Beyond SEO: Online Advertising and Google in 2009

As we knock on the door to 2009 it’s time to accept that the internet is now a fully-fledged commercial channel that is (or should be) at the heart of any business’ marketing strategy. It’s also time to face up to the fact that we’re all under the auspices of Google. And, crucially, it’s time for a reality check: Google are in it for money. So what does that mean for your online marketing spend?

Google has changed. The whole “hello trees, gosh, we’re just doing our best to make the world a better place” schtick is a pretty tattered figleaf when you’re richer than Croesus and making billions every month. Google are a commercial juggernaut with an enormous vested interest in the direction the internet is taking. They’re also calling the shots in any number of ways and – critically – forcing people into a game in which they are the ultimate winners.

2008 was the year of the step-change. The once-familiar results page of 10, text-only results vanished under a welter of Google-sponsored innovations of mixed worth to the user but incredible worth to Google.

Type in “shoes” and what do you get? Top result – a YouTube video. Then a couple of ‘normal’ results. Then a flurry of newspaper headlines. Then Google Shopping results. Then some more ‘normal’ results. Click the shopping results, the news results or the YouTube results and hey presto! More opportunities for Google to put advertising under your nose.

But even in the normal, traditional results – who buys their shoes at Amazon? Are Amazon known for their shoe retailing? No – but they do spend enormous sums with Google each year, and generate revenue for Google through AdSense (is there a little tickle in the ranking for Amazon as an unofficial kickback?) and Google’s algorthim is heavily weighted towards enormous sites like Amazon.

This instance isn’t even as bad as I imagined it might be – I’m quietly stunned not to see Wikipedia in there and a couple of Google Books results. Still we’re looking at 11 PPC results, 1 YouTube video, 4 Google shopping results, 4 Google News results and just 9 traditional organic results. That’s organic SEO 9, Google 20.

Still not enough randomness to decipher? Factor in the following:

• Local results – Google maps that show a seemingly random selection of people who offer a similar service in your locale
• Personalised local results – Google now offer the chance to enter a postcode for certain searches and save it as part of future results in the same market.
• Searchwiki results – always want to see your site come top of the rankings for a keyword? Get a Google account and create your own customised rankings.
• Results based on your search history - Google results that develop according to searches you made in the past and what results you clicked

Given this landscape, any company claiming to be able guarantee first page rankings through SEO is talking moonshine. Google are making the game too complex, too rapidly changing, too tilted towards properties they own and can monetise. If they decide to punish you for Whatever Reason, they can cut your sales off at the knees and there is no court of appeal.

The companies who will prosper in this environment will have to be very savvy about the way in which they approach Google, and protect their revenue streams from the capricious decisions that Google can make.

So what are your options?

• Consider PPC. If you’ve got a marketing budget that stretches to a couple of grand, you may as well buy a few thousand visitors to your site through AdWords than spend it speculatively on SEO. Google’s advertising model remains genius in its concept and execution and a well managed campaign should be a profitable one. For truly limited budgets, the same money will go a lot further on Yahoo and MSN.
• Look beyond search as a medium and explore other marketing avenues. Social media sites have audiences that rival Google and a shedload more demographics to work with than just a keyword.
• If you’re in a niche, there are hundreds of specialist websites where you can buy editorial space, display advertising and place PR stories.
• Then there’s the influencers – the key people in your market who are a trusted source of information for the early adopters and keen researchers. Forums, industry bodies and bloggers can have a engaged audience begging for your product. Can they be bought? Sure – just have a convincing case, a great product and maybe some cash to grease the wheels.
• Review sites are a first-shop shopping destination for many generic goods and an opportunity to get positive notes in front of people.
• Shopping directories are great if you compete keenly on price or can offer loss-leaders to get brand buy-in.
• Voucher sites and money-saving forums can get you in front of hundreds of thousands of people with a great offer, big discount code or free giveaways.
• Viral content such as games, insightful content or a hilarious video skit will gain attention, links from forums and stick in people’s heads long after Google’s results pages are a distant memory.
• Email marketing can put you in front of existing customers to remind them that next time they’re buying they don’t have to search on Google but can come direct to you.
• SEO should remain in your marketing mix. While results are ever-harder to get and the methods to get there grow more abstruse, a good Google ranking for a keyphrase is commercial gold dust and recurring source of traffic and business.

Today’s Moral

If all you have is a limited budget then throwing it all at something like SEO is a luxury you can’t afford – buy traffic, measure the results and decide whether the game is worth the candle. If you’ve got bigger budgets and wider horizons, there’s a world of opportunity out there. If you only rely on Google you could be missing a trick.