The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
February 2008, Volume 7, Issue 2

Getting the Most Out of Paid Inclusion

by Danielle Sohn, Search Marketing Specialist, iProspect

There are numerous benefits to implementing Yahoo!’s paid inclusion (PI) program — Yahoo! Search Submit Pro. For instance, it indexes dynamic content (e.g. Flash), can boost rankings and traffic, and provides for increased control of terms and descriptions. But the question is, are you fully capitalizing on the opportunity?

The Opportunity
As is the case with all search engine marketing efforts, PI is not a “one and done” job. Rather, it’s an iterative process. You can’t just upload your feed and let it run. It requires regular assessment, testing, and adjustments — much like its counterparts search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising (PPC). Moreover, in order to get the most out of your PI efforts, you must continually leverage data from both PPC and PI. Doing so will not only optimize and improve your PI feeds, it will also greatly help you improve your return on PI. Below are the three areas you should focus on:

Titles and Descriptions
It’s not enough to have your PI listings show up on the first page of Yahoo! search results — you need people to click through to your site. To facilitate click-through, why not test more calls to action (copy that resembles PPC ads) instead of just providing more informative organic titles and descriptions? The best way to start is to incorporate results from your PPC ad copy tests. Then you can take it one step further and conduct specific tests for PI title and description copy.

Primary Keyword Phrases
It’s a lot more challenging to remap primary keywords for your organic search efforts than it is for your PI campaign. Given that, why not test changing primary keyword phrases in your PI listings to see how it affects your click-through rate? You can use Yahoo!’s click data reports to see what terms people are searching on that cause them to click on your listing. In some instances, the listing’s primary keyword phrase will not be the term that generates the most clicks. In that case, you can easily change your PI primary keyword phrase with just a few clicks of a button. Then watch to see if the changes improve visibility and generate more traffic to your site.

Quick Links
While many believe that Quick Links in the first position get the most clicks, I have seen many instances where this is not the case. My advice? Do a test. First, try keeping the Quick Link destination URLs the same, but change the order of how they appear. You just might be surprised at how your click-through rate improves! Also, experiment with changing the actual Quick Link — what it says and where it sends your visitors. You should be using this to your advantage, especially if you are running a promotion or if you want to encourage users to visit a new or improved section of your site.

Remember, just as you work to continually improve your SEO and PPC campaigns, you need to do the same with PI. Leveraging data from both PPC and PI will do much to help you get the most out of your PI efforts. Be smart — use the data you have at your fingertips! You’ll be glad you did.

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The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article: February 2008, Volume 7, Issue 2

Getting the Most Out of Paid Inclusion

The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
February 2008, Volume 7, Issue 2