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Comment by saycheese | Hacker News Reader

Why have you taken this approach to monetizing this SEO optimization method, instead of other options, for example PPC arbitrage?

Why A/B testing and not a more complex statistical hypothesis testing method?

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The biggest reason is that there's so much more volume in organic search (80% of all clicks) vs paid search (20%), and the ROI on SEO is so high. There's also so many companies in the PPC space -- it's quite saturated. SEO is appealing to us because we think it's overlooked due to stigma.

SEO and PPC are really two very different games overall, but I have a ton of respect for people who are really good at PPC.

Thanks, just to be clear, I mean you generate the clicks via SEO and selling them on a PPC, lead, etc. basis.

Oh, I misunderstood. Good question. A lot of people have suggested this. The main reason we've avoided it is complexity, but it's something we might revisit. I'd also be concerned about customers not having an easy way to understand our pricing.

>> "I'd also be concerned about customers not having an easy way to understand our pricing."

That would likely to be best expressed relative to major PPC players like Google.

For example, "clicks are 20% cheaper than Google for the same keywords."

Anyway, just nitpicking, awesome solution to a big problem. Good luck!

Thanks for the thoughtful questions! :)

I think this is a super compelling idea. : ) Thanks!

> Why A/B testing and not a more complex statistical hypothesis testing method?

We like simple! We only take on extra complexity if it's worthwhile.

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