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DIGITAL WORLD in association with
‘
The future of search is that if you’re not
in the top three, you’ll never be found’
was ‘cheap carpets’, Grehan declares. “The CEO hit the roof!” Grehan believes search engine marketing is still in its infancy,
Grehan calls this effect “the language of the customer”. It’s the but as more brands start to pick up on the techniques, it’s going
basis of the KDM concept, which turns marketing on its head: to get tougher for messages to cut through. “As more people get
instead of the words brands associate with themselves, the most involved, the cost of keywords is being forced upwards, so you
important phrases for search engine marketing are the ones cus- need to know tips and tricks about linking. I wouldn’t be writing
tomers use and understand. Grehan advises marketers to check another book if I thought everyone knew about this stuff,”
out blogs and sites where people gather and talk, to see what he jokes.
buzzwords are the currency. “Once advertisers start to think
about the language of the customer, all of a sudden keywords
Thinking big
take on an extra significance,” he says. The language will also He’s just as quick to dispel the notion that search marketing is a
change depending on the customer’s intent, and search engines niche activity. There are significant changes happening in the
have become very sophisticated at picking up on this. Yahoo!, field, with potentially enormous implications for brands. “Search
for example, is able to show advertisers which searches are just is changing quite dramatically. Google launched universal
about seeking information and which are transactional — that is, search; it understands more about the end user and where
likely to lead to a sale. people click, whether it be Blogger or Facebook. They know
Keywords are the invisible tentacles that draw people to web- the most popular videos and blogs. On the left-hand side, you
sites through search engines. As the market has matured, used to get 10 blue links. Now in the results you’ll see a
search has divided into two camps: paid and organic — the video, a blog, news results and images.”
right- and left-hand side of the page. The former involves bidding Google is tying video results into paid search as well as org-
on particular terms or phrases, knowing that a search with that anic listings, he points out. All this means smart brands can har-
combination of words will throw back a link to your website. ness existing above-the-line investment in TV ads and transfer
According to Grehan, it is especially effective for campaigns this online, Grehan contends. “Look at the Dove Campaign for
where timing is a factor, such as an end-of-year sale. “With paid Real Beauty — it is a commercial organisation and yet it owns
search, you could bid on cheap carpets but bring people the entire left-hand side of the page.”
through to a beautiful site. You have to put it somewhere in the This brings the discussion neatly around to a point that’s
front end. If your competitors start to do something at a tactical almost as old as the web itself — the need for a site to have
level then you need to do paid search,” he says. compelling content. Keywords are vital to bring consumers to a
Organic search requires a slew of clever techniques such as site, but if they’re not engaged, they won’t stay there. “Search
keywords and linking to other sites and blogs to ensure a site engines give you a quality score. If your keyword use is
scores highly in search rankings. It’s potentially more rewarding, good but your page isn’t, soon you’ll start to get dumped,”
but the problem is search engine trends have shown consumers Grehan says, adding that marketers need to ensure their sites
are spending less and less time trawling through search pages; have a call to action. “When driving traffic to your site, what are
if it doesn’t appear first time, it may not be found at all. “Organic people doing when they get to your page? There needs to be
search return on investment is higher because effectively it’s engagement — a transaction. It doesn’t have to be purchasing;
free,” Grehan says. “Search engine optimisation is the nuts and it may be downloading something or signing up for a
bolts — making sure Google can put you in its index. The hard newsletter.
part, once you’re in the index, is to get into the top 10. The rea- “You can do all of the best-practice moves but you have to
son? The future of search is that if you’re not in the top three, have good content that people will want to engage with. If peo-
you’ll never be found. Two years ago you could be in the top 40; ple hit the back button on their browser, Google takes note of
last year it was the top 10.” that. It’s a cliché but it’s a fact: content is still king.”
30 Marketing Age May/June ‘08
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