Keyword Ownership: What It Is and Where It's Headed? By: Richard
Zwicky Published: August 20, 2003, SiteProNews.
Have you ever got one of those silly emails that offers to let
you own a keyword? Silly question. How many such emails do you
get every day?
A number of such services regularly email me offering keyword
ownership of premium keywords for $300/year. They say that
anyone can type the keyword I bought in the address bar of
Internet explorer, instead of typing in a URL, and they will be
sent directly to my site. In total it seems that there are about
2% of Internet users worldwide who have enabled one type or
another of this system, spread out between a few competitive
services.
Data shows that between 4% and 7% of search queries are
performed by entering something in the address bar. By default
for IE users, these searches are automatically routed through to
MSN search. Many of us however have installed so much software
over time, and unknowingly, some of this software has re-routed
these search queries to other search portals, such as iGetNet,
or others. This often happens if you've installed any file
sharing software. We have all heard / read about how many extra
'features' come with programs like Kazaa. This means that your
default search from the address bar may no longer be MSN, and
may have been rerouted elsewhere, but the basic principle still
applies. Of the queries that are actually run from an address
bar, at least half of them are unintentionally instigated by
people mistyping the desired URL. This means that between 2% and
4% of Internet users actually search via their address bar.
So how exactly do these address bars work? There are many of
these companies offering this kind of service, with each one of
them selling the very same keywords to different and sometimes
competing companies. To make things worse, the keywords you
might buy will only work with the issuing companys proprietary
address bar plug-in. Then, to actually offer search capabilities
from the address bar, each of these service providers needs to
get individual Internet users to download and install their
plug-in, and remember to run searches from the address bar.
How effective can a marketing strategy of this nature be when
the various tools are not interchangeable, theres numerous
competitors selling the same key words to different companies,
and you are targeting only a small fraction of Internet users?
If your ad is being displayed because its similar to the search
query, are you paying for irrelevant results? This can happen;
If there is not a perfect match to a search query, the next
closest match may be displayed.
Competing with these companies is any search engine that offers
its own toolbar. You can download a toolbar from any number of
engines, and run searches on any key word or phrase quickly and
easily. You then get the search engines selection of closest
matches, from all the web sites they have indexed. They offer
more than just one choice, and dont cost anything
Who Started This? Started in 1998, Realnames was the first
company that tied searching via the address bar to a web
browser. At the time, it was touted as a value added solution
for businesses around the world who were attempting to get their
products found quickly, but didn't want customers to have to
wade through a sea of Web addresses to reach their destination.
In part, it was deemed necessary because so few web site
operators were search engine savvy, and fewer still knew
anything about search engine optimization and promotion. What
the Realnames solution did was allow a web site operator to buya
keyword, and then when any user of Internet Explorer would type
that keyword into the IE address toolbar, they would get
directed to the web site that owned the keyword.
The company hoped to profit from businesses which wanted to
reach Internet users who would type keywords into their browsers
address bar instead of remembering the url, or going through a
standard search interface.
Unfortunately for the company, the service was entirely
dependent on Microsoft; and when Microsoft stopped supporting
the technology in May 2002, the company was forced to close. The
reason it was so totally dependent was simple; Unlike the new
companies on the market today, Realnames did not depend on an
end user downloading and installing a plugin, instead it was
essentially integrated into Internet Explorer by Microsoft.
Therefore everyone who used IE automatically had the plugin.
The Legal Question Each of the companies offering these services
has a policy designed to ensure that a web site only buys
keywords related to their content, and their review process is
designed to keep cybersquatters from hijacking popular names and
products. Unfortunately, there is no way to guarantee that any
one of these keyword ownership services adheres to any naming
standard, or even ensures that any purchaser has the legal right
to any of the terms they are buying. This means that the rights
to copyrighted material like "Pepsi" or generic words like
"business" could end up in the hands of the first buyer. While
Pepsiis a well known brand name, there are millions of
copyrighted and trademark protected terms, covered in multiple
jurisdictions. For these services to police copyright and
trademark infringement would not be cost effective or practical.
In the summer of 1999, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit, denied Playboy's request for an injunction barring a
search engine from selling advertising based on the terms
playboyand playmate. In the precedent setting ruling regarding
keyword advertising, Judge Stotler of the United States District
Court in Santa, Ana, California, dismissed a lawsuit brought by
Playboy Enterprises against the search engine Excite, Inc. and
Netscape. The ruling limited the online rights of trademark
holders, as it recognized that a trademark may be used without
authorization by search engines in advertising sales practices.
Playboy claimed that the search engines were displaying paid
banner ads from pornographic web sites whenever "playboy" or
"playmate" were used as a search term. As the owner of the
trademarks for both terms, Playboy argued that the use of its
trademarks for a third party sales scheme was trademark
infringement and branding dilution.
In the ruling dismissing Playboy's case, the Judge found that
Excite had not used the trademarks "playboy" and "playmate" in
an unlawful manner. This was because Excite had not used the
trademarked words to identify Excites own goods or services and
therefore trademark infringement laws did not apply. It was
further determined that even if there was trademark usage, there
was no infringement because there was no evidence that consumers
confused Playboy products with the services of Excite or
Netscape.
What about within Meta Tags? Is it illegal to use trademarked
terms in your meta tags? Sometimes. The problem occurs with how
and why you are using the terms. Web sites that use the tags in
a deceptive manner have lost legal battles. However, legitimate
reasons to use the terms have resulted in successful defenses.
In a case involving Playboy, the firm was able to prove
trademark infringement, based on use of their trademark in meta
tags, url and content on the web site. The case was filed by the
firm against web site operators for stuffing their web pages
with the words Playboyand Playmatehundreds of times.
Furthermore, the defendants were also using the terms Playboy
and Playmate in the site names, URLs, and slogans. In this case
the Judge ruled for Playboy, as there was a clear case of
trademark infringement.
In the separate case, Playboy vs. Terri Welles, the court
refused Playboys request. The reason was simple. Terri Welles
was Playboy's 1981 Playmate of the Year. She had used the terms
"Playmate" and "Playboy" on her web pages and within her meta
tags, and the Court felt she had a legitimate right to use them
to accurately describe herself, and to ensure that the search
engines could catalog her web site properly within their
databases. Playboy's appeal was dismissed on Feb. 1, 2002.
In Summary It is clear that if you have a legitimate reason to
use a trademarked word or phrase in your web site you can. You
may also rent their ownership from one of the keyword
ownershipcompanies. Be careful, though, it is possible that may
get sued.
Does the technology work? Yes, but only for some of the
approximately 3% of Internet users worldwide who have installed
any one of a variety of competing plugins that enable this type
of searching. I stress a fraction of the 3%, as you would need
to buy the keywords from each individual vendor to ensure
reaching all 2%.
About the author:
Richard Zwicky is a founder and the CEO of Metamend Software,
www.metamend.com, a Victoria B.C. based firm whose cutting edge
Search Engine Optimization software is recognized as the world
leader in its field. Employing a staff of 10, the firm's
business comes from around the world, with clients from every
continent. Most recently the company was recognized for their
geo-locational, or GIS, along with their phraseology technology
and context sensitive search technologies.
