Whathappened in Search Land in

2011

and whatwillhappen in 2012

Search Engines in 2011

What happened to Search Engines and Search Behavior in 2011?

What did the Finns search for?

In many ways, Google mirrors consumers, and the billions of

Search queries executed on Google each year translates into

interesting real-time research. Google Zeitgeist shows the most

popular keywords, the search queries which have increased the

most, as well as examples of popular keywords regarding for

example food and music. Find out more

here:http://bit.ly/zo6AMa

Development in price per click in 2011

With increasing demand and thus competition in auctions on

Search Engines one must generally expect rising click prices.

This has not been the case at OMD in 2011 where we have once

again managed to reduce click prices by an average of 21%.

Systematically working with optimisation of campaigns makes it

possible to improve performance on Search Engines.

Google design and user experience

Google’s Search Engine is undergoing constant change. Once

again, 2011 presented several highly visible changes to the user

experience. The most obvious changes include extended site

links in the organic results, increased focus on local search

results and last but not least, the new black top bar and the

interaction with Google+.

Advertising using competitor’s brand

Since September 2010, advertisers have had the possibility to

advertise using competitor’s brand keywords on Google

Adwords. Since then, the legal aspects have been widely

discussed. The Court of Justice of the European Union has now

pronounced verdict, announcing that it is legal. However, this

doesn’t necessarily mean that it is efficient. Friends in Denmark

has something to say about it: http://tinyurl.com/cr6cb4w

Changes to Google algorithms

The user experience is not the only thing that is affected by the

changes to the search engine Google. The underlying

algorithms which decide the rank of the organic search results

are changed more than 500 times every year. For 2011 we

would highlight the important change to algorithm called Panda,

which among other things increased relevance.

New Google AdWords features

Google is also continuously launching new initiatives in relation

to keyword ads. Among the new initiatives in 2011 some

highlights are integration with +1, more site links, embedded site

links, ads at the bottom of the page, deep links into an app, first

text line in the ad linked to the headline etc. These just to

mention a few.

Search Engines in 2012

What can we expect from Search Engine Marketing in 2012?

What will (not provided) mean?

In October 2011, Google critically changed the possibilities to

track searches from users, that are logged into Google. With

’(not provided)’ the organic searches from logged on users are

now unknown, making it harder to optimize search results. This

problem will become even more obvious in 2012, as more users

will be logging into Goggle.

Better insights with search

Search is research. It is as simple as that. Google searches

represent a window towards users and consumers, and it will

continue to be an even more important tool to understand

consumers and changes to their behavior. Real-time research is

all about understanding the consumers right now and reacting to

this knowledge. This will be an even more critical subject for all

advertisers in 2012.

Search data in display buying

Search is more than consumer insight. It is a trail that the

consumer leaves about his interests and intentions. This

knowledge is valuable to the advertiser and can be used far

beyond the last click and the direct behavior, the user had on a

site. In 2012, these search trails will be used actively in a more

targeted and relevant display advertising.

Google+, +1 and Search Plus Your World

In the battle with Facebook to become the future Master of the

Web, Google launched +1 and Google+ in 2011 and Search

Plus Your World now in 2012. Together, they are more than just

another social network. Google+ and +1 are an going-all-in

attempt from Google to create even more relevance through

personalization. This will be put to the test in 2012.

More mobile searches and clicks

The number of mobile searches is increasing, and compared to

2010 mobile clicks have increased by 675%. By the end of

2011, there were 5% mobile and 3% tablet clicks across the

Google Adwordsprograms. To local advertisers, the mobile units

present an even bigger part, and2012 will be the year to design

mobile platforms as destinations to this traffic.

Fresh content

In November 2011, Google once again performed an extensive

update of it’s algorithms. This was called the ’freshness update’

and it has affected 35% of the searches on Google. With this

update, there will be an increased focus on fresh content,

making it very important for advertisers to have new and fresh

content on an ongoing basis.