Search MythBusters

SEM Myths

October 25, 2011

© 2008 Omniture Inc

2

More keywords is better, campaign

structure’s important, ROI-based

decisions are key, it’s a Quality

Score world...

Tell me something I don’t know!

Panelists

• Chris Zaharias, VP Search Sales @ Omniture

• David Berkowitz, Director Strategic Planning, 360i

• Alex Gross, Mgr, Search Mktg, Backcountry.com

• Paul Low, VP Interactive, Camelot

• Craig Macdonald, VP Mktg & Prod Mgmt, Covario

October 25, 2011

© 2008 Omniture Inc

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Assumption Reality

The long tail is eternalTail has reversed, search direct

navigation

Keyword assists matterReturn On Effort defines what should

be done

# of advertisers always growsSEM not good for many products

w/latent demand

Search is about… search Search has become direct navigation

SEM 2008 = SEM 2007 Q3 ‘08 = monumental changes

5 SEM Myths Busted

October 25, 2011

© 2008 Omniture Inc

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1. The Long Tail Grows Forever Chris Zaharias

• Assumption: the long tail keeps growing

• Finding more keywords is the critical activity

• Broader match types must be used extensively

October 25, 2011

© 2008 Omniture Inc

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Reality:

The 'long tail' is getting

shorter. The last 9-12

months are all about

increases in 1-2 word

searches.

• Source: OneStat, June 2008

1. Long Tail Forever Chris Zaharias

October 25, 2011

© 2008 Omniture Inc

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Source: Hitwise blog

2. Keyword Assists Matter? David Berkowitz

David – I think it’d be best for you to populate this slide yourself, as a)

there’s not much hard data out there; and b) you guys have a study from

2006 (2008 update?) that might shed light on this.

My own opinions are as follows:

1. 75% of conversions for which assists occur are assists from the same

keyword being searched 2+ times.

2. Assists occur on 25-33% of conversions.

3. .25 x (.25-.33) = 6.25-8.25% of conversions are ones for which

assists knowledge could lead to different actions (mice nuts)

4. A better way to deal with assists is to track and optimize to the micro-

conversion events (aka leading indicators) that presage the conversion.

October 25, 2011

© 2008 Omniture Inc

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3. Always More Adveritsers Paul Low

1. Advertisers searching for ROI / volume?

2. Search engines optimizing yield?

3. Macroeconomics affecting search?

October 25, 2011

© 2008 Omniture Inc

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Source: AdGooroo

4. Search Is… Search Craig Macdonald

• Assumption: the long tail = the non-branded tail

• Reality: search has become direct navigation focus on branded terms

October 25, 2011

© 2008 Omniture Inc

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• Source: Hitwise, April 2008

4. Focus on Leveraging SEM/SEO

October 25, 2011

© 2008 Omniture Inc

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Paid Organic

Convers

ions

100

20

85

ROIpaid = 20

ROIincremental = 5

5. SEM 2008 = SEM 2007 Alex Gross

• 1st Page Bid replacing Minimum Bid

• Real-time, query-level Q.S. calculation

• Broader Matching and Monetization

• Google: Automatic Matching beta

• YSM: June T.O.S. change unilateral 'optimization‘

• Google Suggest

October 25, 2011

© 2008 Omniture Inc

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Alex: I’ll leave it to you to speak to the implications of the above.

Likewise, if you feel the distribution partners graphs are too deep

for the crowd, feel free to eliminate them and that bullet