Search engine report highlights importance of ranking
13 July 2004
The relative position, or ranking, of paid search keyword listings is of critical importance, a new report claims.
Research by advertising technology provider Atlas DMT found that there is a difference of about ten times in potential traffic between the first and tenth paid search position rankings.
The report also states that there is a greater difference in the fall in traffic between Google keywords than those on Yahoo. The amount of potential traffic drops more than 40 percent between the number one ranking on Google and the search engine's number two ranking, while the drop is more gradual on Yahoo's Overture.
"Just like any other marketing channel, success for search is about balancing cost and volume. Understanding those trade-offs is the focus of this research," Young-Bean Song, director of analytics at the Atlas Institute, said.
"Paying for the number one ranking may not be the best strategy for all advertisers," the analyst added. "For some marketers the cost of traffic associated with the top ranking may be too high. On the other hand, some marketers are forgoing the top spot, without really knowing how many customers they are losing to their competitors.
Atlas DMT conducted the survey in May and June 2004 on 55,913 Google keywords and 62,635 Overture keywords purchased by clients of Atlas Search. In addition to paid search, the principles of the study also apply to paid inclusion and natural search.
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