June Newsletter: The BP Oil Spill and Search Engines
While a battle of disastrous proportions is being waged in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as between BP and those whose lives and livelihoods have been affected by the oil spill…a small part of the war has spilled onto the search engines.
British Petroleum has been running pay-per-click ads on Google and Yahoo, offering to take searchers using keywords like “oil spill” to a microsite where they can “Learn more about how BP is helping.” A BP spokesperson explained that the PPC ads are designed to “make it easier for people to find out more about our efforts in the Gulf…(as well as) reporting oil on the beach and signing up to volunteer.” But skeptics suspect that the real goal here is to do damage control and help improve BP’s public image. (More on this.)
Experts estimate that BP is likely spending around $1 million per month on search engine marketing, both on traditional search engines and YouTube (more on this). That may not be a lot of money to BP, but a million bucks is a million bucks, and there’s no telling how long this tragedy – and BP’s campaign – will last.
This is textbook search engine reputation management, and it’s a tactic that we would recommend to any of our clients who may have negative information showing up in the search engine results pages. After all, if everyone’s talking about you, it’s simply good business sense to be participating in the conversation and presenting your side of the story.
Some opposing parties are fighting back on the search engine front as well. Law firms are bidding on similar keywords in an attempt to find victims for class action lawsuits (more on this). They’re also putting up web pages that rank high organically for search terms such as “bp oil spill lawsuit.” This isn’t unusual – personal injury lawyers that specialize in defending victims of selected medical issues that can be traced to a perpetrator with deep pockets (such as asbestos manufacturers) have often bid up to $100 per click on Google AdWords. It’s worth it for them to invest in finding victims that have a high likelihood of a big payout.
This is textbook marketing, textbook search engine marketing. Fish where the fish are and all that (no pun intended). To generate revenue for any company, you’ve got to invest in marketing to ensure you’re visible in front of your target audience. That’s how capitalism works. And certainly, there’s nothing wrong with the victims affected by the oil spill trying to get compensation.
So…the business owner in me, the search marketer in me, understands why both BP and the attorneys have turned to search engine marketing to help them attain the objectives thrust upon them by this tragedy. If either side were a Prominent Placement client, we’d likely advise them to do exactly what they’re doing.
But before I’m a business owner, before I’m a search marketer, I’m a human being. A human being whose favorite place on this Earth is the Gulf shore. I think we’re witnessing a tremendous catastrophe that’ll impact our world permanently. I mourn what’s been lost and is likely gone forever. I mourn that millions of dollars that could be spent stopping the oil from gushing from the ocean floor, or that could be spent cleaning up the water and beaches to save the wildlife, is being spent instead in doing a PR spin job and chasing ambulances.
Special thanks to PPI Account Manager and Usability Specialist Star Bradshaw for the idea for this article and some of the resources.
Company Updates
We are heads-down, onboarding new clients (official announcements to come), going through more Google Analytics training, and testing new tools for our clients this month!
Search Advisory Posts
WordPress Takes Over the World!
All coverage of The Business of WordPress conference
Industry News
Google’s New Indexing Infrastructure “Caffeine” Now Live
‘Power Eye’ Lets Consumers Know Why That Web Ad Was Sent to Them
Larry and Sergey Always Want a Happy Ending With Their Backrub (Google to beef up retargeting)
Previous Issues
May: The Latest & Greatest on Social & SEO
April: Eating My Hat (But It’s a Tasty One!)
March: Making the Most of the New Search Engine Results Pages
About Us
Prominent Placement, Inc. is an award-winning, full-service search engine marketing (SEM) firm, delivering ROI that traditional marketing channels can’t touch, with a level of service that raises the bar. Since 2001, Prominent Placement has managed the entire SEM process for clients across the U.S., empowering businesses to focus on what they do best. Prominent Placement’s customized solutions are backed by hard numbers, giving decision makers the confidence they need to make smarter decisions.
For more information, visit our website or call 888.SEM.MKTR (888.736.6587). If you’d like to learn how Prominent Placement can drive more leads for your business, contact Christine Verska at x713 or christine@prominentplacement.com.
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Looks like Google was letting BP slide on one of their rules that apply to other PPC advertisers. More here: http://searchengineland.com/google-error-bp-ad-45611.