The top 10 search terms aren't what the marketers use

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:56:22 -0400

Cickz took a look at Hitwise statistics for the month of June, and noted the top 10 search terms or phrases in each of 10 industry sectors. Some of the results may surprise you.

In the Net Communities category, MySpace held the first, third, fifth, and eighth spots with various iterations of their name and URL, while Craiglist came in second, seventh, and tenth. Facebook? Shows up only once on the list, and that's in tenth place, even though their overall traffic is on pace to pass MySpace's in the next few months. MySpace somehow also owns the top spot in the Blogs and Personal Web Sites category (as well as third, fourth, and ninth place), with celebrity blogger Perez Hilton coming in second. The Hitwise top 10 list over all categories is all Web-based companies, with MySpace again leading the pack.

In Broadcast Media, people aren't searching for shows, but rather, for networks and news (is fox.com really that hard to remember?). But it's obvious that many of the customer loyalty programs and marketing campaigns are succeeding as well, with both mycokerewards.com and pepsistuff.com appearing, although on two separate lists.

However, none of Hitwise's popular search terms show up on a list of "highest paying search terms" determined by an Internet marketing blog. Those on the get-rich-quick side of the Web are more interested in the less-common searches that are much easier to game for quick revenue. I spoke with Charlie Anzman from SEO and Tech Daily about the growing trend that crosses Internet marketing and search engine optimization techniques for taking advantage of programs like Google's AdSense:

"There are many fine SEO people out there. The lines between SEO and Online Marketing have been blurred in the past year. SEO, done properly, if a website belong in the rankings, is important and works. Those who position themselves as SEOs and promise fast money should be approached with caution to say the least."

As long as so much of the Web is tied to advertising as a revenue stream, it's crucial to understand both lists, both what people are searching for, as well as what advertisers are paying for. The top search terms list gives insight into what people are interested in, while the top paying search terms list, besides being ripe for abuse, demonstrates the long tail: the searches that aren't as common must yield better results in customer acquisition.

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The top 10 search terms aren't what the marketers use