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The Four Biggest Mistakes in Search Marketing

Tuesday, 15 January 2008

Mike Moran whom I was on a panel with at SES once talks on the YSM Blog about what he thinks are the three biggest mistakes a newby search marketer can make - focusing on rankings, using the wrong metrics and presenting the wrong offers.

I’d probably add in another to that list:

“4. Not understanding enough about your potential audience/customers in order to properly target your search marketing activity towards the correct ‘finding’ methods and locations they might be using”

While a vast proportion of traffic comes via mainstream keyword search on the major engines, the number of other places people can search, plus verticalisation and socialisation of search experiences is increasing. This means a well planned strategy should now be  incorporating more than just the usual suspects.

Comments

Mike Moran

Thanks for the great addition, Teddie. My advice is just basic marketing, which is why yours is another good reminder. You're saying, don't skip targeting your market segments when you do keyword analysis. That fits right in with what I am saying, too. We need people to understand that search marketing is still marketing.

Daniel Mcgonagle

Thanks for the heads up! Really great post. That's a must-read I must
say. :)

Jim Lee

I think another key mistake is getting the wrong advice from places such as forums, etc. (as SEO expert James Brausch calls it "the blind leading the blind").

Find someone who can show multiple PROOF of being successful with high-competition keywords.

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