Survival of the fittest can easily be applied to the search engine industry.
Just a few years ago, Yahoo! was sitting pretty at the top and seemed unstoppable in all its crimson glory.
Enter: Google, stage left.
Thanks in large part to its ability to adapt the colorful underdog overtook Yahoo! to become the new search engine Goliath.
However, there has been much speculation that Google’s days at the top are numbered. Yahoo! is preparing for its reentrance onto the search engine stage and with Microsoft also readying itself for battle, the industry is seeing the first serious competition in years.
Search engine marketing specialist Agence Virtualle, which specializes in Cost-Per-Click (CPC) search marketing campaigns, predicts the search engine industry will undergo a dramatic change in the next 18 months, which will greatly affect the ever-changing world of online advertising.
“Google has enjoyed incredible success in the past three years and has in many ways powered the growth of Cost-Per-Click search marketing campaigns,” said Agence Virtuelle CEO Stephane Perino. “However, in 2004 we are set to see both MSN and Yahoo launch new search technologies of their own.”
Perino predicts increased search engine marketing spending in 2004. With new search technologies currently emerging, Google is going to have to put up a fight and be ready to adapt to keep up with its competitors.
During today’s Search Engine Strategies Conference in New York City, Jupiter Research Associate Analyst Nate Elliot said that the influence of bigger players in the paid advertising field has increased the amount of money companies will be spending on search engine marketing and a massive increase in the number of keywords on which companies are bidding.
Last year, companies typically placed bids on one to ten keywords. This year, that number has grown to 1,000 keywords. This is breaking news for search engine marketing; however, this also means that companies are going to have to start closely and effectively measuring their goals.
Elliot advises business owners, “Better measurement is required for educated bidding.”
With all these exciting new changes “leading advertisers are going to avoid putting all their eggs in one basket,” Perino said, “and start running search campaigns across a number of search engines and portals rather than those just powered by Google.”
Several e-Business professionals and experts at the popular online forum WebProWorld have offered similar advice.
Visit WebProWorld for full coverage of the Search Engine Strategies conference and all the latest e-Business news
Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
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