Performics Performance Marketing Blog: SEM, SEO, Social & Display

“Sarah Palin”: A Sudden Opportunity for Paid Search

Posted by Michael Kahn, VP of Account Management & Marketing

Obama has been the leader digitally-wise to this point in the Presidential campaign.  According to Nielson Online, Obama’s Web site had 3.3 million unique visitors in July, more than twice that of McCain’s site.  Obama also has a huge following on Facebook (only Michael Phelps can compete with him in number of friends) and sent out a massive bulk text message to supporters announcing his pick for VP.

However, you may have noticed the McCain campaign’s recent presence in paid search.  McCain has been running paid search ads for the keyword “Joe Biden.”  His campaign is using the huge spike in search for Joe Biden as an opportunity to distribute a video of Biden criticizing Obama in the Democratic primaries.

     

Performics' Research in the New York Times

Posted by Stuart Larkins, Senior Vice President, Search

In my Chief Marketer column last month, I introduced findings from our latest batch of search usage and behavior research on the tweens (10 to 14 year olds) demographic segment. This segment consists of Internet power users who indicated at a whopping 83 percent that they spend an hour or more online per day. Stats such as that caught the eye of the New York Times and shortly after the column was published, I had a conversation with the Times’ Alex Mindlin to discuss more of our study’s findings on tweens’ Internet usage. Check out this week’s “Drilling Down” column to learn more about Performics tweens’ research.

How Google’s Increased Search Engine Customization Affects SEO

Posted by Sam Battin, Senior Search Specialist (Natural Search)

You may have noticed that Google is now, in some cases, customizing search results based on recent search activity, even if you’re not logged into Gmail or another Google product.  A snippet of text on the right side of the Google results page identifies pages that contain customized results, as shown in the screenshot below:

If you click on the “More details” link, Google offers more explanation and allows the user to click to the search results page that would have shown had the search not been customized.  Below is the text that Google displays when you click “More Details”:

"The following information was used to improve your search results for travel credit cards:
Recent Searches You or someone else recently searched for business credit cards using this browser.
If you're curious, you can see what a search for travel credit cards looks like without these improvements"

In displaying the recent search customized results, Google only figures in the previous queries entered by the user during the particular search session.  If you are logged-in, Google will also customize your natural search results based on your web history (e.g. frequently visited sites will get more natural search results) and your location (e.g. some sites for businesses or services located near you may get better ranks).

The 4 Pillars of Natural Search- Pillar #4, Distribution

Posted by Sam Battin, Senior Search Specialist (Natural Search)

Distribution has to do with controlling the largest possible amount of real estate on search engine results pages.  The major search engines will only show two results for your native Web site per query.  But what if you could take your content off your site and optimize it so that it shows up in additional places on the search results page besides the links to your domain?  Distribution through RSS feeds, video channels and other aggregator sites is a great way to control messaging, manage reputation, and push your competitors’ rankings down.

For example, an optimized Facebook “fan” page for your company can be created.  This “fan” page may show up in search engine results pages on queries for your brand.  The fan page would be created within Facebook by the company, where they would have the majority of control over messaging. 

A custom YouTube channel is another way to distribute content off-site.  YouTube channels also come with a revenue share from the ads that YouTube runs on your channel.  Publishers like CBS, the NBA, and the presidential candidates use YouTube channels to upload their video content, which in turn ranks on the search results page for a variety of terms associated with that content.  YouTube.com is a well-optimized site for video content, and search engines’ “Universal Search” efforts increase the likelihood that YouTube video results will appear in regular search results pages.

Segmenting a Paid Search Campaign by Success Metrics

Posted by Jason Pope, Senior Manager, Search Marketing

When it comes to paid search campaigns, one size does not fit all.  Keywords all perform differently and represent different stages in the consumer buying cycle.  This variation in keyword performance, in conjunction with the unique goals of your business, must be considered when setting up and segmenting a search campaign.

At Performics, we often reinforce the importance of proper segmentation of campaigns and ad groups.  However, it’s equally important to properly segment a program into bid strategy portfolios.  This will allow you to assign various success metrics to each group of keywords, which can then each be managed to the appropriate ROI.  Bid portfolios should be set up to meet the needs of the business.  Assuming the appropriate tracking and analytics are in place, bid strategy portfolios can be as complex as considering insights such as new and existing customer ratios, profitability margins, product inventory, sales & promotions, etc. 

Using the Engines to Find Olympic Video

In his August Search Engine Land byline, Eric Papczun, Performics’ Director of Natural Search, takes a look at NBC’s Olympic video distribution strategy.  NBC has the rights to 3,000+ hours of Olympic video that they are exclusively housing on their Web site.  The question is whether searchers on Google and Yahoo! are able to find the NBC video when searching for Olympic video content.  Read the full Olympic video byline at Search Engine Land.

Performics is the #1 Search Engine Marketing Vendor for Retailers in Internet Retailers Top 500

Posted by Sarna Goldenberg, Director, Marketing

About the Top 500 Guide:

Internet Retailer publishes its Top 500 Guide annually. The resource for online marketers features strategies for multi-channel retailing and includes profiles and statistics of America’s 500 largest retail Web sites ranked by annual sales. In addition to retail Web site ranking and many associated success metrics, the guide also includes information on top vendors across 16 solutions areas. In the search engine marketing category, Performics ranked as the  #1 search engine marketing vendor, used by more retailers in IR’s Top 500 than any other.

We’re #1:

Internet Retailer is one of the most respected publications in the industry; this recognition emphasizes our search engine marketing prowess and the success we drive for our clients, many of whom are ranked among the top 500 retailers. Performics is trusted to manage more Top 500 search engine marketing programs than any other vendor.

Highlights from the guide:

·         Total E-Retail revenue hit $166 billion in the US in 2007

·         Fastest growing categories in 2007 online were jewelry (36%), books/other media (32%), mass merchants/dept. stores (31%) and apparel (24%)

·         Slowest growing categories were health and beauty (11%), flowers/gifts (11%), food/drugs (12%), and hardware/home improvement (13%)

·         Guide segments online retailers into four categories:

o   Retail chains,

o   Web only companies,

o   Catalogers,

o   Manufacturers.

·             Retail chains only managed 18% growth compared to catalogers 30% growth year-over-year

 

 

The Top 5 Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media Applications

Posted by Micheline Sabatté, Product Marketing Manager (Emerging Media & Digital Consulting)

DO:

1. Create applications that enhance social relationships (i.e., social gaming, sending gifts, communicating information and sharing videos/photos, etc.)
2. Create applications that encourage friendly competition with “bragging rights”
3. Allow the application to be shared with friends organically
4. Provide non-intrusive, branded calls to action within the application (i.e., download here, visit our Web site, etc.)
5. Support the roll-out of a new application with advertising for accelerated adoption and viral growth

DON’T:

1. Use the application as a vehicle for spamming offers or promotions
2. Create unnecessary requirements to install the application
3. Build an application simply around the idea of enabling your products or services to be purchased—direct sales should not be the sole focus
4. Launch and leave. Instead, the adoption of the application must be supported by on-going, integrated marketing efforts
5. Violate copyright or trademark rules (i.e., Scrabulous taken off Facebook after lawsuit by Hasbro, owner of Scrabble)

Google Insights for Search Provides Actionable Data for Paid Search Marketers

Posted by Danielle Gantos, Program Manager (Paid Search)

Last week, Google launched Google Insights for Search, which allows users insight into keyword search volume across different geographies, categories (such as health or sports) and time frames.  Google Insights for search provides paid search marketers with some valuable data that can be used to help better optimize campaigns:

Geographic Distribution: Marketers can determine interest level trends for terms and categories by geography (country, state and city).  This allows paid search marketers to see a relative comparison of search interest by geography, helping to better target local ads. Budget and efforts can therefore be better focused to drive the most qualified traffic for a campaign.

Seasonality: Insights also shows interest levels over various time periods, such as seasonality trends for categories within a certain week or month.  Marketers can use this data to allocate budget more effectively.  For example, search volume levels on the terms “computer” and “pc” peak on Saturdays and Sundays, while the overall Computers & Electronics category interest level is much higher during the middle of the week. 

Performics' Chosen as Finalist for a 2008 SES Award

Performics has been chosen as a finalist for Most Innovative Use of Search Engine Optimization at the 2008 SES Awards in San Jose for our Natural SearchDirect product.