• SiteProNews, Thursday, April 3, 2008 1:31 PM

Applying statistics from case studies and research by search firms, trade publications and organizations like SEMPO can lead to insights on where and how you should be spending your paid search dollars.

For example, recent data from U.K.-based search firm Neutralize.com showed a sharp contrast between the click habits of searchers they tracked on Google and MSN. Some 72% of Google searchers preferred clicking on the natural search listings, and about 28% preferred paid links. On the other hand, just about 29% of MSN searchers chose to use the organic listings--the other 71% said they relied on paid links.

"You know right away that your time and effort is better spent on SEO for Google while putting your pay per click dollars into MSN is probably your best bet," says Michael Small. Still, it's important to understand how your own unique target behaves, and tweak your plan (guided by the statistics), accordingly. You can also use these kinds of stats to set up tests and draw your own hypotheses.

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