This is my first post to the Metamend blog. Being first is a big thing in the search marketing industry, as it should be in any industry. One of the reasons I choose to come on board with Metamend is the seriousness with which the management and staff take the search marketing industry, their clients, and the greater Internet environment it exists in. I’ve known CEO Richard Zwicky for several years and in that time, watched Metamend grow into one Canada’s largest SEO firms.
Metamend has an interesting roster of clients, several of which are well branded household names. One of the reasons the company has been so successful over the years is their collection of data and amazing use of statistical analysis.
Combining access to such a wide range of search stats with use of Enquisite’s extraordinarily powerful website/traffic analysis software, a wealth of information about common search user habits is bound to be available.
This is a particularly interesting time to get involved with an already large SEO firm. Search, as a function, is part of virtually every online or desktop driven information tool. As search tools become ubiquitous to the online user experience, they become indispensable marketing tools to businesses. In my career, I have worked on a number of large sites but have never had the ability to mix and match data derived from several accounts at the same time.
Anyone remember Bill Cosby’s introduction to Fat Albert cartoons back in the 70’s and early 80’s? Cosby always said we (the viewers) were going to have fun and that we might just learn something along the way. That’s how I feel today. Up until now, much of my analysis has come from my less than scientific observations working as a professional SEO. Working with Metamend means confidential access to what is arguably the most comprehensive and representative compilation of search-data in the search marketing industry.
I have a theory about business advertising habits I am interested in pursuing. While the search marketing industry has been booming for the past four years, much of that energy has focused on paid search advertising. In the past eight to twelve months however, there has been a sudden up-tick of interest in organic SEO. For me, entering a new analytic/communications position with a highly established SEO firm, the apparent up tick in corporate interest in SEO is going to be measured in stats.
I believe organic search engine optimization is sexy in mainstream marketing circles again however, I think the forms of SEO technique and traditional venues on which they are applied are changing rapidly. For now though, I am interested in seeing if my observation is correct and testing my ideas on why energy is moving back towards organic placement.
As near as I can figure it, an increased interest in SEO comes from at least two places, the first being increased experience and education among advertisers.
Search is not new to mainstream advertisers. Businesses large and small have participated in paid-search advertising programs for years; witness the enormous success of PPC revenue models at Google and Yahoo.
Paid-search advertising tended to be the option of choice for corporate clients entering the search marketing arena for much of the past four years, mainly because PPC offers a measure of certainty organic search marketing, by its nature, cannot. It is far easier to understand and explain to others than organic SEO. PPC also allows for clearer long-term financial projections.
Due in part to their involvement with PPC search marketing, many corporate clients have learned about the value of being in the Top10 of the free-organic listings. Ironically, some learn the hard way by seeing competitors appear under relevant keywords and sometimes, under their own corporate name.
A long-standing complaint of the SEO industry was that few Fortune500 companies had well-optimized websites. In some cases, brand-name companies weren’t even found in general results under their own name. At this point, it would be easy to suggest that many SEOs simply wanted to get their fingers into some Fortune 500 pies but the complaint was (and in some cases, is) legitimate. If anyone wanted to advance SEO as an acceptable mainstream advertising channel, having the biggest corporations in the world buy into the concept was an important step.
The second reason organic search results are clearly on the radar screens of mainstream advertising agencies, is the proven cost-effectiveness of organic search marketing. When compared side by side, a successful organic search marketing campaign is always far less expensive to run and maintain than a successful PPC campaign. Indeed, by its nature, the more successful a PPC campaign is, the higher the click-through costs are.
At the recent SES conference in San Jose, I was impressed by the number of businesses interested in incorporating SEO into their overall online advertising efforts. The idea that experience and education were the two leading factors driving corporate business towards SEO came out of a dinner discussion with colleagues at the conference.
I suspect the stats and data Metamend and Enquisite generate will prove my general point, that organic search is about to make a second breakthrough in mainstream marketing circles. Hopefully the same stats will also give an indication if the causes cited in that dinner conversation in San Jose prove true or not. Whatever the outcome, I think I am about to be Metamized by data and that is strangely exciting.
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