5. 4. Search Engines Comparison

Approximately, 68% of all searches in the world are made on either Google or Yahoo!

Getting a good ranking in Google, Yahoo! and recently in MSN.com as well can have a strong effect on your business!

Google 35.11% ................................112 Million
Yahoo 32.79% ...............................105 Million
MSN 12.00% ....................................39 Million
AOL 9.00% .......................................... 29 Million
AltaVista 1.74% ..................................... 6 Million
Lycos 1.57% ........................................... 5 Million
Netscape 1.10% ...................................... 4 Million
LookSmart 0.59% ................................... 2 Million
AllTheWeb 0.21% ................................... 1 Million
Hotbot 0.10% .......................... Less than 1 Million
Open Directory 0.01% ............. Less than 1 Million
FindWhat 0.0028% ................. Less than 1 Million

Total 99.72% ................................ 321 Million

Source - Wordtracker

A very important point to keep in mind with pay per click is you must test, test, and test some more. A few hours spent ensuring that the correct search phrases are targeted can save months of useless optimization. Make sure that your most performing keywords appear on the pages of your website, especially on the homepage. If you change the content of your website, don’t forget to keep your best keywords.

An essential part of your testing is having a method in place that allows you to track your return on money invested. Keep in mind that like any successful marketing strategy, it is vital to ensure that you know whom your audience is and how to reach them.

Identify the search phrases that have been untapped by your competitors. Some search terms may have slightly fewer searches, but may have dramatically fewer competitors. Many, many search terms are so saturated by competitors that it would be highly unlikely that you would achieve a high enough ranking to reward your efforts. Therefore, it is often worthwhile considering those search phrases that may not have quite the same level searches each month, but likewise do not have as many websites targeting that term.