The Digital Lookout

The volume of searches being performed on particular topics can tell you a lot about the world. From seasonality of markets, the latest trendy gadget to who is going to win an election (or at least who is making the headlines!).

In this example which can see the harsh reality of the infamous credit crunch taking hold through the use of Google trends.   Earlier in 2008 term credit crunch as the US sub-prime market fell to pieces and the UK promptly followed suit. The term credit crunch became increasingly popular but now as the affects of it are beginning to really take hold the depressing sight from Google trends shows that searches for redundancy are on the rise in Q4 as businesses feel the pinch.

Don’t be surprised if the next high flying search term in Q1 2009 is recession, a depressing tale told through search volumes!

As 2008 comes to a close I thought I’d do a quick recap of the topics we have been talking (and blogging) about this year in the world of digital media and search engine marketing.

Mergers and Buyouts

A lot of headlines have been written this year about various potential mergers and buyouts, mostly in the world of the search engines.  Whether it is Microsoft buying Yahoo, Yahoo partnering with Google, or Yahoo merging with AOL barely a month has gone by without a new story about the battle for search engine supremacy.  And where has it got us?  Back where we started with Microsoft and Yahoo still trying to find the best way to dethrone Google.
Away from search (slightly) there was the Google Double Click deal which caused a stir, something which is still yet to show real significance.

Google Pushing Non Search Products

At the Above and Beyond event in September Google discussed everything, apart from web search.  A clear sign of intent that they are looking to diversify in 2009 and place the Google strangle hold on other markets such as mobile marketing and display advertising.  On top of this they launched Google Ad Planner which allows digital marketers to plan digital campaigns outside of search and Google Ad Creator which allows people without flash experience to build display adverts.

Quality Score

Two lots of wholesale changes to quality score in 2008.  The first in September where minimum bids were removed and dynamic quality score was introduced.  On top of this Quality Score began to be displayed on a 1-10 scale and Google began showing the estimated first page bid for all of your keywords.

This was then followed at the end of October when they began normalising click through rate based on an ads position when factoring it into quality score calculations.  Further changes were launched at the same time which affected when and why an ad appeared in the valuable “yellow box” positions at the top of the results.

Google’s Gambling U-turn

One of the biggest stories of the year outside of the merger talk was Google’s U-turn on their policy of not allowing gambling advertisers.  Amazingly, in the face of a difficult Q3, Google’s halo slipped and they decided to begin allowing legitimate gambling advertisers onto the Adwords programme.  Opening up millions of pounds of additional turnover in one swift move.

Google Trademark Bidding

As always, changes on Google, are big changes.  And with the removal of trademark protection they ruffled a few feathers and made themselves a few quid in the process.  Their argument was that quality score and min bid would take care of it, but then they removed min bid and left a lot of trademark owners with a headache and high CPCs on brand terms.  Now Google find themselves with a high profile court case on their hands!

Social Media

Once again on of the hot topics of the year in many different guises.  Whether it was Facebook getting a Facelift, Google launching and subsequently pulling lively.com, or Barack Obama using social media tools to become US President the word social, closely followed by media, network or utility have been uttered many a time in 2008.

Browser Wars 3.0

The launch of Google Chrome announces browser wars 3.0 and looks set to see this space slightly more interesting than usual in 2009.  Although it does have a lot of people questioning what information you would be giving away to Google by browsing using Google Chrome.

Best Practice Funding

As Google’s dominance grows, their charity slows!  Google announces that as of Jan 1st 2009 they will no longer be offering best practice funding to search marketing agencies that resell Google Adwords.  No big deal for direct advertisers but for agencies slow to adapt it could mean a few casualties in 2009 as the more innovative and transparent PPC agencies learn to live without handouts.

There’s my recap of the year, anything I’ve missed?

It’s been another fast paced and exciting year in the digital world we operate in and no doubt 2009 will follow suit and through up surprises and changes which give me something interesting to write about!

I know where Ill be.  Sat in front of the television after consuming far too much turkey with all the trimmings, beer in hand, contemplating which variations of chocolate to consume next!  After all, that’s what everyone does on Christmas Day isn’t it?

Well, apparently, this year will be different.  If the news stories are to be believed millions of people will be logging on to their computers in an attempt to grab a pre-sales bargain ahead of the shop doors opening on December 26th.  Reports on the Sky news website claim 5 million of us will be logging on in between mince pies and spending as much as £100 million.  In the past I can vouch for the fact that Christmas day and Boxing day are notoriously slow days online.  Search volumes and website traffic are down as people spend time with families and sleep off hangovers.  But maybe this year will be different, and December 25th will turn out to be one of the bigger spending days as opposed to the lowest.

I have to say it sounds like wishful thinking on the part of the retailers to me, who have brought forward January sales online to try and cash in before the recession really takes hold.  But maybe I am wrong, and times are changing, Ill certainly be having a look at search and click volumes when I’m back after my Christmas break.  But for now, its back to the sofa and the mince pies!  Merry Christmas!

I spotted something today in the Yahoo Search results I had not seen before.  Now this isn’t to say it hasn’t been around for a while as I can confess to rarely using Yahoo and relying on Google for my search fix mostly because of my iGoogle homepage.

What I found when I searched for virus protection specialist bullguard were notifications in the natural search listings marking the site which had potentially dangerous downloads and spyware potential.  The site in question was Kazaa which was listed twice in the SEO results, both listed accompanied by the message “Warning: Dangerous Downloads“.  This is the first time I have ever seen this warning before in the search results and I would be interested to find out whether it is a manual label on specific sites or if it is picked up automatically in some way.  Either way it is great for the user to see such warnings and catastrophic for the site as I certainly now I would be steering clear of clicking them.

yahoo show spyware warnings in seo results

Google announced yesterday that it was pulling out of the agreement with Yahoo which would have allowed them to display Google Adwords listings on Yahoo search results in the US.  The announcement comes in the face of a potentially lengthy and costly legal battles with competition regulators which Google has decided would “distract the from their core mission”.

In Yahoo’s response via email to it partners they reassured PPC advertisers that, whilst they were disappointed by the announcement, it would not prevent them becoming an “ever-stronger player in online advertising”.  and reaffirm their strength in certain sectors by quoted their positioning across selected news verticals.  A clear attempt to say “don’t give up on us yet!”

In a further twist, Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang has come out and reverted on his original defiance on a sell out to Microsoft by claiming that he was open minded about a potential deal with Microsoft having been bitterly opposed to such a deal when originally proposed.  Its funny how he has changed his mind immediately prior to the Google announcement!

So its back to square one in the search engine battle for supremacy with no deals on the table and everyone working independently.  But for how long?  Yang’s announcement is bound to start the Microsoft-yahoo rumour mill off again and it is probably more likely to go ahead after yesterday but who knows?  I’m sure there will be more twists in the tail before the saga ends.