Search engine marketers advised search works in cycles

14:00 12th January 2010

Search engine marketers should test search traffic patterns in a period of minimum volatility avoiding holidays and seasonal peaks and troughs if possible.

The advice came from David Roth, director of search engine marketing for Yahoo!, in an article for Search Engine Land, in which he said that scientific testing of the dynamic between paid and organic search was affected by many variables, including page layout, keyword bids and search volume.

Mr Roth also coined the terms cannibalisation and lift when referring to measuring search data.

He explained: "Lift is the net amount of traffic that is added to the mix by virtue of the PPC [pay per click] ad. Cannibalisation is the portion of PPC ad traffic that comes at the expense of the organic link."

Mr Roth added that if you can quantify cannibalisation and lift you can begin to plan your search engine marketing strategy better.

Working out an estimate for cannibalisation and lift could help marketers come up with a price for a PPC advertisement, he concluded.

In an interview with Semgeek last year, Mr Roth described his biggest challenge at Yahoo! as being to implement an approach to search engine marketing that was consistent and standard.