The Latest News and Developments With Search Marketing
As search marketing continues to lead the interactive assault on advertising, it continues to evolve. How is a company supposed to keep up with all the latest techniques, developments, tactics and news when it comes to search? Most companies can’t. Even companies that offer search marketing services are constantly struggling to keep up with the torrid pace. Below I have included a summary of the latest developments in the search marketplace to help keep you up to speed.
Mobile Search – The battle for dominance begins as Yahoo and Google made major announcements last month with a number of wireless companies to augment their offerings in the mobile market. It’s no wonder, as a recent AP-AOL-Per lifestyle survey found that mobile devices outnumber personal computers 12-1 worldwide. Also, the United States has nearly 200 million cell phone users, and 31 percent of those users have used mobile search or plan to with their next mobile device. This will be a hot topic as everyone gears up for fulfilling the consumer need for instantaneous search from anywhere in the world.
Click Fraud – This was a hot topic of debate over the past year. Recently, Google released long-awaited data as to the amount of click fraud taking place through their offerings. According to their data, their click fraud rate is less than 2 percent. That is significantly less than the double-digit numbers reported by click fraud monitoring firms. I’m certain this will continue to be a highly contested topic, but at least now Google is offering up real data for the public to scrutinize. With this latest data, marketers should just factor in a number of around 2 percent as a cost of conducting business through this medium.
Panama – Yahoo recently launched the Panama system through Yahoo Search. This new system utilizes an algorithm similar to Google in selecting which sponsored listings appear in specific positions. A pure “pay for exact position” is no longer available. Factors such as relevant site content to the search query are now considered. Other items Panama is introducing are graphics, rich media, coupons, and phone calls. All of this and better targeting according to Yahoo.
Video Ads
Google has been testing its video for the AdSense program over the past year. The success of the program is yet to be determined. I have seen many blog posts that are both positive and negative for this new tactic. However, finding solid metrics of performance is hard to come by. Overall though, through the material I have read, it seems people are concerned about the video ads being too intrusive. Some users do not like to have audio suddenly play when they don’t expect it. Others just seem to think that it dominates the site content too much. However, some people feel the click-through rate is better and don’t feel the ads are too intrusive when you have to click a play button to start the video. Overall, video on the web is on fire, and it is just a matter of time until data is released as to the impact of search-based video ads. In my opinion, it will evolve into a format that is acceptable by the overall market and should prove to be an effective tool to add to the search marketing toolkit.
These are the major developments currently, but more is on the horizon. It’s an interesting and dynamic marketplace. Take some time to research or talk with an expert to learn how these developments can affect your business. In the meantime, happy searching!