- Advertising websites - how important are search engines?
- Posted by Pyromancer on March 14th, 2006
Related to the Hotels thread:
I find I make heavy use of Google when looking for technical
information, but when I want to look up train times or find hotel
prices, I'll usually go to a site who's URL I have memorised or that
I've seen off-line.
How important are search listings for non-technical services, when
compared to real-world advertising? If one is, say, a local plumber,
is it more important to be well-listed in Google, or to have your URL
prominently on the side of your van and in your Yellow Pages entry?
(Yes, I know properly-written websites are search-friendly by default,
but assume for this exercise that the plumber is non-net-savvy and has
had the local branch of webdezynes.cheap run him up an all-graphics
site (which still validates through bogus use of alt='company-logo1'
type shysterology) for 200 quid).
Thoughts?
- Posted by Gordon Hudson on March 14th, 2006
"Pyromancer" <dj.pyromancer@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1142348183.459004.190370@i40g2000cwc.googlegr oups.com...
If I can't buy it online it generally does not get bought.
I use Yell.com a lot for finding local business but I favour those who have
web sites so I can find out more about them.
I also use Overture if I am looking to buy something as it does produce
relevant results in commercial categories.
Google seems to be more misled thazn other search engines as more people are
trying to mislead it,
so I use alltheweb as a backup and it sometimes finds things more easily.
--
Gordon Hudson || Hostroute.com Ltd
e-mail:ghudson [at] hostroute.net
http://www.hostroute.co.uk/resellers Host 5 web sites for £9 per month
http://www.nameroute.co.uk/ Domain Names with free hosting and email
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- Posted by Mark Goodge on March 14th, 2006
Pyromancer wrote:
I don't think there's a simple answer to that, and a lot depends on how
much the service relies on the Internet for generating sales. For a
"physical" service that is essentially geographically restricted, such
as plumbing, then local advertising is considerably more important than
search engine friendliness. But if you want to attract customers where
the Internet is their initial source of contact, then you do need to be
search friendly. It's all entirely dependent of the actual scenario.
Mark
--
http://www.googlefun.info - fun with Google!
Now includes the Google Adsense Game
