Monday, August 13, 2012

Search Engines---what you get when you Google it

What search engine do you use when you ask a question in your address bar and press enter? Chances are you barely notice if at all. And chances are, if you have a smart phone, you'll be using a different search engine than what you use on your laptop.

Each browser comes with its own default, too. So unless you've changed the defaults, if you're using IE you are probably searching with Bing, Chrome users will be using Google, and Firefox users will be defaulted to Google with a handy button near their address bar that allows them to select another engine with a drop down box that includes Yahoo, Babylon, and Answers.com.

Each search engine allows you to ask the same question and receive different answers back. If you're a small business owner with a website, you'd like to come up close to the top when a search is done for your product and the more local that search is the more likely that you will hit that mark. But the top is paid real estate in some search engines. And does it really pay to purchase the top spot when you're coming in second with a resounding customer recommendation to boot?

Most customers searching for a product such as yours are used to doing online research to help make their decisions. When you search do you go to the first ad and stop there to make your purchase? Probably not. It's the content on the pages attached to the search result that really matter in the long run. And in the long run, it is important that your business shows up upon a search for your product and that you've got spectacular content that proves to a potential customer that your business is the one for them.  

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