Posted by admin in Research shows 89% of all clicks go to websites appearing on the first page of search engine results, and up to 99% of searchers never go past the third page. As you can imagine, it is highly important for real estate websites or small business website to be within the first two pages of results.
Your two major options for appearing there are: pay-per-click advertising and natural search placement. Local search maps and listings are another option, but we will cover this topic in another post.
What is Pay-Per-Click Advertising?
When you perform a search on any one of the major search engines – Google, Yahoo!, or Bing.com, you may notice the first three-to-four listings are highlighted in yellow or light blue. These small, newspaper classifieds-style ads are labeled “Sponsored Sites, Links, or Results” is pay-per-click advertising.
Advertisers, website owners, and marketers bid auction-style on keyword phrases and combination in order for his or her ads to be above or alongside the natural search engine results in order to receive targeted traffic to his or her website. The advertisers pay on a per click basis, as the name implies, to be on top, each competing based on how much he/she is willing to pay, as well as other quality factors.
Advertisers do not get charged when the ad is seen during a search, which is considered an impression, but do get charged after a searcher clicks on the ad. The major search engine ad networks in which anyone can advertise are: Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and MSN adCenter.
What are Organic Natural Results?
The organic, or natural, listings appearing in the middle of a search engine results page
(SERP) show what the search engine surmises to be the most relevant results based on the
users’ keyword query. The order or position in which these results are displayed are not
based on how much an advertiser is willing to pay, but instead an unique algorithm which
may include 100s of variables.
You can not pay to be in the organic listings and paying to have sponsored listings over time does not increase the likelihood your site will appear higher in the natural search. Example, if you type in Google Real Estate Websites without quotes, you can see that TheMarketinShop.com ranks between #3 and #8 out of 100 million other websites competing for placement.
Organic Placement Benefits
- More trusted
- Clicked on more often
- Not charged per click
Organic Placement Challenges
- Takes a Long Time for Competitive Keyword Placement
- Placement is not Permanent:
- Time Consuming to Maintain Placement.
Benefits of Pay-Per-Click Advertising
- Achieve Top Ten Search Engine Placement for Competitive Keywords Faster
- Highly Trackable for Leads
- Only pay-per-visitor
The Hurdles of Pay-Per-Click Advertising
- Can be Costly
- Goes Away after You Stop Paying
- Time consuming if done right
There are advantages and disadvantages to both and these are some of the main differences.
If you are a realtor interested in organic search engine optimization or pay-per-click advertising for your real estate website, contact TheMarketingShop for a free consultation.
