Search marketing is also known as on-line marketing.  It is primarily made up of what is referred to as Search Engine Optimization or Paid Search Advertising also known as Pay-Per-Click. Both of these programs are are methods of directing traffic to your website as a result of someone performing a search on any of the search engines  Each program has its own inherent advantages or disadvantages that need to be understood and evaluated properly to insure that the right program is implemented to meet your needs.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO, is typically a labor intensive solution that requires access directly to your website code and content In order to do it right.  It involves making sure that the content on each page is appropriate for that page, that the related key words or phrases are located on the page and that the code has the proper information that the search engines look for when indexing the website. 

After the work to properly configure the website is completed, it can take anywhere up to 6 months in some cases for the results of the program to be seen on the searches.  Each of the major search engines (Google, MSN, Yahoo) have somewhat different algorithms or means that they utilize in order to determine a pages ranking.  Ideal positioning is on page 1 of the search results.  About 85% of the clicks are done on the first page, the remainder of the pages decline from there.  Any presence beyond page 2 for the most part is not conducive to promoting your business.

SEO Advantages

The advantage of Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short, is that once the program is completed and done correctly, your website listing should be shown on page 1 of the search results presented to the person doing the search.  If nothing else changes, then there might never have to be another penny spent. The wording of the listing is greater than that of Paid search ads and is taken directly from the website.

SEO Disadvantages

There are actually many disadvantages of search engine optimization programs.