'Net Features : CTR

Global Search Ad Trends You MUST Know

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:30:00 GMT

To be successful in digital advertising, you must always keep your virtual finger on the pulse of the industry. It’s essential to understand what is happening when it comes to click-through-rate, where spend is increasing/decreasing and the average cost-per-click.

Without that information, you just can’t make good decisions or plan effectively for paid search campaigns. Kenshoo's new report, which examines the performance of paid search marketing, provides exactly that.

Here are a few of the more interesting highlights:

Global CTR and Click Volume Spike: Q1 2013 global CTR reached 1.68% compared to 1.04% in Q1 2012, a dramatic 62% increase year-over-year (YoY) while Q1 2013 click volume increased 21% YoY. Meanwhile, impression volume declined 26% compared to Q1 2012.

Paid search ad spend increased globally but decreased in Europe: A 15% boost in global paid search ad spend was fueled by a 24% increase in U.S. search ad spend. Paid search ad spend decreased in Europe, however, with U.K. paid search advertisers spending 11% less YoY and search advertisers throughout the rest of continental Europe spending 4% less YoY.

Global average paid search CPC at five-quarter low: After reaching a peak value of $0.46 in Q3 2012, global CPC levels continued to decline in Q1, reaching a five-quarter low of $0.39. This average CPC falls just below the Q1 2012 value of $0.41. In the U.S. and U.K., average CPC values declined to $0.38 and $0.44 respectively, while continental Europe CPC remained flat at $0.36.

Mobile share of ad spend continues to trail relative share of clicks: In the U.S., mobile devices accounted for 19% of all paid search clicks while only accounting for 14% of total paid search ad spend. In the U.K., mobile devices accounted for 28% of paid search clicks while accounting for roughly 25% of total ad spend.

“After examining our Q1 data, what stands out most is the increase in paid search efficiency,” said Aaron Goldman, chief marketing officer of Kenshoo. “With global ad spend, click volume and click-through-rates all growing, it’s clear advertisers are becoming even more sophisticated with their campaign targeting and optimization techniques. This is a very healthy sign for Kenshoo clients and bodes well for a strong 2013.”

Trendy Metrics for Affiliate Marketing

Michael Garrity — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:30:00 GMT

Late last week, affiliate program software provider LinkTrust announced it was including trend reports in its service offering as part of its Summer of Love updates to help monitor an affiliate’s traffic numbers and produce predictive forecasts about his or her performance.

Solutions or features like this have the potential to be very helpful for publishers and merchants, alike. Advertisers can obviously use the data to assess the performance of their affiliate partners and adjust their campaigns to eliminate waste. For affiliates, it serves as both a review of their successes (and hopefully limited failures), and gives them the opportunity to fix problems based on the trend predictions.

But, as always, the way to make information like this actionable (and thus worth your time) is to understand it first. While there are a variety of metrics and trends for you to keep track of, there are some that provide almost universally useful information and have a direct impact on the success of an affiliate marketing campaign.

Here are some of the most important affiliate-related metrics to keep your eye on:

Conversion Rate: I mean, this is without a doubt the most important metric in basically any type of online business or advertising campaign. How many times does an affiliate help a merchant make a conversion, or convince a consumer to complete a desired action. Conversion rate numbers can help parse successful strategies and ensure that those practices are imitated. For advertisers, a massive spike can also serve as an indication of fraud.

Clickthrough Rate (CTR): This is the bread and butter of the affiliate marketing world, and there is no better way to assess performance and predict trends than by observing clicks. Increases in clicks obviously indicate positive performance, while monitoring decreases is the most efficient way to identify a bad campaign and turn it around (or dump it) before it’s too late.

Average Order Value (AOV): After a while, any business is going to have a pretty consistent average order size for the majority of its customers. On occasion, especially around the holidays, this average will see a substantial spike, but at more unexpected times, a big increase can indicate something else, and in these cases it’s important to investigate. One thing it could point toward is affiliate fraud.

Number of Sales: Sales are, by nature, made of ups and downs, and paying attention to the events and strategies taking place during both of these periods can help greatly improve the efficiency of a marketing campaign. So, when affiliate marketing is responsible for a big rise in sales numbers, or is a major disappointment, everyone involved should review the related events to see why, and what both sides can do maintain, or improve, those figures. For advertisers, this could mean altering their creative to be more enticing to consumers, and for publishers, it could mean continuing to produce a specific type of content that is driving sales.

Reversal Rate (RR): Occasionally, an affiliate-referred transaction will get reversed (or refunded) by a merchant, usually because the merchant does not approve of it. This means a direct loss of commission for an affiliate, who is probably going to want to stay away – far away – from merchants boasting an abnormally high RR.

Google Knows Best – Page Titles and CTRs

Michael Garrity — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:30:00 GMT

It wouldn’t be outrageous to assert that page titles are the most important information that most searchers take into consideration when skimming SERPs. Their significance is underscored by the fact that on all major search engines, these titles aren’t just descriptions but are actually the links that users click to go to a website.

With over a decade of SEO practices now under our collective Web belt, website owners and Internet marketers have come to understand a few key generalities about what makes a good headline and helps a site stand out amongst its competitors, and thus, what drives higher click-through rates (CTR). For example, we know that titles need to be descriptive of the page content; they need to be unique and not repeated elsewhere on a site; they need to avoid keyword stuffing, and it doesn’t hurt to add some branding, either.

But just because we know about some of these best practices for page-title generation, that doesn't mean that everyone follows them -- or that they work in every situation.

Google recently came out and dropped a not-entirely-shocking bombshell: Sometimes its algorithms may change the page title that webmasters designate for a site.

While Google asserts that it has always advised people “to write unique, descriptive page titles,” they’re apparently treated like meta descriptions, that is to say, more as suggestions than anything else. This is because the company has found that some titles generated by webmasters may not be the best options (the “most optimized,” if you will), and in these cases the algorithm will “generate alternative titles to make it easier for our users to recognize relevant pages.”

Despite the fact that Google primarily looks at the <title> tags specified in a site’s HTML markup when deciding on the best title, the given title is not always used, and, theoretically, the webmaster/site owner may never even know; although, Google does say that it tries to notify webmasters when it discovers “titles that can be improved on their websites.”

To be fair, Google has the best of intentions at heart, and the alternative titles that are selected are done so based on testing to determine the title most relevant to the query. In the end, this “can substantially improve the clickthrough rate to the result,” according to Google.

However, relevancy is only the reason for alternative titles “about half of the time.” The other half is for pages that (A) don’t have titles, (B) specify non-descriptive titles (such as simply, “Home”), (C) use the same title (or just minor variations) on most or all of a website’s pages or (D) are unnecessarily long or hard to read. In these instances, Google is essentially cleaning up poorly concocted titles and replacing them with algorithmically approved alternatives that are more informative and helpful to searchers based on their queries.

Unfortunately, as with most information about Google’s algorithm, there isn’t much available when it comes to how the company determines the best alternative titles for a site. Typically these new Google-created titles originate from words pulled out of the content on the page, which is much the same tactic the algorithm uses when it crafts its own page descriptions for SERPs.

Though this may come across as somewhat convoluted, the goal on Google’s part is simple: to help users by providing them with the most relevant information about the content of a Web page and, in turn, increase CTRs for the sites listed on SERPs. By helping to optimize your titles for better results, Google is creating a win-win situation for site owners/webmasters and searchers alike.

And it’s important to remember that Google reserves the right to change titles as it sees fit, so if you don’t like the idea of the company toying with the information you present, your only option is to optimize page titles yourself. The good news is that Google tells you how to best do that in its Help Center.

Rich Media is the Future of Mobile Marketing

Michael Garrity — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:15:00 GMT

Web marketers are still trying to discover the most effective methods for mobile advertising. Now, there is evidence suggesting that the future of mobile marketing may lie in rich media ad units.

Jumptap recently released the data gathered in its MobileSTAT Report for September 2011, and found that current trends show rich media ad units dominating standard media in terms of click-through rates (CTRs), the primary method of measuring user engagement with mobile ads.

After reviewing over 300 million campaign impressions for a number of major Fortune 1000 advertisers running "both rich and standard media with similar creative and advertising," Jumptap noticed that rich media ad units saw a significant lift in CTR over their standard media counterparts.

The rich media format is seen as a great way to "inspire interaction" between consumers and a brand, and the dramatic rise in smartphone and tablet adoption by the general public has helped to increase the efficiency of these advertisements.

Among the companies that saw greater CTRs with rich media ads were:

- A major retailer, who saw a 337 percent lift over standard ad units

- A luxury auto manufacturer with a 357 percent lift

- An advertiser for a new theatrical release, 340 percent lift

- A quick service restaurant, 455 percent lift

- An athletics manufacturer, 214 percent lift

- A consumer electronics company, 362 percent lift

Android Remains on Top
Other findings released in the MobileSTAT report include figures that show Android still dominating the smartphone market with about 47 percent of smartphone owners using Android devices, the same number as August. Jumptap also reported "a 50/50 split" between mobile Web and app traffic by users accessing the internet on mobile devices, with Android leading app traffic and feature phones offering more mobile Web-based traffic than smartphones. Finally, advertisers named location-based targeting as the most popular method for trying to reach consumers on the Jumptap network.

Slingshot Study Shows Google SERP Superiority

Michael Garrity — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:00:00 GMT

Recently, Slingshot SEO conducted a study on user behavior in an attempt to determine the impact of page-one search engine rankings on organic click-through rates (CTRs). The results of said study were released in a white paper entitled "A Tale of Two Studies: Establishing Google & Bing Click-Through Rates."

As the title indicates, the primary purpose of the study was to look at the differences in CTRs between the two major U.S. search engines, industry-leader Google and the Microsoft-owned Bing, and how they can help quantify return on investment (ROI) from SEO campaigns.

Slingshot decided to address its research by looking to answer a series of questions pertaining to observed CTR curves for organic U.S. results on both search engines and how they compare to each other, among other things related to user behavior.

Since the company sees organic CTR on search engines as one of the best metrics for measuring user engagement, and since Google and Bing are host to approximately 95% of all search engine inquiries, this study was meant to provide a perspective on just how valuable a page one ranking can be on either site.

Some of the hard data presented in the white paper includes:

- Google SERPs showed an observed CTR of 18.2 percent for number one rankings and 10.05 percent for number two rankings.

- Bing SERPs showed an observed CTR of 9.66 percent for number one rankings and 5.51 percent for number two rankings.

- The total average CTR for first page organic search results on Google is 52.32 percent.

- The total average CTR for first page organic search results on Bing is 26.32 percent.

- Each month, about 117 million searches in Bing are for the term "google." (Hint: that's not a great sign of user loyalty.)

The evidence clearly shows that users are far more trusting of Google's search results, especially on page one, than they are of what Bing has to offer. According to the report, after studying user behavior based on CTRs, Slingshot wants to "emphasize the importance of ranking in the top ten positions in Google SERPs."

To read the full report, click the above link or just go here.

Smaato Measures Mobile Fill Rates and CTRs

Michael Garrity — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:00:00 GMT

A quarter two study by mobile ad optimization platform Smaato was released today and finds that ad inventory has been increasing at a faster rate than budgets, ulitmately leading to a decline in advertising fill rates.

The study was put together to look at a variety of mobile Web-based topics, including mobile ad adoption, fill rates and the overall effect on mobile ad network performance.

Another discovery that the study unearthed is that phones using Windows' mobile operating system had much higher clickthrough rates (CTRs) than iOS, Android, Blackberry and Symbian, both in the United States and across the globe.

Mobile Ad Networks
According to the study, the average ad network fill rate, worldwide, was 18 percent in quarter two of this year. That represents a 2 percent drop from quarter one and a 3 percent decrease from quarter two of 2010.

For the top 40 mobile advertising networks in the world, rates varied greatly, from 3 to 58 percent, but among the top 20 networks in the U.S., rates consistently declined from an average of 27 to 19 percent.

Smaato CEO Harald Neidhardt cites both the downturned economy and "an increasingly fragmented market" as reasons for the decline.

However, one bright spot that the study found was that there are typically higher returns for networks engaging in "specialization," such as offering a service like geo-location. Nine of the top 40 global networks that were specialized performed above the average Smaato index despite having smaller volumes than their competitors.

Mobile OS CTRs
Moving past networks and onto operating systems, the study measured the CTRs of various devices using different OS platforms.

Worldwide across operating systems, the highest CTRs to lowest, in order, were Windows Phones (taking the top spot for the second consecutive quarter), Symbian, RIM, iOS and Android, though the Google-owned OS saw its performance increase by nearly 50 percent from the same time last year.

It's a different outlook in the U.S., however, with Windows Phones just barely ahead of iOS, RIM out performing Symbian, and Android still trailing all of them.

Never fear, however, as Neidhardt sees a bright future for Android. "As the trend continues, we will see even greater demand from big brands and advertisers for the Android platform, and therefore greater revenue opportunities for publishers and developers as Android continues to proliferate."

The Value of Search Position

Allison Howen — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 01:00:00 GMT

Searchandise Commerce, a provider of site monetization and retail search media solutions, has announced the results from an ongoing click distribution study, which was based on click data that was collected over a two-year period from Searchandise Commerce’s retail search network.

Results show that more than two-thirds of clicks occur in the top 20 search and browse results on retail sites, and the top three positions account for 33 percent of the clicks. The Searchandise study also shows a gradual decline in clicks from position 1 to 12.

“Retail sites have emerged as strong media vehicles giving advertisers access to the ultimate in true behavioral targeting. After all, who is more important to influence than the consumer researching TVs on a retail site?” says John Federman, president and CEO, Searchandise Commerce. “Further, this research identifies the payback for retailers who have invested deeply to make their sites relied upon resources for consumers. The fact that the clicks are distributed more evenly than on paid search engines makes sense – retailers are delivering search results that are relevant with product selections and shopper intent.”

Although this is the first study directed towards search and browse position on retail sites, Searchandise’s results are very similar to other studies that have analyzed the value of position on search engines like Google.

For example, in May 2011 Optify reported that CTRs for the top three results on search engines account for 60 percent of clicks.

In the end, search position matters — whether it is on a search engine like Google or on a retail site, because after all, more clicks equals more sales.

Facebook CTR By Age and Gender

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:30:00 GMT

A new study from SocialCode is looking at how age and gender affect click-through rates and ‘Like’ rates on Facebook. What the agency found was that for ads with a ‘Like’ button, older Facebook users have a higher CTR while younger Facebook users tend to click ‘Like’ directly within the Facebook ad.

“In general, younger Facebook users are more comfortable using the ‘Like’ button than older users at this point,” said Laura O'Shaughnessy, CEO, SocialCode. “With inline fan ads on Facebook, older users have a high level of interaction and curiosity about the ads as evidenced by their high CTRs, whereas younger users have a higher propensity to click the ‘Like’ button right in an ad on Facebook. We assume that while older users are adopting Facebook at a high rate, they are also the newest subset to join the social network, meaning they may not have high friend numbers so ads are less likely to have social context in advertisements.”

A lot of very actionable information is available within this report.

- While age has a strong positive effect on whether a user will click, it often has the opposite effect on the likelihood of the user becoming a fan of the page.

- When it comes to gender, age has a more pronounced effect on CTR for women than it does for men, whereas for men there is a stronger effect on ‘Like’ rate than women.

Google’s Benchmark Data Shows 2010 Ad Effectiveness

Allison Howen — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Google’s annual display ad benchmark data for 2010 has been released and indicates an increased use of rich media and a steady click through rate (CTR) since 2009.

According to the report, marketers’ use of rich media ad formats doubled in 2010, accounting for 18 percent of impressions from 9 percent the year before. Image ads also increased to 28 percent in 2010 from 17 percent in 2009; however flash ads decreased from 74 percent in 2009 to 54 percent in 2010.

Although rich media ad formats doubled in 2010, the user expansion and interaction rate has continued to decline since a peak around January 2009 (around the time new IAB ad formats were initially introduced), yet the expansion rate did show some growth at the end of 2010 (the expansion rate is defined as the ratio of DoubleClick rich media ad expansions to the number of rich media expanding ad impressions displayed. The expansions are counted when a user expands an ad by rolling over it). Conversely, the click through rate remained consistent, staying at around .09 percent since the middle of 2009.

Data on the U.S. showed that the country had one of the lowest expansion rates, however had the highest expansion time— which shows that Americans are interacting with ads when they actually decide to expand them.

As for industry verticals, the "Auto" sector showed the best results with a .13 percent flash CTR and .12 percent rich media CTR. The lowest CTR came from the telecom and financial services sector with a .06 percent CTR in rich media ads, which also tied flash ads from financial services, also at .06 percent.

The question moving forward is, how do we increase rich media use even more among advertisers?

As the economy improves, so should advertising and the investment in newer targeting technologies including behavioral. It is safe to assume that any improvement on the delivery of ads will drive CTR’s, expansion and interaction - and expansion - rates up. Making advertising more accessible (combined with a rebounding economy) should create a better environment for consumers and provide more profitable results for advertisers.

CTR Study Reveals the Value of Search Rankings

Linc Wonham — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:30:00 GMT

Slingshot SEO has released the largest click-through rate (CTR) study of the last five years, striving to give marketers a better understanding of what to expect in terms of website traffic as it relates to search rankings.

“Conducted over the last six months, our study will help marketers better define the value of SEO to a brand’s budget,” explains Evan Fishkin, head of research and development for Slingshot SEO. “By establishing a reliable CTR curve, you have valuable data in estimating the amount of traffic your website will receive.”

Based on a sample set of 324 keywords, the Slingshot SEO study reveals an 18.2-percent CTR for a No. 1 search engine rank and 10.05-percent CTR for the second position. CTR for each position below the fold was observed to be below 4 percent.

The last comprehensive study using actual traffic data, rankings and search volume was conducted using leaked AOL Search data in 2006. That study, however, occurred before recent algorithm updates, a new user interface, increased mobile search, the addition of social signals and blended SERPs with videos, news, places, images and shopping results.

To be considered for the study, a keyword phrase had to have a stable first-page ranking (1-10) in the search engine ranking page for a 30-day period. Because more changes are expected as search evolves, including changes Google is considering to its user interface, this study will be an ongoing project that will compare with future search engine ranking pages and also compare with other CTR studies.

Full study results are available on the Slingshot SEO website.

Is Click-through Rate a Meaningless Metric?

Mike Phillips — Fri, 06 May 2011 19:30:00 GMT

How do you measure online advertising success? Chances are good that click-through rate (CTR) is a key component. But should it be?

This week, we talked with Jeremy Stanley of Collective, who shares some fascinating research that just might kick CTR to the curb.

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Paid Plus Organic Listings Equal 15% Clickthrough Rate

Pete Prestipino — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:43:00 GMT

The rate of ad clicks from sponsored and non-sponsored links was reported in a recent study (PDF) conducted by researchers from Penn State and the Queensland University of Technology. The study looked at the rate of ad click-through on meta-search engine Dogpile.com.

More than seven million interactions were studied from hundreds of thousands of users to analyze the click-through patterns on both sponsored and non-sponsored links. The study looked specifically at the rate of clicks where sponsored and non-sponsored ads are presented together to investigate what effect it had on consumer behavior.

The results? The clickthrough rate on an ad when it was supported by an organic listing was only 15 percent. The study also found that “35 percent of queries” did not result in any ad clicks at all.

Findings from the study, which was published in a recent issue of the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, question the validity of other reports stating that ad clickthrough rates are around the 30 percent mark. It also suggests that most consumers are distrustful of the ads. However, the findings provide a benefit to advertisers.