Originally published March 21 2005
Search engine marketing increasingly accepted, popular
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Search engine marketers are reporting booming business, as firms hire them to use arcane techniques to boost their sites' ranking in the major commercial search engines. Search engine marketing is expected to jump to being a $5.5 billion market in the next four years, more than doubling from 2004's estimated $2.6 billion.
Big bucks are flowing toward marketing and advertising on Internet search engines - and a number of area firms are reaping the benefits of the trend.
``It is unbelievable,'' said Fredrick Marckini, chief executive of Watertown's iProspect Inc., a pioneer in so-called ``search-engine marketing'' on behalf of clients who want to get their firms' names across to potential customers.
``It's like the whole world is waking up to how hot search-engine marketing has become,'' said Marckini, whose firm is ``hiring like crazy'' to keep up with demand.
with typing keywords into a search field to find information on Web sites.
But if you look to the right of a Google page after initiating a search, there are paid ``sponsors'' who have bid in online auctions for the right to have their text ads pop up with search results.
But on the left side of a search engine, firms are increasingly using sophisticated techniques to make sure their clients' names pop up after someone initiates a search, largely by putting the right type of content, words and phrases on clients' Web sites to be picked up by search-engine ``spider'' programs that constantly scan the Web for links.
``There's been a steady increase in the acceptance and adoption of what search-engine marketing is about,'' said Stephen Turcotte, president of Waltham-based Backbone Media Inc., a search-engine marketing and Web design firm.
Familiar players such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others are not alone.
Less familiar ``business-to-business'' search engines, such as Knowledgestorm.com, are making big bucks by creating their own business models.
``It's been very successful for us,'' said Jeff Ramminger, executive vice president of Georgia's KnowledgeStorm Inc., which runs a subscription-based search engine for technology companies and tech geeks.
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