Map Searches Shifting To Mobile: comScore – 18th October 2012 According to comScore, map-based search on the PC has now peaked andis starting to erode. By contrast, mobile usage of mapping applications is growing and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Apple Maps’ problems notwithstanding, smartphone mapping apps offer a better overall experience than online maps. Because they’re in your pocket they’re available when they’re most needed: on the go. And they offer location-aware/search nearby capabilities that online maps do not. The stats according to comScore are as follows: In the past six months the number of smartphone visitors to Maps websites and apps has jumped 24% to 92 million unique visitors Searches with a Mapping/Navigation intent on the Big 5 Engines are down 34% over the past 15 months, going from 74.8 million to 49.5 million in August. comScore Search Planner shows that search clicks to Map/Navigation sites show an even steeper decline, down 41% to just 55.2 million in August. This is fairly intuitive research but underlines the importance of location based keyword coverage on mobile devices. This also presents a significant opportunity off the back of recent iPhone mapping app changes. Previously there was minimal advertising on the iPhone mapping app by Google (probably per Apple). However Google will now be free to fully monetise its own native mapping app for iOS, as it currently does with Google Maps for Android. Therefore presenting advertisers with the chance to fully capitalise on this shift in traffic. – Chris Richardson More details http://searchengineland.com/map-based-search-on-pcs-eroding-shiftingto-mobile-comscore-136750
Ebay: Redesign, Consumer Insights and the Future for Marketers – 18th October 2012 In recent times, it has been all change at Ebay. First, the company released their sleek new logo giving the user a “cleaner, more contemporary and consistent experience”:
They then followed this by carrying out a major site revamp (a first of its kind for Ebay) featuring new site additions such as scrolling feeds and social integration: Things then started to get interesting for marketers with the announcement that Ebay will be using purchase and search history to target users with additional products in which they might be interested and that users will now be able to click on a "featured items" tab. This was the first hint that Ebay were committed to improving their targeting capabilities both for themselves and for marketers. Ebay has now gone a step further with the announcement that it will now be sharing consumer insights with brands so as to help "Inspire people to buy products". This will come as welcome news to marketers given the sheer size of Ebay's user database, the size of its market and the variety of targeting methods it currently has in place. Ebay also hinted that it will be rolling out new ad formats and capabilities on its website: “You may see many more propositions and formats that the industry has never seen before on Ebay. This interest-based notion of being inspired throws a massive hand grenade into the world of brand marketing and completely turns the way marketers have been trying to execute for decades on its head because inspiration will be in the hands of the consumers,�. Hopefully there will be more clarity on what these features will be in the near future and we will soon be able to use Ebay as a more efficient marketing platform. –
Andy Negus
More details: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/ebay-to-roll-out-first-majorredesign/4003803.article http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/ebay-unveils-radical-siteredesign/4004247.article http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/ebay-to-offer-brands-consumerinsights/4004293.article
Google launches Disavow Link Tool – 17th October 2012 Google has launched a new 'disavow links' tool as part of the tools available within Google Webmaster Tools. Bing has already launched a similar tool earlier this year. This tool has been launched for people who are worried about their website's backlinks but specifically for people who think they have done all they can to remove low quality or paid links to their site The way to go about this would be to analyse where links to your website are coming from and to include URLs you'd like to 'disavow', and upload the file via Webmaster Tools. It's important to remember that this process can take up to a few weeks to kick in and also that, like with everything else, Google takes these as 'recommendations' from users, but that doesn't mean it will necessarily follow through and ignore these links going forward. Google stresses the importance of the right people using this tool. You only want to 'disavow' some links, if any, and it's important to remember that this tool is built for the use of advanced webmasters. These links may have been a result of a previous negative link building strategy that has been carried out in the past and Google also understands that not all links pointing back to your site would have been created by you so gives each link the appropriate weighting, and allows for a solution to be provided with the new 'Disavow tool'. – Jimisha Lakhani More details: http://searchengineland.com/google-launches-disavow-links-tool-136826
Bing Ads Brings You Sitelinks – 15th October 2012 While some may have noticed a new sitelink feature within Bing Ads, Microsoft has only started to roll out this feature initially within the US, as Bing continue to show signs of closing the gap withGoogle. Is it too little too late, or will this help Bing to recapture a lost audience? – Kevin Ting More details: http://www.webpronews.com/bing-ads-get-sitelink-extensions-2012-10
LinkedIn Redesigns Company Profile Pages – 12th October 2012
LinkedIn has this week rolled out their new company pages format and featured updates. Whilst this first came to companies a couple of months back, this week has seen the new features made available and free to all 2 million brand pages on the network. "At LinkedIn, we know that Company Pages are at the heart of the LinkedIn follower ecosystem. It’s through these pages that companies reach and truly connect with their target audiences. Therefore, it’s our goal to provide an environment where brands have the proper tools and platform to cultivate meaningful relationships with our members" says Marc Bishop of LinkedIn. According to LinkedIn, this new feature will allow brands to:
Express their brand Showcase what they have to offer Highlight what's important and keep followers engaged Reach members everywhere
In reality, LinkedIn's new branding features follow a very similar pattern to Facebook's Timeline and Google+ and in essence is playing catch up. The main advantage from LinkedIn's perspective is that people are on the site to look at brands and companies, more so than on other social media networks. Whilst this update is free, LinkedIn do offer several forms of paid advertising; display ads, targeted status updates, recommendation ads, sponsorships, partner messages, text-based ads, analytics and research. The new features will benefit brands by acting as a hub of free branding that supports and is supported by paid search activity, not only on the LinkedIn network but also other search networks.
As Marc Bishop says: ''It’s through these pages that companies reach and truly connect with their target audiences.'' – Andy Negus More details: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2215881/LinkedIn-RedesignsCompany-Pages-Lets-You-Pay-to-Feature-Updates http://marketing.linkedin.com/new-version-company-pages http://marketing.linkedin.com/companypages/?trk=blog100412
The Effect of Top vs. Side Position on Traffic and CPC – 12th October 2012 It isn’t news to hear that Google is constantly testing its multiple Search features and platform, generally speaking. That said, an interesting test it runs, and worth noting, is the Quality Score test that dictates where an advertiser's ad appears on the SERP - i.e. top or side. You may notice that on occasion no ads appear above the organic search results but on the side only, yet a subsequent search will show the exact same ads above the SEO results. Now what was traditionally accepted to be positions 1 to 3 are those at the top of the page, yet you’ll find in Google reporting that ads on the side, in the event ads on the top don’t appear, will count as starting from position 1. So the question is how does this affect traffic and average CPCs? It’s fairly common knowledge that the higher one’s average rank shown in a report, the greater the likelihood the ads appeared at the top of the page, with the converse being true as the average rank drops. What's interesting to note is the CTR difference between top and side showing ads for the ‘same’ position. Whilst only about 10% of impressions appear for the top positions on the side, as part of Google’s ongoing test, these receive only 1% of traffic. This is hardly a welcome revelation, but what adds insult to injury is the fact average CPCs are higher for the ads in the side positions for the equivalent rank. Thankfully, running a segmented report in AdWords allows an advertiser to see what proportion of their ads are appearing on the top or side and therefore monitor any adverse effects on their campaigns. This is useful when using bid management tools and policies within them where a maximum CPC for specific position can be set, allowing an advertiser to rein in any unnecessary spending and not pay over the odds.
As mentioned earlier, this is an ongoing test so monitoring the effects would have to reflect this to maintain campaign efficiency at all times. – Jafar Mahir More details: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2215556/How-Top-vs.-Side-PositionImpacts-CPC-Traffic-Volume