Chapter 3. How Search Marketing Works

Now that you know how search engines work, it’s time to learn how to work them. How do you get your site prominently shown? What are your options? What does it all cost? How fast can it start working? In this chapter, we show you what is on the search menu and help you decide what to order. This chapter covers the following topics:

• Organic search. Search engines find the most relevant match for the searcher’s query. You, the search marketer, optimize your pages, wait for the spiders to come (or pay to send your content), and see your pages in the organic listings. Google is the best-known organic search engine, but many local and shopping search engines also provide results based on query relevance.

• Directory listings. A directory lists the Web sites it deems most closely related to a subject in its subject category list. You submit your site to human editors to be shown under the right subject category. Yahoo! Directory is the oldest and best-known directory, with Open Directory the main challenger.

• Paid placement. Search engines show listings from advertisers paying for their spot in the results. You bid against others to place your listing or advertisement at the top of the results. Yahoo! Sponsored Search and Google AdWords are the two most popular programs. Most search engines shows paid placement listings as “Sponsor Listings.”