Episode #28 – Search, then and Now? How Search Has Changed

Chaos Makes Sense | Affiliate Marketing / Affiliate Programs / Internet / Social Media Marketing – Matt Frary

Are you looking to drive more traffic to your site from search engines? Do you want to know why it is important to consider Google’s Guidelines? 80% of your website traffic could originate from search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. With the right search engine strategy, you can drive significant amounts of traffic to your site and improve your business’ fortunes.

If you are looking for those secrets on how to get the most out of your affiliate links then invest 20 minutes to listen to this edition of Chaos Makes Sense where your host Kimberly Henrie interviews Jim Hedger, Radio Personality at WebmasterRadio and founding partner at Digital Always Media, a full service search and social marketing firm based in Toronto. In this episode they will be talking about how search marketing has changed since it started.

This is a must listen to podcast for anyone who is looking to attract a audience to their website through search engines.

Jim’s Background

Matt begins the episode by stating that he and Jim haven’t met up since 2006. Jim is a huge personality on WebmasterRadio having previously hosted The Alternative for two years and webcology for the past eight years.

Jim began his career in search around 1999. He had been involved with the internet since 1993 and knew how to build a website. However, Jim was first trained to be a counsellor and he work on youth camp sites.

He moved careers when he saw a job advert asking for people who knew how to build a website. The job was to work with Ross Dunn, one of the first search engine optimising experts. Jim was able to secure the role where he learnt a lot about SEO and how to be good in business.

Current Market

When Jim began his search marketing career, Google wasn’t a major search engines and was still on a ‘dorm server’. The major search engines were Yahoo and Infoseek. Since then Google has become the number one search engine and handles about 75-80% of the search traffic.

Infoseek was bought by Disney, but is no longer operations.

Jim and Matt aren’t sure what Yahoo wants to be. It is probably one of the largest, if not the largest, content networks on the internet. However, it also has some characteristics of a search engine.

Currently, the second largest search engine is Bing, which is more popular in Canada than in the United States.

Google: The Game Changer

During the podcast Matt and Jim talk about how Google changed the game when it comes to search engine marketing. Before Google, the industry was focused on keywords only. A searcher’s terms during a request would be matched on a database of websites. Those sites that contained the requested keywords would be displayed. Google changed this by introducing other factors to the calculations such as links.

During the show, Jim and Matt will answer the following questions:

• What happened to the search engine industry when Google copied Yahoo’s Overature?
• Why the benefits of paid search are easier for advertisers to understand than the benefits of search engine optimisation?
• Why has Google had to create rules and norms?
• Should your business be using black hat or white hat SEO techniques?
• What is the best strategy for pay-per-click campaigns?
• What information is being stored by Google, Facebook, etc?

Are Your Looking For SEO Tips?

Are you looking for an understanding how SEO can support your business? Do you want to know more about paid search? Then join Matt Frary and his guest Jim Hedger in this edition of Chaos Makes Sense. After listening, come back here and give us your thoughts on the podcast.

Pay low for the click, sell that user to as high a possible.

The cost per click is getting high – more labour per click. Once or twice a day checking is not now any more. It now has to be constant monitoring.

Black hat or white hat? – companies look at their strategy (either organic search and paid search). You have to make a fundamental choice as a merchant are you going to work with Google or against Google?

My opinion – clients should have white hat, concerned about long term reputation. Cannot take a risk. When working in the affiliate websites, high risk, high reward. Playing Google. If you are working with clients – explain the environment they are and what might happen if they step out of Google’s guidelines. If you are working for yourself, and you are doing a churn and burn campaign. 80% of traffic is coming through from Google.

Two ways of looking at Google. SEO practice – straight down the line, play it safe.

But don’t owe Google anything. They are promoting their platform and earning loads of money.

Google is storing lots of information about you. Facebook is doing it.

Are You Looking To Enter the International Affiliate Market?

Are you looking to expand the reach of your affiliate network? Do you want to earn sales in foreign markets? Then listen to Matt and Jim in this episode of Chaos Makes Sense and come back and let us know your thoughts!

SmarterChaos manages multi-channel ad campaigns and handles all aspects of performance marketing relationships to drive your sales. Contact them to learn how you can get the best possible ROI for your affiliate marketing budget.

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