Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
organized as follows. The following section is based upon an article by Pan, Xiang, Law and
Fesenmaier (2011) which critically reviews the literature related to the three key 'actors'
and their dynamic relationships in SEM, namely search engines, online travellers as search engine
users and the online tourism domain. In the next section, a model is discussed to look at SEM
at the behavioural level by outlining the process wherein travellers use a search engine for trip
planning. Based upon these studies six key lessons for successful SEM practice as well as
implications for research and development are discussed.
The structure of search engine marketing
Search engines are developed to provide access to the huge amount of information on the
Internet by crawling, indexing, retrieving and representing relevant information for users based
upon unique algorithms. Generally, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is defi ned as a form of
marketing on the Internet whereby businesses and organizations seek to gain visibility on search
engine results pages (SERPs) through paid or non-paid means (Moran and Hunt 2005). There
are several forms of SEM, including (see Table 37.1 ):
1 organic search-based techniques, i.e. search engine optimization, which involves employing
methods that help improve the ranking of a website when a user types in relevant keywords
in a search engine. These techniques include creating an effi cient website structure, providing
appropriate web content, and managing inbound and outbound links to other sites;
2 paid inclusion, which means paying search engine companies for inclusion of the site in their
organic listings; and
3 search engine advertising, or paid placement, which implies buying display positions at the
paid listing area of a search engine or its content network. Google AdWords and Microsoft
AdCenter are the two most popular programs wherein paid placement listings are shown as
'Sponsored Links'.
The phenomenon of searching on the Internet has attracted numerous studies in computer science,
information sciences and human computer interaction with the focus on the technological aspects
Table 37.1
Forms of search engine marketing
Type
Form
Explanation
Payment scheme
Examples
Nonpaid
Search Engine
Optimization
(SEO)
The process of improving the
quality or quantity of traffic from
search engines to a website
None paid to
search engines
SEO practices
Paid placement
Bidding on keywords on
SERPs
Pay-per-click
Google AdWords
Yahoo! Precision
March
Paid
Contextual
advertising
Pay to appear on relevant
websites or web pages
Pay-per-click or
Pay-per-thousand-
impressions
Google AdSense
Paid inclusion
Annual subscription fee to
search engines to be
included in their indices
Pay
Yahoo
Source : Sen (2005)
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search