How Important Is Search to Users?

JANUARY 27, 2009


Lisa E. Phillips, Senior Analyst

The percentage of Internet users who are searching online varies by study, but its popularity is undeniable. According to the TNS “Digital World, Digital Life” report, 81% of Internet users worldwide used search engines in 2008—which raises the question, what are the other 19% doing?

In the US, 89% of all Internet users searched in April–May 2008. However, the Pew Internet & American Life Project found usage actually varied by access technology and location. Fewer dial-up users conducted searches than did people with a broadband connection at home, at 80% versus 94%. Internet users at home and at work used search in the same proportions—95% of each group.

Interestingly, the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future found that 21% of respondents used a search engine as their homepage in 2007—more than double the response in 2005. Internet portals such as Yahoo!, AOL and MSN declined in popularity as homepages between the two years.

Another indication that search is a necessary function for many Internet users is their willingness to pay for the privilege of using a Website. In October 2008, Rubicon Consulting polled 3,036 Internet users over the age of 12 about which sites they would pay to use if the fee were a nominal $2 per month. More than one-half (52%) said they would pay to use Google, with Yahoo! a distant second at 22% of respondents. Access to social media sites—YouTube, Wikipedia and Facebook—was considered more imperative than to retail, auction and classified sites such as Amazon, eBay and craigslist.

Searching for New Customers in the Recession?

FEBRUARY 25, 2009

Hiding in plain sight

It makes sense when you think about it. As tough times force many customers to buy less—and to be pickier about what they do buy—search is becoming ever more important to marketers.

“The recession is driving marketers to concentrate on gaining new business, even more than on customer retention objectives,” says David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Search Marketing Trends: Back to Basics. “Search is the ultimate online acquisition tool, and therefore is positioned to do relatively well in this economy.”

The four basic search options are paid search, contextual advertising, paid inclusion—all three are types of advertising—and search engine optimization (SEO).

All four options will experience increased spending through 2013. By then eMarketer estimates total US search marketing outlays will surpass $23 billion.

“While paid search traditionally has gotten most of the attention and money,” says Mr. Hallerman, “as they seek to acquire new customers, marketers are increasingly turning to SEO.”

There are key differences between paid search and SEO.

“Paid search’s effects are immediate, but marketers need to spend consistently for sponsored-link ads to appear in search queries,” says Mr. Hallerman. “SEO takes time, and marketers need to constantly maintain their Websites to sustain high organic results.”

As marketers better understand the purpose of Website optimization in their overall campaigns, compared with the other three types of search marketing, SEO spending will grow at a higher yearly rate.

“Customers are going to search engines because they are looking for better deals,” says Mr. Hallerman. “And marketers are going to search engines because that’s where the customers are.”

US Search Market Share Stabilizing

MARCH 5, 2009

Has Google really stopped growing?

According to Compete, Google lost a small percentage of the overall share of online searches in the US. The loss was absorbed by Yahoo!, Ask.com and AOL, all of which grew slightly.

For the past six months, Google’s search share has remained at 70%.

comScore data shows a similar trend. While the firm sees a different overall share of the search market, the top sites’ shares have remained mostly unchanged over the past six months.

Barring a merger, the US search market is not expected to change for the foreseeable future.

What does that mean for the search market, and marketers?

“That Google’s share of total US search queries seems to be stabilizing in the 60% to 70% range—depending on the source—seems like a bigger roadblock to growth than it is,” said David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer.

“First off, query count alone only partially contributes to search engine revenues. More important is the engine’s ability to place relevant sponsored-link ads in search results—and Google is still the champ at that game.

“Secondly, the growth of total search queries is astounding. By some estimates, US Internet users will enter 21 billion more queries in 2010 than this year. So there are still increasing opportunities to monetize search results.”

Mr. Hallerman continued, “From the marketer’s point of view, however, stabilized search share growth is likely a good thing. The more that Google has healthy competition from Yahoo!, MSN and Ask.com—to name just three—the more that marketers have options in creating viable search campaigns.”

Searching for New Customers in the Recession?

FEBRUARY 25, 2009

Hiding in plain sight

It makes sense when you think about it. As tough times force many customers to buy less—and to be pickier about what they do buy—search is becoming ever more important to marketers.

“The recession is driving marketers to concentrate on gaining new business, even more than on customer retention objectives,” says David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Search Marketing Trends: Back to Basics. “Search is the ultimate online acquisition tool, and therefore is positioned to do relatively well in this economy.”

The four basic search options are paid search, contextual advertising, paid inclusion—all three are types of advertising—and search engine optimization (SEO).

All four options will experience increased spending through 2013. By then eMarketer estimates total US search marketing outlays will surpass $23 billion.

“While paid search traditionally has gotten most of the attention and money,” says Mr. Hallerman, “as they seek to acquire new customers, marketers are increasingly turning to SEO.”

There are key differences between paid search and SEO.

“Paid search’s effects are immediate, but marketers need to spend consistently for sponsored-link ads to appear in search queries,” says Mr. Hallerman. “SEO takes time, and marketers need to constantly maintain their Websites to sustain high organic results.”

As marketers better understand the purpose of Website optimization in their overall campaigns, compared with the other three types of search marketing, SEO spending will grow at a higher yearly rate.

“Customers are going to search engines because they are looking for better deals,” says Mr. Hallerman. “And marketers are going to search engines because that’s where the customers are.”

US Search Ad Spending Falters?

FEBRUARY 6, 2009

Report shows quarterly decline, but that’s only part of the picture.

Search advertising used to be reliable and solid, but growth is slowing even in this stalwart segment of the online economy.

US search advertising spending fell 8% year over year in Q4 2008, according to search marketing firm Efficient Frontier. The company said it was the first quarterly decline on a year-over-year basis since it began monitoring search ad spending.

Reductions among smaller companies that spend less than $50,000 on search ads per month were even more profound: Efficient Frontier said such firms cut their spending by 23% year over year. Advertisers that spend more than $200,000 on search monthly cut spending by 9%, while those that spend between $50,000 and $200,000 held relatively flat.

Search ad spending among financial advertisers fell 20%, and automotive spending dropped 15% for Q4 2008 versus Q4 2007. Retail advertisers increased spending 9% in Q4.

“You need to read between the lines when examining the new search data from Efficient Frontier,” said David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst. “Even though the SEM company says US search ad spending fell by 8% in Q4 2008, reported earnings from the major search companies counter that data.

“For example, Google’s US net search revenues in Q4 were up by 17% year over year. And over 65% of the US search market belongs to Google. Furthermore, Yahoo! reported that its US search revenues in Q4 were up by 18%—and that portal has an 11% market share.

“One must conclude that the Efficient Frontier data, based as it is on its own client base, reflects the particular financial problems of those verticals. Those include financial services, travel and entertainment, retail, and automotive.”

While US search advertising is still expected to grow 14.9% in 2009 to $12.3 billion, that rate is down from 21.4% in 2008, according to eMarketer. For 2010 through 2013, search ad spending growth estimates are choppy.

B2B SEARCH ENGINE Marketers Should Embrace "Tire Kickers"

Should marketers avoid paying for prospects who are early in the buying process and not ready to submit personal information or be contacted by a sales person? Should these "tire kickers" be avoided so that marketers can focus their attention on generating more valuable, sales-ready leads? While this approach may seem logical at first, I believe it is short-sighted and ultimately leaves a lot of money on the table.

Early-buying-phase searchers

One of the biggest challenges I've experienced working with B2B marketers is overcoming their belief that if a searcher doesn't immediately register, sign-up, download, or complete a Contact Us form, then the prospect is not valuable and not worth the effort or the price of the click.

Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. I believe there is huge value in utilizing search marketing to reach prospects early and frequently throughout the entire buying cycle - including the very first stages. Getting in front of prospects early allows you to cost-effectively support your brand, generate a larger volume of high-quality leads, and improve overall marketing ROI.

Understand how business buyers use search engines

According to recent research from Forrester and Enquiro's 2007 B2B Survey, business buyers use search engines most frequently at the beginning of the buying process, during the awareness and research phases. Buyers actually use search engines less frequently when they are ready to negotiate and purchase a high-consideration product or service.

My colleague Jon Miller also supports this premise and recently wrote about buyers using search engines early in the process and long before they are ready to engage with a sales person.

Align your search programs with buyer behavior

Instead of being frustrated by this fact or ignoring the realities of buyer behavior, B2B marketers should embrace this process and proactively align their marketing programs with the various phases of the buying cycle.

For example, let's look at a search advertising campaign for a company selling database software.

Early-Phase Campaign
A successful pay-per-click (PPC) search ad campaign designed to reach early-phase
prospects would have the following attributes:

• Keywords include general, broad search phrases such as database application software and database software information.
• Ad copy appeals to researchers and fact finders and might include statements such as database market trends or database application tips and advice.
• Landing pages provide general market information and calls-to-action such as download market trend report or review database application options.

Late-Phase Campaign
In contrast, a late-phase search campaign would look like this.

• Keywords are much more specific and include many long-tail phrases, such as web based medical databases.
• Ad copy may focus on specific features, product comparisons, and buying tips. For example, Compare database application features or Find the right application for you.
• Landing pages offer information and downloadable assets that address specific buying needs, such as Download product and pricing options. View software comparison chart. Request a custom quote, or, yes... Contact Us.

Manage multiple types of programs

To reach the largest number of qualified prospects, marketers must manage multiple
types of programs designed to proactively reach prospects at various phases of the buying process.

Understanding this requirement is critical to search marketing success, because the brutal reality is that not everyone who finds your site is a sales-ready lead. Remember, not all conversions are qualified inquiries and not all inquires are qualified leads. A lead scoring and nurturing program is required to fully capitalize on search-generated inquires and to convert web inquiries into bonafide sales leads.

Track prospects' behavior over time

How can you determine if first time clickers later become inquiries, leads, and customers? Marketers should track first-time visitors, and their subsequent visits, and their online actions over time. Segment your web analytics data as needed, but at least identify and separate all visitors, search visitors, and paid search visitors. The idea is to understand prospects' behavior before they become a conversion or a lead.

You will see that over time, a percentage of first time clickers who do not take any desired action (i.e., tire kickers) return to your website and sign-up for email information, download a white paper, or register for a webinar. And eventually, some will request to be contacted by a sales representative, becoming leads and ultimately customers.

Embrace the buying process

Remember, business buyers go through a process that involves search engines, especially at the beginning. Very few searchers become qualified sales leads on their first visit. More often, the process takes time and requires multiple searches and visits before a meaningful sales interaction can take place.

Embrace the fact that prospects use search engines early and frequently, and are in control of their own buying process. Get your brand in front of these prospects. Proactively penetrate the market segments you want to pursue. Differentiate yourself from the competition.

Strive to track prospects after the first click and before the conversion event. Measure repeat visits and website actions over time. I think you'll find that tire kickers are a lot more valuable than you originally thought!

A Google Reality Check

APRIL 3, 2008


David Hallerman, Senior Analyst

Last week, MarketWatch quoted comScore data showing a second straight month of slower growth in paid clicks for Google's main ad-serving business.

A note from Bank of America (BofA) analyst Brian Pitz pointed out that the comScore data showed a mere 3% growth in Google's paid clicks in February compared with the same month a year earlier.

MarketWatch also noted reduced growth in Google's paid clicks in January, again reported by comScore, and concluded that these results could cause concern about the company's economic health.

Pause for a reality check. Growth in US online ad spending is indeed slowing. However, let's remember that this means smaller increases but still increases. Slower growth is a world away from a fall.

It would be very hasty to infer from slower growth in the number of paid clicks that Google is in an economically weak position. Relative to the three other major portals, Google's position is one of great strength even with slightly reduced growth this year.

The paid click measurement is critical for Google because the company's business is dominated by search advertising services.

Looking at data from five key researchers reinforces confidence in Google's short-term prospects. There is a robust degree of consensus that US spending on search advertising will increase by more than 20%, despite a temporarily weak economy.

eMarketer's online ad spending projections factor in a US economic slowdown in 2008. Learn more in the US Online Advertising: Resilient in a Rough Economy report.

Grabbing Those Valuable Search Minutes

FEBRUARY 4, 2008

Paid search continues to attract a large proportion of US online ad spending.

How much do advertisers spend for paid search relative to the audience for those ads?

Viewed by the people marketers look to reach, the 40% share for paid search can appear outlandish. Relative to the time people spend using search engines, companies put more into paid search ads compared to display ads on content sites.

That gap is greater for paid search than nearly any other form of advertising.

According to ongoing research from the Online Publishers Association and Nielsen//NetRatings, US Internet users in 2007 will spend less than 5% of their online time using search versus nearly 50% of their time on content sites.

Yet in 2007, paid search advertisers spent $5.07 per hour of consumer search usage, compared with only 49 cents per hour spent for display advertising for the time users spent on content sites.

"When search is effective, people find what they need and go away, and that greatly reduces the time spent on sites," said David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer. "But when content is effective, people want to stick around."

Nevertheless, a 10:1 ratio between search and display dollars points to the importance of Internet search engine users in contrast to their brief time spent searching.

Survey: Search Pros Managing Massive Budgets Have Little Experience

by Tameka Kee, Thursday, Jan 10, 2008 8:00 AM ET

ABOUT A THIRD OF ALL in-house search pros are managing budgets of more than $200,000 per month--and some 40% of these budget bigwigs have three years of experience or less, according to stats from the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization's (SEMPO) inaugural In-House SEM Salary Survey.
"The $200K monthly spend is a healthy barometer of the search marketing industry and it syncs up with SEMPO's current trend projections that SEM spending will double by 2011, to more than $18 billion," said Duane Forrester, co-chair of SEMPO's In-House SEM Committee and Lead SEO Program Manager with Microsoft. "We anticipated a lower ceiling of monthly spend closer to the $100,000 range, so we were pleasantly surprised."

While the survey results show that marketers are pumping dollars into search, they also highlight the need for search to mature as an industry. Just about a third of respondents managing $200,000+ budgets had between three and five years of experience, and 26% had five years or more.

This lack of relatively tenured in-house search pros is what allows the more experienced practitioners to command six-figure salaries, as 21% of those with between three and five years of experience were bringing in at least $100K annually--and 26% of respondents with five or more years of experience clocked in over $200K per year. In contrast, just 8% of respondents with three years of experience or less were making at least $100K. Roughly half of all of these less-tenured in-house search pros earned between $30K and $50K.

According to Rob Crigler, co-chair of SEMPO's In-House SEM Committee and director of interactive marketing for Orkin, the salary spread is evidence that the search industry already is maturing--as candidates will often have to manage large budgets and deliver results before gaining a title and the salary that comes with it. "You can't just be a hotshot search geek and think you're going to walk in to a six-figure in-house job off the street," Crigler said. "That might have been the case a few years ago, but you have to pay some dues now."

Is Search Still Worth It?

OCTOBER 23, 2007

The SEO effect is great, but gauging ROI is tough.

Search marketing budgets are set to increase in 2008, according to MarketingSherpa's "Search Marketing Benchmark Survey."

Responding marketers said they planned to increase their pay-per-click budgets by at least 11% in 2008. One-third of search marketers whose spending was average said they planned to do so on Google AdWords. Respondents rated both PPC and search engine optimization as effective search marketing tactics. "Just as the personal nature of word of mouth makes it one of the most accepted forms of marketing among consumers, so is search engine optimization, a somewhat stronger tactic for increasing ROI than is paid search advertising," said David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer.

"That's because for SEO, as with word of mouth, the absence of overt marketing cues makes it a more powerful influencer," he said. "At the same time, the more subtle nature of SEO makes it harder for marketers to gauge than more traditional direct response media such as e-mail or paid search."

MarketingSherpa said that most of the budgets were growing because search marketers thought that keyword prices would go up, according to Stefan Tornquist, the company's research director.

"The concern over rising prices has been ongoing, but it's reached a new high," Mr. Tornquist said in a Search Engine Watch article.

Respondents ranked SEO as the second most effective tactic behind house e-mail marketing.

SEO spending is past due for some marketers, judging by an August 2007 study by Oneupweb. While one-fifth of the top 100 US online retailer Web sites were well optimized, more than one-quarter were not optimized at all.

Search Marketing, Meet Pay-Per-Call

OCTOBER 15, 2007


An interview with Marc Barach, chief marketing officer of Ingenio

Pay-per-click is fine for promoting Web sales, but pay-per-call offers an alternative for companies without transactional sites. Pay-per-call works on auction pricing and encourages consumers to call instead of click.

Marc Barach was president/CEO of I-Impact, chief marketing officer of InsWeb and vice president of marketing at Charles Schwab.

In 2002, Mr. Barach joined Ingenio, a pay-per-call ad service provider. eMarketer spoke with him about how pay-per-call fits into the search marketing landscape.

eMarketer: What is pay-per-call?

Marc Barach: It's a pay-per-performance unit similar to pay-per-click.

Pay-per-call is good for local, service-based firms. Online ads run free, and the advertising company appears in search results, which include a unique phone number for the advertiser. Billing is based on those phone calls. It opens up search marketing to companies that aren’t online. It's also good for brochureware-type Web sites or other non-transactional sites.

eMarketer: How does it work?

Mr. Barach: When advertisers sign up with us, we collect information from them, including what they sell and their location. We create text ads for them. They choose the geographical location they want to cover, from a two-mile radius up to national coverage. They also choose a business category in which to advertise, bid for how much they’ll pay for completed calls and set up a payment plan.

eMarketer: How does this compare to other search marketing ad networks?

Mr. Barach: We aren’t a search distribution site. We make deals with companies like Microsoft Mobile, AOL and InfoSpace. The searches get passed along to Ingenio based on geography and the other categories specified by the advertiser. Advertisers get sent back from Ingenio based on auction, like other paid search.

What gets displayed, instead of the advertiser’s site, is what advertisers tell us during sign-up. On the consumer side, those who call are very close to the sale.

eMarketer: You mentioned Microsoft Mobile. How does pay-per-call work with mobile marketing?

Mr. Barach: We create audio ads. It's part of free directory assistance. Our advertisers sponsor free 411 calls. The average call price for those is between $8 and $10, which is eight or nine times an average click price. Those customers are more valuable because they're already on the phone.

eMarketer: Who is the competition?

Mr. Barach: Several firms have click-to-call and call forwarding. Pay-per-call is more of an ad system. Idearc also offers an alternative to yellow pages ads, but they do not have a network with search distribution sites. Google is testing similar technology. We believe pay-per-call is coming in a much bigger way soon.

eMarketer: How about integrated campaigns?

Mr. Barach: Pay-per-call can be provided through APIs [application programming interfaces], which would then give a unified view to customers, allow tracking by account execs and the like. Many clients have created fully integrated views—these are for huge customers. Smaller firms just have a pay-per-call account.

eMarketer: And metrics?

Mr. Barach: It's near real-time information, including the call source and duration. Clients can get push and pull data.

eMarketer: Do clients sometimes misunderstand pay-per-call?

Mr. Barach: Not really. We deal with a lot of early adopters, and pay-per-click did a good job of educating people. For people who are completely new to the Internet, even paid search can be challenging to explain.

For small businesses, managing keywords can be a pain, so we have business-level advertising, which takes care of the keywords. Clients select up to five business categories, which are similar to yellow pages categories.

eMarketer: What else should marketers know about pay-per-call?

Mr. Barach: For online marketers, the main thing to know is that growth will occur from product innovation, not from stealing market share. Marketers need to stay current and experiment. There are no guarantees as to what will work.

PowerReviews and Endeca Partner to Deliver Customer-Guided Shopping Experiences Based on User Generated Content

Tag-based Reviews and Guided Navigation Experience Drive Social Navigation of Shopping Sites

http://www.powerreviews.com/social-shopping/news/press_endeca_partner_08212007.html

Cambridge, Mass. & Millbrae, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PowerReviews™ (www.powerreviews.com), a leader in customer reviews and social merchandising solutions for online retailers, and Endeca Technologies, Inc. (www.endeca.com), an enterprise information access software company, today announced a partnership to enhance the online shopping experience by extending Guided Navigation®, search and dynamic merchandising capabilities through the use of “tag-based” customer reviews. Endeca’s signature Guided Navigation experience combined with PowerReviews’ tag-based customer reviews gives shoppers first-of-their kind abilities to explore, find and compare products by uniquely relevant criteria and peer recommendations. Shoppers can narrow product selection based on their specific lifestyles, intended uses and desired “pros” and “cons” in the product. The resulting experience offers a preview of the next generation storefront, and is designed to boost conversion rates, increase customer satisfaction and provide competitive differentiation over sites that simply offer product page level reviews.

Customer reviews and ratings have become an integral part of online shopping decisions – 71% of online shoppers read reviews before they purchase a product online, based on a recent Forrester Research study. In addition, customer reviews and ratings are rated the #1 most helpful website feature in making informed product decisions, with 92% of customers finding them extremely or very helpful in making online shopping decisions, according to an April 2006 study by the eTailing group and J.C. Williams Consultancy.

“Customer reviews have long played an important role informing the purchase of new products both on and off line. By working with pioneers like PowerReviews -- and combining the best of both technologies -- we’re now able to inject this valuable information seamlessly into the user’s shopping experience in ways that were not previously possible,” said Matt Eichner, SVP Strategic Marketing and Development, Endeca. “Our early work with PowerReviews highlights the extensibility of the Endeca platform and foreshadows innovations to come in the very near future.”

Social navigation is an emerging capability that leverages user generated content – reviews, opinions, recommendations, posts – to create new ways to explore, find and analyze information. In the case of Endeca and PowerReviews, this is achieved by leveraging user-generated tags (pros, cons, and best uses of products reviewed using PowerReviews) combined with product characteristics (price, brand, specifications) to present a cohesive and comprehensive collection of refinements and navigation options. This is made possible using Endeca’s core MDEX Engine™ technology, which takes PowerReviews’ ever-changing user-review content and displays dynamic refinements with the speed and flexibility to allow shoppers to choose the path that suits them best.

The first live example of this “tag-based” approach to social navigation can be seen on PowerReviews’ shopping research portal -- Buzzillions.com. Buzzillions demonstrates the ease and power of customer-guided shopping, utilizing the combined capabilities of PowerReviews and Endeca. For instance, the Digital Camera page on Buzzillions.com (www.Buzzillions.com/digitalcameras) illustrates how a consumer can find a digital camera that is ideally suited to him based on his photography lifestyle, interests and intended camera uses. With just a few clicks, the consumer answers questions relating to his affinity group (people like him), intended uses, pros he is seeking and cons he would like to avoid, and narrows the product selection from 536 digital cameras to a handful to look at more closely.

“As both a client and a partner, we have seen first hand the incredible opportunities this partnership creates with the use of social navigation on our shopping research portal Buzzillions.com,” said CEO Andy Chen. “And as we see it, we provide the “social” and Endeca provides the “navigation,” and together we provide the opportunity for any retailer to experience the customer satisfaction, trust and sales benefits first hand.”

About Endeca™
Endeca is a next-generation information access company, uniting the ease of search with the analytical power of business intelligence. Combining patented intellectual property, breakthrough science and a deep focus on user experience, the Endeca Information Access Platform helps people find, analyze and understand information in ways never before possible. Leading global organizations like ABN AMRO, Bank of America, Boeing, Cox Newspapers, Dice, The (US) Defense Intelligence Agency, The Home Depot, Hyatt, IBM, John Deere, The Library of Congress, Nike, and Walmart.com rely on Endeca to power business-critical applications that increase revenue, reduce costs and streamline operations. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, USA, Endeca is a private company with worldwide operations. For more information: www.endeca.com or info@endeca.com.

About PowerReviews
PowerReviews is an enterprise solutions company that provides customer reviews and social merchandising solutions to multi-channel retailers, driving higher conversion and increased purchase satisfaction. PowerReviews’ patent-pending PowerTags™ technology captures customer opinions in their own words, making reviews more useful for shoppers, empowering them to make more informed and confident purchase decisions. Its customers include Staples, ToysRus, Ace Hardware, Ritz Camera, The Sports Authority, over 100 more. With the introduction of Buzzillions.com, the company has entered the consumer shopping portal market, leveraging its tag-based technology to introduce social navigation and affinity recommendations into the shopping research process for consumers. Based in Millbrae, California, PowerReviews is a privately held company with funding from leading venture capital firms Menlo Ventures and Draper Richards. For more information on the company, visit www.PowerReviews.com To experience the shopping benefits from Buzzillions, visit www.Buzzillions.com.

# # #

Editor's Contact:

Lisa Tarter
TidalWave PR
415-440-4278
lisatarter@yahoo.com

Search Retargeting: Brought To You By 24/7 Real Media

September 10th 2007

Today, 24/7 Real Media introduced search retargeting, a technique which is used to target and serve digital advertising on the Global Web Alliance, the company’s media network.

Search retargeting allows marketers to customize and target display advertising by keywords on user searches on an engine like Yahoo or Google. This feature compliments the other targeting options offered by 24/7 Real Media including, behavioral targeting, geo-targeting, contextual targeting and traditional retargeting.

Display ad creative is able to be dynamically modified depending on the keyword or group of keywords typed in. This will make it possible for advertisers to keep end-users engaged for a higher click-through rate and higher conversion.

Director of product marketing for 24/7 Real Media, Inc. Brain Lesser said, “Search retargeting offers marketers the ability to link display campaigns with search, an important step in providing integrated advertising strategies that take advantage of the Internet’s vast reach and targeting potential. Techniques like behavioral targeting and demographic targeting give advertisers a better idea of what users might be looking for, but search retargeting allows advertisers to serve ads based on what they know a particular consumer is interested in buying.”

Part of this new capability is that 24/7 now offers consolidation for search and media performance reporting, giving more sophisticated optimization. CEO of 24/7 Real Media, Inc. David J. Moore said, “Marketers have seen the tremendous potential of digital advertising and will continue to shift resources from offline media to digital media.”

Keeping Up With Complexity: Matching Google At Its Algorithm Game

by Ellen Siminoff, Friday, August 24, 2007

SEVERAL WEEKS AGO, I HAD the pleasure of speaking on a panel at the RBC Capital Markets North American Technology Conference with several online marketing experts. Our group acknowledged that paid search is becoming increasingly complex, requiring search engine marketers to use more sophisticated methods to manage their campaigns.

It was little surprise when later that day Google announced yet another change to its AdWords program, this time to the way it generates "top placement" ads, which appear above the search results instead of in the righthand column. Google said in its blog: "Advertisers often aim for top placement because they find that their ads perform the best when they appear above Google search results. We have, however, been working on an improvement to the top ad placement formula that will soon offer advertisers more control over achieving top placement while increasing the quality of our ad results for users."

Google didn't give details of the changes to its system, which normally generates top placement ads via a two-pronged formula based on the ad's Quality Score -- which measures variables like click-through rate (CTR), ad relevance, landing page quality and the cost-per-click (CPC) of the keyword. Up until now, Google considered the actual CPC when generating top placements, but will now use the maximum CPC. This means Google will bump more ads to the top placement based on the maximum an advertiser is willing to pay for the keyword -- instead of the actual cost paid. Google says this will give advertisers more control over getting their ad into the top spot, but, of course, it also encourages them to raise their maximum CPC bids, which will generate more revenue for Google.

It will take weeks for advertisers to determine the impact, if any, of the change for their overall paid search budgets and individual keyword performance. But what is immediately obvious is that Google is playing an algorithm game to maximize revenue per page. Advertisers need to act now to develop a strategy that takes advantage of this new top placement system -- and be ready in the future when Google implements further changes.

Search engine marketers who use a rules-based approach to campaign management have their work cut out for them. This strategy -- which relies on manually setting specific rules for groups of keywords (for example, "Don't bid more than $2" or "Ensure placement higher than position #3") -- requires advertisers to spend hours poring over spreadsheets and reports to determine the impact of any changes to their paid search spend. Even after they've figured out the impact, they have to devise ways of reacting to losses.

A better approach to maximizing the return on your paid search spend is to match Google at its algorithm game. Marketers should seek out solutions that automate bid management using algorithms that optimize against the variables determining Google's quality score. In addition to providing a higher ROI, effective bid management algorithms should be able to detect and self-adjust to AdWords changes in a matter of days -- automatically bidding accordingly on the right keywords and optimizing campaigns to get the best placement.

If you think paid search is complicated now, just wait until display and video ads become biddable, dozens of new auction-based ad marketplaces appear, and the data generated from campaigns becomes even more mountainous. In this not-so-distant future, it will be almost impossible for any advertiser to use rules to keep up with the complexity and data overload. Only by taking on the Google algorithm with an algorithm will advertisers be able to create and execute effective campaigns.

Search Ad Buyers Throw Good Money After Bad

What's the cost for every click? A new study has been released that demonstrates spend on branded keywords is far higher than it needs to be. The research comes from Atlas, now a division of Microsoft. It finds that money spent on branded keywords, which point to an official corporate website, are often wasted. That's because people are often looking for that site anyway and would have found it just an inch below in the organic search results. The study's conclusions include advising buyers not to focus as sharply on branded keywords in future campaigns. While they are an important part of an overall package, the bids on such keywords do not need to be as high. Instead, companies should concentrate on raising the organic search rankings for searches on branded terms.

Integrated SEM,SEO,Adserving + data to increase targeting and optimization across our ecosystem

This is an interesting trend and direction in the market. Moving towards integrated data that feeds intelligence back and forth from SEO,SEM etc to ad campaigns running on and offline. As a future part of our ecosystem it would be very beneficial to have our different systems and solutions passing data back and forth to enhance the clients campaigns and media performance from advario to SEM, SEO to Advaliant. Since they are all sitting on the same platform this can be done and would be EXTREMELY powerful and unique. The ultimate targeting and optimization!!! Food and product for thought and future development as an ecosystem module/function.

Range Online Launches 'Next-Gen' Search Reporting/Modeling Tool

by Tameka Kee, Tuesday, Aug 21, 2007 6:00 AM ET

RANGE ONLINE MEDIA, A FORT Worth, TX-based search and digital marketing company, has launched the second generation of its Strategic Results System (SRS)--a reporting and measurement platform that merges data from paid and natural search efforts, feeds and other emerging media, as well as third-party analytics and ad servers like Bluestreak. Clients like Cole Haan, Toshiba and The Container Store can use the SRS tool to evaluate their digital marketing campaigns, with analysis ranging from keyword-specific paid and organic search details to cross-vertical reports on campaign performance trends and search activity seasonality. The ability to incorporate data from third parties like Google and Eyeblaster was integral to Range's upgrade of SRS. According to Misty Locke, Range's co-founder and president, "SRS' ability to merge data from any source that a client is working with means that we can better help them gauge the health of their business as a whole. They get a clearer view with fewer reports to look at." The scalability also allows Range to pair online campaign data with off-line strategy info. "From email campaigns, to TV spots, clients can plug in data from wherever they're running media and see how all the channels are working together," said Locke. "The data also lends itself to creative testing." While Range clients have direct access to the SRS data warehouse, the software is seen as a complement--not a replacement--for human insight. "With massive amounts of data, you need automation for speed and efficiency, but not without human insight to make business decisions," said Locke. "Our clients want more than a black box solution, because there's no technology that can effectively analyze the customer intent that underlies SEM, SEO, and overall market trends." Tameka Kee can be reached at tameka@mediapost.com

behavioral targeting to take your search marketing program to the next level.

BlueLithium's CMO explains how to use behavioral targeting to take your search marketing program to the next level.

Search marketing is beginning to top out. We hear from agency and marketing partners that they've bought all the keywords they can buy and they're bidding as much as they can afford to bid; what else is there?

And no wonder: Keyword search ads make up only 12 percent of available online ad impressions, according to the Online Publishers Association. Contrast this with graphical ad inventory, which is exploding thanks to the growth of MySpace, blogs, video and other user-generated content.

The challenge for search marketers is to find a way to take their programs to the next level in an environment of constrained inventory and rising prices. Fortunately, a way already exists: search retargeting.

Search retargeting combines the benefits of search marketing and behavioral targeting, and is conducted by an SEM firm and an ad network working together. Visitors are driven to a landing page from a keyword search. Those who leave the site without converting receive a standard tracking cookie from the ad network. Wherever they go across that network's thousands of websites, they're served messages designed to drive them back to purchase. The same simple concept can be used to upsell those who do convert.

Data from BlueLithium Labs shows that search retargeting can improve conversions by more than 20 percent, dwarfing the cost of the incremental media buy. The ad network may even be willing to chip in the creative for free, to help the SEM avoid having to go back to the client or to the agency-of-record for banner creative.

In addition to the improving conversions, search retargeting also pumps up the marketer's share of voice (SOV). SOV is a concept near and dear to auto manufacturers and other marketers of considered purchase items. The idea is to have your brand in front of prospects for the greatest amount of time while they're in market for what you sell. For an auto purchase, that's usually eight to 10 weeks. A honeymoon vacation might be 10 to 12 weeks in the planning; a quick weekend trip might only be researched from Wednesday afternoon through end of day Thursday.

Search marketing is incredibly effective at attracting people who are actively researching, price shopping or purchasing any of these items. But you can make it work even harder by retargeting everyone you bring in through search. Additional data from BlueLithium Labs shows an average 34 percent increase in brand awareness and an 18 percent increase in intent to purchase among those who clicked on search listings and were retargeted with graphical ads as opposed to those who clicked on the same listings but saw no follow-up ads after they left the site.

The gating factor in the success of a search retargeting campaign is search marketing volume. If you're running a large scale campaign that drives thousands or tens of thousands of clickthroughs, then search retargeting is for you. If your search campaign is limited to a few dozen clickthroughs a day, then the work of getting a campaign set up will probably outweigh the benefits.

Also, you need to make sure that the CPM or CPC you're paying for the retargeting campaign are in line with your CPC keyword budget. If it's costing you $3 in retargeting charges to get back a prospect that only cost you $0.40 for the initial clickthrough, then the retargeting traffic has got to convert at nearly eight times the rate of your standard search marketing traffic to pay off.

Search retargeting is a simple, effective strategy that can help many search marketers take their programs to another level in terms of volume and bottom-line effectiveness. As with all things, make sure you test before you commit. From the examples we've seen, it should be well worth it.

Search and Display Work Better Together

AUGUST 3, 2007

Tandem use raises conversion rates.

Campaigns which use both display ads and search marketing convert more online shoppers into buyers than those which use only one of these tactics.

That is the main finding of a Yahoo!/comScore study called "From Clicks to Bricks: The Impact of Online Pre-Shopping on Consumer Shopping Behavior."

Among consumers in the study group who had been exposed to both search and display ads, 43% made in-store purchases, compared with 26% of those who had viewed only search ads, and 6% of those who had only seen display ads.

The search/display combination also increased in-store spending. Those consumers who had seen both ad types spent an average of 83% more than those who had not seen either type of ad.

In comparison, consumers who had seen only search ads spent 26% more, on average, than those who had not seen any ads. Exposure to display ads lifted in-store sales an average of 11% over spending by buyers who had not seen any ads.

A similar study of online buyers conducted about a year ago yielded even more dramatic results. Atlas' "The Combined Impact of Search and Display Advertising — Why Advertisers Should Measure Across Channels" found that exposure to both ad types increased conversion rates by 400% over display ads alone.

Many studies on the effectiveness of search and display compare the two, rather than looking at them in tandem. This search vs. display approach often measures click-through rates (CTRs) rather than conversions. CTR is a fundamental metric of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

By this measurement, the search click rate tends to surpass that for display ads. Morgan Stanley estimates a steady rise in the search marketing CTR from 10.4% in 2003 to 12.6% in 2010.

iCrossing Doubles Size With Proxicom Buy

iCrossing Doubles Size With Proxicom Buy
by Gavin O'Malley, Tuesday, Jul 31, 2007 6:00 AM ET
MORE THAN DOUBLING IN SIZE overnight, the search-centric iCrossing has acquired Web development agency Proxicom for an undisclosed sum. Growing from 200 to 550 employees, the merger is in line with iCrossing's grand designs to become a top full-service digital agency.
"If you're going to be optimizing pages, you might as well build them," reasoned iCrossing President Don Scales. The two companies had been in talks for about three months prior to Monday's announcement, he said.
Making the deal possible, iCrossing just received $62 million in funding from Goldman, Sachs and existing investors Oak Investment Partners, RRE Ventures and StarVest Partners L.P.
Proxicom gives iCrossing access to an entirely new roster of clients--as there is virtually no overlap between the two companies, according to Scales. Of particular note is Proxicom's automotive vertical, which includes Chevron and Toyota. Dupont is another key Proxicom client.
The acquisition marks one of several recent growth initiatives since the addition of Scales, former CEO of Omnicom's Agency.com.

Microsoft and Ask Join Forces on Small Business Keyword Sales

By Matthew G. Nelson | July 17, 2007

Microsoft and Ask have joined together in a partnership to offer small business owners using Microsoft Office Live keyword advertising access to not only Microsoft's own MSN and Live Search vehicles, but Ask Sponsored Listings from the Ask.com search engine as well.

The Ask listings will be included as part of an Office Live adManager beta search advertising service, which is a management system to allow small businesses to purchase and manage search engine-based keyword advertising, according to Michael Schultz, U.S. business and marketing lead for Microsoft Office Live.

"This is one of the first times you've had search engines joining together to meet the needs for small businesses," said Schultz. "What's significant about Ask.com getting together with Microsoft Office Live, is we're actually making it simple and easy for small business to understand and take advantage of search marketing. To be able to do things like contextual targeting opens up another avenue to allow small businesses to get their message out."

Office Live users will be able to view and manage their keyword advertising accounts directly from an adManager interface within the product that will give them the option of purchasing ads on MSN, Live Search or Ask Sponsored Listings, he said. The Ask system allows marketers to purchase and manage pay-per-click and contextual advertising campaigns on Ask.com and its publisher network.

Although the deal between Ask and Microsoft comes 15 months after former Ask CEO Steve Berkowitz left the company to head MSN for Microsoft, the partnership was already being set in motion at that time and wasn't affected by his move.

Schultz also played down the importance of two separate search firms joining together to combine their services, saying "it's not a question about bringing in competition, it's about bringing in value. The Live and MSN properties are going to be able to stand on their own. All we're doing is bringing in additional capabilities."

However, some industry experts believe that despite the two well known companies of Microsoft and Ask joining together, their combined resources will still pale in comparison to the market share and reach of Google and Yahoo and the greater amount of advertising inventory they control.

"A partnership with Ask is a small deal. It does nothing to threaten Google or Yahoo," said Andrew Goodman, principal, Page Zero Media, a paid search marketing firm. Goodman said that giving small businesses access to both companies' networks will only "address 15 percent of searches, so you're still going to have to go use Google and Yahoo."

"The spend on ads ultimately derives from the overall search market share," Goodman added. "No distribution strategy for people wanting to spend ad dollars will increase your advertising inventory; you need inventory."