Dennis Mortensen has posted on his VisualRevenue Blog that “Microsoft is the best converting search engine today!”
He “conducted a study on 15,014,924 visits across multiple global commerce web properties in Q4 2007, with approximately USD 1.2 Million in Paid Search advertising spend.”
This Independent research backs up the study we did last year with NNR which concluded that Live Search would convert 70% (actually we revisited it and it’s now 80%) higher than than other search engines on average.
Net/Net – Although the traffic from Live Search may be lower than on Google and in some cases Yahoo! it still pays to advertise on adCenter from an ROI perspective.
And if you want more high quality traffic, how does 20m unique users and 330m pageviews sound?
As The Guardian writes Yahoo! is expected to lay off 1000 staff in a cost-cutting exercise.
Having been made redundant from Looksmart in 2004, and knowing tonnes of people who suffered a similar fate back in the hectic days of the DotCom crash, I really feel for those guys, especially as there seems to be little details be shared about who will get the chop!
But with a fantastic forecast for online advertising growth from Group M – 30% this year – and the chance we’ll over take TV revenues next year, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of companies willing to snap up any ex-Yahoo! staff.
Seriously good luck guys!
Following hot on the heels of Digg, Facebook and Viacom, the “biz dev” boys over in Redmond have been busy doing it again – this time with The WSJ.
The deal means third-party exclusive rights to provide contextual and paid search advertising for its network of sites, including The Wall Street Journal Online, Barrons.com, MarketWatch.com, AllThingsD.com and others.
“This deal is a significant win for Microsoft for two key reasons. First, it makes the extended Microsoft advertising network the premier destination for advertisers interested in reaching financially minded users, as it complements our offering in this vertical through MSN Money and other syndication partners,” said Brian McAndrews, senior vice president, Advertiser and Publisher Solutions at Microsoft.
“Second, this deal is a strong indicator that we’re gaining significant traction with our advertising platform. The Wall Street Journal Digital Network is one of the largest financial services publishers in a very dynamic vertical segment, and we’re delighted to add it to our portfolio.”
What I love is when I see a comment like the below from WebmasterWorld!
Gets me all fired up!
“I always like seeing “positive” Microsoft news. I’ll have to say that MS have been “kicking it up a notch” over these past 90-120 days. TV advertising appears to be stepped up and earnings reports are good. I’m rootin’ for ya MS. We need some balance in our space and between you, Yahoo! and Ask.com, you’re all we have left. 🙂 “
http://alpha.search.wikia.com/
OK so it’s only just launched, but the results are pretty bad. I’m struggling to understand the benefits to be honest. But as someone’s just commented at DaveN’s blog, Rome wasn’t built in a day. However I’m sure the Roman’s had better foundations!
I just tried to add an article but it crashed on me 🙁
From About Wikia Search:
“We are aware that the quality of the search results is low.” – No sh*t!
“…before we start, we have no user feedback data. So the results are pretty bad. But we expect them to improve rapidly in coming weeks, so please bookmark the site and return often.” – OK…..
They have picture results returned too – not sure who the guy on the right is!
Will revisit soon….
A couple of weeks ago I talked about how many of us would be shopping on Christmas Day!
Well Netimperative reports Robin Goad from Hitwise saying that keyword volumes for “sale” and “sales” were up 200% and 249% respectively YOY for the week ending 29th December.
Kudos to those retailers savvy enough to have their campaigns set up and already bidding on those KWs, and respect to M&S, Currys, PC World and Argos, who started their sales at midnight Christmas Day and benefited from the great PR it gave them!
PS: John Lewis has just reported a fabulous start to the Sales too – 68% up on last year!
Search engine marketing agency Latitude has been given a nice Christmas present……
Funding from Vitruvian Partners has ensured tonight’s festive party will go off with a bang.
Let’s hope the hangovers get cured before next year, as in 2008 they promise to expand into other geographies, and diversify their portfolio of digital marketing expertise.
More from Matt Brocklehurst in their press release here.
Earlier this year The Search Works got snapped up by TradeDoubler for £56m.
Back then there was speculation as to when Latitude would be next.
Guess they’re in no hurry!
If SMX London was a residential property, a British Estate Agent would have described it thus:
“SMX London is a bijoux, four-roomed apartment, laid out over 3 floors. Packed with all the mod-cons a professional would desire, the kitchen needs a special mention for its capacity to create fine cuisine, rarely seen in properties of this ilk. Close to all the local amenities, direct access is provided to handymen from all disciplines from whom advice flows like fine wine.
The rooms have been decorated in various themes to suit your mood and professional persuasion, and the clear access between them is punctuated only by its own elevator, built in the style of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.
The dynamic designer duo responsible for bringing this property to market, have assured us it is the perfect place to entertain friends both old and new so early viewings are recommended! Price on application…”
Given the success of the inaugural SMX in London, I’m sure the next one will be even better attended. Although much of the coverage has been about SEO, there was a whole track on Paid Search.
I counted 30 delegates in the What’s New With Search Advertising session in which I was speaking with Richard Firminger from Yahoo! Richard Gregory from Latitude and Alexis Sitaropoulos from Miva. Maybe it was because more people were interested in the organic tracks, maybe it was because Google didn’t trot along. If it was the latter I’ll have a chat with Mark Howe tomorrow, as I’m on another panel with him and Firminger at Mindshare.
The highlight for me, other than me having two other colleagues, Colm Bracken and Max Whiteford, speaking about ad copy and paid search tactics, was the What’s New With The Algorithm sesh.
Now ok…..so I knew all four guys up there pretty well – Kristjan, Dixon and Mikkel were on the now infamous Icelandic Jaunt last November, and I met DaveN at SEODays and nearly had him blown up by al Qaeda – but they didn’t have to mention Live Search and what Microsoft are doing in this space quite so much unless they thought we’d crossed over to the useful/viable side of Search Street.
Nathan Buggia leant across during the course of the talk and asked had we ever had quite so much airtime and I had to say no. I think we were taken a little by surprise, but maybe because we come so far and still feel we have a lot to do – but at least the seeds are germinating. The adCenter Community Team have done sterling work with the blog and being active on the forums and now with Paul Stoddart in the UK and Nathan in the US we’re trying to get in amongst the SEO community and show we’re innovating, listening and acting on their feedback.
I thought the whole event was a great success, the sessions our guys spoke at became nice little debates and discussions rather than: Present, Question, Answer – and it was great getting Gord Hotchkiss over – I could listen to him for hours!
We didn’t get over to the Case Study track and was wondering how that was attended and received? Some folks in the UK have recently said of SES and SMX that they’re “old boys clubs” and of little value any more. That’s a sentiment I feel is totally unfair, as they have introduced case studies and real world examples that are approachable and accessible for newcomers and green search marketers. It’s the key to keeping the balance between the more advanced types and helping people new to the channel have as much success as we have utilising it.
Looking forward to next year although I can’t see a date on the site!!!
Last week the Evening Standard reported that local retailers in London were getting visibility through a local review site called We Love Local – The report suggested that the site was inspired by The Standard’s “Save Our Small Shops” campaign…
Actually, welovelocal.com is one of a number of websites trying to capitalise on the trend for local search providers cropping up and being a resource of local services, recommended or reviewed by other users. A kind of Tripadvisor.com for you local area if you like.
Tipped and Qype are others trying to tap into this market – it’s a nice idea but needs some critical mass of reviewers and reviews before they really get going.
It’ll be just a matter of time before they get snapped up by a bigger search provider though.
It’s interesting that The Standard’s angle comes at the same time that Microsoft released research into SMB’s advertising online – or rather investing in websites that never get seen.
I remember in 2001 a high profile CEO of a European DotCom based in London, left to join a company whose business model was to knock on doors in the high street offering to set up and maintain websites for small shops, hairdressers and independent traders.
We laughed at the time….but it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea now…
SMX London post coming soon…but enjoy the below from the guys at Site Visibility – Cheeky beggars!
Top line takeaways from the report on UK SMBs in the online space:
SMBs are saving Search Marketing for a “rainy day”:
– 34% are planning to use it “in the future”
– 20% have never “got round to it”
Many are resistant to trying out Search Marketing:
– 92% of SMBs have not even tried to set up a campaign, even though 78% are aware of the online tools available to them
Of those who have investigated it:
– 44% thought it was too time consuming
– 33% though it was too complicated
– 56% though it was too expensive
Nigel, Trade Marketing Manager for adCenter in the London says:
“UK SMBs are missing a trick by not investing in search marketing campaigns. The misconceptions that exist in the industry, search marketing is holding back potential SMB revenue. This is surprising, considering the majority of people questioned use search engines and yet they are not investing in search marketing to grow their own business.
In today’s world, just having a website is not enough – you have to drive traffic to your site to ensure you are front of mind with your potential customers. Search marketing is one of the most cost effective ways to achieve this.”
What an opportunity?!*£$
Check out the full report here: Search Marketing for Small Businesses
Check out the adCenter Blog for more on this SMB Research
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