AOL Organic Search Engine Placement
AOL has caught on to organic search engine placement in the biggest way. In an optimization and paid-inclusion campaign managed by Carat Interactive, AOL will target keywords relating to the various user “channels” AOL offers such as Black Voices, Music Sessions, City Guides, Personal Finance, etc…
AOL has refocused a lot of its advertising budget towards search marketing, moving away from traditional marketing venues such as print, television and radio. Over the past six months, AOL has adopted a strategy that saw them purchasing keywords for sponsored site inclusion, AdWords and Overture (Yahoo Search Marketing) placements. As organic placements start to take hold, AOL scales back their keyword ad purchases.
According to an article by Wendy Davis in today’s MediaPost , Carat Interactive had to take an “evangelist role” at AOL to get all divisions to accept basic SEO practices.
“The effort involved making changes large and small, such as using HTML links rather than JavaScript in some cases, cross-linking between pages, and tagging images in a crawler-friendly way.”
The effort is paying off with AOL found in the Top5 under many keywords associated with their channels and services.
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Jim Hedger is a senior editor for ISEDB.com. Also he is a writer, speaker and search engine marketing expert working for StepForth Search Engine Placement in Victoria BC. He has worked as an SEO for over 5 years and welcomes the opportunity to share his experience through interviews, articles and speaking engagements. Hedger can be reached at jimhedger@stepforth.com
