This website has been created for a second year mathematics project called ‘Inside Google’, for the module ‘Maths at Work’ at the University of Leeds. Our brief states we are from a search engine optimisation company called Pretty Damn Click and this is one of 3 outputs to the project. This output aims to give an overview of Google AdWords and explain some of the maths associated with it.
You can see a video here with the CEO of Search Laboratory, Ian Harris, talking to us about search engine optimisation.
“A sample of over 8 million clicks shows that over 94% of users clicked on a first page result” (3) and as Google dominates the search engine market it is extremely important for businesses to use techniques that will improve their position in a Google search (1.P130).
Google displays results according to a site’s PageRank and relevancy to the search. PageRank is based on an algorithm which gives sites a score out of 10 depending on factors such as site content and how many related and trustworthy sites link to the website (5.P737).
Another way to achieve a position on the first page of a Google search is by using Google AdWords which is an advertising package (2.P103). It is run in the style of an auction, where businesses place bids on keywords on a daily basis (6.P22.2). When a keyword is searched for their advert will appear on the top or side of the results page. The position of the ad depends on the price they pay and their quality score. If a user clicks on the ad the business pays Google an already agreed amount, hence it is called pay-per-click bidding.
1. B. Mordkovich, E. Mordkovich, Pay-Per-Click search engine marketing handbook: low cost strategies for attracting new customers using Google, MSN, Yahoo and other search engines, New York Mordcomm, 2007.
2. D. Viney, Get to the top on Google: Tips and Techniques to Get Your Site to the Top of the Search Engine Rankings – and Stay There, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2008.
3. T. Jenson, 2nd Page Rankings: You’re the #1 Loser, [online], 2011, [Accessed 27 November 2012].
5. K. Kennedy, B.B. Kennedy, A small company’s dilemma: using search engines effectively for corporate sales, Management Research News [online], 2008, Vol.31 No.10, pp737-745. [Accessed 16 November 2012].
6. A. Mehta, A. Saberi, U. Vazirani, V. Vazirani, AdWords and Generalized Online Matching, Journal of the ACM [online], 2007, Vol.54 No.5, Article 22. [Accessed 16 November 2012].
Pretty Damn Click 