Part I. Search Engine Marketing Optimization
Search engine marketing (SEM) is the process of using natural search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to increase the visibility of your website. To convert your newfound browsers into buyers and make the most of your advertising budget, SEM also includes conversion rate optimization (CRO). The chapters that follow will show you the best (and worst) practices for each of these topics, complete with case studies showing the techniques in action. First, let’s explore how people behave when using search engines.
Search Behavior
To best optimize your website, it is important to understand how users interact with search engines. As you’ll discover, searchers are selective in their viewing of search engine result pages (SERPs) and spend little time on each page browsing results.
SERP Viewing Statistics
Good search result placement is important because most searchers (92.5%) don’t explore beyond the third page of search results. [1] In fact, about three-fourths don’t look past the first page of results. [2], [3] About 90% of searchers view only the first or second page of results. Yes, even on the Web the three most important elements of success are location, location, location.
Click Patterns: Higher Is Better
Even within individual SERPs there are diminishing returns. During the initial search result view, higher SERP positions get measurably more attention, and consequently ...
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