February 13, 2012 (Powerhomebiz.com) As Google is once again slapped on the wrists in news reports the importance of optimising your web marketing for a range of search engines is becoming increasingly important, warns KPI. KPI, a search engine optimisation company with national clients, are reminding business owners to not solely inject their marketing budget and time into Google, as it may be about to suffer a fall from grace.
Google has over 91% of search engine traffic, so logically it is where KPI targets most of its SEO and PPC campaigns. Google’s dominance explains why it has always dominated the headlines too. But current scandals are suggesting that Google’s traffic might soon begin to significantly decrease for the first time in years.The search engine was forced to pay $500 million to settle when Google AdWords ads were found advertising the sale of prescription and non-prescription drugs to the US market from Canadian pharmaceutical firms. The media went into overdrive and the search engine was also found to be profiting from a number of other illicit products, with Google accepting money from advertising to promote Olympics ticket resellers (which received a takedown request by police), as well as cannabis and fake ID cards.
This week saw another heavy blow to the search engine, with reports that the US Federal Trade Commission are investigating anti-trust issues concerning the newly inflated prominence of Google+ in its SERPs. If this results in a fine or request to provide equal prominence to other social networks it is likely to hit global headlines in the mainstream press; a PR nightmare. This may result in Google’s users beginning to lose trust in it, perhaps leading to a reduction of traffic; search engines are just a tool after all. If users are concerned with that tool’s effectiveness they may well stray elsewhere, particularly when there are so many successful competitors scrambling to fill Google’s shoes.
Competitors who aren’t letting marketing hinder their effectiveness. So with a possible decrease in Google’s market share, step forward its main competitor; Bing. Bing has experienced a rapid rise in search traffic across the Atlantic and in December it overtook Yahoo! as the second most popular search engine in the US. Although it’s still not even close to seriously challenging Google, it does seem that Microsoft’s search engine has at least some momentum; and KPI is predicting further growth for Bing in 2012. This is why it is critical that SEOs and PPC campaign managers don’t take any unnecessary risks by putting all their eggs in one basket. As Google walks the fine line between marketing and functionality, KPI are optimising for, and running PPC campaigns using, other search engines too.
Michael Mills, SEO and Client Manager at KPI, said: ”Currently, most SEO agencies are going to focus their attentions on Google. And why wouldn’t you? With 91% of the local search market, you’d be mad not to focus your search engine optimisation there. But if Google slips, then cross-platform optimisation is going to be of greater importance”. If you need help with optimising your website’s content across multiple platforms contact KPI.
Contact Details:
Graham Loosley
KPI Business Services
Unit 12, Hartley Business Centre
Shrewsbury
Shropshire
SY2 5ST
United Kingdom
01743242135 110
http://www.kpib.co.uk/