Google’s market share still rising
January 9, 2008
Hitwise have released some new figures (found via Marketing Charts) which show that Google managed to account for 66% of all U.S. searches during the four weeks up to the 29th December.
It seems we’re set for another year of Google domination in the search engine market. I can’t see anyone making a dent in their market share for quite a while (although the Microsoft/FAST deal may make things interesting eventually).
Another interesting stat from the report is that the travel sector has received 22% more traffic from Google from December ’06 to December ’07 and a 12% increase in traffic from search engines in general.
This shows that for those of us in online travel the search engine is still going to be the major source of qualified traffic. Time to shift that banner spend into something more lucrative like paid search!
Aim for the top in natural and paid search!
December 11, 2007
Eye tracking company Enquiro Research has produced a report (sponsored by Google no less) which shows the importance for brands to be well represented at the top of both natural and paid search listings.
They say ‘There is significant correlation between brands’ appearing in the top organic search and sponsored placements and consumer brand affinity, recall and purchase intent‘. Well that’s pretty obvious, but it’s always nice to have these concepts validated by eye tracking (something that I place great value in as an insight and usability tool).
The most interesting findings are:
This shows that there is definite brand affinity and recall to be gained by being well positioned and using the brand name in your listings. Good advice for travel companies with January coming, I see so many travel listings that are just a destination name and no brand mention at all.
The full report can be found here.
Innovation in PPC
December 3, 2007
We all know how notoriously difficult paid search is to get right in a highly competitive marketplace. Take car rental, loads of players, very high bid prices and some really proficient PPC campaigns. Need a what to stand out from the crowd? Take the lead from Sixt of Germany then, they’ve done something very clever with ascii art to make their adverts stand out from the crowd.
This is genius, and they experienced a 40% plus increase in clicks on the campaign! Something that could be applied to many industries!
This campaign has just won an award, more details here.
Some good tips for travel PPC
October 31, 2007
Tripadvisor have released their figures from a survey called their Traveller Trends Survey. Out of the survey comes some predicitions for 2008 trends that we should all expect to see.
One of the aspects of this (the link above has much more detail) is the TripAdvisor TravelCast. It’s a barometer of what’s hot in travel destinations. TripAdvisor engineers have developed a proprietary algorithm that looks at several criteria, including changes in search activity and postings throughout the TripAdvisor site. The TravelCast then predicts the rising stars in travel.
The destinations that are showing as increasing in popularity and expected to be the biggest next year are:
TripAdvisor TravelCast Top Ten World Destinations for 2008
1. Jerba, Tunisia
2. Makandi Bay, Egypt
3. Phangnga, Thailand
4. Kovalam, India
5. Sabaudia, Italy
6. Asilah, Morocco
7. Ko Phangan, Thailand
8. La Plagne, France
9. Yangshuo, China
10. Kotor, Montenegro
TripAdvisor TravelCast Top Ten U.S. Destinations for 2008
1. Sunny Isles Beach, Florida
2. Kitty Hawk (Outer Banks), North Carolina
3. Seward, Alaska
4. Kailua, Hawaii
5. Blue Ridge, Georgia
6. Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania
7. San Marcos, Texas
8. Paso Robles, California
9. Rockport, Texas
10. Copper Mountain, Colorado
Now, this is great insight for online (and offline) travel providers who bid on keywords on search engines. If you are active in pay per click and these destinations match some of your offerings then you should seriously consider looking at the data (clickthroughs, bid positions, bid amounts etc) to see if you can do anything else to get more clicks on these terms. If they are going to be so hot next year it may be worth diverting some of your paid search budget into these destinations over those that don’t perform for you currently. Insight like this is highly valuable, especially when it comes from such a big community as TripAdvisor.
Click fraud in paid search is rising
October 24, 2007
Click fraud, the bane of every marketer who deals with paid search, is currently sitting at around 16% of the clicks you may be receiving. The average rate is 16.2% and can be significantly higher on content networks.
The average rate was 13.8% a year ago and 15.8% last quarter so it is rising quite fast:
The average rate of click fraud on content networks such as Google Adsense or Yahoo Publisher Network has risen more sharply:
The graphic below shows a threat map for where click fraud can be generated:
So why this continuing rise? Well as it’s coming from content networks I can only guess that it may be being generated by rogue publishers and bloggers who are auto-generating extra clicks on their sites in order to raise their income. This kind of practice could really be affecting your bottom line and giving you a falsely inflated CPA (cost per acquisition) on your paid search campaigns.
Well worth keeping an eye on! And if, like me, you have a large campaign under your remit then contact your agency asap to check that you are receiving any rebates the search engines such as Google provide.
Thanks to Marketing Vox.
Google Adwords goes mobile
September 13, 2007
Google (GOOG) are getting quite subtle in announcing new products developments these days. They’ve added a new FAQ to the Adwords Help Center which discusses search adverts appearing on mobile devices. I’m surprised this didn’t get shouted about on the Adwords blog…
They’re going to be running ads for free on mobile until 19th November, so your ads could be on the small screen right now. Of course you do have to have a mobile viewable landing page linked to from the ad for it to work (which is something I’m glad Google have done so they aren’t displaying pointless ads).
You’ll be able to opt out at that date.
Microsoft still after Yahoo?
September 4, 2007
Interesting analyst opinion from Bear Stearns on Yahoo here. The analyst who prepared the report put Yahoo as one of their top picks, citing such factors as signs that advertising pressure may be decreasing and initial concerns about Panama (the new Yahoo paid search platform) may have been unfounded.
Most interestingly he cites Yahoo as ripe for acquisition, mentioning Microsoft as a possible suitor. he believes that Microsoft have been actively investigating the possibility of acquiring Yahoo for some time cake stand. He also said that he could see any buyout price being at approximately double the current Yahoo share price. Now that has to be tempting for Yahoo!
If this ever happened (which I’m not yet convinced of) it would turn Microsoft into a major player in the online world, instantly buying them a serious amount of advertising real estate and with the potential to compete with Google Adwords in the paid search arena.
Google sued over trademarked keywords
August 19, 2007
Now American Airlines has sued Google for allowing other advertisers to use it’s trademarks as keywords in pay per click advertising. The airline accuses Google of selling the right to use American Airlines’ trademarks and service marks or “words, phrases, or terms confusingly similar to those marks” to competitors who then direct searchers to their own web sites.
This isn’t the first time Google has faced such a lawsuit. Geico sued Google for the same reasons some time ago and lost, and apparently other cases are on the backburner.
This confuses me a little… We use Google extensively for PPC advertising and our highest converting keywords are our brand terms (as you’d expect). Every so often we find a rogue affiliate or competitor bidding on our brand name and we always report this to Google and they remove the offending adverts for us. To enable this kind of response we had to register our brand terms with Google. They don’t really police it actively but they do take down offending ads when asked.
So if the above is possible, why don’t American Airlines just ask for them to be taken down? I’m guessing that they expect Google to do this automatically and to not even allow the ads to appear in the first place. To enable that would be a hugely complex and time consuming development for Google and a fundamental change to the Adwords system. I’m guessing Google would rather not have to do that. But if American Airlines lose (like Geico) then surely Google should not be taking down our competitors ads (as it’s not been deemed illegal)?
Who knows! What I do know is that brand keyword advertising is very lucrative, it returns excellent ROI and is any search marketers meat and drink. Any threat to the way brand term advertising works could have a massive impact on Googles Adwords revenue. If lawsuits like this keep cropping up it is possible Google could ban advertising on trademarked terms for all to stem the tide of subpoenas, that would make PPC a much less attractive proposition!
Tips to improve your landing pages
July 27, 2007
Yahoo Search Marketing have published some tips for creating good landing pages that convert here on their blog.
Here’s the lowdown, and very useful they are two (although maybe a little basic for some):
- Connect the search experience to the landing page experience
Wherever possible, use the same language on your landing pages as you do in your ads. It’s a real disconnect when you click on an ad that reads, “Online Conversion Rate Counter” only to land on a page selling a “Conversion Calculating Service.” - Integrate your landing page into your site
Some advertisers make the mistake of building stand-alone landing pages for certain keywords that are more-or-less “divorced” from the rest of their sites. This can make your business seem sketchy to potential customers, who you want to be able to trust you with their credit card info. A consistent experience across all of your pages and product offerings can help create a more convincing experience. (More on this below.) - Gain their trust
Use trusted, third-party security providers and make sure their badges and icons are clearly visible. - Offer tips and suggestions
How can potential customers best use the product? If you’re selling steaks, offer a steak au poivre recipe. There’s a potential for up- and cross-sell here, as well. Perhaps monsieur would enjoy a nice bottle of cabernet sauvignon with his tender, juicy filet mignon, oui? Just don’t go crazy with it, mon ami. (See 5 and 6, below.) - Stay on target
If your ad specifies John Deere tractors, make sure all of your tractors for sale on that page are John Deere tractors. In other words, if I had been looking for Caterpillar bulldozers I’d have clicked on an ad for them instead - Cut the clutter
Your landing page should not be too generic and cluttered. This ties in with the tip above. If your ad is for discount wholesale 7Up, don’t clutter the page up with other un-colas. This helps keep the lead focused. - Ban the bling
Your landing page should be cleanly and attractively designed, but avoid distractions like music or other audio, animations and revolving logos. These can distract prospective customers from their purpose, which is to buy the product or service that they need, hopefully from you. Again, keep ‘em focused on the task. - Give them something to do
A little interactivity can help keep people engaged. For some products, especially big-ticket items, things like video testimonials and 360-degree tours may be good sales aids. Just let customers decide whether or not they want to view them by giving them control. And remember Tip 7: Keep the bling to a minimum. - Write right
Language counts. Think of your landing page as a salesperson in a showroom. What would a salesperson say to a prospect to help “get to yes?”
Great tips for anyone either building landing pages or directing traffic to them!
