Lisa Lambert

OK, so I received a great question via email and I thought it would be a great topic to post here.  It's one of those questions that get asked in class that everyone needs to scribble down the notes for.  (You will be tested.) =) How does an online ad help me?  They are links too!  If you are trying to build a link strategy as part of your search engine optimization (SEO), you need to diversify!  Don't put all your eggs in one basket.  While organic search optimization is weighted higher than paid links; these ads are still links back to YOUR website.  Every online ad contains a link back to the advertiser's website, product, or service.  These paid links DO affect search rankings.  So this makes online advertising worthy of consideration in an SEO discussion. You want quality links.  A prominent link from a quality website back to the advertiser's website is too valuable to ignore.  So let's look at a couple of examples with the Palm Beach Post that demonstrates this. Online Display Advertising The Palm Beach Post receives in the neighborhood of 2.2 million unique visitors per month.  Why wouldn't you want to leverage the traffic of a website that receives that many unique visitors?  The three advertisers in my example above each have at least one link from a very relevant, high-quality, and very well ranked website.  Let's look at them individually now.

• JFK - This advertiser first not only has a link back to their breast cancer awareness page, but talk about brand awareness, community involvement, and just plain looking fabulous!  JFK happens to also run several smaller ads through out the site as well.  These ads are also linking back to the advertiser's website.
• Brandsmart - This advertiser appears in that very same position everyday, every week, every month.  The ad links back to their website.  Brandsmart has a tendency to be in your face so you never forget.
• Tires Plus - Hooray for this advertiser!!  This is something new for this advertiser.  Tires Plus also runs a few other display online ads on the site.  These all are creating links back to their site.

These ads are increasing the advertiser's visibility in search, increasing search rank and contributing toward increasing page rank. Let's look at some other examples of how the Palm Beach Post give advertisers the opportunity to add linking, branding, and just plain advertising to a user online.  The following examples not only provide links back, but they provide the ability to have content and content means keyword opportunity. Oh No!! Now we have a prominent, relevant, high-quality website linking back to your website and giving you the opportunity to use keywords?  Hold the phone!! I'm not going to discuss each one of these in detail but if you'd like more information about any of this information, as always you can email me.

• Business Directory - This is an excellent example of a great search engine optimization tool.  WOW!! So why is it so good? Who cares if anyone ever goes on the Palm Beach Post and ever looks at this.  First, talk about Geo SEO; check out two things, your address is listed and there is a map.  Google loves these things.  Then there is a content section which you are able to put up to 3000 words of content.  We can't forget the videos and the photos you get to add.  Oh and then there's the tags with keywords, coupons and LINKS BACK TO YOUR SITE.  If you don't at least have one of these with your local newspaper, you are missing the boat.

• Feature Real Estate Agent Profile - Ok this is content, content, content!  Keywords and text links back to the site.  Take a look at the example, check out how important keywords link back to the advertiser's website.

Browse the Palm Beach Post website.  There are a lot of opportunities here for you to add this to your SEO strategy of link building.  So here are a few more examples:

• Real Estate Community Sponsorships - logo on the community and a keyword text link at the bottom of the page.
• Event Information - another map, content, reviews (see what your customers are saying) and links back to the advertiser site. I'm not going to list these out, but check out the dining guide.  Restaurants, are you paying attention?
• RSS Feed & Twitter Feed Ads - Check out the bottom right corner of the web page.  This is an RSS feed ad that links back to the advertiser's site.

So have I given you enough to link about?  Just let me know if you have any more questions. Remember even when an interactive ad is only an ad, it's a link too! Cheers!!