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A top Search Engine
Positioning Firm, today published survey results showing
that major brands of leading companies that do not use
search engine positioning to propel their sites to top
search engine results fail to meet the expectations of a
majority of America's 175 million Internet users. The
majority (56%) of consumers surveyed expect leading brands
to hold top search listings. When Web marketers do not make
search engines the primary focus of their online marketing
initiatives, they are forfeiting "top-of-mind" brand
position to lesser-known organizations on the medium most
frequently utilized by consumers for finding Web sites.
Survey respondents were asked, "If you spotted a company
within the opening few lines of search results, would that
make you think that the company was a top one in the field?"
Fully 33% of the respondents indicated they would. "This was
the biggest surprise in the survey. Our hypothesis was that
people could tell the difference between a major brand and a
lesser-known company, product or service that happened to
enjoy a top ranking," said Dr. Amanda Watlington. "What this
indicates is that being found in a top search engine match
transmits a halo effect of sorts. We can infer by this
response that a large number of search engine users will
assign brand value or equity to a top ranked Web site,
disregarding the fact that the search engine's mathematical
algorithm is the cause. This demonstrates, especially for
new Internet users, that top search engine listings transmit
brand equity. Based on these results, lesser-known brands,
or perhaps resellers of these branded products, can increase
their perceived brand equity with search engine users by
being found in the top search matches."
An unexpected twist in the findings was discovered when the
data was segmented by the respondent's Web experience. While
55% of all survey respondents expect major brands to show up
in the top search results, Internet users who had been
online less than six months had the greatest expectation,
with over 65% indicating that they expect to find major
brands in the top spots. However, the longer the user has
been using the Internet, the more disaffected they become.
Respondents who had been online six or more years were three
times less likely to expect to find the major brands in the
top search results. "The increase in Web experience will
slowly erode existing brands unless they engage in
aggressive search engine positioning. When a search engine
query is launched, there are only two possible outcomes for
marketers: your Web site will be displayed to the searcher,
or your competitor's will - whether you think of them as
your competitor or not," said Watlington. "Brand managers
risk diluting their brand equity if they fail to meet the
expectations of Internet users and repeatedly allow other
entities to be displayed to these search engine users."
Stay Current With Changes in Search Engine Marketing.
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Search Engine Marketing. Just about the time you’ve got it
figured out, it branches off in another direction. That’s
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