Search Engine APIs: Right for You?

Search Engine APIs: Right for You?: "It's great the engines recognize that when billions of dollars a year flow through an auction marketplace, automated control APIs are a necessity, as they are on Wall Street. But like Wall Street, technology alone won't make you a millionaire. The right strategy, information, calculations, timing, and knowledge combine with technology to create winners."

The level of sofisticaiton in search engine marketing has increased significantly over the last 12-24 months within service providers as well as marketers. This article brings out a few good points but I caution the marketers on getting caught up in the appeal of such technologies.

It is my first hand experience that marketers have started to become more reliant on the technology and have abandoned the fundamentals. This applies not only to the new API's but also with bid management. It is first and foremost critical to a campaign's success to know the metrics. Business objectives change frequently and too much automation can work against a shift in business goals.

Of all the successful campaigns I have been a part of, there are a few commom traits between them. Sticking to the game plan is one of them. Rapid changes in direction based on what a competitor is doing with their bid strategy can send a campaign off course.

Find more of what works!!! Rather than engage in a bid war over a handful of keywords, use the results of your program to identify new opportunities. Expand the keywords to longer phrases, use mis-spellings, leverage more content... If your campaign relies too heavily on a small subset of keywords, you are very vulnerable.

More to come on this topic... APZ