Understanding Sponsored Search
Core Elements of Keyword Advertising
By: Jim Jansen
Published: July 25, 2011
Format: Paperback, 304 pages
ISBN-10: 1107628369
ISBN-13: 978-1107628366
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
"Sponsored search is the process in which advertisers pay to have their advertisements appear on a search engine results page in response to a query from a searcher. In sponsored search, advertisers pay search engines for traffic from the search engine to their Web site", writes Associate Professor at the College of Information Science and technology at The Pennsylvania State University, Jim Jansen, in his very approachable and insightful book Understanding Sponsored Search: Core Elements of Keyword Advertising. The author describes the fundamental basis of both the theoretical and methodological aspects of sponsored search in a business context.
Jim Jansen brings a strong analytical and research based study of the elements of keyword buying and impact to why certain keywords are effective, while others languish. The author focuses on the why questions of sponsored search, rather than on the mechanics of how to utilize sponsored search. Jim Jansen provides research into consumer behavior as they utilize the search engines for product information, pricing, and purchases. As a result, the author points out why some keywords work well, why certain ads achieve success, and why some keyword phrases are more expensive than others. Jim Jansen offers useful advice into why keyword measurement requires special attention to measure the correct analytics.
Jim Jansen (photo left) recognizes the critical importance of buying the right keywords and advertisements for business. For a small company, bidding on and winning the ideal keyword phrases can level the playing field against even the largest online competitors. Search engines have transformed online activity in the field of internet commerce creating the necessity of search engine visibility. For the author, the technique examined is sponsored search, through the bidding and purchasing of keywords. Since some keywords achieve much richer results than other seemingly similar keywords, Jim Jansen places his emphasis on why consumers behave as they do, and why they prefer certain keywords and phrases over others. Along with understanding which keywords produce superior outcomes, the author also shares concepts of why some measurements of success are superior to other metrics. At the same time, Jim Jansen demonstrates why some keyword bidding tactics are more effective than others in acquiring the most productive keywords.
For me, the power of the book is how Jim Jansen combines both the theoretical and practical elements of sponsored search into a unified whole. With the main emphasis on why consumers behave as they do, the author provides leading edge research that extends the sponsored search knowledge base considerably. Jim Jansen combines the search engine elements of keywords, ads, keyword pricing and bidding, with the business aspects of marketing, branding, advertising, and competition into a seamless holistic approach to the subject material. Readers seeking a more mathematical and theoretical methodology will find it here, along with a very accessible discussion of why that research is important to online advertising success. As an added bonus, the author provides an excellent glossary of search engine terms for the business person who is unfamiliar with the terminology.
I highly recommend the groundbreaking and boundary expanding book Understanding Sponsored Search: Core Elements of Keyword Advertising by Jim Jansen, to anyone seeking a well researched and reasoned study of the elements of why the right keywords and an understanding of consumer behavior are critical to successful sponsored search. The author also provides the basis for further research on the part of the business person to continue individual research into various keywords, and how to measure the results accurately.
Read the landmark book Understanding Sponsored Search: Core Elements of Keyword Advertising by Jim Jansen, and discover why your customers behave as they do in their search engine queries. This book will guide you in the right direction to understanding consumer actions to ensure you bid and on and gain the best possible keywords for your business.
