Search Sense

’speling games online’ >200 searches per month

Where once the only indication of search volume on a particular keyterm was a little green bar with 6 positions; 0 for hardly any search volume, 1 for a bit more search volume and 5 for freakin’ loads of search volume; the Google Adwords Keyword Tool now gives an indication of search volume on 0 to 100 scale. That’s a granularity increase of almost 16 times for the numerically obsessed!

According to Readwriteweb this may be the start of the mighty Google allowing much more access to its vast array of data-banks (highly anonomised, of course).

Perhaps I should be fearing my job? A good proportion of what I do is taking the tiny spotlights into the void that is the internet, compiling them, normalising them with data that I know is accurate and then visualising that in a way that reveals insight - data-mashing if you like. If really granular, accurate information is readily available; perhaps there won’t be a place for my team and I at ICrossing UK?

I actually don’t think this true. In fact, I think it’s exciting and a great source of opportunity. If we can take really good information from different digital marketing functions and help to give consumers what they want, when they want it then we, our clients, and most importantly, the user will benefit. Search informs website build which informs social media strategy which informs display advertising and vice versa and ad finitum….

Take a look at Swivel to see how interesting and useful insight can come out of making the data openly accessible.

You can now access Google Webmaster Central on your iGoogle homepage giving you speedy access to diagnostics and stats for your sites. When logged in, click on a verified site and from the ‘tools’ menu, click’ gadgets’ at the bottom

Recently I’ve been finding the ‘top searches query’ pretty useful, its a relatively new addition to the Webaster Tools and as well as showing the ‘top search queries’ you get average position for both impressions as well as actual clicks. Good for getting a rough idea of poor clickthough.

Google have also finally updated backlinks displaying in the Webmaster tools, the first time since early January.

We are collecting in excess of 65 million consumers’ data every day at iCrossing. This data includes indications on people’s needs and behaviours - it is a staggering mine of useful information.

We collect it from search marketing, display campaigns and user behaviour tracking in real-time and, when compared with how marketing has been historically measured, with amazing accuracy… We have tools and people who work everyday to mine this data to develop actionable insights, and clients who are building business strategy based on this bigger, better, and faster way of connecting with consumers.

I’m totally convinced digital is not only going to become the driver of marketing tomorrow, but is largely already there, we’re just getting our ducks in a row. As Herzog says, ‘digital at the centre’.

It’s easy for those of us looking at digital everyday to take it for granted. Some days I just have to pinch myself and say ‘wow’, this is groundbreaking stuff…

The latest Forrester report, Europe’s Search Engine Marketing Investment Exceeds €8 Billion In 2012, on paints a very healthy picture of the European search market. With the sector set to grow from a current €4.5 billion to well beyond €8 billion by 2012 and taking half of all online marketing investment all search marketers should be overjoyed shouldn’t they?

In fact the UK’s increase over the period is the slowest of all European markets researched. There are a number of good reasons for this: we’re still by far the largest market, followed by Germany and France and have enjoyed the biggest growth over the past five years and UK companies still invest heavily in search and online.

I wonder, however, whether a slowing market at home combined with media agencies becoming specialists in their own right, and *everyone* joining the search bandwagon, and some clients taking paid search in-house, whether we will start to see some casualties? The 101 search business plan remains: invest in skills, technology and training or be damned.

The cracking new James Bond movie, Casino Royale, has earned the praise of many of my fellow Spannerworkers and is now apparently attracting more attention from people using search engines than Harry Potter or the usual Christmas season number, Harry Potter, according to web numbers seers, Hitwise.

: : I note that The Sun’s canny search marketing team has been winning out in AdSense sponsored links on Google for “James Bond” and “Casino Royale“.

Don’t think much of the landing page though - surely a mini-Bond portal would hook more visitors than the search results page that came up when we visited.