Download - Notes Version: The Evolution of Paid Search
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The Evolution of Paid Search
Spotting & Staying Ahead of the Trend
Matt Lawson
VP of Marketing
Marin Software
About Marin
The leading platform for managing
search, display, and social
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The Leader In Paid Search Applications
But online still represents less than 15% of total advertising spend.
Advertisers spend 3x more on traditional media than the internet
(Yet consumers spend an equal amount of time on each.)
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Online Ad Spend Can Double
12%16%
31%28%
26%
9%
39%
13%
Print Radio TV Internet
Media Time Ad Spend
% of Time Spent in Media vs. % of Advertising Spending, USA 2009
% o
f Tot
al C
onsu
mpt
ion
~$50BN Global
Opportunity
Note: Time spent data per NA Technographics (2009), ad spend data per VSS, Internet advertising opportunity assumes online ad spend share matches time spent share, per Yahoo!. Source: Yahoo! Investor Day, 5/10; Morgan Stanley.
About Marin SoftwareSpend is rising faster than query volume, putting pressure on costs-per-click
The Search Marketer’s Dilemma
• Increase spend while maintaining a constant ROI
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This Creates a Problem for Search Engines
How to increasing volume without increasing click costs?
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How are Search Engines responding?
Inventory (Improve
Performance)
Advertisers (Incentivize Efficiency)
Consumers(Expand Query
Volume)
THE IMPACT OF GOOGLE INSTANT ON PAID SEARCH
What is Google Instant?
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Instant Represented a Paradigm Shift
Increased volumes & lower per click costs.
Instant Changed Consumer Behavior
Users complete searches with fewer words.
Smart Advertisers Were Rewarded
Instant allows advertisers to better capitalize on narrow match types.
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The Impact of Google Instant
Engines (More Clicks)
Advertisers (Lower Cost Per Click)
Consumers(More searches)
The Yahoo-Bing Search Alliance
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More Volume with Less Effort
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94M Unique Searchers
11.7% Share
1.8B Monthly Searches
110M Unique Searchers
16.9% Share
Monthly Searches 2.6B 154M Unique Searchers
28.6% Share
Monthly Searches4.4B
U.S. data shownSource: comScore Media Metrix March 2010
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Market Share Impact
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The alliance resulted in increased impressions and clicks at a lower overall cost to advertisers.
Favorable Cost Conditions
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Post-transition advertisers saw improved cost-per-click
A Favorable Performance Environment
Resulting in higher conversion rates, at lower cost per acquisition
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The Impact of the Search Alliance
Engines (More Clicks)
Advertisers (Increased Performance)
Consumers(?)
Incentivizing Advertisers
Quality as the Key Driver of ROI
Quality Score
Landing Page
Landing Page
Ad CopyAd
Copy
CTRCTR
"Quality Score helps ensure that only the most relevant ads appear to users.
The AdWords system works best for everybody -- advertisers, users, publishers, and Google -- when the ads we display match our users' needs as closely as possible…
…In general, the higher your Quality Score, the lower your costs and the better your ad position.”
-- adwords.google.com
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Large Advertisers Realizing Efficiency Gains
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Trends by Match Types
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Click-through rates on exact match have improved…
…while cost-per-click on exact match have declined.
Resulting in a Shift by Advertisers
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Advertisers increased their % of clicks on exact match by 7% last year, lowering costs.
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The Impact of Quality Score Changes
Engines (More clicks)
Advertisers (Increased efficiency)
Consumers(Relevant ads)
Anticipate changes in volume
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Don’t Limit Spend On Top Performing Campaigns
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Get More Impressions with Accelerated Delivery
Capitalize on Search Engine Innovation
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Review & Maintain Engine Parity
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VS.
CAMPAIGN A CAMPAIGN A
Maximize coverage in AdCenter, and benchmark spend levels against the competition.
Use Keywordless Ads to Mine the Tail
Actively Manage Quality
The search marketers goal is to tighten connections between search query, keyword, and ad copy.
Keyword Selection
CampaignStructure
CopyTesting
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Shape Traffic to Favor Exact Terms
Increase Relevance with Tight Ad Groups
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
2.00%
2.50%
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
CTR
Number of Keywords
Ad GroupsCTR vs. Number of Keywords by Cost
How Will Engines Shape the Future?
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Download the Advanced Search Tips Whitepaper at www.marinsoftware.com!
Matt Lawson