SEO and The Importance of Portals

If you’re an SEO/SEM firm, you likely have many clients who are obsessed with and focused on only 1 keyword (variable) and 1 search engine (Google). It can be a challenging feat explaining the value of having your top words and phrases do well in a variety of engines, as opposed to just the behemoth that is Google. It’s also how we SEOs validate our services and work and – more importantly – increase client comfort levels and their genuine belief in what you do for them month after month.

I tend to point to server log keyword and search engine referral data in this situation – but there is little substitute for a client not being able to go enter their perceived top word into Google and see it themselves sitting pretty on the first page. So always remember, for their benefit and yours, the dramatic way in which web portal loyalty dictates an individual’s start page and search engine. Let’s look at the tale of the tape:

According to this recent survey by Neilsen, Yahoo reigns supreme when it comes to portals, and MSN is behind Google by just a hair. While Google’s run at establishing itself as a portal cannot be denied – particularly with continued popularity of GMail, Google Calendar, Co-Op and other features – Yahoo is still ahead by 20%, and MSN has a few tricks left up its sleeve too. Microsoft’s new Vista operating system will ship with MSN as the live integrated desktop search of choice, and they’re just about to launch their own PPC network, too. Hardly signs of resting on their laurels.

Consider this chart, and share some version of it with any of your disheartened or impatient clients. Being on the first page of MSN and Yahoo does mean something! I get frustrated when I make serious inroads in other search engines, and customers don’t even want to hear about it because it’s not Google. In the foggy world of Search Engine Marketing, It’s up to us to help them understand important acheivements that may not seem quite so outstanding.