By David L. Smith, President/Media Director; Mediasmith, Inc.  smith@mediasmithinc.com

Editor's Note: A version of this piece first appeared in MediaPost's Online Spin on May 20, 2002. We generally have some lag time in between general publication and use for the Anvil, however, the overwhelming interest in this topic has resulted in our desire to put it in as many hands as possible this week.

One of the topics at the iMedia conference in New Mexico last week was "Search is hot, so what’s next." This author went to the panel hoping to find out what was next. An exciting array of future potential lies before us, including bringing searches of information from traditional catalogues to the Web, graphic searches, magazines (imagine being able to use the Web to find out what a broad variety of magazines say about a single current subject, all at one time), and a variety of other indexes.

With all of the buzz about search, and all of the future potential, I began to wonder why so many companies are underutilizing this vehicle. After all, search is something unique to the Web that seems to reach all people in some way, shape or form. But so many companies today buy Overture or Overture plus Google and call it a strategy.

It was only a few short years ago that Yahoo launched with its hierarchical categories and we thought we had everything we would ever need on our computer screens. But just like Bill Gates’ famous line that 64k of memory was all that we would ever need on our computers (ha!), our search needs grew and grew. First came Infoseek and Magellan, where we could actually put in a key word or phrase and get results related to that word or phrase. Later, Ask Jeeves came along with its question format. Today, Overture’s paid listings and Google seem to lead the pack. So much so that some companies believe that they need to do little else. These are simple and effective tactics that nobody knowledgeable would question. But they do not comprise a strategy. There is much more to be garnered from this arena, most of it incredibly efficient. And companies who understand Web marketing like Amazon and eBay use all of the tactics talked about below and more.

The first step you should take is to employ an SEO. Search engine optimization is really not about optimizing the search engines, but is about optimizing your site for the search engines and then getting the word out to them. Yes, you can answer an e-mail and "get listed on hundreds or thousands of search engines for only $300." This is simply a submission process that you could do for yourself and does not guarantee high listing, or with the newer technologies, any listing at all. But an SEO can do so much more as they understand how to customize the submission for each important engine. And believe us, there are more than just two. The SEO develops an understanding of the words and phrases that are key to your business and products. And then, they make recommendations to you to ensure that your site uses these words and phrases in a way that attracts traffic from the search engines, moving you up to that key first page for high value words that are requested often.

There is a new application that SEO’s are applying that has to do with sites that change often such as a retailer or auction site. Crawlers and Bots that search and index the Web for search engines cannot possibly give you good results for something that has just been posted and is only up for a short time like a promotional offer. Enter the XML data feeds of hundreds of links at a time, sold on a cpc basis resulting in integrated search inclusion into the index itself. Some of these URLs will be on pages 2-5 or above and still pay out for the company submitting as the serious searcher will not give up if the search does not result in a good hit in the top 5 or 10 listings.

Overture and Google are great for the quick search, and may even get the results that you want.

But there are many different tools available today comprising the overall strategy that your agency should be using (including the SEO outlined above):

• Keyword banner buys - This is the oldest search engine purchase on the Web. There are many portals and search engines where you can buy a context sensitive banner that will pop-up while a search is going on when one of your key words is entered. Sure, we used to do this in 1996 but it still works and pays out.
  
• Larger ad units that have functionality built in (i.e., multiple links/search). Go to Ask Jeeves and check out the Expedia box that comes up with a travel query for an example of this.
• Paid listings are popular now and include:
  • CPC to highest bidder for keywords by companies like Overture
    
  • data feeds of hundreds of links at a time on a CPC basis resulting in integrated search inclusion into the index itself as mentioned above
  • flat fee purchase of words, also called permanent links (e.g., LookSmart, Ask Jeeves)
  • pop-under units that are context sensitive (I have used this term above before. It does you no good to run a pop-under that is general, but if you have one for Orbitz or Cheap Tickets when someone has been searching a travel site or keyword, it has a much better chance of paying out)
• And many other examples.

According to Chris Marrow of Alta Vista:

"This expanded effort to provide marketers with the right tools to reach their customers aligns itself with the following logic:

• people search in different ways - marketing can now be executed at every stage of a customers search experience
• people use search engines to search - and then leave to seek the content they have found. Marketing on search engines adheres to this principal."

David L. Smith is President of Mediasmith, Inc., the Integrated Solutions Media Agency based in San Francisco. He can be reached at smith@mediasmithinc.com.

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