Top Rank Disappointment

[JoJo]

Originally Posted by m3lt

If I am looking to buy something, I click on the paid advertisements, sites that are willing to pay for visitors ppc like that obviously have the money to do so, and I am more likely to find a reputable site than non-paid entries.

possibly but then again with so many 'freebies' being given away for example with new domains be aware that its possible to get caught out

I think titles/descriptions play a bigger part in getting a click than some people perhaps think -

ok perhaps to seo everything but at the end of the day what you are after is visitors - not searchers who are unimpressed with their first glance that they bound over to the next set of results or refine their search term

[JoJo]

Originally Posted by JohnScott

I think paid listings often carries more weight that organic SE rankings. If somebody is paying for the traffic, I think they will be more considerate and value my business more. Just seems natural. And you know the business is active if they are doing PPC.

I'm not wholly convinced - I think its dependant on what the search is for/purpose of search, perhaps which engine/directory is being searched and what the sites are like that belong to our 'competitors'.

Point to note too - it gets dead boring seeing the same ppc titles/ads variance can mean a lot

Do you know we try and offer good customer service but for the life of me I can only think of one supplier who I think has consideration and value for my business - the rest aren't interested in the finished product and just want to wrap their greedy hands around me dosh

[The Founder]

Originally Posted by JohnScott

Anybody ever get disappointed with top ranking traffic?

A friend has a website in the top of the SERPs for a very very competitve keyword. With Overture reporting 150,000+ searches per month for it, you'd think a top position would drive traffic.

But what I've found is, it never does drive anywhere near as many referrals as Overture would suggest. In his case, it only delivers 50 referrals a day.

What I've found is, paid placement always gets better click throughs than organic SERPs.

And just because they search for something doesn't mean they are going to click through on any SERP, especially on the ultra conpetitive terms which are so broad as to be less meaningful.

Let's say, somebody searches for computers.

That's a very, very competitive search term, almost impossible to rank for, considering the competition.

But it's also a horrible search term. Is he wanting to buy a computer? Does he want to learn about computers? Does he want to know how to fix a computer? Does he want to see reviews of computers?

And what kind of computer are we talking about? Laptop, desktop? And what brand?

It's such a broad term, that it is next to useless as a search term to target.

My guess is, over half the people who search for "computer" will not click through. If they do, they will not buy. It's not a keyword that buyers use. A buyer would search for "laptop" or "notebook", or more likely he would search for "Dell notebook".

When I bought my notebooks, I didn't even search for "Toshiba notebooks". I searched for "Toshiba Satellite". That is a buyer's search term. "Computer" isn't.

Long story short, I suspect that most people who use these ultra competitive search terms in the first place end up refining their search terms, without clicking through. Thus, Top Ranking Disappointment for the webmaster/SEO.

That is because those numbers are super inflated with people using webposition and other unauthorized products.

do a search for 'mesothelioma' and tell me if you really think that 332267 people A MONTH search for a rare cancer that infects only 2000 people per YEAR.

If that number was accurate it would mean that

332267*12= 3,987,204 are searching for this cancer per year out of only 2000 infections per year.

That breaks down to 2000 searches per actual issue.

4 million searches for 2000 cases?

No wonder the search engines say that using programs like that violate the terms of service.

[bobking]

>Not worth my time optimising the site for keywords that aren't bringing in visitors.<

The trick is to wrap your mind around this concept.

Keywords DO NOT bring in visitors. ADS bring in visitors.

The entire SEO, (whatever that is), industry has long labored under the misconception that keyword placement is the Holy Grail and that the purpose of the title tag was to help get those placements. This thread clearly illustrates the drawback to falling victim to that misconception. Being #1 does not a rich man make. Profits can make rich and sales can create profits but any way you lookk at it, keyword placement is an expense. Expenses reduce profits.

So, if you can wrap your mind around the concept, you can see that your title tag, (and anything else you can control in a search engine lising), is an ad and that the real value to any placement is to place your ad where you think your prospects would be looking.

That said, there may be times when placement IS the objective above sales. Some keywords are so dominated by one crappy listing after another that perhaps your best shot at selling some toilet paper is to try to look like the prettiest turd in the bowl.

[pdstein]

Originally Posted by JohnScott

I think paid listings often carries more weight that organic SE rankings. If somebody is paying for the traffic, I think they will be more considerate and value my business more. Just seems natural. And you know the business is active if they are doing PPC.

I suppose that's one way to look at it. But on the other hand, lots of fly-by-night start-ups try to make it big by playing the adWords/affilaite/drop-shipping game and then go out of business. When I see a company at the top of the organic rankings I've got a pretty good idea that they've been around for a while and they've got a lot of other recommending them with links.

And FWIW, I'm not sure that getting 15,000 visitors from a keyword that supposedly gets 150,000 searches in a month is aweful. I've never seen anyone publish a study on average click-through-rate by SERP, though.

[John Scott]

Welcome to v7n, pdstein

[Darmstro]

My perspective is largely as an outsider, new to SEM. But an avid Internet user. I think there's logic to the notion that people who PPC should be more reputable and drive a higher CTR, BUT... (and this is from personal experience and random samplings of people I know), I think that much of the general world doesn't understand this is how the Internet marketplace works. I certainly didn't.

The perspective of the "trustworthiness" of sponsored links, I believe, stems at least in part from the fact that those of us here are in the industry. But the general public is still largely underinformed about these kinds of issues...

[JoJo]

I have flu and am feeling, forgive me, totally SHITE!!

PPC/sponsored listings - particularly I'm thinking adwords & the like, does not indicate that a business will be more considerate towards either you or your business...perhaps more that they have been given a few free quid with which to try and obtain your 'business'. PPc is 'cost effective'..........a good way of aquiring an 'advertising expense'

I'm not in favour of the way this thread could perhaps belittle the guy within the organic listings who perhaps either doesn't have the funds or perhaps chooses not to enter the ppc circus....he could perhaps care more and offer better savings!

[sixty6]

Hey John, I still think 50 referrals are pretty nice, but what kind of referrals are you talking about? Care to ellaborate?

[Dustin07]

Well, since John linked to the thread, I'm bumping.

Keywords DO NOT bring in visitors. ADS bring in visitors.

How about a well rounded marketing campaign that covers both. Plenty of people make good money using only one or the other. Why not both?


Is it possible, that........

50,000 searches per month for "computer"
25,000 searches per month for "computer software"
20,000 searches per month for "cheap computer"
15,000 searches per month for "laptop computer"
8,000 searches per month for "computer game"

would be the equivalent to 118,000 searches per month in overtures terms?

[caffeine_kitty]

ive experienced this recently, John

[vistadivine.com]

Well it might be so because his Title might be not that much attractive to get any clicks.

Akash