Most search engine marketers got their start after Google took over so they haven’t experienced the perils of non-diversification yet. Although short lived, Excite once seemed to be the one search engine that must be conquered by search engine marketers. Then it was Alta Vista, Lycos, Netscape, Yahoo, and now Google. Some search engine marketers only focused on one search engine and it paid off in the short term, but soon they would be playing catch up. When GoTo (later Overture and Yahoo Search Marketing) changed the industry with their pay per click model, many companies refused to adapt and lost many customers because of it. There are many companies that didn’t jump on the Google bandwagon soon enough and lost a tremendous market share because of it. Search engine marketing specialists should have led their clients to Google at least a year before that bandwagon loaded up, and they would have if they weren’t so reluctant to diversify and take off their Yahoo blinders. That is what I fear is happening to search engine marketers again today. Google might be here to stay but it isn’t the only one, and maybe not even the best one.  In many cases, it doesn’t even provide the best ROI, yet many search engine marketers still push it alone. I think it is lazy search engine marketing or tunnel vision.

You can’t be timid about giving a piece of the marketing spend to other existing or up and coming search engines. One may be the next Google and you want to be in position to take advantage of its lucrative early days. Both PPC and natural listings must be maintained. Social media must be integrated. Mobile search must be catered to. Be smart. Be prepared. Take off your Google blinders. Diversify your search engine marketing.

Tags: diversify, pay per click, ppc, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, sem, seo, social media marketing