I enjoyed speaking in Chicago on Friday at the final American Marketing Association Hot Topics seminar on Search Marketing. I’ve spoken at two previous versions of this event, but had never been at the morning sessions—this time I was able to hear the talks from Stephan Spencer and Alan Rimm-Kaufman, which were very interesting.
I especially liked Alan’s analogy that branded paid search keywords (such as “Land’s End Men’s Oxfords”) are like white pages listings, while non-branded searches (such as “Men’s Oxfords”) are similar to yellow pages listings. Your search campaign needs to address both “white pages” and “yellow pages” opportunities, and they should separate them when analyzing success. You should naturally expect higher conversions from white pages queries—those customers are far more “sold” on your company.
Stephan (as usual) had a wealth of tools he demonstrated, but also added inside information that I didn’t know (that I think people expect me to know as an expert). One tidbit is that Yahoo! Site Explorer requires that you be logged in to provide the most accurate information. Stephan explained that you get different (less accurate) results if you use the site anonymously. I’ve never used the site without being logged in, so I had never noticed that—it’s a great insight for search marketers and I jotted it down.
If you’re interested in getting my charts, you can download Search by the Numbers. Thanks to Stephan and the AMA for inviting me to contribute to the series. If you keep hanging around experts, you’ll always find more to learn.
