Web 2.0 & SEM

Search engine marketing has become the new buzzword of Internet advertising and Web 2.0 sites. Earlier sites such as Google and Rediff used to display flashy boxes that used to pop up at all times. However now the trend has shown a healthy change for the better with Internet advertising gradually changing over to SEM. Whenever a query is posted on a search engine such as Google, Yahoo or MSN, there used to be numerous pictures and flashy boxes to attract attention. The trend has now changed to realistic and accurate information being delivered to the user via sponsored links. These sponsored links have the complex logic of search engines behind them to ensure that the user can now get what he wants in a fraction of a second.

Spending Patterns On SEM

Earlier the total annual expenditure on online ad in the Indian subcontinent was more than INR 4 billion which amounts to approximately $88 million. Out of this amount spent, more than half amounting to approximately INR 2.4 billion was spent on Web 2.0 based SEM. It is noteworthy that out of this, companies in India spent more than 30% amounting to INR 720 million. As expected, the balance spent was driven by enterprises abroad.

Even though there are several studies about the big SEM spenders the most reliable study conducted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India demonstrates an interesting pattern. While retail companies are in the forefront in terms of spending, technology, travel and the automotive and banking industries follow closely behind. Even though small, we cannot ignore spending patterns of non-governmental and property markets by Web 2.0 sites.

Why Investing In SEM Is Important

Internet being one of the major businesses for business drivers, it is important to understand the different patterns in online advertising. Hence it is essential that Web 2.0 businesses expecting increased revenues through web traffic mainly driven by search engines need to be aware of the latest techniques. Ignorance of the latest in technology would lead to losing out on competition and hence missing out on revenues.

The earlier rules of Web 1.0 have no relevance in front of the fast paced technology of Web 2.0 sites. The challenges in front of an SEO firm or an SEM consultant is many. He not only needs to be in the forefront of technology but also needs to ensure that changes are suggested that are practical and can be implemented to accelerate web traffic.

Major Differences Between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 SEOs

While Web 1.0 SEOs concentrate on page views, reciprocal links, meta tags, and keyword rich contents, the focus of Web 2.0 shifts to accessibility, bookmarking, description and Title and User generated contents. HTML optimization, personal sites and reliability on search engines was the forte of Web 1.0 SEOs as opposed to AJAX optimization, wikis and P2P networks are the domain of Web 2.0 sites.

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