Search OverviewMarch 26, 2012

Search Introduction

• Google, Bing, Yahoo are the three main players in search

• In 2010, Yahoo & Bing agreed to join up; Bing providing the results, Yahoo still controlling how they are ranked

• Hint: It’s easy to estimate a person’s age by what/how they search.

• For the most part we still consider them three separate competitors

• Google >65%• Bing 15%• Yahoo <15%

Ranking the Results

• Google has thousands of computers all linked up that send out “spiders” that crawl the internet for new information and websites

• When it finds new information it reads the site, stores (indexes), the content, formatting, links and moves on.

Still Ranking…

• Someone searches for “marketing agency in High Point”

• Google then uses multiple algorithms to combine pieces of indexed information on each page and to help rank the results

• PageRank, common keywords, page titles, where links are coming from, where links are going, anchor text, etc.

Relevancy

• Once it does this for the original site, it compares it to all the other sites its found and ranks them based on how relevant your search term was to the website.

• Because it has so much information, the search doesn’t have to be exact and Google will consistently return quality results.

• Google ranks by what’s the authority.

Frequency

• The more popular and relevant (authority) a site is, the more often Google will be indexing it for updated results. News sites, YouTube, etc.

• Just a few years ago it would take months to have your site updated, now it can be just a few days.

Modifications

• From time to time, Google will update their algorithms to weed out people who try and cheat the system.

• Keyword stuffing, paid links, etc

More Modifications

• This can cause changes to how sites are ranked for certain keywords, but it is always for quality and relevancy in results.

• Latest update is called Panda and is focused on the low quality “info” sites just trying to pass along links and SEO

Advertising/Optimizing

• Two main ways to have Google work for you

• Search Engine Optimization or SEO• Pay Per Click or PPC

Search Engine Optmization

• SEO means you’re literally optimizing websites for search engines.

• Taking the bits of information Google uses to rank site and working in the best keywords, best links, appropriate content.

• Also called “organic” search because you can’t pay Google to rank your site. It has to take a natural progression up the results page.

Pay Per Click

• PPC or SEM (Search Engine Marketing)• You can pay to have your ad available instantly

rather than having to “earn” it with SEO.• Google makes it clear you’re looking at an ad

with the “Sponsored Links” and dividing line.• Two flavors: Display (banner) and text ads• Rich ads, video ads, etc. for later.