October 12th, 2005

Too many search engines?

There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of search engines & directories all over the web, each focused on a particular niche: from Google, who tries to index as much of the web as possible; to local directories of green and healthy resources like Holistic Local, Dragonfly Village, and Co-op America’s National Green Pages. So with all these search engines and directories, how do you figure out which ones are worthwhile to focus your marketing efforts on? While not every search engine has its own paid advertising program, there are still many that do… and many that are not worth your time.

If you haven’t already started campaigns in either Google AdWords or Yahoo! Search Marketing (aka Overture), this is where I suggest you start. These two “top tier” services both offer broad and localized search programs, reach a majority of the people searching online, and also provide the context with which most other search engine advertising programs are compared. We have had a lot of experience working on campaigns within each, and each has its own positive and negative aspects. Google’s interface may be easier to get started with, but Overture’s bid prices are usually slightly lower on many keywords. Trying both is usually the best bet, to maximize your reach and be able to fine tune your campaigns.

A third member of the “top tier” search advertising programs will soon be MSN’s new AdCenter. MSN has begun the beta release of their new PPC (pay-per-click) search marketing program, which does not have an official release date yet but has already received positive reviews from ClickZ. This site reviews a number of programs in the next tier, such as Miva (which used to be FindWhat.com) and Kanoodle. Shopping search engines include Shopping.com and FindGift, and there are a number of other for local advertisers such as Superpages.com and pay-per-call advertising from Ingenio.

So as I mentioned, start with the biggest programs such as Google and Overture, and once you have conquered those, try some of the smaller or more targeted ones. Large programs allow you to get the most clicks for targeted keywords, and test your campaign. After you have figured out what works and what doesn’t, bring that knowledge to small search engines so you waste much less time.