'Net Features : paid search

What Internet Retailers Spend on Paid Search

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:31:00 GMT

Paid search is a significant driver of impressions for Internet retailers but acquiring users through the channel certainly does not come cheap.

Search engine intelligence provider AdGooroo released a thought-provoking infographic on the paid search retail universe which breaks down the $2.3 billion dollars spent on performance advertising (full year 2012 for AdWords combined with half-year 2012 for Yahoo! Bing) by retail category.

“Mass retailers” collectively spent a whopping $490 million and as a result received far and away the most impressions of any retail category according to AdGooroo which calculated that Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart, jcpenney and Macy’s racked up a whopping 13 billion impressions in total.

Adgooroo also took a closer look at the 2012 paid search spend for specific retail categories – a useful exercise in determining sector growth potential and current competitiveness. Besides the $490 million for mass retailers (approximately 21% of the total spend), six retail categories spent over $100 million including Apparel & Fashion ($271M), Consumer Electronics ($202M), Home Improvement ($155M), Stationary, Greeting Cards & Printing ($150M), Beauty & Cosmetics ($101M), and Shoes ($100M). Spend for Sporting Goods ($94M), Jewelry ($78M), and Flowers/Mail Order Gifts ($80M) also made a respectable showing to round out the list.

Click Traffic and Impressions Grow in Q3

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:12:00 GMT

Click traffic increased by 27 percent year over year and U.S. impressions increased by 21 percent according to The Search Agency’s quarterly State of Paid Search Report. Highlights from the study, available here, include:

• Average cost per click (CPC) across all search engines increased 6% YoY but declined by 5.6% QoQ.
• Click-through rate (CTR) across all search engines increased by 5.1% YoY, but decreased 1.3% QoQ.
• Smartphone click traffic increased by 105% YoY, with a 13% increase in CPC.
• For tablets, click traffic increased 339% YoY with flat CPCs.

Facebook Ads a Sure Bet for the Holidays

Allison Howen — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:45:00 GMT

If your business has been contemplating launching a Facebook adverting campaign, this upcoming holiday season could be the perfect opportunity to do so.

This is because a recent study from digital ad management platform Marin Software reveals that many consumers turn to Facebook during their hunt for deals around Thanksgiving time. The “Online Marketer’s Guide for the Holidays” study gathered holiday trend data from Marin Software’s more than 1,800 advertisers, with the results showing that Thanksgiving weekend produces five of the top six shopping days of the year for online advertisers.

According to the study’s data, in 2011 online advertising revenues surged during the days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. In fact, Black Friday obtained the highest return for marketers who acquired 300 percent more revenue from paid search ads compared to 2010, followed by Cyber Monday which received a 260 percent increase. These increases indicate that more consumers are looking for holiday deals through online search, which also proves how important it is for retailers to coordinate their campaigns with the holiday season.

However, the study also shows that Facebook holiday shopping trends in 2011 were similar to the paid search statistics – with Facebook-originated ad revenues also increasing during the Thanksgiving weekend. This means that in addition to search, consumers are also turning to Facebook to find holiday deals. Additionally, it is important to note that one of the study's most surprising findings revealed that Cyber Monday actually returned a higher level of revenue than Black Friday for Facebook advertisers in 2011.

"The pressure is on for retailers heading into the holiday season. Based off of what we saw last year, the stretch between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday will be critical to retailers' success as shoppers become increasingly attuned to promotional events during the holidays," said Matt Lawson, vice president of marketing and partnerships at Marin Software. "Similarly, Facebook is an advertising channel that smart marketers should not ignore as our data shows the social site taking on search-like characteristics during the holiday season."

Growth for Facebook Ad Spend Outpacing Paid Search

Allison Howen — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 21:30:00 GMT

It seems that marketers are shifting their focus toward Facebook advertising, despite uncertainties regarding how ads on the social network actually perform.

Digital marketing software provider Kenshoo recently released global growth metrics for Facebook advertising compared to paid-search marketing during the first half (H1) of 2012. The data reveals that marketers are increasing ad budgets with Facebook at a faster rate than with search engines.

In fact, during H1 Kenshoo’s Social clients grew ad spend on Facebook by 36 percent, while Kenshoo Enterprise and Kenshoo Local clients grew paid-search ad budgets by only 12 percent.

“Marketers are opening their pocketbooks as Facebook continues to innovate with new ad formats and targeting options,” says Aaron Goldman, Chief Marketing Officer at Kenshoo. “Emerging opportunities like Facebook Exchange and Sponsored Results will only increase the demand for Facebook ad products and the effectiveness of social media advertising in terms of achieving business results.”

Paid Search for Brick & Mortar Advertising

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 12:30:00 GMT

Businesses with an offline presence (and yes, they still exist) may still be hesitant to advertise with paid search campaigns because the ability to measure performance and obtain ROI data as it relates to driving brick and mortar transactions has been lacking historically.

That will likely change in the future as new technologies emerge, but a few solutions already exist and deserve a closer look. RevTrax and Marin Software for example announced a partnership last week that will see advertisers and agency clients using the Marin paid search platform to connect their paid search promotions (and analytics) to transactions which occur at physical stores courtesy of the RevTrax' platform which offers printable coupons that feature a unique barcode or promo code that are redeemed in-store.

"Today's partnership with Marin Software opens the door for myriad national advertisers and agencies to unlock the cross-channel revenue-driving power of paid search while taking advantage of a joint set of tools to manage bid optimization, analyze store-by-store performance and tailor campaigns based on performance data," said Jonathan Treiber, co-founder and CEO, RevTrax.

Paid Search Performance In Focus May 2012

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:28:00 GMT

Clicks on paid search ads cost 6 percent less for retailers than they did in May 2011, but advertisers actually managed to spend more (17 percent in fact) as consumers clicked on more sponsored listings.

SEM provider PM Digital’s May 2012 Rewind Index, which measures U.S. paid search performance for online retailers, suggests that while average CPC’s dipped in May (following 2-3 percent dips in immediately prior months), much of the declining activity can be attributed to mobile search campaigns, which according to PM Digital “represent a growing slice of the total paid search pie but which cost a fraction of regular search ads.”

And there’s more good news: revenue (at least for those merchants surveyed) was up a whopping 34 percent – although much of that increase can be attributed to some important holidays including Memorial Day and Mother’s Day.

Lift Conversion Rates with Keyword Intelligence Tool

Linc Wonham — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:00:00 GMT

LivePerson, a provider of real-time chat services and other online customer engagement solutions, has launched a new product designed to increase conversions from paid search through intelligent, post-click marketing.

Keyword Lift leverages paid search campaign data and uses LivePerson proprietary analytics to identify the keywords with the greatest potential to boost ROI. Personalized content, ranging from coupons to download links, is then delivered to selected visitors in an attempt to drive higher conversions and improve the customer experience.

Content is delivered through LP Marketer, LivePerson’s award-winning personalization solution that targets visitors in real-time with personalized messages and offers across websites, social media and mobile devices.

Keyword Lift works continuously in the background and is capable of automatically adjusting to changes in user behavior, as well as changes to search campaigns and website content. New opportunities to optimize sales are automatically identified, and the most relevant keywords are targeted.

“With Keyword Lift, businesses can optimize the performance and yield of their pay-per-click campaigns, while also delivering a more personalized, engaging and relevant site experience for visitors,” says Rob LoCascio, founder and CEO of LivePerson. “We have found that when you deliver content to visitors that is actually derived from their search, bounce rates decrease, clickthrough rates increase and overall conversions are lifted.”

Early adopters are already seeing success with Keyword Lift and have experienced conversion rate increases ranging from 21 percent to 245 percent for the targeted keywords.

Global Paid Search Spend Climbs 22 Percent

Linc Wonham — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:00:00 GMT

Covario has released its quarterly Global Paid Search Spend Analysis, which found that paid search advertising spending in the first quarter of 2012 by technology and consumer electronics companies was up more than 22 percent over the same quarter last year, and 1 percent higher than a strong fourth quarter of 2011.

On a regional basis, year-on-year PPC (pay-per-click) ad spending for the quarter was up 15 percent in the Americas and nearly 88 percent in the Asia Pacific region. This was balanced by Europe, which experienced a decline of almost 2 percent due to ongoing macroeconomic pressures.

All regions had relatively flat quarter-on-quarter growth of between 0 and 2 percent from the typically robust fourth-quarter holiday season.

In the continuation of a development first seen late last year, global CPC (cost-per-click) rates declined for the second quarter in a row – down 3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011. The study’s author, Charles Gaylord, research analyst at Covario, attributed the deflation in keyword prices primarily to search engine algorithm changes. He believes it will stabilize in the second half of 2012.

Looking ahead, Gaylord said he expects sequential paid search spending growth on a global basis to be in the 1 to 4 percent range for the second quarter, and then resume its double-digit growth momentum in the third and fourth quarters.

“Advertisers are expected to benefit from such drivers as the Summer Olympics, the U.S. presidential elections, and the European Football Championships,” Gaylord said. “The PC industry, in particular, is poised for enormous marketing pushes on behalf of Windows 8 and a flurry of new laptops and ultrabooks.”

Gaylord said current trends are largely in line with expectations and that Covario is still forecasting annual PPC spending growth of 18 to 22 percent in 2012 for global tech companies. This includes 18 to 20 percent growth in the Americas, 15 to 18 percent in the Euro zone, and more than 40 percent growth in Asia Pacific.

Among the search engines globally, spending by tech advertisers on Google was up 23 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. Global paid search ad spending with the Yahoo-Bing alliance was down 20 percent year-over-year, but up 2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011.

Google continues to command 76 percent of the global paid search market share, while the Yahoo-Bing alliance holds a combined 13 percent global market share among tech advertisers.

Baidu, which has 80 percent of the market in China, grew 4 percent quarter-on-quarter and 142 percent year-on-year. Baidu now accounts for 9 percent of all paid search spending globally.

2011's Key Developments in Paid Search at Google

Administrator — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:45:00 GMT

We all know that the search engine marketing industry moves at break-neck speed.

This has always been the case and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing. Now that we’ve reached the end of 2011, this is a good chance to take a step back and review the new PPC tactics, tools and strategies that have become predominant over the past year.

Some of the items on this list were freshly introduced to the world during 2011. Some of these items were launched before 2011 but they have gained more importance to PPC managers within the previous 12 months.

Mobile devices and tablets go prime-time: Sure, ads have been running on mobile devices for a while now. However, in 2011 things really took off in regards to search volume via mobile devices and tablets. These devices can no longer be ignored by advertisers. If you didn’t get on board with mobile this year, don’t miss the train in 2012 or you’ll get left behind.

AdWords call metrics opens the phone lines: Advertisers can track calls generated directly by their PPC ads on Google. You can track metrics such as cost, completed calls, phone-through-rate, time of call and duration. If your business generates sales or leads via the phone, you need to explore the new bid-per-call and call metrics options in AdWords.

Multi-channel funnel analysis gets good: For a couple years there has been chattering about the lack of actionable, reliable cross-channel analysis. There are some third-party software providers that have excellent multichannel reports, but the general advertising public was lacking these features. However, in 2011 Google Analytics released its own cross-channel reports and they are now mission-critical for advertisers. You should be reviewing and analyzing yours now.

Landing page Quality Score gets serious: This element of the AdWords Quality Score has been around for years. Until recently, this metric has been a negative signal; your landing page didn’t directly contribute to your Quality Score but it could hinder your score. Now, landing pages are assigned positive scores making sure that their content is highly relevant to a user’s search query. This means that if you’ve been using the same landing page for a while, you need to get serious about relevancy quickly (like right now).

Social PPC spells ROI: Facebook and LinkedIn have been generating a great deal of traffic for advertisers for a while now. However, in 2011 I think advertisers are getting smarter and learning how to interact with users on social networks and getting them to buy. In 2010, the main question on social PPC was if it could generate a positive ROI. Advertisers will have settled the ROI question, and in 2012 will start wondering how to get more volume from these networks.

Automated rules in AdWords make life easier: Google rolled out a series of automated rules for AdWords that can help save advertisers time and focus their optimization efforts. These automated rules can schedule ads, pause low-performing ads and keywords, adjust bids automatically, and control daily budgets. These can be a great time-saver if implemented properly.

adCenter Quality Score revealed: One way to grasp how your campaigns compare to other advertisers is by analyzing your Quality Scores. In 2011, Quality Score metrics were introduced within the adCenter interface. Analyze these stats to see where your keywords and landing pages may be coming up short.

Google+ and +1 Button is what’s next: One of the latest-breaking developments in the PPC world is the launch of the Google +1 button. Within Google users can now “+1” search results they find helpful or interesting, and they can also “+1” pages and websites they like as well. These social interactions can appear directly within the Google SERPs (for users who are logged into their Google accounts) as well as on the Google Display Network. Just as recently as mid-November, Google released new reports within AdWords that allow advertisers to review their ad performance when the +1 social signal appeared within their ads.

These are just a few of the PPC industry updates that occurred in 2011. As you can see, it was a very busy year — and 2012 should be even busier. Hold on to your hats, folks, we’re only just getting started.

About the Author: Joseph Kerschbaum has been working in the SEM industry since 2006, sharpening his expertise in PPC advertising, search engine optimization, conversion optimization and social media marketing. Joseph is the co-author of PPC Marketing: An Hour a Day, and a client services director with Clix Marketing.

Massive Increases in Global Paid Search Spending

Michael Garrity — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:45:00 GMT

Independent search marketing agency (and software solutions provider) Covario released its third quarter Global Search Advertising Spend Analysis last week. The whitepaper included information showing that paid search spending by technology and consumer electronics companies improved greatly from its less-than-stellar second quarter.

Global pay-per-click (PPC) advertising in the third quarter of 2011 was up a whole 26 percent from the preceding quarter and 24 percent from quarter three of 2010. This growth is seen as a result of strong numbers in back-to-school shopping and an increase in investments in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Covario, Craig Macdonald, "Technology and consumer electronics advertisers are upping their budgets for Asia-Pacific and are now looking at search spend growth for the full year in APAC to be in the 40-plus range."

Cost-per-click (CPC) advertising, which is the average transaction cost for purchasing search engine advertisements, has consistently seen 2 percent quarter-on-quarter price inflation because of an increase in competition for search engine auctions; this is, in large part, a result of "robust growth" in search marketing spending in Asia-Pacific.

Macdonald believes that the technology sector will increase global paid search spending by approximately 20 percent for 2011.

Of course, APAC wasn't the only region that increased its paid search spending. In North America, it grew by 21 percent; in the same quarter last year it only increased by 7 percent. In Europe, there was a 23 percent increase from the second quarter and a 24 percent increase from Q3 2010.

"We do, however, see growth slowing in Europe," cautioned Macdonald.

Covario seemed intent on pointing out that "major growth opportunities for global advertisers are in Asia-Pacific, where quarter on quarter growth was at 45 percent and year on year paid search spend was up more than 100 percent." The biggest boom areas for PPC investment in the area are Japan, China, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Other important findings by Covario include:

- 75 percent of paid search technology clients see paid media spending on Facebook being a key part of annual budgeting in the upcoming year.

- Overall growth in paid search spending for 2012 should be in the 18-22 percent range. In North America, it will be 18-20; in Europe it will fall between 15-20; and it should land between 30-25 in Asia-Pacific.

- Google does, and will continue to, control the majority of the spending, as it has a 75 percent share of the global paid search market. Yahoo-Bing take about 15 percent, and Baidu is set to grow to 8 percent.

- Predictions state that mobile search marketing will only command about 3-5 percent of overall paid search marketing. The real money in mobile search strategies right now is in SEO and Web development.

Covario, Adobe to Offer One-stop Search Solution

Linc Wonham — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Covario has announced a new integration with Adobe SearchCenter+ that will provide marketers with a complete range of paid and organic search analytics in one easily accessible report. The two companies expect their combined offering to be available by the beginning of 2012.

The integration will bring SEO data from the Covario Organic Search Insight platform into Adobe’s popular paid search management solution. It is being built using Adobe Genesis, which automates the integration of partner solutions with the Adobe Online Marketing Suite.

The partnership was spurred by the double-digit growth of paid search spending by global enterprises, as well as strong marketer demand for one-stop SEO and paid search management solutions. In its most recent Global Search Spend Analysis of major technology and consumer electronics companies, Covario reaffirmed its projection for 15- to 20-percent annual growth in paid search spending for 2011.

“By working with Adobe, we are in an even stronger position to help our global marketing clients derive improved performance and greater ROI from both paid and organic search initiatives through integrated analytics,” says Covario CEO Russ Mann.

Marin Introduces New Recommendation Engine

Linc Wonham — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:00:00 GMT

Online advertising management platform provider Marin Software has released a recommendation engine designed to identify new revenue opportunities for advertisers and agencies.

A common challenge in the industry is to continually improve upon successful large-scale search, display and social media campaigns, and Marin Next is designed to uncover strategic optimization opportunities that will save marketers time while improving the financial performance of their online advertising programs.

Marin is touting its new product as the online advertising industry’s first enterprise-class recommendation engine. The service’s proprietary algorithm is seeded with SEM best practices from hundreds of leading search marketers, and recommendations from Marin Next include opportunities in budgeting, bidding, creative optimization and campaign structure. For each recommendation, Marin Next provides an automated workflow for instant implementation.

A white paper outlining Marin’s optimization methodology as well as samples of Marin Next results is available for download at Marin’s Resource Center. Marin Next is immediately available to all Marin Pro and Enterprise customers.

Covario, Kenshoo to Offer Combined Search Solution

Linc Wonham — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:00:00 GMT

Web industry leaders Covario and Kenshoo have announced a strategic agreement that includes software licensing and technology integration to deliver innovative search and social marketing solutions for enterprise advertisers.

Covario, the nation’s largest independent provider of search engine marketing and SEO (search engine optimization) software solutions, will utilize Kenshoo’s digital marketing software to enable scalable online media buying and optimization on behalf of several global enterprise clients for both paid search and paid social advertising. Additionally, the companies will co-develop a fully integrated paid and organic search solution for global digital marketers, leveraging Covario’s SEO technologies such as Covario Organic Search Insight and Covario Organic Search Optimizer together with Kenshoo products Kenshoo Enterprise, Kenshoo Local and Kenshoo Social.

The companies cited three factors driving their partnership: the double-digit growth of paid search spending by enterprise marketers globally, the rapidly growing budgets for Facebook advertising and other paid social media campaigns, and the proven benefits of holistic management of paid search and SEO.

In its quarterly Global Search Spend Analysis of major technology and consumer electronics companies issued in July 2011, Covario reaffirmed its projection for 15 to 20 percent annual growth in paid search spending in 2011. Meanwhile, analysts have reported that all roads lead to Facebook in social network advertising, with a forecast for 2012 that call for the mega social network to command $5.74 billion in ad revenues worldwide. Additionally, Forrester Research, in its 2011 Wave of U.S. Search Marketing Agencies, asserted its belief that integrating SEO and paid search efforts is easiest when done through a single partner.

Covario has begun the onboarding process with Kenshoo for a number of existing paid search clients. As for the integrated organic and paid search solution, a prototype will be unveiled in the months ahead.

Mobile Accounts for 12 Percent of Paid Search

Linc Wonham — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 15:09:00 GMT

Performance marketing firm Performics has released its second-quarter mobile paid search data and found that mobile paid search traffic is now 12 percent of all paid search impressions (mobile + desktop), while mobile clicks are about to cross the 12-percent threshold.

This latest iteration of data is particularly noteworthy since Google Adwords is now breaking out “tablets with full browsers” as a distinct device within reporting, as of June 1. In the Q2 data, Performics found that tablets now account for 1.7 percent of all paid search impressions, which is 14 percent of all mobile impressions.

Performics has been tracking these mobile metrics among their clients for more than 18 months now. Some of the most interesting data points include the following:

• Mobile click share continued to rise in June to more than 11 percent of all search clicks. Tablets contributed more than 13 percent of all mobile clicks.

• For the past two months, mobile and tablet devices have been virtually tied with computers for click thru rates (CTRs). This follows 11 months during which mobile devices largely lagged behind computers.

• Early tablet impressions are heavily weighted towards display, with virtually no impressions coming from search partners. Tablet clicks, similar to both computers and mobile devices, are largely coming through Google search.

Kenshoo Desktop Editor for Paid Search Campaigns

Linc Wonham — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 01:00:00 GMT

A new application from Kenshoo is designed to bring advanced search marketing campaign management functionality to the desktop while simplifying some of the more time-consuming campaign management tasks.

Kenshoo Editor enables paid search updates across multiple accounts and channels through an intuitive graphical interface, customizable views and drag-and-drop functionality. Search marketers will have the ability to make ad copy, landing page and bid changes across hundreds of thousands of keywords in a matter of minutes, says Kenshoo.

While in beta, customers using Kenshoo Editor reported 3 to 10 times the time savings on core search marketing optimization tasks such as creating new campaigns, restructuring current campaigns and making bulk creative updates across campaigns.

“The Kenshoo Editor is a game-changer,” says Sachin Gadhvi, Director of Search Engine Marketing and Mobile at TicketsNow, a leading resale marketplace owned by Ticketmaster. “As one of the nation’s biggest ticket sellers, our inventory is incredibly vast and dynamic. We live on the long tail, and the Kenshoo Editor gives us a way to manage all our keywords across channels simply and effectively.”