Paisley Does Dallas Dance Music

Google This.
by Steve Plunkett

In June of this year Google was added to the Oxford English Dictionary as a verb, then to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary in July. Here is the definition:

“to search for information on the Internet, esp. using the Google search engine”

Before this, General Motors ran a commercial during the Super Bowl for its

Pontiac

brand. The TV spot showed the letters p-o-n-t-i-a-c being typed into a Google search field instead of giving the Web address www.Pontiac.com. The voiceover said, "Don’t take our word for it. Google ‘Pontiac’ to find out!"

You might think “Gee, that’s clever and hip!” Well, someone else obviously did – and sold the idea to

Pontiac

. It may be clever and hip, but

Pontiac

is sending people to a place where it has no control over the content.

The agency representing Mazda, on the other hand, knew a little bit more about search engines. It bought ads on Google because Mazda had information that compared its models to

Pontiac

models. When car shoppers Googled “Pontiac,” like the

Pontiac

commercial told them to do, the search results included a webpage that sold Mazda as a better choice than

Pontiac

. In essence, Mazda used

Pontiac

’s investment to “piggyback” some of its own advertising. Pretty shrewd move by Mazda. And

Pontiac

didn’t learn anything from the experience.

Which brings me to, as Paul Harvey would say, “the rest of the story.”

Pontiac

now runs similar spots in local markets. While watching television the other night, I saw a

Pontiac

ad that said, “Just Google ‘

Pontiac

dealers dallas-ft.worth,’” so I did. The results were pay-per-click ads for a few local

Pontiac

dealers. Problem is, studies show that quite a few people never click on pay-per-click ads. (Think about it; do you?) So, out of the predictably tiny percentage of viewers who actually did go to their computers and Google “

Pontiac

dealers dallas-ft.worth,” perhaps a fraction actually clicked the pay-per-click links to learn more. What a waste.

And for

Pontiac

, the story gets even worse.

When publishers announced that they would include the verb “Google” in their dictionaries, I blogged about the story. And because I used the phrase “Just Google Pontiac” in my post, guess what came up first in Google’s search results for “

Pontiac

dealers dallas-ft.worth.” Yep, my blog beat out the actual

Pontiac

website and the local

Pontiac

dealers’ websites.

Being the SEO specialist that I am, I decided to experiment and try some of my Internet magic. Today, when you Google “

Pontiac

dealers dallas-ft.worth,” the first result will be the article you’re reading right now. Still not

Pontiac

or

Pontiac

dealer websites. I can’t tell you how I did it. It’s a trade secret. But go ahead and try it.

The point is

Pontiac

has given up entirely too much control over its own advertising. A competitor or a prankster with the right Internet skills could hijack all of the company’s hard work, actually using

Pontiac

’s investment to take business away from

Pontiac

.

Pontiac

spent millions producing TV spots, buying airtime and reserving pay-per-click ads. To put it mildly, someone is spending a lot of money poorly.

Pontiac

should have hired an organic SEO specialist simply to optimize the websites for individual dealers and, in place of pay-per-click ads, the website of the North Texas Pontiac Dealers. If they had done that, the company would’ve saved itself a lot of money – and they’d be number one in Google instead of me, an SEO specialist with a blog.

At a time when GM needs a happier ending, “the rest of the story” could’ve been far more profitable.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 21st, 2006 at 12:53 pm and is filed under Current Affairs, DFW - local, Privacy, Random Sillyness, Search Engine Optimization, Web/Tech, Weblogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.