While I find the HOF law suit an interesting test case in the search engine arena, I’m also puzzled. If you do a search for the phrase “hearts on fire” on Google – the most popular search site – top result directs to HOF’s web site, followed by some other results, with Blue Nile nowhere to be found.
There were no “sponsored” results or ad words in the right column. Repeated on Yahoo and Live ends in the same way. That is not say that Blue Nile did not buy the search phrase “hearts on fire” or that it did not use it, just that currently, its not directing any traffic to Blue Nile.
I’m not opining on the veracity of HOF’s claim, the non-results may be an immediate outcome of the law suit. But one must wonder about the effectiveness of “buying a phrase” in general.
Is it a worthwhile marketing expenditure? Isn’t it better to optimize your site so it comes up high on the first results page?
Let me know what are your thoughts on this and if you found this tactic useful in your marketing.
