The Digital Lookout

Google’s latest search tool Google Suggest is to be launched to the main search on Google.com after graduating from the labs section with honours.  The functionality will dynamically attempt to complete your search query by listing out the most popular searches (alongside their search volumes) beneath the search box as you type.  Clever hey?  But not necessarily too useful unless you are particularly lazy.  But what does this mean for search marketers?

Increased accuracy of searches - This potentially opens up more search volume for the “long tail” of search.  By showing people further options for what they could be searching on to narrow their results we may start to see more and more people performing more targeted searches and thus reducing the volumes on generic keywords and increasing them on specific keywords.

Transparency of the long tail - The long tail, and targetted keywords have long been the selling point for PPC specialists.  The long hours of work needed to generate focussed keyword lists and monitoring the performance of thousands of hours are a strong selling point against somebody managing their own campaign.  But by exposing the keywords available in such an explicit way Google is making things easy for lazy search engine marketers.  Now all they need to do to find long tail keywords is start searching on something generic and note down the variations Google suggests.

More money for Google - there appears to be a trend in these posts on Google doesnt there!  All roads lead to cash!  Basically by allowing advertisers to see the keywords they “could” be bidding on Google is making it easy for them to do so and thus increase the competition and therefore CPC on these keywords.

Removal of mispells? - this is unlikely to happen completely but by showing people what they were trying to search for in this way less people are likely to search on a mispelling.  This has already partially been eradicated through the “did you mean to search for?” message which you get when your fat fingers get the better of you.  But this could mean the final straw for true mispellings.  Oh and guess what, this will lead to higher overall CPC’s as there will be less cheap clicks around.

I will aim to post more when I spot the changes have taken place but thats the long and short of it in my opinion.

It seems like Yahoo! may have finally given up trying to beat Google with the announcement that they are running a two week trial displaying Google AdSense listings alongside their search results in the US (more detail).  The initial trial will include the results displaying on no more than 3% of search queries submitted and will only be seen by Yahoo! US users.  Yahoo! claim the move is is part of an “exploration of strategic alternatives to maximise stockholder value”, i.e. make them more money.  Microsoft have already expressed their own concerns that should a future deal be struck this would take Google past the 90% market share mark and raise further competition concerns.

It concerns me what a future deal could mean for the search market as the it effectively means a consolidation of the market as opposed to the fragmentation we had seen coming over the past 2 years.  This simplifies the process and doesn’t necessarily bode too well for search marketing agencies.  From Yahoo’s perspective it may come down to purely monetary figures.  If they have decided that they are not going to get very far with challenging Google in the paid search market then displaying AdSense results would allow them to significantly reduce their staffing levels and technology costs.  Although it wont be nice for those people that end up getting the boot, the boardroom wont be concerned if the figures stack up.

It does make you wonder what sort of deal has been brokered for the trial and the possibilities beyond though.  A typical AdSense partner might be earning 40% of the click revenue generated but Yahoo! aren’t you standard partner! Could Google be willing to let Yahoo! keep all of the revenue for the sake of market share?

I read an article in last weeks revolution which made me laugh out loud.  I have known for a while that some of the more traditional media types are way behind in the digital channel and many of the larger media buyers get by on their buying power and ability to schmooze a client about the brand exposure of their digital activity.  This article however took the biscuit with its naivety about measures of performance in the digital channel.  The basis of what the author was saying was that clicks aren’t an accurate measure of online activities performance.  YOU DONT SAY!

Isn’t the biggest benefit of digital communications is measurability and accountability?  The ability to track PAST the point of impression, and all the way through to conversion (whatever the desired outcome may be).  With this is mind it shocks me that people would still be using the click as a measure of performance.  Obviously in certain instances the objective is to promote awareness and so the fact that the add got clicked on is an indication people are paying it some attention and are showing an interest in what you have to say, but these instances are few and far between.  The measure of performance should be based on the desired outcome of the campaign, whether that be sale, quote, enquiry, application, this is dependant on the industry in question.  It is archaic to still be using clicks as a measure for performance as the article rightly points out these can be out for all sorts of reasons.  Please guys, wise up and become accountable for your work.  Stop playing the vanity game with branding and clicks and begin playing the real game of driving acquisition and accountability for your clients!