• by Ross Fadner , November 14, 2003

With estimates of more than 1,000 search engine marketing firms competing for both marketing budgets and the most desirable keywords and search positions, you'd almost need a search mechanism to tell them apart. In an effort to set itself apart, one is touting a new feature that avoids bidding for coveted keywords and instead relies on procuring keywords that are low in demand as well as multi-word search phrases.

The logic behind the strategy, say SendTraffic executives, is that the contra tactic enables marketers to acquire traffic at bargain-basement efficiencies.

"Very simply, they want more traffic," asserts Greg Byrnes, senior vice president-sales and marketing and a founder of SendTraffic, which this week unveiled its new CPCpoint traffic building system.

By expanding the definition and parameters of search-related marketing, Byrnes claims CPCpoint is more of a "search aggregation tool" that exploits the way many Internet users actually utilize search. "Consumers are making more and more refined searches," he explains. "Over 30% of searches include more than three words, and over 70 percent of searches are as-yet unclaimed."

SendTraffic doesn't promote listings, and there's no bidding involved in the CPCpoint service. With an "unaggregated" set of keywords, Byrnes highlights a problem between phrase search: matching content appropriately. "Conversions are not anywhere as good as a perfect match," he says.

What about the generic searches SendTraffic's clients will miss out on? "That's okay," responds Byrnes, "because there's 10,000 other, more specific ones we'll get. They don't realize it's a numbers game. By exponentially expanding a client's keyword list, [because] that's where the volume is," adding that it's not cost efficient to bid on the most expensive, most targeted keywords.

Not everyone's impressed. Dakota Sullivan, vice president of marketing at Looksmart, sees little that sets SendTraffic apart from what most SEM firms are doing. "There are currently over 1,000 search engine marketing firms and they're all trying to find a gimmick to stand apart," he says. "Client list expansion is nothing new, but there is definitely a trend among firms to get smarter about campaign management. It may not be advantageous pay for the top position. Three, four, five keyword phrase buys may bring in less traffic, but on aggregate, it's better quality traffic."