| [April 29, 2004] |
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Search Engine Marketing Firm iProspect Survey Confirms Importance of Both Natural Search Engine Optimization and Paid Search Advertising to Reach Entire Internet Search Audience
WATERTOWN, Mass. --(Business Wire)-- April 29, 2004 -- 60.5% of Internet Users Identified Natural Search Results as Most Relevant to Their Query - 39.5% Selected Paid Search Advertisements
iProspect(R), the Original(R) Search Engine Marketing Firm (http://www.iprospect.com), today announced more results from its recent Search Engine User Attitudes Survey that indicate the majority of search engine users find natural search results to be most relevant to their queries. Yet, despite users' natural search preference, the majority of online marketers focus more of their resources on paid search advertising such as Overture and Google AdWords.
Across the top four search engines, which hold over 90 percent of the market share; Google, Yahoo!, MSN and AOL; more than 60 percent of users chose a natural search result over a paid search advertisement as most relevant to a sample query.
"This illustrates that even though online marketers focus the majority of their energy and budget on paid search advertising, natural search results are at least equally if not more important to reaching their entire searching audience," said Fredrick Marckini, CEO of iProspect. "Marketers who are not investing in natural search engine optimization and paid inclusion programs such as Yahoo!'s Site Match Xchange program are missing a large percentage of potential traffic. However, the same is true for the reverse; marketers who are only investing in natural optimization and paid inclusion miss nearly 40 percent of search engine users. The clear finding here is that smart marketers must invest in both," Marckini added.
Search engine marketing firms that offer both natural search engine optimization and management of paid search advertising campaigns can ensure their clients Web pages are consistently found prominently in both types of results in all major search engines, which will lead to the most significant return on investment.
"These findings may suggest that paid inclusion programs will contribute to a larger portion of a search engine's revenues than they do today" said iProspect President, Robert Murray. "And with the Google IPO imminent, it remains to be seen if Google's historic stance to not offer paid inclusion programs changes, due to pressures from the marketplace," Murray added.
During the survey, respondents were first asked if they use one search engine more than any other. Those who answered "yes" were asked which search engine they use most often. Those answering Google, Yahoo!, MSN or AOL were provided with a sample search result screen from their preferred search engine, displaying the results of a search for "used cars" and were asked to click on the result, on that page, which they found to be most relevant had they been in the market for a used car.
According to iProspect Director of Business Analytics, Dr. Naga Krothapalli, "this methodology ensured that these users were allowed to select a search result from the search engine with which they were most familiar. It ensured the greatest degree of accuracy by guaranteeing that a Yahoo! user was not asked to select a search result from AOL search results or a Google user was not asked to select a search result from an MSN search. In theory, each searcher who indicated a 'preferred' search engine, would be familiar with the layout of the search results from their engine of choice."
About the Survey
The iProspect Search Engine User Attitudes Survey was developed through a partnership between iProspect, WebSurveyor, Strategem Research, and Survey Sampling International (SSI). Completed in March 2004, there were 1,649 survey respondents. Data was collected using WebSurveyor's online tool, and analyzed by both iProspect's research department and Strategem Research. Proper attribution requires that the survey is clearly identified as The iProspect Search Engine User Attitudes Survey." Copies of the survey results can be obtained by contacting Deborah Hickey at dhickey@iprospect.com.
About iProspect
iProspect(R) is The Original(R) Search Engine Marketing Firm. The company helps many of the world's most successful brands maximize their online marketing ROI through natural search engine optimization, paid inclusion management, pay per click management, Web analytics and website conversion enhancement(SM). iProspect has published three books on search engine positioning, including Achieving Top-10 Rankings in Internet Search Engines, and most recently, Search Engine Positioning. Distinguished as a 2003 Inc. 500 and Deloitte & Touche Fast 500 fastest growing company in America, iProspect is located in Watertown, Massachusetts and can be reached at 1 800-522-1152, or by visiting http://www.iprospect.com.
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