As more and more businesses turn to search engine advertising, the need becomes ever greater for a highly-optimized search advertising strategy. An integrated search engine optimization (SEO) and/or search engine marketing (SEM) presence can catch the eye of a search engine user at any stage of the buying cycle, and help users cut through all the noise on the search engine results page.

Google has done extensive eye-tracking research to see how users at different stages in the buying cycle use their results pages.

If a user types “hip replacement surgery” into Google, they are most likely doing research on the topic of hip replacement surgeries. This is where a good SEO strategy comes into play. Google has found that people doing research on a topic are more likely to look to the organic results on their results page. This is where you would find the Wikipedia entry about hip replacements and all sorts of other informational sites.  If a website’s organic listings are crafted to be more geared towards a researcher, meaning, making the listing look more academic and encyclopedia-like, they are more likely to get research traffic to their site.  It’s always good to have researchers click-through to your website site because they might stick around and look at some of your services as well.  Plus, the click is free.

A good organic listing in this case might be:

Complete Hip Replacement Surgery Facts | Your Hospital – Your Town.
What happens during Hip Replacement Surgery, your guide to everything you need to know. www.yourhospital.com

Google’s research goes on to suggest that when users are past the research stage of the buying cycle and are, for instance, looking to specifically find a clinic that does the surgery, they start to look more closely at the sponsored links on the search engine results page. Gearing these listings to a user on the verge of a conversion*can help drive traffic to physicians’ pages, or to an online appointment form.

For example:

Local Hip Replacements
Dedicated, Experienced Hip Replacement Physicians In Your Area
www.YourHospital.com/HipReplacement

It’s not enough to pepper the search engines with ads and listings. These strategies must work together to more completely flesh out a brand.

* A conversion is an event that takes places when a website visitor takes an action, such as clicking on an advertisement, signing up for a newsletter, or submitting a contact form. Conversions help us marketers gauge interest level.

Image Courtesy of Will Lion on Flickr