherpa recently shared some interesting insights from her last trip to visit her fiance's family in Serbia, and Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Watch kept everyone updated on his new computer set-up after he moved house.

You, on the other hand, read our articles every week but you probably know very little about us - so we felt it was about time to introduce ourselves on a more personal level and share some of our passions outside the field of search engine marketing. We're not sure if you'll be interested in this kind of thing, so we'd appreciate your feedback!

We're starting with me - Nancy Hackett, Marketing Manager here at ineedhits. After three years at ineedhits, I feel like a bit of an old hand at search engine marketing ... but then I compare myself to my dad, who spent close to 30 years working for the same company in the same job. That's impossible to imagine in this fast-paced Internet environment. I recently read "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson and found that the lessons from the book seem to be tailor-made for this industry. In the online environment, cheese supplies dwindle fast and you always need to keep abreast of changes and be on the lookout for the next big pile of yummy cheese!

Tomorrow, I've got a day off to attend the graduation ceremony and receive my MBA degree. I've been working on it part-time since late 2002 and it's been pretty time-consuming - but definitely worth the effort in terms of gaining a greater and more cohesive strategic understanding of all aspects of running a business. I've also met some great people in the process, which made it all the more worthwhile. My husband and parents-in-law will attend the ceremony, and I'm getting pretty excited!

PS: My favorite cheeses? Roquefort, Parmesano Reggiano, Appenzeller and Emmenthal ... oh, and Gruyere (I do love my cheese!).

What is the Most Popular Form of Search Engine Marketing?

$5.75 billion was spent on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in North America in 2005, according to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO). With an expected growth of $11 billion in 2010 have you ever wondered what the most popular form of SEM amongst advertisers is?

"The State of Search Engine Marketing 2005" report conducted by SEMPO surveyed 553 industry-wide advertisers and agencies and found that 83 percent ($4,771,061,673) of total SEM spending was directed at paid placement programs.

2005 Advertiser SEM Spending

	2005 SEM Spending	Share of Total
Paid Placement	$4,77,061,673	83.0%
Organic SEO	$642,994,066	11.2%
Paid Inclusion	$245,775,760	4.3%
SEM Tech	$90,357,143	1.6%
Total	$5,750,188,644

Source: SEMPO survey of SEM agencies and advertisers, December 2005

Despite this, four out of five respondents considered organic search engine optimization (SEO) as the most popular form of SEM.

The findings show that whilst the majority of advertisersâ€™ SEM budget is spent on paid search programs, organic SEO is still considered a high priority as a strategic tool in SEM.

Google Sued for Blacklisting Site

Internet search giant Google is being sued by a parents' portal, KinderStart.com, for effectively blacklisting the site. According to the suit filed by KinderStart.com, Google removed the site's PageRank ranking, which is now at zero, effectively meaning that none of KinderStart.com's pages have a chance of appearing within the top 10 search results on Google.

KinderStart.com is claiming that Google acted in an anticompetitive way and is misleading the general public by giving the impression that Google offers an objective way to find information on the Internet. KinderStart.com says that in reality Google is punishing websites for no apparent reason and offers no way for blacklisted sites to regain their PageRank, because Google does not provide any information on why a site was penalized. KinderStart.com is suing for unspecified damages (it alleged the PageRank drop last March resulted in a loss of up to 70% of the site's traffic and 80% of its revenues) and hopes to turn the case into a class action suit.

So far, KinderStart.com has not received much industry support for its lawsuit. There are suggestions that KinderStart.com could have been violating Google's webmaster guidelines (compliance to which are a condition of being listed in Google). In addition, Google seems to have a pretty good case in successfully claiming that its PageRank system is an expression of a professional opinion, similar to a financial credit rating, and thus protected by the First Amendment. At time of writing, no other firms have joined KinderStart.com's class action, either.

While the case seems far-fetched, I think it would be very useful for webmasters to get some kind of feedback when Google dishes out penalties, even if only stating that a site has violated the Google webmaster guidelines, and offering review and re-inclusion once the violations have been rectified. At least this would give site owners the certainty that there is something that doesn't adhere to Google guidelines and that they can fix to regain their old Google status. Google wouldn't be giving any information away that could be abused by spammers, but would be giving all the legitimate websites with inadvertent problems a clear way of being readmitted into the Google fold.

Post To Del.icio.us

Need to get into Google fast? 7 day inclusion only $19.95 - With Money Back Guarantee!

Yahoo! - Hooked On Asia

The global proliferation of the internet was born in the United States and rapidly enhanced by Europe's adoption, but it's Asia that's seen as the next driving force behind the World Wide Web's growth. China, with its phenomenal population and rapidly growing industrial strength, is leading the Asian online push, but while the major companies focus on China's obvious potential, Yahoo! has taken a more lateral approach; investing heavily in the South East Asian region.

Yahoo! has recently introduced local front pages for the Philippines (yahoo.com.ph), Indonesia (yahoo.com.id) and Vietnam (yahoo.com.vn). The aim of the move is to make Yahoo! the most relevant entry point to the internet for the 500 million people living in the region, which is growing daily.

In addition to the new local front pages, Yahoo! has made major improvements to the content on all its Southeast Asian sites over the last 12 months. The efforts have included the provision of local country and local language versions of their Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News Entertainment and Sports services.

"Instead of adopting a 'one-site' or 'one-service' fits all approach, Yahoo! provides the necessary local relevance that can encourage Internet access and adoption for all users in Southeast Asia" said Reza Behnam, Managing Director, Yahoo! Southeast Asia.

Yahoo!'s investment in the Southeast Asian region is a true indication of the area's current and future potential. With over 60 million active internet users already, and millions joining annually, these early in-roads into the market should place Yahoo! well ahead of the pack in Asia.

Post To Del.icio.us

Yahoo! Inclusion in 7 Days
Only $19.95 - Money Back Guaranteed

Google's New Search Page Layout

Changes are in the wings for Google's search interface. After trawling through the forums recently, I stumbled upon a conversation outlining the new interface that Google seems to be trialing secretly. Whilst the new layout doesn't seem to be ground breaking, it does provide scope for some significant changes and opportunities.

The most obvious change is the new graphical advanced search options on the left hand side. Where Google's main page was comprised of essentially 2 columns, with organic listings making up the core column, and sponsored listings (pay-per-click advertising) on the right hand side, the new layout allows Google to provide navigation to other search categories in the newly created left hand frame.

Why you ask?

Why has Google taken their trusty and reliable format and chosen to change it now? It all comes down to best use of web real estate. By moving their additional search categories from the top of the page (traditionally below the search box), to the new left hand column, it allows their actual search results to feature higher on the page. This means that more content will fit within the standard window.

It also means more exposure for Google's other search categories. As you all know, the eye tracks left to right, so anyone who uses Google instinctively looks at the left hand column expecting organic search results. They will now be drawn to the alternative search category navigation, with graphical representation of content available. I guesstimate this is aimed at helping / encouraging users to explore the other search categories available.

The new left frame also gives Google more scope for expanding its additional search categories. Where its current layout displays the alternative search categories across the top of the page which has limited space, the new left hand navigation, provides the scope for Google to extensively increase its search options, or even use the space for other means. This is a prudent strategic layout move for the search giant as other search categories are being trialed such as the new Google Finance search and resources page (available from http://finance.google.com).

So you want to trial the interface? Here's how!
It's a 4 step process:

Open a new window with Google.com
Then copy and paste the following code into the search box: (1 continuous string)

javascript:alert(document.cookie="PREF=ID=fb7740f107311e46:TM=1142683332:
LM=1142683332:S=fNSw6ljXTzvL3dWu;path=/;domain=.google.com")
Click enter
Start searching

Voila - now you can see and explore the changes for yourself.

While there is no clear indication of when this new layout or any other interface changes are going to be implemented, a search page makeover is probably overdue for Google. What does have me bemused is why Google hasn't explored the functionality of Web 2.0 in the new interface. Whilst Web 2.0 is not essential for a search results page, it does provide users more control and customization over their search journey, a fact that Windows Live Search and even Ask.com have been quick to explore.

Hmmm, I wonder if Google is keeping some of its changes under wraps.

Post To Del.icio.us

Is your website in Google?
Get into Google in 7 Days - Only $19.95!

Tuesday, March 21

Online Content Sales on the Rise

U.S consumers spent $2 billion on online content in 2005, according to the latest "Online Paid Content U.S Market Spending Report" from the Online Publishers Association.

The 15 percent growth compared to 2004 was largely driven by consumer content spending in the Entertainment/Lifestyle category, which experienced a massive 39 percent growth in sales ($574 million) and exceeded all other categories including the previous top category, Personals/Dating ($503 million).

U.S Consumer Spending on Online Content in 2005

Category	Spending ($ in million)
Entertainment/Lifestyles	$573.8
Personals/Dating	$503.4
Business Content/Investment	$320.3
Research	$152.3
Personal Growth	$117.3
Games	$108.4
General News	$78.7
Community-Made Directories	$65.4
Sports	$51.3
Greeting Cards	$45.7
Credit Help	$28.4

Source: Online Publishers Association/comscore Networks Inc., March 2006

For the first time ever, average consumer spending reached the $100 mark in 2005, with single purchase sales reaching a new high of $442 million, an increase of 61 percent from 2004. This growth has been primarily driven by online music sales, which supports the current trend that consumers are increasingly using the Internet for entertainment.

Not only this, but the number of consumers paying for online content continues to grow steadily, from 19 million consumers in Q4 2004, to 20.6 million consumers in Q4 2005, showing positive signs for continual growth in the future.

Focus on Search Marketing for Real Estate Sites

Local search ads for real estate agents account for almost half (49.6%) of all local PPC (pay-per-click) ads in a sample of ten U.S. cities. This is the amazing finding of a report published by Borrell Associates which also reports the share of real estate ads amongst all local search ads has jumped by 32.1% compared to just 18 months ago.

With local pay-per-click advertising expected to grow to $987 million this year and to $4 billion in 2010, search advertising expenditure of the real estate section is expected to grow explosively. No wonder - research released last year by the National Association of Realtors stated that almost 80% of consumers begin researching real estate online. According to another prediction by Borrell Associates, online advertising will account for over one third of the entire real estate industry's advertising budget in only four years' time, leaving classifieds in newspapers and other print publications behind.

Paid search advertising like Google AdWords and other online marketing expenditure, including organic search engine optimization and display advertising, is paying off for real estate agents in term of lead generation and sales.

The vast number of searches conducted on real estate related terms is mind-boggling. For example, during February 2006 the following numbers of searches were conducted on the Yahoo! network for the top 10 real estate related terms:

Search Terms	Number of Searches Feb 2006
real estate	1,795,889
real estate agent	470,029
travel real estate career	205,408
real estate appraisal	154,750
real estate developer home builder	123,487
charlotte north carolina real estate	104,140
florida real estate	90,686
real estate listing	71,925
las vegas real estate	61,796
century 21 real estate	61,661

How Can You Stay Ahead of the Real Estate Pack Online?

Firstly, there are no easy solutions, and a short article like this is not able to cover the components of an outstanding online presence in depth. The quality and user-friendliness of your website cannot be emphasized enough - apart from making sure its search engine optimization is flawless (including keyword-rich copy with lots of local search terms, easy-to-follow navigation, meta tag optimization and inbound links), the property search function and the quality of your listing information and photos is critical. You can not only display the relevant facts and photos about an individual property, but you can also add information about important lifestyle factors - what schools are in the area, what recreational and shopping facilities are nearby, how long does it take to get into the city center and so on.

In attracting visitors to your site, you probably can't afford to ignore paid search advertising, even if you have good organic rankings. However, the real estate sector is notorious as an industry with very high P4P click prices - so how can you ensure you get a positive return? When considering your paid search budget, you need to estimate the quality of the leads you generate. You might find that certain local keyword terms attract different types of visitors who are more or less likely to be a valuable lead. Once you know what type of traffic is more valuable, you can adjust the keyword bids within your paid search campaign to ensure you maximize your return on investment, or go for "the tail of search" - bid on longer keyword terms that do not have the large search volume that more generic search terms have, but that provide you with better qualified visitors at a cheaper price. For example, instead of bidding on "Florida Real Estate", bid on a more specific term like "real estate for sale in Orlando Florida".

To ensure you get the most out of any potential leads, also make sure that you have systems in place to follow up on leads in real time and continue to communicate with leads over a period of time (for example using email) if you have permission to do so.

For more specific discussions on a broad range of online real estate related topics, visit
http://www.realestateforum.com/index.php.

Post To Del.icio.us

Get Guaranteed, Qualified Traffic from Google and Yahoo!

DIY Tip: Shopping Cart and Checkout Improvements

When e-commerce business owners review their websites based on conversion and revenue, the one area that is all too often forgotten is the shopping cart and checkout. It's amazing the impact a poor shopping cart or difficult checkout area can have on your website's conversion and sales.

I was reading a recent review by Devin Comiskey for the E-Commerce Guide on the shopping cart and checkout area of a case study site, and some extremely important suggestions were raised for improving your website's purchasing process. I have provided a brief summary below of some of the key points:

Shopping Cart Recommendations:

Your cart represents the perfect opportunity to increase your customer's basket value. Once they are in the cart, they are ready to spend, so cross-sells should be most effective at this point. Always provide a few options to cover your bases with appropriate copy to link in the products.
Take customers to the cart after they add an item. This helps them confirm the right product was added, and will guide them to the appropriate cross sells (as mentioned above) and guide them through the purchasing process.
Provide text links to the last few product pages the visitor has viewed. This will make their comparison shopping on your website, and remove viewer navigation frustration.
Build in smarts to your system to recognize the best cross sells for your customers. If they have already selected one of your standard cross sells, then your system should present the next best options to the customer in the cart.
Use cart abandonment emails. As most cart abandonment is unintentional, figures suggest you could recoup almost 25% of these sales. Send the emails with a direct link back to the customers cart (pre-populated with their previous choices) and allow them to complete the purchase they tried to make.
Prominent promotion / coupon code placement. You should include the facility to enter coupon codes in both the cart and the checkout. This will help customers to see the immediate benefits of the offers and discounts you have given them.

Checkout Recommendations:

The checkout is the crucial part of the purchase process. So the easier it is the better. Step through the check out process and determine how many clicks it takes to complete the sale. Even reducing the process by one click can substantially increase your conversion and sales.
Give customers several ways options for logging into your site to complete a purchase. The more options you give, the easier you make it for new and repeating customers.
When gathering information for purchases, make the email address the one critical field in your data gathering. It gives you the easiest option to provide customer service and re-market to these customers in the future.
Remove any distracting links in the checkout area. The only links available at this point, other than confirming the sale, should be to help reinforce the purchase (ie. Guarantees, or conditions of purchase).

While this is not an exhaustive list of suggestions for enhancing your shopping cart and checkout, it definitely provides you with some basic improvements that should see you increase your website's conversion immensely.

Post To Del.icio.us

Improve your website's conversion and sales with guaranteed qualified search engine traffic delivered every month!

Google Offers Retailers An Irresistible Deal!

The retail sector is square in Google's sights. While the other major search engines focus on online software and services, Google has recognized the need to crack the lucrative online retail market.

Google Base, launched in Nov 2005, was the first sign the Google was finally making moves towards an online retail presence. Though still in beta, Google Base has been the foundation for many more developments towards seriously challenging the reign of eBay and Craigslist.

Last Thursday saw Google rollout the first trial of its payment processing gateway. Aimed at challenging PayPal's (eBay's online payment system) virtual monopoly on the e-commerce payment market, their new service will be available to Google Base customers providing an all-in-one online retailing solution.

Their new payment platform is not restricted to Google Base customers only, and considering its transaction costs are cheaper than PayPal's fees, it appears an online retailing dogfight is looming. While other payment platforms have come and gone, Google has the power to enter the market and genuinely give PayPal a run for its money (Pun intended!).

Google's efforts to enter the online retail sector don't end at their new Google Base and payment gateway. The latest speculation suggests Google is releasing an e-commerce search engine that will allow retailers who do not currently sell products online to gain an online presence.

While most of the latest online retailing initiatives are being trialed in Europe, this latest venture has some clear long term revenue potential for the search giant which should make Google's weary shareholders much happier.

Post To Del.icio.us

Get into Google in 7 Days!
Only $19.95 with full Money Back Guarantee.

Wednesday, March 15

Google's Click Fraud Pay-Out

After downplaying the problem of click fraud for years, Google has acknowledged that click fraud does damage advertisers by pledging a $90 million advertising credit pool to the settlement of click fraud disputes with its advertisers.

Google awarded the $90 million worth of advertising credits in order to settle a lawsuit with online advertiser "Lane's Gifts and Collectibles", but it should also cover any other click fraud claims that are outstanding. While Google normally requires any click fraud claims to be submitted within 60 days, the settlement with Lane's Gifts and Collectibles means that advertisers are eligible to receive compensation for click fraud committed between 2002 and today.

There are two main sources of click fraud: competitors who intentionally click on competing ads or publishers within Google's contextual ad network who click on ads to increase the revenue that they as publishers receive from Google.

Google insists that the company employs large teams of experts who identify, filter and discard any click fraud before it reaches advertisers' invoices. Compared to Google's total revenue from pay-per-click advertising, which was over $6 billion in 2005, $90 million in click fraud-related expenses does indeed look negligible.

Yahoo! Search Marketing and other PPC program providers also face the problem of click fraud within their pay-per-click programs. In the case of Yahoo! a few webmasters have reported to be pleasantly surprised when they received automated notifications from Yahoo! Search Marketing about click fraud refunds being granted without them having asked for those refunds. Yahoo!'s proactive approach in these cases definitely created significant goodwill in the search engine marketing community, which helps in maintaining the trust in paid search programs.

Tuesday, March 14

Local Search - Don't Miss the Boat!

Local Search is finally standing up to be counted. Once considered an uncertain "trend", the integration of the web into our everyday lives has meant that locally targeted search campaigns are not only viable, but for many firms, far more lucrative.

Borrell Associates have just released their "2006 Local Search Advertising" report, which predicts with some conviction that local advertisers are set to double their paid advertising spend this year, which will see it reach $987 million. What's more, 2007 should see it double yet again.

The report suggests that local search's "experimentation phase" is over. As with any trend, the market innovators test the water, and where sustainability prevails, the rest of the market follows. In this case, local search's main proponents in the early stages have been real estate and mortgage advertisers. With their goals to feature in prominent positions in the search results, geo-targeted paid search has been their core strategy.

For local search to be successful, it takes more than strong demand by advertisers, and the expectation by searchers for local listings is really what's driving the search trend. The report probed 400 ad experts for their predictions in local search, and over 60% believe that search engines will morph with online yellow pages models within the next two years. Say goodbye to your old print Yellow Pages as consumers are now relying on the web for these local business searches, and the trend is growing exponentially.

The Yellow Pages is not the only institution under threat. 50% of the panellists believe that local search engines will replace national search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN within five years, assuming dominant local search engines emerge. That's a big claim, and is probably the reason why the major search engines are investing so much time and money into local search technology.

So what does this mean for you - local search advertisers?

If you're already undertaking local targeting in your search marketing campaigns, then you're already a part of the leading group of companies that have realized the value of this strategy. Accordingly, continue with your efforts and ensure your website is ready for organic local targeting also. If you haven't started geo-targeting, now is the time to start investigating your options.

While most of the Borrell Associates' report discusses paid search advertising, which can offer instant qualified traffic, there are several steps firms can undertake to start local targeting within their optimization strategies. For tips on how to make your website "local" search friendly, review our previous post - DIY Tip: Targeting Local Customers.

Either way now is the time to review the returns of your traditional advertising in newspapers and local print yellow pages, and start embracing the local advertising of the future - Search Engine Marketing!

Where are Internet Users Researching Products?

A recent study sponsored by iProspect and conducted by Jupiter Research has revealed that the greater majority of Internet users are researching products on general search engines rather than shopping-specific search engines (such as Froogle or Yahoo! Shopping).

The iProspect Post-Holiday Online Shopping Study reported that 62 percent of Internet users utilized search engines, but only 26 percent used shopping search engines for shopping research during the 2005 holiday season, proving that shopping-specific search engines are not as popular with Internet shoppers.

1,731 respondents to the study were asked which of the following sites did they use to research products that they bought either online or offline during the 2005 holiday season. Results were as follows:

Merchant site (online store)	63%
Search engine (e.g. Google, Yahoo!)	62%
Manufacturer site	30%
Shopping search engine (e.g. Froogle)	26%
Other	14%

Source: iProspect Post-Holiday Online Shopping Study, February 2006

The results reinforce the importance of having your products and websites easily found in search results on general search engines - on both branded and non-branded searches.

Interestingly, the study also revealed that 47% of Internet users that researched products online proceeded to purchase those products offline.

What You Can Learn From An Online Parenting Community Site

There is a lot of excitement surrounding the latest Web 2.0 developments. Ren gave a good overview of how Web 2.0 differs from the "old Internet as we know it" earlier this month - essentially Web 2.0 describes a new phase of Internet activity centering on collaborative, community-focused, dynamic and interactive World Wide Web.

Minti - A Global Parenting Community

A good example of the Web 2.0 trend is Minti (http://www.minti.com), a global parent-to-parent ranked advice website community, launched last week under the direction of Clay Cook, the founder of ineedhits. Parents often have difficulty in finding helpful information about child rearing and parenthood. The founders of Minti recognized that some of the best advice tends to come from parents' groups, took this principle online and have created a community in which parents can share and rank advice about parenting questions.

"Families feel more isolated due to the demands of today's fast paced life-style," said Clay Cook, co-founder and CEO of Minti. "Parents want a comfortable, always available, global community where advice is easily shared and ranked. Minti is very focused on solving this requirement, making the world a smaller place for parents in need of support."

Combining the Best of Web 2.0

Members of Minti (membership is free) can contribute articles, comment on and rank other members' articles, tag articles for future reference, create and manage their own homepage and upload and publish photos. The reputation and standing of a member increases with his or her contribution to the site content, giving the member greater visibility and recognition within the community.

The Minti website uses the new AJAX technology to enable article tagging, and many of the site's other features have been inspired by Web 2.0 trailblazers such as Wikipedia, Flickr, del.icio.us, MySpace.com and VirtualTourist.com.

Lessons for Your Website

Even if the topic of parenting doesn't interest you in the least, you can draw some valuable lessons from http://www.minti.com for your own website:

Offer your visitors relevant and useful information.
Even if your primary goal is creating sales of products or services, high-quality, topical information will differentiate your site from others and attract pre-qualified visitors. For example, a banking website might offer a free tool to assess your financial health, or a travel website might offer information on recommended vaccinations.
Give people a reason to return to your website.
No matter how good you are at generating repeat purchases from existing customers, try and give your customers and other website visitors more reasons than just purchasing to come back to your website regularly. You can do this by regularly updating your news or information section, or by adding tools or gadgets that can be used over and over.
Increase your visitors' involvement and sense of belonging.
The most active Web 2.0 sites are hugely successful in instilling a great pride and sense of ownership in their community members. Just imagine if you could instill similar feelings in your customers from your brand! Creating interactivity and the feeling of "being heard" is critical.
Harness the power of word-of-mouth.
Word-of-mouth or viral marketing is highly effective and very cheap compared to other traffic or customer acquisition methods. Make sure you have the content that makes your visitors want to pass it on to their colleagues and friends, and make sure you have the technology allowing them to do so easily. The "forward to a friend" button in emails or "send this article to a friend" link are only the beginning.
Make your site easy to use.
Yes, it sounds basic, but many websites are still far from easy to use. Make sure your visitors can easily find what they are looking for (for example by adding a search box), and ensure that your site navigation is intuitive. A simple text based navigation structure also has SEO benefits.

Definitely check out http://www.minti.com - if not for the parenting advice, then to see what Web 2.0 can mean for you!

Monday, March 13

Search Engine Strategies NY 2006: Measure What's Happening on Your Website!

Measurement and accountability - is that the first thing that comes in mind when you hear search engine strategies?

As a matter of fact, the more sophisticated search engine marketing is getting, the more advanced the main themes of the industry's premier conference, the Search Engine Strategies conference and expo, are getting too. One of the main themes of the recent Search Engine Strategies conference in New York was the accountability and measurability of search engine marketing.

Submitting your site to search engines, making sure your URLs have been added to search engines and improving their ranking is only the very first step. Any pay-per-click campaign is only half-finished if you don't have the appropriate monitoring tools in place to see how your paid search campaign is performing. And not only that - with click fraud being a real possibility, you need to be able to identify any anomalies in your pay-per-click campaigns.

In order to justify any investment you make in search engine marketing, be it buying the services of a search engine optimization firm or spending money on buying clicks through your pay-per-click campaigns in Google and Yahoo!, you need to be able to measure the results of those online marketing projects. And if you are asking for more money to spend on search engine marketing, you will have to provide convincing analysis showing how the return-on-investment compares to other Internet advertising options.

It is no longer about simply getting any type of Internet traffic to your site, the focus is more and more on the quality of visitors that come to your website. Highly advanced targeting technologies enable you to communicate specifically with the target groups you want to address while keeping your advertising costs down. More advanced targeting needs to be matched by more advanced reporting and analysis. This sentiment was shared by AOL's Gerry Campbell: "The value of metrics is transforming other marketing disciplines, which are placing more emphasis on using data to target consumer intent and deliver relevant messages in all forms of advertising."

Do you still need to make the leap to better website and campaign measurement and accountability? If yes, there are some simple ways to get you started. For example, try the free 30 day trial of the website statistics and web analytics service Hitslink that includes search engine marketing reports, historical reporting, conversion tracking ability and much more. You'll find you get addicted to transparency and information at your fingertips!