Obscure keyword prices are going up as retailers get smarter about search
Consumers are getting smarter about the terms they search on at Internet search sites—and retailers are starting to follow suit, says David Carlson, president of search engine marketing company Go Toast. The result: The cost of some formerly obscure or overlooked terms is going up. “Three years ago, consumers were entering broad terms like television,” says Carlson, one of the exhibitors at the Annual Catalog Conference in Chicago this week. “Now they are a lot more specific and are entering model numbers.”
The cost of so-called tertiary keywords, such as model numbers as opposed to broad terms like television or somewhat narrower terms like big-screen television, has risen. “Those terms are now 50 cents or a dollar per click, whereas a year ago they were only 25 cents,” Carlson says.
The cost may well be worth it, he argues. “Buying the word television will get you clicks, but it won’t get you conversions,” Carlson says. “The guy who enters a specific model of a big screen television is looking to do comparison shopping. He’s probably ready to buy.”
Carlson points out, however, that successful search engine marketing doesn’t end with a click from a search term. “People spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to drive traffic to their sites, then only tens of thousands improving the web site,” he says. Carlson recounts the story of an unnamed client who was concerned when a competitor began paying $5 per click on a term that the client had been paying $2 for. When the client told Carlson he didn’t think the competitor cold make money at that level, Carlson looked at the competitor’s web site. The bad news for the client: The competitor probably was making money at $5 per click because it had a better web site that probably was converting more customers. “Clients will push the marketing department and their ad agency to do a better job with search marketing, but it’s like giving someone a blunt stick to dig a trench rather than a sharp shovel,” Carlson says. “You’ve got to give people the right tool.”
Go Toast has released a NetConversion product that helps clients track their web traffic and conversion rates. Go Toast isn’t the only search engine company to focus clients’ attentions on conversion rates. IProspect.com Inc. recently started a consulting division to help clients improve their web sites and increase their conversion rates.
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