If you have top listing in Yahoo and MSN and get qualified leads from these search engines, this is an important article to read. If you are just getting started in your search engine marketing efforts, this change may represent an opening to get good listing at a responsible cost.

The top four search engines, Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL, account for over 90 percent of all searches that are done on the Web. Last year, Yahoo purchased a number of competitors and suppliers in order to compete more effectively against Google. Yahoo purchased Overture, the lead Pay Per Click (PPC) search engine that had itself purchased, other search engine companies like Alta Vista. Yahoo also purchased Inktomi, a search engine database company/supplier, and as of the middle of February 2004 replaced the Google results with a new hybrid that combined Inktomi, Alta Vista and Yahoo's directory database into one database. Ok, so your eyes are already glazing over, here's what the search engine market looks like in chart form:

The point is that half the search engines queries that are being placed directly or indirectly through Yahoo and most important they have introduced a new program called Overture Site Match.

Yahoo's Free Inclusion

If you read other Search Engine Optimization sources, you are aware that Yahoo is providing a free way to include your Web site in its index. The conventional SEM wisdom is to use this method to submit your site. For real estate sites I do not necessary agree. But to get this out of the way, here is the URL:

http://submit.search.yahoo.com

If you don't have one, you'll be required to setup a Yahoo account. This is free but you can't submit your site until you get the account. When you do submit, only submit your home page. This is assuming that you have a site map that is linked from the home page. This way the whole site will be spidered. Then watch your logs, the Yahoo spider should show up in 2 to 4 weeks. Is it worth the wait?

Why don't I think the free submit is the way to go for many real estate agents and brokers?

1. Real Estate is very competitive on the search engines. You need every edge you can get. The search engines know this. Real estate is one to the top 10 industries in paid search, mostly likely among the top 5.

2. No matter how much Yahoo says in public, a paid submission will have a small edge over an unpaid one. If you think this is unfair, you might be correct except as you'll see below there is an editorial review process. Your site will be looked at by a human editor and that is a VALID reason to give a Web site a higher ranking.

3. The click through cost, 30 cents, which has most of the SEO industry up in arms, is cheap compared to most AdWords/Overture PPC click though costs. Below is a table showing recent (March 2004) click through rates on Overture:

Overture Site Match

The new Overture/Yahoo Site Match program is a hybrid Pay For Inclusion (PFI) and Pay Per Click (PPC). I believe if you don't have much of a presence on Yahoo and MSN, this may be a good time to establish one and at a cost that is generally cheaper then most regular click through rates you're likely paying in your regular Overture or AdWords accounts.

Pay For Inclusion (PFI)

PFI means that Yahoo will include your page in its search engine database. It DOES NOT guarantee that it will rank well. This means that you have to use the normal SEO methods to design your web pages to rank well and show up on the first SERP.

The new Overture program Overture Site Match has the following startup fees:

First URL: $49
URLs 2-10: $29 each
URLs 11-999: $10 each

This fee is actually an annual fee but the site reviewed to see if the content matches the category that you claim your web site belongs in. This is simple because, low and behold, there is a category called "real estate."

For most real estate agents this means you pay an annual fee of $49 plus a $50 deposit for the PPC part of the program, see below. So your initial credit card fee will be dependent of the deposit and the number of pages you register. I suggest starting with just your home page.

Of course I wouldn't make this recommendation unless I've found I could get my clients' a first or second page in the search engine listing for the key phrases for which we had optimized the page - so in a word PFI does work. Further, since the PFI spiders look at your pages more frequently, every 2 days in the case of Yahoo, you can quickly fine tune and see the effect of your editorial changes.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

This is the part that has lots of SEOs crazy. For the real estate category the cost is 30 cents per click through. Does this upset you? Sorry the free ride is over. Don't be mad - just take out your calculator. What are your regular PPC costs for Overture and AdWords? I bet to get in the top three positions in most of the United States THIS IS A BARGIN. In major metro areas the PPC rates are over $5.00, see the table above.

When you set up your account there are there are three payment methods:

1. Email notification when your account is low, $10.

2. When the minimum amount is reached, the credit card account is charged for a fixed amount.

3. A fixed monthly budget. When that is reached the link is pulled out.

I suggest you start with option one. This way you can watch your purse strings.

Where to Register/Buy

There are six firms that are acting as resellers for the PFI program. One is Overture itself. You're better off going with one of the other resellers, they are more attuned to smaller accounts and providing SEO advice, here's the list:

http://www.positiontech.com/
http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/sm.jhtml
http://ov.ineedhits.com/
http://www.prioritysubmit.com/
http://www.infospider.com/
http://www.marketleap.com/

PositionTech provides the actual back-end and that's where I got some better guidance. Marketleap is another reseller I would recommend. NO ONE wanted to be quoted for this article but the Overture rep pretty much said that small accounts, that means most agents and brokers, will get more support from one of the resellers, I would take the hint.

Next time I will talk about what to do if you're already in the older Inktomi PFI programs. This is important because right now you are included in the Yahoo index but that will end on April 15, 2004.

Jordan Glogau has been involved with marketing and sales on the Internet since 1995. He has worked for a number of computer and Internet company like DEC, Sharp and IDT. He was the President of RegisterFree, a domain name registration company. Has been involved with helping real estate agents and brokers with Web marketing and technology. This including search engine marketing, linking, strategic planning with estate portals like Realtor.com, and back-end programming to interface to National and local Multiple Listing Services. Jordan is presently doing Search Engine and Internet Marketing for the real estate industry and can be contacted at jglogau@phr400.com or 845-426-6864.

Published: April 5, 2004

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Jordan Glogau has been involved with marketing and sales on the Internet since 1995. He has worked for a number of computer and Internet company like DEC, Sharp and IDT. He was the President of RegisterFree, a domain name registration company. Has been involved with helping real estate agents and brokers with Web marketing and technology. This including search engine marketing, linking, strategic planning with estate portals like Realtor.com, and back-end programming to interface to National and local Multiple Listing Services. Jordan is presently doing Search Engine and Internet Marketing for the real estate industry and can be contacted at jglogau@phr400.com or 845-426-6864.