Brown Goods August 2011
Transcription
Brown Goods August 2011
Sector Report August 2011 A 360˚ analysis of the most important search terms, trends and benchmarking data in the brown goods sector. This report provides an exclusive snapshot of the online search and social media market for your sector right now. From the size of your potential audience to the top performing companies, it’s all here. Product focus: cameras and camcorders, DVD players and recorders, entertainment products, PCs and laptops and TVs. Issue 9 Brown Goods The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search. Flights sector report, Issue 9, March 2011 Introduction At Greenlight, we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of thought leadership within the search industry. Our dedicated Research Division is able to track, record and analyse consumer search behaviour in any market vertical, which in turn leads to the creation of our industry renowned Sector Reports. Each report examines the total search engine audience size; the most visible websites in Google natural search and paid media results; paid media ad copy analysis and budget allocation strategies on how to improve your website’s audience reach. Additionally, we have included some new features to our Social Media analysis. Furthermore, we are proud to introduce Greenlight’s magazine. Each quarter, a new trending focus in the Search industry will be introduced by COO, Andreas Pouros, or CEO, Warren Cowan. Our directors of paid media, natural search and social media will comment on how the topic plays into each aspect of search and what consequences, negative or positive, they might have in the future. We hope you enjoy our revamped report and magazine and look forward to your comments and feedback. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Sales and Marketing team at: [email protected]. Kind regards, Alicia Levy Chief Marketing Officer 31 www.greenlightsearch.com | T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search Contents 3 Executive Summary 4 Total audience size 5 Keyword breakdown 6 Natural search: which websites were most visible in August? 8 Natural search: cameras and camcorders 9 Natural search: DVD players and recorders 10 Natural search: entertainment products 11 Natural search: PCs and laptops 12 Natural search: TVs 13 Paid media: which advertisers were most visible in August? 15 Paid media: ad copy analysis 16 Paid media: cameras and camcorders 17 Paid media: DVD players and recorders 18 Paid media: entertainment products 19 Paid media: PCs and laptops 20 Paid media: TVs 21 Paid media bidding strategies 23 Social media: which brands interacted well? 25 Integrated search: which websites/advertisers performed well? 26 Learn more about out research Get in touch to discuss your site’s specific performance. 2 Brown Goods Sector Report, Issue 9, August 2011 Executive Summary This latest report profiles search behaviour in the brown goods sector. It analyses which brands, retailers and review sites were the most visible in both natural and paid media results (and thus had the greatest share of consideration) when UK consumers searched for brown goods on Google. The report also assesses which brands interacted well on social media networks. In our analysis we established that: In August, more than 1.5 million searches were made online for brown goods‑related keywords. Searches for PC’s and laptops were popular, with more than 532,000 searches having been made in August. Searches for the keyword ‘iPod’ were high, with more than 165,000 queries having been made. Amazon was the most visible website in the natural search listings, achieving 68% visibility. Amazon was also the most visible advertiser in the paid media space, achieving a 55% share of voice. Appliances Online was the most visible brand in our social media analysis, achieving a Klout score of 71. Amazon ranked at the top of our integrated league table, as it achieved high levels of visibility in both the natural search listings and paid media space. 3 www.greenlightsearch.com | T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search Total audience size (1.5 million searches – August 2011) Approximately how many searches were performed in August using terms relating to brown goods? In August, more than 1.5 million searches were made on Google UK July We have considered every search term and aggregated the number of times each one was used in June, July and August to give an indication of the number of searches. for brown goods-related keywords. PC and laptop product terms (which include brand terms such as Acer and Toshiba) were the most searched for, totalling over Total number of brown goods-related searches 532,000 searches in August. 2,000,000 June Searches for entertainment products were also high, July 1,500,000 accounting for 34% of all August 1,000,000 searches made for the sector. 500,000 0 500,,000 Number of searches by product type (August 2011) 10,000,000 1500000 DVD players and recorders 103,947 | 7% 15,000,000 2000000 2500000 20,000,000 TVs 175,653 | 12% PCs and laptops 532,613 | 35% Cameras and camcorders 183,174 | 12% Entertainment products 508,657 | 34% Get in touch to discuss your site’s specific performance. 4 Brown GoodsSearch Sector Report, Issue 9, August 2011 Natural Keyword breakdown Which were the most queried terms across all brown goods search terms? We initially analysed 940 keywords for this exercise, which cumulatively accounted for 1.5 million searches in August 2011. Here we looked at which individual terms were most searched for and the trends of the top search terms from each segment displayed over the previous 12 months. In August, the search term ‘iPod’ was queried 165,000 times, accounting for 11% of all searches made for the sector. Interestingly, four of the top 10 Keyword breakdown (August 2011) iPod 165,000 | 11% keywords related to PCs and laptops, indicating the importance Laptops 135,000 | 9% for multi channel retailers. As can be seen in the graph below, iPod nano 60,500 | 4% Cheap laptops 49,500 | 3% searches for the keyword ‘iPod’ have varied quite a lot over the past few months. Laptops direct 40,500 | 3% Other keywords 897,544 | 60% Computer 40,500 | 3% Camera 33,100 | 2% Headphones 33,100 | 2% Digital camera 27,100 | 2% Portable DVD player 22,200 | 1% Search trends for the main brown goods terms over the previous 12 months 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 iPod Laptops 50,000 Camera Portable DVD player 0 Samsung TVGT6 Sep-10 Oct-10 Nov-10 Dec-10 Jan-11 Feb-11 Mar-11 Apr-11 May-11 Jun-11 5 www.greenlightsearch.com | T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 Jul-11 Aug-11 The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search Which sites were most visible in August? Given that UK web users conducted 1.5 million searches for brown goods products in August 2011, which brands were best positioned on page one of Google natural search and therefore most likely to gain the searcher’s consideration? We have determined the best positioned and hence most visible websites in this sector, based on the volumes for each keyword and their respective ranking for those terms on page one of Google. These websites have been scored in the league table below, which represents visibility to a total of 1.5 million searches in August. In August, Amazon was the most visible website for brown goodsrelated keywords, achieving a 68% share of voice through ranking at position one for 141 keywords, including ‘headphones’. Wikipedia attained a 62% share of voice through ranking at The top 60 most visible brown goods websites in natural search position one for 45 keywords. No. Domain Reached volume Missed volume Percentage reached 1 amazon.co.uk 665,117 844,337 68% 2 wikipedia.org 574,557 934,897 62% 3 comet.co.uk 550,178 959,276 41% 4 pcworld.co.uk 441,416 1,068,038 30% 5 tesco.com 437,767 1,071,687 30% 6 argos.co.uk 404,766 1,104,688 25% 7 currys.co.uk 384,730 1,124,724 23% 8 apple.com 310,210 1,199,244 23% 9 ebuyer.com 278,420 1,231,034 21% 10 laptopsdirect.co.uk 278,018 1,231,436 16% 11 johnlewis.com 197,012 1,312,442 15% 12 richersounds.com 184,989 1,324,465 11% 13 toshiba-europe.com 178,066 1,331,388 11% 14 dixons.co.uk 145,117 1,364,337 7% 15 sony.co.uk 138,728 1,370,726 6% 16 which.co.uk 132,947 1,376,507 5% 17 jessops.com 118,916 1,390,538 5% 18 laptopsdirect.ie 116,919 1,392,535 4% 19 dabs.com 116,185 1,393,269 4% 20 cnet.co.uk 99,644 1,409,810 4% 21 studentcomputers.co.uk 94,125 1,415,329 4% 22 dell.com 84,536 1,424,918 4% 23 cameras.co.uk 81,105 1,428,349 4% 24 play.com 80,357 1,429,097 3% 25 iheadphones.co.uk 72,667 1,436,787 3% Get in touch to discuss your site’s specific performance. 6 Brown Goods Sector Report, Issue 9, August 2011 The top 60 most visible brown goods websites in natural search (contd.) No. Domain Reached volume Missed volume Percentage reached 26 hifiheadphones.co.uk 69,928 1,439,526 5% our top 10, having ranked in our 27 toshiba.co.uk 69,389 1,440,065 5% previous report at position 11 with 28 techradar.com 67,609 1,441,845 4% a 14% share of voice. 29 whatdigitalcamera.com 66,648 1,442,806 4% 30 meshcomputers.com 65,029 1,444,425 4% Since our previous report 31 pixmania.co.uk 62,610 1,446,844 4% (December 2010), John Lewis saw 32 trustedreviews.com 62,478 1,446,976 4% its share of voice increase by 6% 33 val-u-computers.co.uk 60,861 1,448,593 4% and it ascended our league table 34 laptopshop.co.uk 58,551 1,450,903 4% from position 23 to eleventh place. 35 dell.co.uk 57,423 1,452,031 4% 36 sennheiser.co.uk 49,607 1,459,847 3% 37 novatech.co.uk 48,525 1,460,929 3% 38 saveonlaptops.co.uk 45,947 1,463,507 3% 39 acerdirect.co.uk 45,405 1,464,049 3% 40 misco.co.uk 43,652 1,465,802 3% 41 canon.co.uk 42,712 1,466,742 3% 42 bose.co.uk 41,684 1,467,770 3% 43 superfi.co.uk 40,372 1,469,082 3% 44 panasonic.co.uk 39,736 1,469,718 3% 45 whathifi.com 38,760 1,470,694 3% 46 pcadvisor.co.uk 37,669 1,471,785 2% 47 moneysavingexpert.com 36,268 1,473,186 2% 48 samsung.com 35,697 1,473,757 2% 49 advancedmp3players.co.uk 35,567 1,473,887 2% 50 electronicworldtv.co.uk 33,964 1,475,490 2% 51 portableuniverse.co.uk 32,649 1,476,805 2% 52 arbico.co.uk 32,581 1,476,873 2% 53 bbc.co.uk 31,863 1,477,591 2% 54 soundandvision.co.uk 31,766 1,477,688 2% 55 3wisemonkeys.co.uk 30,465 1,478,989 2% 56 directtvs.co.uk 29,796 1,479,658 2% 57 maplin.co.uk 27,997 1,481,457 2% 58 halfords.com 27,983 1,481,471 2% 59 digitaldirect.co.uk 27,395 1,482,059 2% 60 palicomp.co.uk 27,250 1,482,204 2% 7 www.greenlightsearch.com | T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 Comet was a new entrant to The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search Natural search: cameras and camcorders Searches for cameras and camcorders (including brand terms) accounted for more than 183,000 searches in August 2011. How did those searches break down? Camera 33,100 | 18% In August, the search term ‘camera’ was queried 33,100 times, accounting for 18% of all searches made for the subsector. Amazon was the most visible Other keywords 71,974 | 39% website, achieving a 77% share of Digital camera 27,100 | 15% voice through ranking at position one for 22 keywords including the keyword ‘waterproof camera’. Jessops ranked at position one for Waterproof camera 14,800 | 8% Nikon camera 2,900 | 2% Panasonic camcorder 2,900 | 2% Compact digital camera 3,600 | 2% Canon camera 4,400 | 2% 21 keywords and achieved a 65% share of voice. SLR camera 9,900 | 5% Camcorder 8,100 | 4% Since our previous report HD camcorder 4,400 | 2% (December 2010), Sony saw its Which websites were most visible for camera and camcorder searches? No. Domain Reached volume Missed volume Percentage reached 1 amazon.co.uk 140,192 42,982 77% 2 jessops.com 118,916 64,258 65% 3 wikipedia.org 85,831 97,343 47% 4 cameras.co.uk 81,105 102,069 44% 5 whatdigitalcamera.com 66,648 116,526 36% 6 currys.co.uk 65,732 117,442 36% 7 sony.co.uk 60,491 122,683 33% 8 argos.co.uk 52,834 130,340 29% 9 canon.co.uk 42,712 140,462 23% 10 dixons.co.uk 32,401 150,773 18% 11 trustedreviews.com 26,221 156,953 14% 12 which.co.uk 24,507 158,667 13% 13 pcworld.co.uk 19,487 163,687 11% 14 cnet.co.uk 19,269 163,905 11% 15 comet.co.uk 18,293 164,881 10% 16 panasonic.co.uk 17,949 165,225 10% 17 olympus.co.uk 17,492 165,682 10% 18 camerasunderwater.co.uk 15,356 167,818 8% 19 nikon.co.uk 14,645 168,529 8% 20 digital-cameras.com 14,152 169,022 8% visibility increase by 20% and it ascended our league table from position 13 to seventh place. Get in touch to discuss your site’s specific performance. 8 Brown Goods Sector Report, Issue 9, August 2011 Natural search: DVD players and recorders Searches for DVD players and recorders (including brand terms) accounted for more than 103,000 searches in August 2011. How did those searches break down? Portable DVD player 22,200 | 21% In August, the search term ‘portable DVD player’ was queried 22,200 times, accounting for 21% of all searches made for the subsector. Other keywords 32,447 | 31% Amazon was the most visible website, achieving an 85% DVD player 14,800 | 14% at position one for 43 keywords, including ‘portable DVD player’. Free DVD player 2,900 | 3% Car DVD player 2,900 | 3% DVD player software 3,600 | 3% Comet ranked at position one for DVD recorder 8,100 | 8% Multi region DVD player 3,600 | 3% DVD recorders 3,600 | 3% seven keywords, achieving a 62% DVD players 5,400 | 5% share of voice. Interestingly, since Portable DVD players 4,400 | 4% our previous report (December 2010), it saw its visibility increase Which websites were most visible for DVD player and recorder searches? No. Domain Reached volume Missed volume Percentage reached 1 amazon.co.uk 88,337 15,610 85% 2 comet.co.uk 64,474 39,473 62% 3 richersounds.com 63,869 40,078 61% 4 currys.co.uk 53,237 50,710 51% 5 argos.co.uk 53,058 50,889 51% 6 tesco.com 39,554 64,393 38% 7 which.co.uk 37,351 66,596 36% 8 toshiba.co.uk 27,958 75,989 27% 9 halfords.com 25,320 78,627 24% 10 wikipedia.org 25,080 78,867 24% 11 sony.co.uk 19,544 84,403 19% 12 3wisemonkeys.co.uk 16,997 86,950 16% 13 play.com 12,570 91,377 12% 14 pcworld.co.uk 12,445 91,502 12% 15 dvdvideosoft.com 10,652 93,295 10% 16 dixons.co.uk 8,247 95,700 8% 17 moneysavingexpert.com 7,491 96,456 7% 18 videolan.org 6,546 97,401 6% 19 cnet.com 6,088 97,858 6% 20 blazevideo.com 5,682 98,265 5% 9 share of voice through ranking www.greenlightsearch.com | T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 by 47% and it ascended our league table from position 12 to second place. The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search Natural search: entertainment products Searches for entertainment products, such as audio, MP3 and personal video players (including brand terms) accounted for more than 508,000 searches in August 2011. How did those searches break down? In August, the keyword ‘iPod’ was queried 165,000 times, accounting for 32% of all iPod 165,000 | 32% Other keywords 164,357 | 32% searches made for the subsector. Amazon was the most visible website, achieving a 67% share of voice through ranking at position one for 68 keywords, including the search term ‘headphones’. MP3 player 9,900 | 2% Apple ipod 9,900 | 2% Apple ranked at position one for Wireless speakers 9,900 | 2% Wireless headphones 9,900 | 2% Sennheiser headphones 9,900 | 2% MP3 players 18,100 | 4% seven keywords, achieving a 57% iPod nano 60,500 | 12% share of voice. Speakers 18,100 | 4% Headphones 33,100 | 7% John Lewis was a new entrant to our league table, having not Which websites were most visible for entertainment product searches? No. Domain Reached volume Missed volume Percentage reached 1 amazon.co.uk 338,391 170,196 67% 2 wikipedia.org 314,942 193,645 62% 3 apple.com 288,166 220,421 57% 4 argos.co.uk 214,936 293,651 42% 5 tesco.com 204,605 303,982 40% 6 comet.co.uk 149,607 358,980 29% 7 johnlewis.com 91,596 416,991 18% 8 iheadphones.co.uk 72,667 435,920 14% 9 hifiheadphones.co.uk 69,928 438,659 14% 10 pcworld.co.uk 68,236 440,350 13% 11 play.com 63,288 445,300 12% 12 pixmania.co.uk 54,371 454,216 11% 13 richersounds.com 51,765 456,822 10% 14 sennheiser.co.uk 49,600 458,987 10% 15 bose.co.uk 41,684 466,903 8% 16 superfi.co.uk 38,970 469,617 8% 17 whathifi.com 37,062 471,525 7% 18 cnet.co.uk 35,989 472,598 7% 19 advancedmp3players.co.uk 35,567 473,020 7% 20 sony.co.uk 35,270 473,317 7% featured in our previous report (December 2010). Get in touch to discuss your site’s specific performance. 10 Brown Goods Sector Report, Issue 9, August 2011 Natural search: PCs and laptops Searches for PCs and laptops (including brand terms) accounted for more than 532,000 searches in August 2011. How did those searches break down? In August, the search term ‘laptops’ was queried 135,000 times, accounting for 25% of all Laptops 135,000 | 25% searches for the subsector. Other keywords 177,113 | 33% PC World was the most visible website, achieving a 61% share of voice through ranking at position one for 31 keywords. Cheap laptops 49,500 | 9% Laptops Direct achieved a 52% Gaming laptops 12,100 | 2% Best laptop 12,100 | 2% share of voice through ranking Laptops direct 40,500 | 8% Desktop PC 14,800 | 3% Acer laptops 14,800 | 3% Gaming PC 18,100 | 3% at position one for nine search terms, including the high volume Toshiba laptops 18,100 | 3% Computer 40,500 | 8% keyword ‘laptops’. Since our previous report Which websites were most visible for PC and laptop searches? (December 2010), Comet saw its No. Domain Reached volume Missed volume Percentage reached 1 pcworld.co.uk 324,409 208,314 61% ascended our league table from 2 laptopsdirect.co.uk 278,015 254,708 52% fifth to third place. 3 comet.co.uk 238,344 294,379 45% 4 ebuyer.com 222,262 310,461 42% 5 toshiba-europe.com 170,478 362,244 32% 6 tesco.com 148,296 384,427 28% 7 currys.co.uk 147,672 385,051 28% 8 laptopsdirect.ie 115,647 417,076 22% 9 dabs.com 109,483 423,240 21% 10 studentcomputers.co.uk 94,125 438,598 18% 11 johnlewis.com 85,366 447,357 16% 12 dell.com 84,533 448,190 16% 13 wikipedia.org 81,076 451,647 15% 14 meshcomputers.com 65,029 467,694 12% 15 val-u-computers.co.uk 60,861 471,862 11% 16 laptopshop.co.uk 58,551 474,172 11% 17 dell.co.uk 57,423 475,300 11% 18 novatech.co.uk 48,392 484,331 9% 19 saveonlaptops.co.uk 45,947 486,776 9% 20 acerdirect.co.uk 45,398 487,325 9% 11 www.greenlightsearch.com | T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 visibility increase by 23% and it The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search Natural search: TVs Searches for TVs (including brand terms) accounted for more than 175,000 searches in August 2011. How did those searches break down? In August, the keywords ‘Samsung TV’ and ‘television’ were each queried 22,200 times, Samsung TV 22,200 | 13% cumulatively accounting for 26% of all searches made for Other keywords 52,653 | 30% the subsector. Television 22,200 | 13% Currys was the most visible website, achieving a 47% share Cheap TV 14,800 | 8% of voice and ranked first in our league table. Plasma TV 6,600 | 4% Cheap televisions 6,600 | 4% Comet achieved a 44% share of Panasonic TV 12,100 | 7% Cheap LCD TV 6,600 | 4% Flat screen TV 9,900 | 6% Digital TV 9,900 | 6% voice through ranking at position one for five keywords, including Televisions 12,100 | 7% ‘buy TV’. Which websites were most visible for TV searches? Since our previous report No. Domain Reached volume Missed volume Percentage reached 1 currys.co.uk 84,958 96,065 47% saw its visibility increase by 18% 2 comet.co.uk 79,459 101,564 44% and it ascended our league table 3 richersounds.com 69,355 111,668 38% from position 13 to third place. 4 wikipedia.org 67,628 113,395 37% 5 dixons.co.uk 66,956 114,067 37% 6 amazon.co.uk 53,306 127,717 29% 7 argos.co.uk 43,467 137,556 24% 8 tesco.com 39,836 141,187 22% 9 electronicworldtv.co.uk 33,964 147,059 19% 10 ebuyer.com 30,985 150,038 17% 11 soundandvision.co.uk 30,649 150,374 17% 12 directtvs.co.uk 29,765 151,258 16% 13 digitaldirect.co.uk 26,898 154,125 15% 14 samsung.com 23,704 157,319 13% 15 bbc.co.uk 23,514 157,509 13% 16 freesat.co.uk 22,960 158,063 13% 17 cheap-lcd-tv.co.uk 19,517 161,506 11% 18 sky.com 18,424 162,598 10% 19 panasonic.co.uk 17,800 163,224 10% 20 pcworld.co.uk 16,839 164,184 9% (December 2010), Richer Sounds Get in touch to discuss your site’s specific performance. 12 Brown Goods Sector Report, Issue 9, August 2011 Paid Media Paid media: Which advertisers were most visible in August? We have conducted a detailed level of monitoring and analysis to determine which advertisers appeared most prominently in the paid media space. An advertiser’s share of voice is based on: how often they were present in Google, which ad position they bid for, and the associated search volume for the keywords they bid on. These advertisers have been scored in the league table below, which represents visibility across the top 150 keywords in August 2011. The top 60 most visible brown goods advertisers in paid media In August, Amazon was the most visible advertiser, achieving a 55% share of voice through bidding on 149 keywords, at an average ad position of four. Tesco attained a 46% share No. Advertiser Share of voice 1 amazon.co.uk 55% 2 tesco.com 46% 3 johnlewis.com 29% 4 dell.com 26% 5 littlewoods.com 21% 6 comet.co.uk 21% 7 argos.co.uk 18% 8 shopcompare.co.uk 15% 9 which.co.uk 15% 10 bestbuy.co.uk 13% 11 pcworld.co.uk 12% 12 sainsburys.co.uk 11% 13 marksandspencer.com 11% 14 lenovo.com 10% 15 currys.co.uk 10% 16 moneysupermarket.com 9% 17 ebuyer.com 9% 18 panasonic.co.uk 8% 19 very.co.uk 8% 20 dinopc.com 8% 21 apple.com 8% 22 kandco.com 7% 23 viking-direct.co.uk 7% 24 microsoft.com 7% 25 ebay.co.uk 7% 26 iheadphones.co.uk 6% 27 save-clever.co.uk 5% 28 superfi.co.uk 5% of voice through bidding on 85 keywords, at an average ad 13 www.greenlightsearch.com | T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 position of four. Littlewoods, Shop Compare, Which and Best Buy were all new entrants to the top 10 of our paid media table. The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search The top 60 most visible brown goods advertisers in paid media (contd.) No. Advertiser Share of voice 29 pixmania.co.uk 5% 30 sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk 5% 31 maplin.co.uk 5% 32 boots.com 4% 33 cheap-ipods.commboo.co.uk 4% 34 laptopsdirect.co.uk 4% 35 bose.co.uk 4% its visibility increase by 4% and 36 hp.com 4% it ascended our league table from 37 intel.com 4% position 19 to eleventh place. 38 pcspecialist.co.uk 4% 39 headphoneworld.com 4% 40 dialaphone.co.uk 3% 41 ipodprices.co.uk 3% 42 cyberpowersystem.co.uk 3% 43 kelkoo.co.uk 3% 44 sony.co.uk 3% 45 uk.insight.com 3% 46 samsung.com 3% 47 millraceshop.com 3% 48 groupon.co.uk 2% 49 asda.com 2% 50 easypc-uk.com 2% 51 carphonewarehouse.com 2% 52 ziinga.com 2% 53 vibox.co.uk 2% 54 medion.com 2% 55 arbico.co.uk 2% 56 whichonehowmuch.co.uk 2% 57 portableuniverse.co.uk 2% 58 mp3-players.ecompare.co.uk 2% 59 lowpriceshopper.co.uk 2% 60 ukdigitalcameras.co.uk 2% Of the top 10 advertisers, Amazon bid on the largest number of keywords (149) and Shop Compare bid on the least (34). Since our previous report (December 2010) PC World saw Get in touch to discuss your site’s specific performance. 14 Brown Goods Sector Report, Issue 9, August 2011 Paid media: ad copy analysis The table below shows which ad creatives featured most frequently across the top 150 brown goods keywords in the Google paid media space during August 2011. Share of voice is based on the number of times Google displayed the individual ad creative, also taking into account ad position, search term volume and Google’s ad rotation. In addition, we have analysed how many unique creatives were present for each advertiser. No. Domain Ad creative Unique Share of creatives voice 1 Apple iPod - £35 Buy & Save Big on Apple iPod Today's Lowest UK Prices Are Here www.shopcompare.co.uk 23 Buy -ipod at Amazon Big Savings on -ipod. | amazon.co.uk Free UK Delivery on Amazon Orders www.amazon.co.uk/-ipod 1,353 iPods At M&S Variety Of iPods.M&S Free 2 Yr Guarantee. Buy Today! www.marksandspencer.com/AppleShop 124 Laptops at Littlewoods Buy Now Pay Later on Laptopsat Littlewoods with Free Delivery! www.littlewoods.com/laptops 146 Digital Cameras Online Buy digital cameras at John Lewis. Wide range with Free Delivery! www.johnlewis.com/digital-cameras 186 Headphones Huge Sale - Free UK Delivery - low UK prices Massive Sale Huge Range Headphones www.iheadphones.co.uk 30 Dell UK - Official Site | Dell.com Amazing Dell Offers With 2nd Gen Intel® Core™. Buy Online Now! www.dell.com/uk 142 Buy -ipod at Amazon Big Savings on -ipod | amazon.co.uk Free UK Delivery on Amazon Orders www.amazon.co.uk/-ipod 1,353 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 shopcompare.co.uk amazon.co.uk marksandspencer.com littlewoods.com johnlewis.com iheadphones.co.uk dell.com amazon.co.uk 9% Shop Compare displayed the most 9% 8% Amazon displayed the most 7% 4% Shop Compare displayed the least (23). 4% Many of these ad creatives 3% featured customer care offerings, such as stating warranties 3% and free delivery services, to incentivise the consumer to click. Apple iPod - £35 | Shopcompare.co.uk Buy & Save Big on Apple iPod Today's Lowest UK Prices Are Here www.shopcompare.co.uk 23 3% 10 save-clever.co.uk - 63% Off iPods Up to 63% off iPods! Get the best price, buy now. www.save-clever.co.uk/iPods 68 3% 11 dell.com Dell® Laptop Deals Buy Dell Laptops With 2nd Gen Intel® Core™. Shipped in 24 hours. www.dell.com/uk 142 3% 12 dell.com Dell® Computer Deals | Dell.com Save On Computers With 2nd Gen Intel® Core™. Shipped in 24 hours. www.dell.com/uk 142 3% 13 lenovo.com Lenovo Laptop Sale | Lenovo.com Save on ThinkPad T Series Laptops with Intel® Core™ i5. Buy Now! www.lenovo.com/uk 29 3% 14 littlewoods.com 50% Off Laptops | Littlewoods.com Selected Laptops Up To 50% off Get Free Delivery & Free Returns! www.littlewoods.com/PriceCrash 146 3% 15 amazon.co.uk Ipod-nano at Amazon.co.uk Low prices on Ipod-nano. Free UK Delivery on Amazon Orders www.amazon.co.uk/ipod-nano 1353 3% | diverse ad campaign, displaying 1,353 unique ad creatives whilst shopcompare.co.uk www.greenlightsearch.com visible individual ad creative, advertising Apple iPod’s for £35. 9 15 Achieving a 9% share of voice T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search Paid media: cameras and camcorders Searches for cameras and camcorders (including brand terms) accounted for more than 183,000 searches in August 2011. Here we assess which advertisers were most visible for those keywords. Amazon was the most visible advertiser bidding on all 30 of the keywords analysed, at an average No. Advertiser Share of voice 1 amazon.co.uk 58% 2 johnlewis.com 54% 3 panasonic.co.uk 50% 4 tesco.com 50% 5 which.co.uk 40% 6 comet.co.uk 34% 7 littlewoods.com 32% 8 viking-direct.co.uk 30% 9 currys.co.uk 27% 10 argos.co.uk 26% its visibility increase by 26% and 11 bestbuy.co.uk 25% it ascended our league table from 12 boots.com 21% seventh to third place. 13 kandco.com 15% 14 ukdigitalcameras.co.uk 14% Attaining a 28% share of voice, 15 moneysupermarket.com 12% John Lewis displayed the most 16 whichonehowmuch.co.uk 11% visible individual ad creative, 17 pixmania.co.uk 11% 18 camcorders.ecompare.co.uk 10% 19 very.co.uk 9% 20 greatdigitaldeals.co.uk 9% ad position of five. By comparison, John Lewis bid on 23 keywords at a lower average ad position of four, achieving a 54% share of voice. Since our previous report (December 2010), Panasonic saw advertising digital cameras online. Which ad creatives were most visible for camera and camcorder searches? No. Domain Ad creative Unique Share of creatives voice 1 johnlewis.com Digital Cameras Online Buy digital cameras at John Lewis. Wide range with Free Delivery! www.johnlewis.com/digital-cameras 70 28% 2 which.co.uk Which? Camera Review | Which.co.uk Digital Cameras Reviewed Online Get The Full Picture with Which www.which.co.uk/Camera 35 20% 3 panasonic.co.uk Lumix Digital Cameras Capture the moments that matter Find the complete Lumix Range here. www.panasonic.co.uk/Lumix_Digital 63 18% 4 boots.com Digital Camera Deals Get Free Boots Advantage Points on any Digital Camera Today! www.boots.com/TreatStreet 19 17% 5 which.co.uk Which? Camera Review Digital Cameras Reviewed Online Get The Full Picture with Which www.which.co.uk/Camera 35 13% Get in touch to discuss your site’s specific performance. 16 Brown Goods Sector Report, Issue 9, August 2011 Paid media: DVD players and recorders Searches for DVD players and recorders (including brand terms), accounted for more than 103,000 searches in August 2011. Here we assess which advertisers were most visible for those keywords. Amazon was the most visible advertiser, achieving a 73% share of voice through bidding on all 30 No. Advertiser Share of voice 1 amazon.co.uk 73% 2 tesco.com 52% 3 moneysupermarket.com 49% 4 ebuyer.com 40% 5 comet.co.uk 28% 6 maplin.co.uk 28% 7 johnlewis.com 25% 8 apple.com 25% 9 ebay.co.uk 22% 10 argos.co.uk 21% Supermarket saw its visibility 11 real.com 18% increase by 17% and it ascended 12 boots.com 16% our league table from fourth to 13 bestbuy.co.uk 15% third place. 14 pricerunner.co.uk 14% 15 superfi.co.uk 13% Achieving a 15% share of voice, 16 panasonic.co.uk 12% Apple displayed the most visible 17 samsung.com 8% 18 uplayer.us.com 7% 19 dvd-cheap-players.supaprice.co.uk 7% 20 cheap-dvd-recorder.supaprice.co.uk 7% of the keywords analysed, at an average ad position of three. Tesco achieved 52% visibility through bidding on 17 keywords, at an average ad position of four. Since our previous report (December 2010), Money individual ad creative, advertising portable video players. Which ad creatives were most visible for DVD player and recorder searches? No. Domain Ad creative Unique Share of creatives voice 1 apple.com Portable Video Player The thinner, faster, 601g iPad 2. See the amazing HD video quality. www.apple.com/uk/ipad 13 15% 2 maplin.co.uk DVD Player Only £19.99 in the Maplin Sale. Maplin: The Electronics Specialists www.maplin.co.uk/Summer_Sale 85 14% 3 moneysupermarket.com Compare Portable DVD Great deals on Portable DVD Players and avoid the horror of haggling! www.moneysupermarket.com/Shopping 72 11% 4 real.com RealPlayer® Free Download Download Videos & Watch Them On Any Device You Want, w/ new RealPlayer. www.real.com/New_RealPlayer 3 11% 5 moneysupermarket.com Compare DVD Players Find great deals on DVD Players and rise above the high street! www.moneysupermarket.com/Shopping 72 10% 17 www.greenlightsearch.com | T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search Paid media: entertainment products Searches for entertainment products (including brand terms), accounted for more than 508,000 searches in August 2011. Here we assess which advertisers were most visible for those keywords. Amazon was the most visible advertiser, achieving 84% visibility through bidding on No. Advertiser Share of voice 1 amazon.co.uk 84% 2 shopcompare.co.uk 37% 3 tesco.com 37% 4 marksandspencer.com 28% 5 johnlewis.com 26% 6 argos.co.uk 25% 7 comet.co.uk 24% 8 iheadphones.co.uk 17% 9 save-clever.co.uk 15% 10 which.co.uk 13% a 37% share of voice; however, it 11 cheap-ipods.commboo.co.uk 12% bid on four keywords, at a lower 12 bose.co.uk 12% average ad position of four. 13 superfi.co.uk 12% 14 headphoneworld.com 11% Achieving a 27% share of 15 apple.com 11% voice, Shop Compare displayed 16 ipodprices.co.uk 10% the most visible individual ad 17 ebay.co.uk 10% 18 ebuyer.com 9% 19 sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk 8% 20 asda.com 7% 30 keywords, at an average ad position of three. Shop Compare attained 37% visibility through bidding on seven keywords, at an average ad position of three. By comparison, Tesco also achieved creative, advertising specials on Apple iPod’s. Which ad creatives were most visible for entertainment product searches? No. Domain Ad creative Unique Share of creatives voice 1 shopcompare.co.uk Apple iPod - £35 Buy & Save Big on Apple iPod. Today's Lowest UK Prices Are Here www.shopcompare.co.uk 6 27% 2 amazon.co.uk Buy -ipod at Amazon Big Savings on -ipod. | amazon.co.uk Free UK Delivery on Amazon Orders www.amazon.co.uk/-ipod 302 25% 3 marksandspencer.com iPods At M&S Variety Of iPods. M&S Free 2 Yr Guarantee. Buy Today! www.marksandspencer.com/AppleShop 22 24% 4 iheadphones.co.uk Headphones Huge Sale - Free UK Delivery - low UK prices Massive Sale Huge Range Headphones www.iheadphones.co.uk 30 10% 5 amazon.co.uk Buy -ipod at Amazon Big Savings on -ipod | amazon.co.uk Free UK Delivery on Amazon Orders www.amazon.co.uk/-ipod 302 10% Get in touch to discuss your site’s specific performance. 18 Brown Goods Sector Report, Issue 9, August 2011 Paid media: PCs and laptops Searches for PCs and laptops (including brand terms), accounted for more than 532,000 searches in August 2011. Here we assess which advertisers were most visible for those keywords. Dell was the most visible advertiser, achieving a 71% share of voice through bidding on No. Advertiser Share of voice 1 dell.com 71% 2 tesco.com 47% 3 littlewoods.com 41% 4 pcworld.co.uk 34% 5 lenovo.com 28% 6 dinopc.com 23% 7 sainsburys.co.uk 21% 8 amazon.co.uk 21% 9 johnlewis.com 19% 10 microsoft.com 19% saw its visibility increase by 18% 11 very.co.uk 15% and it ascended our league able 12 kandco.com 14% from fifth to third place. 13 bestbuy.co.uk 13% 14 laptopsdirect.co.uk 12% Attaining a 19% share of voice, 15 hp.com 11% Littlewoods displayed the most 16 which.co.uk 11% visible individual ad creative, 17 argos.co.uk 11% 18 intel.com 11% 19 pcspecialist.co.uk 11% 20 cyberpowersystem.co.uk 8% 24 keywords, at an average ad position of three. Tesco attained 47% visibility through bidding on 14 keywords, at an average ad position of four. Since our previous report (December 2010), Littlewoods advertising a ‘buy now pay later’ scheme on laptops. Which ad creatives were most visible for PC and laptop searches? No. Domain Ad creative Unique Share of creatives voice 1 littlewoods.com Laptops at Littlewoods Buy Now Pay Later on Laptops at Littlewoods with Free Delivery! www.littlewoods.com/laptops 39 19% 2 dell.com Dell UK - Official Site | Dell.com Amazing Dell Offers With 2nd Gen Intel® Core™. Buy Online Now! www.dell.com/uk 133 10% 3 dell.com Dell® Laptop Deals Buy Dell Laptops With 2nd Gen Intel® Core™. Shipped in 24 hours. www.dell.com/uk 133 9% 4 dell.com Dell® Computer Deals | Dell.com Save On Computers With 2nd Gen Intel® Core™. Shipped in 24 hours. www.dell.com/uk 133 9% 5 lenovo.com Lenovo Laptop Sale | Lenovo.com Save on ThinkPad T Series Laptops with Intel® Core™ i5. Buy Now! www.lenovo.com/uk 29 9% 19 www.greenlightsearch.com | T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search Paid media: TVs Searches for TVs (including brand terms), accounted for more than 175,000 searches in August 2011. Here we assess which advertisers were most visible for those keywords. Tesco was the most visible advertiser, achieving a 64% share of voice through bidding No. Advertiser Share of voice 1 tesco.com 64% 2 amazon.co.uk 60% 3 currys.co.uk 53% 4 johnlewis.com 37% 5 comet.co.uk 34% 6 bestbuy.co.uk 32% 7 moneysupermarket.com 24% 8 littlewoods.com 20% 9 sainsburys.co.uk 16% 10 ziinga.com 16% John Lewis saw its visibility 11 sky.com 15% increase by 2% and it ascended 12 sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk 15% our league table from seventh to 13 forbesdirect.tv 14% fourth place. 14 very.co.uk 14% 15 ebuyer.com 12% Achieving a 14% share of voice, 16 pixmania.co.uk 10% Forbes Direct TV displayed 17 viking-direct.co.uk 10% 18 groupon.co.uk 10% 19 dialaphone.co.uk 10% 20 panasonic.co.uk 9% on 29 keywords, at an average ad position of five. Amazon achieved 60% visibility through bidding on all 30 of the keywords analysed, at an average ad position of five. Since our December 2010 report, the most visible individual ad creative, advertising a wide variety of televisions for rent. Which ad creatives were most visible for TV searches? No. Domain Ad creative Unique Share of creatives voice 1 forbesdirect.tv Forbes Direct Rentals Rental of Television, Video DVD, Plasma, LCD and White Goods www.forbesdirect.tv 3 14% 2 ziinga.com Cheap TV 40'' LED TV Sold for £104 Nintendo Wii Sold for £14 www.ziinga.com 12 12% 3 johnlewis.com Buy TVs at John Lewis Choose from our range of top brand LCD & Plasma TVs with Free Delivery www.johnlewis.com/televisions 39 9% 4 moneysupermarket.com Bargain TVs Compare & get the best Price. All major Brands. Save money here. www.moneysupermarket.com/TVs 56 6% 5 virginmedia.com Virgin Media Digital TV | virginmedia.com 6 months half price on TV packages plus free installation with TiVo www.virginmedia.com 14 6% Get in touch to discuss your site’s specific performance. 20 Brown Goods Sector Report, Issue 9, August 2011 Paid media bidding strategies We have monitored Google closely to identify who was advertising in the paid media space, and when they chose to advertise. Our analysis tracks visibility of advertisers, in terms of bidding frequency, average ad position and keywords bid on, rather than assessing other performance indicators, such as sales and cost per acquisition. The data has then been broken down further to reveal advertising behaviour by individual days of the week and times of the day. Day parting strategy Our research, through working with various brown goods retailers, has found that most brown goods-related search queries are performed over the weekend, particularly Sunday, with fewer searches on weekdays. But did advertisers reflect this day parting in their bidding strategies? Ad count by day, over a 1-week period (chosen at random; week commencing 22nd August) Consumer search behaviour 25% Currys Panasonic Littlewoods 20% Which eBay 15% Money Supermarket Comet 10% John Lewis Tesco 5% Mon 22nd Tue 23rd Wed 24th Thu 25th Fri 26th Sat 27th Sun 28th The majority of advertisers, Littlewoods appeared to not By contrast, Curry appeared to such as Panasonic and Money to recognise consumer search overestimate consumer search Supermarket, recognised consumer behaviour, achieving a high behaviour later on in the week. search behaviour. percentage of visibility early on in the week, when search behaviour was at its lowest. 21 Amazon www.greenlightsearch.com | T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search Hourly parting strategy Our research has found that there is a considerable peak in consumer search behaviour in the evening between 8pm and midnight. Search behaviour remains relatively low throughout the day, but starts to rise slightly from 12pm onwards. Did advertisers consider these trends in their bidding strategies? Ad count by hour, over a 1-day period (day chosen at random; Thursday 23rd August) Consumer search behaviour Currys 35% Panasonic 30% eBay 25% Which Littlewoods 20% Money Supermarket 15% Comet 10% John Lewis Tesco 5% Midnight - 4am 4am - 8am 8am - 12pm 12pm - 4pm 4pm - 8pm 8pm - Midnight Amazon The majority of advertisers eBay appeared to recognise search Comet appeared to underestimate appeared to achieve a relatively behaviour in the evening; however, search behaviour in the consistent percentage of visibility it overestimated search activity in evening period. throughout the day examined. the early hours of the morning. Get in touch to discuss your site’s specific performance. 22 Brown Goods Sector Marketing Report, Issue 9, August 2011 Social Media Which brands had the most influence? Social media provides consumers with a dynamic platform upon which to talk about and engage with brands. Smart brands recognise the importance of effectively employing this medium in order to inspire positive conversation around their products. The most influential brands engage on a daily basis with consumers, driving traffic to their online and offline properties. To gauge their influence, we’ve had a look at the top 15 brands and measured their engagement by monitoring their fans and followers across various social media platforms, shown in the table below. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube presences were all measured, whilst Klout scores have been obtained, quantifying the influence of that brand across the social networks analysed. No. Brand YouTube Uploads YouTube Subscribers 1 Appliances Online 3,633 18,262 31 283 111 71 2 Asda 21,559 37,326 4,268 62 33 68 3 Littlewoods 4,856 46,743 719 29 65 65 4 Argos 15,838 132,960 0 158 182 60 5 Amazon 26,110 64,717 527 0 0 60 6 John Lewis 11,769 223,050 5,191 80 925 60 7 PriceRunner 3,248 27,643 97 329 22 59 8 Tesco 10,870 374,930 17,840 0 0 50 9 Which 3,348 0 567 864 4,514 47 10 Comet 2,400 17,397 1,254 164 79 46 11 Dixons 2,384 877 3,095 0 0 42 12 eSpares 1,213 1,060 42 261 770 36 13 Currys 31 556 346 0 0 13 14 Coopelectrical Shop 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 Appliances Direct 0 0 0 2 0 0 23 Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Klout Score Appliances Online ranked at the top Of the brands analysed, Amazon By comparison, Tesco had the of our league table, as it achieved a had the largest following on its largest number of fans on its Klout score of 71. Twitter account (26,110). Facebook account (374,930). www.greenlightsearch.com | T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search This word cloud outlines the topics associated with the primary brown goods keywords during the month of August. Amongst other search terms, ‘help’ and ‘available’ were a predominant focus of user generated discussion. Top Bloggers in the Brown Goods sector: Below are 3 of the top bloggers in the Brown Goods sector, ranked according to authority and number of mentions. You’ll notice that many of these blogs revolve around lifestyle and hobbies as well as brown goods. Stuart Miles http://www.pocket-lint.com/ Created in 2003, UK-based Pocket Lint offers independent reviews on all the latest gadgets. It covers everything from Apps, to Satnav, to Coffee Machines. CEO and founder, Stuart Miles, has been a technology journalist since 1998 and written for a number of publications both in the mainstream media and IT Press in the UK. Electric Pig http://www.electricpig.co.uk “Laced with a fat dollop of unabashed gut-felt opinion”, Electric Pig brings its readers the latest technology reviews, videos and image galleries. Claiming to be the only tech you need, Electric Pig cuts away the fluff and delivers the latest news and most relevant trends in the world of gadgets. Chip Chick http://www.chipchick.com/ ChipChick delivers its readers “tech and gadgets from a girls’ perspective”. One of the few, if not the only, gadget and technology blog of its kind, ChipChick writes for a predominantly female audience. The blog is managed by Helena Stone, providing a wide range of in-depth articles covering products and features that often go unnoticed by other major blogs. Get in touch to discuss your site’s specific performance. 24 Brown Goods Sector Report, Issue 9, August 2011 Integrated Search Which websites/advertisers performed well? overall? Here we have taken the top websites/advertisers across both mediums to give an indication of their integrated search performance. If we look at the visibility achieved by websites in natural search and the impression share gained by those websites as advertisers in the paid media space, who obtained the most share of voice 50% amazon.co.uk 40% wikipedia.org Natural search visibility comet.co.uk 30% pcworld.co.uk Strong natural search visibility Strong integrated search visibility tesco.com argos.co.uk currys.co.uk apple.com 20% laptopsdirect.co.uk Poor integrated search visibility Strong paid media visibility ebuyer.com johnlewis.com richersounds.com toshiba-europe.com 10% which.co.uk sony.co.uk dell.com panasonic.co.uk shopcompare.co.uk bestbuy.co.uk 0% 0% 10% littlewoods.com 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Paid media visibility In August, both Amazon and Comet, Argos, PC World, John Lewis was close to achieving Tesco achieved strong integrated Wikipedia and Currys achieved strong paid media visibility; search visibility. strong natural search visibility. however, it fell just short of achieving it. 25 www.greenlightsearch.com | T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 The most visible websites, advertisers and brands in Google search The most visible brown goods websites in natural search and paid media No. Website / advertiser Natural search Paid media Amazon featured at the top 1 amazon.co.uk 44% 55% of our league table due to 2 tesco.com 29% 46% its high visibility in both the 3 comet.co.uk 36% 21% natural search listings and paid 4 argos.co.uk 27% 18% 5 johnlewis.com 13% 29% 6 pcworld.co.uk 29% 12% 7 wikipedia.org 38% 0% 8 currys.co.uk 25% 10% 9 dell.com 6% 26% search and paid media visibility 10 apple.com 21% 8% increase by 26% and 24%, media space. Since our previous report, Tesco saw both its natural 11 ebuyer.com 18% 9% respectively; hence it ascended 12 which.co.uk 9% 15% our league table from fifth to 13 laptopsdirect.co.uk 18% 4% 14 littlewoods.com 0% 21% 15 shopcompare.co.uk 0% 15% 16 bestbuy.co.uk 0% 13% 17 richersounds.com 12% 0% 18 sony.co.uk 9% 3% measures of visibility across both 19 toshiba-europe.com 12% 0% the natural search listings and second place. The majority of advertisers attained relatively equal 20 panasonic.co.uk 3% 8% paid media space, indicating that 21 sainsburys.co.uk 0% 11% Brown Goods brands use both 22 marksandspencer.com 0% 11% forms of marketing in order to 23 iheadphones.co.uk 5% 6% 24 lenovo.com 0% 10% 25 dixons.co.uk 10% 0% 26 moneysupermarket.com 0% 9% 27 pixmania.co.uk 4% 5% 8% 28 very.co.uk 0% 29 dinopc.com 0% 8% 30 jessops.com 8% 0% 31 laptopsdirect.ie 8% 0% 32 dabs.com 8% 0% 33 superfi.co.uk 3% 5% 34 kandco.com 0% 7% 35 viking-direct.co.uk 0% 7% 36 bose.co.uk 3% 4% 37 microsoft.com 0% 7% 38 ebay.co.uk 0% 7% 39 cnet.co.uk 7% 0% 40 maplin.co.uk 2% 5% gain high levels of visibility. Get in touch to discuss your site’s specific performance. 26 London New York Level 14 11 Penn Plaza The Broadgate Tower New York Primrose St, London NY 10001 EC2A 2EW T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 T: (1) 212-946-4959 E: [email protected] E: [email protected] Greenlight is a leading independent Search and Social Media marketing agency, the largest of its kind in Europe and the fastest growing. With over 100 blue-chip clients, Greenlight is recognised worldwide for its commitment to delivering record ROI for clients and investing in the future of digital marketing. Greenlight is considered the premier thought leader, publishing widely read industry reports, original research, speaking at trade events and delivering a highly respected digital marketing training programme via the Greenlight Academy. If your online marketing efforts need improvement or you have any questions on this report, why not get in touch? September 2011 | ISSue 01 the mAGAzinE Social media Edition the ‘SOcial Search’ PhenOMenOn Greenlight’s COO Andreas Pouros explains why social media and search are not competing concepts as some of the so-called experts would have you believe. GreenliGht acadeMy Learn from our SEO, PPC and social media experts. Find out what courses we currently have on offer! 60 SecOndS Giedre Guntulionyte of Reiss takes Greenlight’s 60 second interview. adaM Bunn Matthew whiteway anna O’Brien “What you do with social media can now directly impact your rankings in addition to building and defining your brand, so it’s an activity with multiple benefits.” “There has been much debate of late regarding the impact of social media on SEO, but social media engagement within AdWords?” “Good social media isn’t hard to spot. The fact of the matter is if it’s been successful you’ve seen it, read it or had a friend tell you about it on the tube.” THE GREENLIGHT BOARD Warren Cowan | CEO Warren has worked exclusively in the search marketing industry for 13 years and founded Greenlight in 2001. As well as leading the business in its growth and influence, Warren takes an active role in product development and is hands-on in service delivery for numerous client accounts. Andreas Pouros | COO Andreas has been involved in search for 11 years, joining Greenlight in 2003. He is an expert in both business and technological principles and directs Greenlight’s client services and implementation teams. Andreas also plays a pivotal role in product development and business growth strategy. Alicia Levy | CMO Alicia has worked in digital marketing for 12 years and joined Greenlight in 2003 to set up its paid search division. As managing Director of Paid Search, Alicia was at the helm of Greenlight’s PPC technology launches including the multi-award winning Adapt. in her current role, Alicia provides a strategic lead in product development, marketing and training. 1 FOREWORD Andreas Pouros | COO I recall vividly in the summer of 2000, Warren and I were discussing an article that had been widely read within the search industry. Its title proclaimed, concisely and emphatically - ‘SEO is dead’. social media provides additional data, insight and information that needs to be stored, understood, labelled, indexed and retrieved quickly and conveniently. if something produces content, data or information then ‘search’ has an important role to play, regardless of whether that information is indexed from pages on the traditional Web or from what people do or say across various platforms and networks. it suggested that due to the emergence of paid media, natural search results would disappear entirely from search engine results pages within about 12 months. i took the content of this article to heart, depressed by the notion that we’d just got started, with so many ideas and aspirations to turn SEO into a kickass marketing channel and discipline, and it would all come to a crashing close. The opportunity that this ‘social search’ phenomenon offers to brands and marketers is monumental. in the pages that follow we look at social search from the perspective of natural search, paid media and social media marketing itself, forming a primer for those that want to gain a sensible appreciation of what’s happening and how to respond as a marketer or business owner. We hope it inspires some innovation in your own businesses as it has in our own. Warren however, to his everlasting credit, did not agree. To ‘search’, he said, was a basic human activity, not dissimilar to those other behaviours that define us as a species, such as reading, conversing, trading, and sharing. The nature of search would invariably change and Greenlight would have to with it, but the need to search in some form or another would survive us all. Finally, if you have historically received our sector reports, you’ll find these in the centre of this magazine. We toyed with the idea of going digital only, given that we had heard multiple reports that print was dead, but we asked 50 marketers whether they’d be more likely to read a printed magazine from us than a digital one, and 90% of them said the former. it just goes to show that when someone proclaims the death of something, you should always question it and always trust your own research. Every year thereafter i would read a markedly similar article proclaiming the death of SEO for any number of different reasons. Then came the ‘PPC is dead’ articles too, just for good measure. Every time they would completely miss the point; Google may lose out to Facebook, the mobile phone may replace the desktop for many activities, apps may become the main method of retrieving information, pizza may give way to the calzone, but the human activity of searching the collected and indexed knowledge of the human race will remain a crucial process into the future, and experts will be required to facilitate and optimise that process. 11 years later, we’ve delivered over £2bn of incremental sales to our clients with SEO, and each year it’s more than the last. Warren was right. if you consider social media within this context too, it becomes clear that social media and search are not competing concepts as some of the so-called experts would have you believe; quite the contrary.... 2 ADAM BUNN Director of SEO Social Signals as an algorithmic Variable One of my favourite ways to look at SEO is through the lens of history. That’s not just because I have a geeky fascination with historical events in the industry, but because history brings an important context to new developments in SEO that you simply can’t get by looking at things in isolation. This applies to “social signals” just as much as anything else. Nowadays the near universal adoption of the likes of Twitter and Facebook means that almost any site can leverage the combination of truly great content and effective use of social media. if you go back far enough, to a time before there were proper search engine algorithms, there was Yahoo!, categorising and rating sites in a tedious manual process in its web directory. Some early search engines were toying with algorithmically scoring sites, but they were mostly too busy dealing with the challenges of crawling and indexing the web to create any particularly good methods of actually rating content. Because the people at Yahoo! were better at rating content than those early search engines, Yahoo! ruled the roost. SEO was born; a skill set that at the time largely consisted of being able to fill in a submission form. Then search engines got better. Companies like AltaVista pushed the boundaries of what was possible with automatically analysing web pages, creating complex algorithms that could categorise and score pages on a scale that human editors never could. As AltaVista grew in market share and other search engines progressed their own algorithms, manual review dwindled in importance. SEO began to properly take shape, and optimising titles, meta keywords, page content, URLs and headings was what mattered. Unfortunately for AltaVista and its ilk, relying solely on on-page factors has one major downfall, namely that it’s very easy to game such a system. As the commercial potential of the web became more and more apparent that’s exactly what spammers started to do. Eventually, software capable of reverse engineering a search engine algorithm in a matter of minutes meant that search engines were fighting a losing battle against spam. What the engines needed was some sort of information about what sites users liked in order to supplement the often suspect information they had collected from the sites themselves. Lacking that information directly they of course settled on links, which, in various guises, have dominated search engine algorithms since the turn of the century. When you look at the progression of the various algorithmic factors and how their importance has waxed and waned over time, it becomes very clear that social signals are the next in a long line of natural evolutions within SEO. History, and the fact that social signals are what links always were a proxy for, tells us that they will grow in importance as an algorithmic signal, until they in turn are supplanted by whatever unforeseen development occurs within SEO in the future. Social signals have been part of search engine algorithms for around a year now, so that means there is now a direct overlap between SEO and social media (there’s been an indirect overlap for many years, in the sense that social media helps to catalyse link building activity to a site – but i’ll come to that in a minute). in truth the “overlap” is more parasitic than symbiotic, but that’s okay. The point here is that what you do with social media can now directly impact your rankings in addition to building and defining your brand, so it’s an activity with multiple benefits. 3 it’s the first problem that has led Greenlight to create GOSSiP, a one stop combined SEO and social media platform that facilitates the creation of content and the easy management of social conversations about your brand. i’m particularly excited about GOSSiP, precisely because it will help our clients to engage users in a more real time, social fashion, opening up a whole world of creative approaches to SEO that simply haven’t existed for those companies before. GOSSiP which is about to launch, i believe will become a lynchpin in the online marketing strategies of brands worldwide, because the benefits – both SEO and social – are too great to ignore. So what sort of social signals might search engines be looking for in particular? The obvious one would be how many times your site is linked to, from or mentioned on social media sites. Like normal links though, social links and mentions aren’t going to be judged solely on quantity. it’s fair to say that search engines learnt that lesson a long time ago! Quality is an important signal as well, and in social media that means the reputation and authority of the person linking to you. in simple terms: links from profiles with lots of fans, followers, re-tweets, and so on, are worth far more. As for the second problem, social media is the perfect vehicle for sharing content online. Of course, social media already existed back when the idea of “content as king” first gained popularity, but this was mainly in the form of Digg and Delicious, two social news/bookmarking websites that, while really catalysing the idea of link bait in the first place, were frequented largely by people interested in the internet and technology. This severely limited the type of sites that could gain much benefit from them. And what of the indirect overlap? For all the recent hype about social links and mentions directly improving rankings, right now it’s still the indirect benefits of social media that marketers should predominantly focus on, if they want to supercharge their SEO efforts. in about 2003/2004, the phrase “content is king” started being bandied about as a clarion call to SEOs to abandon traditional link building and start producing great content on their sites, to which – lo and behold - links would naturally flood in. it’s a seductive idea with a lot of potential, but one that has a couple of inherent problems. nowadays the near universal adoption of the likes of Twitter and Facebook means that almost any site can leverage the combination of truly great content and effective use of social media to potentially generate hundreds or even thousands of natural links in the space of a few days. That’s the kind of SEO ranking impact that no other approach to SEO can easily match and, of course, by happy coincidence, the social mentions you need to satisfy the direct algorithmic signals the search engines are looking for will be a natural by-product of this activity as well. Firstly, most brands struggle to host and promote content of a compelling enough nature on their corporate websites, for a variety of reasons. This is a problem that we come up against at Greenlight all the time - often the site communicates a brand image that the kind of content in question isn’t consistent with, or iT exercises such control over what gets changed, and then the very thought of being able to produce regular content for users is a pipe dream. in conclusion, social signals as part of SEO aren’t new, nor really are they a particularly radical departure for the search engines. But they are coming of age, and will only grow in importance in the coming years as the engines get more confident in gathering, interpreting and using the data they have at their disposal. inevitably some companies will be left behind as SEO takes this, it’s next of many evolutions – make sure yours isn’t one of them! Finally, content is only “king” if people get to see it. You could have the most mind blowing, compelling and shareable content in the world (“link bait” as we call it) but if nobody views it to begin with that flood of links you’re expecting won’t be forthcoming. www.greenlightsearch.com/search-engine-optimisation 4 MATT WHITEWAy Client Services Director The role and impact of social extensions in paid media Google has long been the catalyst and evolution of search, however Google has come up against a fierce and game-changing competitor. The competition in question is not however a singular brand or company, it is a completely new marketing channel – social media. Rather than fight it, Google have embraced social media within its results pages, and for advertisers and marketers alike, it is important to fully understand the benefits and potential shortcomings of Google’s “social extensions”, namely Seller ratings, and Plus One. What has changed? Google continue to change the landscape of search, both from a natural perspective, and paid. Their constant refinement of the AdWords system is what keeps us marketers on our toes and eager to find and test new ways of driving incremental revenue to our clients. in 2011 alone Google has rolled out a number of improvements, including advanced remarketing, improved logic to serving of sitelinks, umpteen refinements to ad creative and display urls’, local extensions, enhanced tablet and mobile targeting, instant preview, and a new version of Google Analytics. Arguably, two of the most significant features for Google to roll out across AdWords were their “social extensions”, namely Seller Ratings, and Plus One. There has been much debate of late regarding the impact of social media on SEO, but social media Engagement within AdWords? - This really was something different for us to think about and digest. What are Social Extensions? Seller rating extensions (Fig 1.0) display the merchant star rating for companies that meet a certain criteria. The ad extension will show up below the paid media ad in question and show the merchant star rating, along with the number of reviews present on Google Product Search. in addition, you can click through the review total to read the reviews on Google Product Search. needless to say, merchants that qualify for seller rating extensions have an advantage as shoppers are determining which ads to click through on Google. Again, minor enhancements to paid media ads can make a big difference, particularly when competition is fierce and budgets are limited. in April 2011 saw the launch of Google’s latest development to.... Fig 1.0 – Seller Rating Extensions 5 leverage the social graph for their search results. While the company has used social cues from Twitter and Flickr for more than a year to improve organic rankings, Google have now created their own recommendation function and extending it to both paid media and organic search. The feature is simply called “Plus One” (Fig 2.0). You will be familiar with Facebook adverts and likes, the concept is not dissimilar. When users are logged into Google, they will be able to rate individual search results and adverts by clicking the “Plus One” symbol. Their friends will then see the endorsement. Fig 2.0 – Plus One Social Extensions’ impact on Paid media As yet, these social extensions have not direct impact on the all-important, mysterious holy grail of Google Quality Score, however we can safely assume that it is only a matter of time before these, and other social signals start to have an influencing factor on the algorithm, and therefore performance on the account. marketers are already finding ways to utilise these extensions to influence a number of key performance indicators (KPi’s) such as Click-thru Rate (CTR) Cost per Click (CPC) and Conversion Rate (CVR). For example, advertisers wanting to stand out from the crowd in the SERP have, with good effect, implemented the Seller Rating extension within their AdWords account. We initially found for a number of advertisers that having the Seller Ratings as part of the adcopy.... resulted in an increase in CTR, which over time improved Quality Score. However, with an increasing number of advertisers using Seller Ratings, these quick win improvements in CTR are arguably no longer possible, or at least are not as significant as they once were. The Plus One extension on the other hand has a far greater potential impact on the performance of an advertiser’s paid search campaign. i, as a user, am likely to be more inclined to buy something from a site if it has been recommended, or Plus One’d by someone within my “circles” and therefore trust. The Shortfalls of Social Extensions Both social extensions do lend themselves to brands that sell good products / services and/or provide good levels of services. All brands are going to want to achieve as many positive seller ratings as possible, as well as being Plus One’d by vast numbers of users. in theory, this should mean i am able to see which advertiser is likely to give me a pleasurable shopping / user experience, after all, users are not going to Plus One or provide a positive seller rating if they receive poor experience right? Well, there are either functionality flaws or limitations which mean that users are not necessarily going to be aware of any negative levels of feedback. Firstly, Google allows users to Plus One an ad but not a negative one. So again, in theory an advertiser may have 20 Plus One’s, yet 1000 people have had a very poor level of service and would have negative One’d them given the opportunity or functionality. Therefore, on face value the advertiser with 20 Plus one’s looks good value and one where i would have little reservation in spending my money with. Presumably then, Seller Ratings would be far more impartial as they allow for users to add a negative review should they wish. However, unfortunately it is not quite so clear cut as the advertiser can opt in (providing they achieve a certain, very easily achieved, criteria), or opt out of displaying the Seller Ratings. Again, theoretically, if an advertiser received a number of negative reviews which could have a detrimental impact on KPi’s such as CTR, and CVR, they could simply disable the ad extension, once again potentially hiding valuable social signals away from the end user. Arguably, it is too early to really understand the full impact of Plus One on paid media results and it’s not really something as marketers we can completely influence. With Seller Ratings on the other hand, marketers have some interesting choices to make. By implementing Seller Ratings, are you prepared to sacrifice one of the most significant influencers of CTR in paid media – Site Links? if your strategy is to target the positions down the right hand side of the SERP, positive Seller Ratings can give you a step change in performance and should at least be part of a comprehensive testing schedule. The future of Social Extensions and Paid media i wish i knew what the future of paid media looked like, but given the developments and refinements that Google continues to make, we should not be surprised to see a far more joined up social and paid media experience, one that integrates more than just Google’s Plus One and Seller Ratings into Google’s SERP (Fig 3.0) Fig 3.0 – new socially enabled Paid media Ads? integrating search results that your friends have engaged with would be a far easier integration for someone like Facebook than Google’s approach of trying to create its own social network and then shoehorning it into the search results pages. Google also has another major obstacle, the development that had set them apart from the competition – Quality Score. Personally i think Google are still trying to work out how to implement social engagement to its Quality Score algorithm, without sacrificing the main reason people chose to use it – relevancy and quality of results. Ultimately Google will find a way and it is clear that social media and social extensions within paid media are here to stay and continue to grow, so its time to fully embrace it and find innovative ways to continue to drive performance for advertisers. 6 ANNA O’BRIEN Director of Social Media Simple Steps for Becoming Socially Superb Good social media isn’t hard to spot. The fact of the matter is if it’s been successful you’ve seen it, read it or had a friend tell you about it on the tube. A good social media campaign is much like a good piece of Hubba Bubba— tasty, sticky and nearly impossible to get out of your hair…err head. At the risk of taking this mastic analogy too far and getting myself into a gummy mess, I’d also like to note there is no universally approved taste bud tingler. Your bubble gum might be another person’s bad Chinese leftovers. What I am saying, in a somewhat convoluted way, is that it is impossible to please every single member of society with your social media program. Know your market, design for them and remember- “haters gonna hate.” The importance of Brand in Building a Social media Program. A perfect social media program will naturally vary for each brand based on the company, sector, and multitude of other variables. However, social media ideas are all grown from a single seed - the brand. A good brand is the personality and charm of your product, service, or organization. if your brand were able to speak, shake hands and kiss babies- it would be your social media. Social media serves as the core of the modern consumers’ brand experience. Funnily enough, the word brand actually comes from a norse word meaning “to burn,” except instead of burning cattle here, we’re burning exclusivity and value into the brains of potential consumers. When first hitting the social media whiteboard, a company should make sure they know who they are. Put three employees in the room and ask them to describe your brand in three words. if your answers vary widely, you don’t just have a social media problem- you have a branding problem. The easiest way to un-muddle a brand is revisit existing brand guidelines and ensure they shine through in your social media program. Any new media campaign should feel like a natural extension of the brand experience in any other channel. it should not be used too single-handedly; for the best results all types of media should be aligned on the same definition of brand. Word-up, Use Your Ear before You Open Your mouth. As a kid my parents were quite patriotic and were convinced i’d be the next president of the United States. Thus, as a child i was suited up for stereotypical white collar activities such as ballet, piano, fencing, and public speaking. From the tender age of 8 i began oration and by 16 i was competing in national speech and debate competitions. From my years of speech training one thing simple fact stood out: The more i knew about judges, the more convincing i could be. i could tailor my words to them and the speech would transcend from text to meaning. in social media the bridge to meaning is just as important. The more a brand knows about their customers and fans the more they can tailor content to their needs. Then it’s not just a Facebook update or a promotion, it’s something fans genuinely care about and want to share. And when people want to share, that’s when social media is most effective. The starting point for every major brand should be immersing themselves in online discussion around their brand. This doesn’t mean you’ll like what you hear. it will, however, give you a basis for improvement. Customer service is a natural extension of any social media program. Once the quickest route to a person for help is discovered, people will use it. it seems social media is quickly becoming that route. While it can be challenging to handle every mini-crises that flies across your desk, it can also be deeply rewarding. in order to effectively start brand dialogue with a customer you have to first earn their trust. Resolving problems and taking an active role in improving brand perception is the quickest way to gain that trust. 7 make starting the conversation easy When creating content or a campaign or promotion, make sure that starting the dialogue is the easiest part. if engaging with the brand is too hard, no one will do it. Simple. That means, even with the best intention, brands can fail. it takes a bit of quick thinking and focus on the basic elements of communication to make engagement not only simple, but fun. For example, a few months ago while making a quick trip to sort out my finances at a local bank, i got in discussion with a teller, Tina. She had “my daughter is a pyro” written on her nametag; of course i had to ask her about it. We then ended up having a delightful conversation about her daughter’s career as a fireworks designer at Disneyland. After this discussion i realized the strategic beauty of that nametag. That little plastic placard leveraged many of the relationship building tactics social media fanatics evangelize digitally, offline. 4 it was non-evasive: if i didn’t want to talk to Tina, i didn’t have to. The conversation would have to be started by me, the customer. 4 it was easy: The phrase on the name tag gave both of us an easy and immediate discussion point. 4 it was neutral: Unlike other badges that say “ask me about bladdity blah promotion” this badge has nothing to do with sales. i knew if i asked about its meaning i wouldn’t be pressured into something i really didn’t want or need. 4 it was interesting: it made me want to talk to Tina. in the end, i left the bank with a better opinion of it. i also realized that small efforts to build dialogue with consumers can be just as important as a large scale campaign. Be Clever. Be original. Be you. One of the things i find most interesting about business is that no matter what industry, product, or country, every brand has another company they utterly love to hate. The social media result of this natural occurring phenomenon is a deep desire to one up your opposition. if they have a Facebook store, you’re going to have a better one. if they have a sweepstakes, your brand is going to give away a bigger prize. This goes on and on with no real creativity, and the result is just ever expanding executions of the same ideas. While the bigger and better game can be your best friend when trying to sell a project through, the “but so and so did it” game often forces brands to lose focus and originality. i’m not suggesting that brands avoid doing everything their competition does, because there will always be some cross over. However, the drive should be on creating truly original work that evokes something from your audience. in social media creativity is the king and the brands that embrace that are the ones that ultimately succeed. make mistakes and Evolve Brands are going to fail. i like to be upfront about it; it’s inevitable. People make mistakes, and the first reaction is always going to be to close up shop and move on. it’s a natural human response. However, with social media (and consequently any marketing channel) that is the wrong approach. instead, brands should ask questions, dive into what caused a planned effort to go awry. Putting this information to good use, a company can restart, rebuild and grow. Even when things go as planned there are always opportunities for a brand to evolve and grow. For some, evolution might be as simple as changing how customer complaints are dealt with. For others, that change could be an incorporation of a new technology that revolutionizes a customer’s digital experience. Wherever your brands stand it’s important to be aware that change is a necessary part of social media. in an area of marketing where things change literally every six months, you shouldn’t expect your three year plan to stay completely on track. instead, embrace the bumps in the road and help your brand grow into something socially superb. 8 At Greenlight, we pride ourselves on being the pioneers of thought leadership within the search industry. From our Sector Reports to our Greenlight Academy training programmes, we strive to offer companies and individuals the unique opportunity to gain contemporary and relevant insight into the search industry. Greenlight Academy The Greenlight Academy is our training division through which we offer the most advanced and comprehensive search training courses in the country. Our programmes are designed to meet the needs of business’s or individuals interested in understanding and using search and social media. Our courses on offer range from an ’introduction to SEO and PPC’ to ‘Link Building masterclasses’. “i recently attended the Social media for Business course hosted by Greenlight’s Social media Director, Anna O’Brien. it was absolutely brilliant and i would recommend it to anyone looking to broaden their knowledge of Social media for business in the online marketing space.” Ashish Khungar | Search Specialist | Dixons Retail Plc Sector Reports Our industry renowned sector reports are used within the search industry to benchmark websites and brands’ visibility against that of their competitors. Each report examines the total search engine audience size; the most visible websites in Google natural search and paid media results; paid media ad copy analysis; budget allocation strategies and social media analysis. We have now also included a magazine at the back of our reports featuring articles from the Greenlight Board and Directors of natural search, paid media and social media. Our latest edition focuses on the ‘Social Search phenomenon’. Roundtables Our filmed roundtable discussions are designed to provide an open environment for debate and discussion on a regular basis. in recent weeks, we have successfully hosted Fashion and Finance themed roundtables. Participants from major brands, including Debenhams, next, Reiss, Barclays Wealth and Google Finance gathered to discuss what issues they have experienced with search and social within their sectors. “The Greenlight Fashion Roundtable was really interesting for us as a small brand. We gained insight into what larger fashion brands and retailers are doing, as well as what we can do better. We’ve learnt a lot.” Guusje Wentrup | Ecommerce and marketing Coordinator | miH Jeans For further information on Greenlight Academy please contact [email protected] To download our sector reports and view our roundtable videos, visit www.greenlightsearch.com 9 Greenlight’s Online Search & Social Interaction Platform (GOSSIP) The GOSSIP platform: 4 is a managed solution designed to allow global organisations to respond to the search and social demands of modern online business. 4 Provides a home for all your media assets – press releases, videos, Twitter and blog posts, guides, surveys, forums, polls, widgets, graphics, podcasts, promotions, voucher codes, and much more. 4 Empowers marketers to engage more effectively with journalists, social networks, and consumers by giving them direct, rapid publishing power for the first time. 4 Responds directly to the very real danger that big brands will be left behind due to their relative inability to be dynamic in the online search and social spheres. Essentially, brands are often great at being corporations, but need GOSSIP to build leadership in the fast-paced world of real time search and social media. Greenlight’s solutions are used by many of the world’s best known brands to enhance their performance why don’t you join them? 10 Greenlight, Level 14, The Broadgate Tower, Primrose Street, London, EC2A 2EW www.greenlightsearch.com Natural Search | Paid Media | Social Media | Web Dev T: +44 (0)20 7253 7000 E: [email protected] | Training | Technology