SES NYC Session: Searcher Behavior Research Update

Published by Ben | Filed under PPC, SEM / E-marketing, Search Industry

A couple of significant takeaways from this session that I think would influence decisions with regards to search, site content & functionality, etc.

One – and it’s fairly obvious but not done a lot – embrace your “advocates”. Brand/product advocates will do a lot of work for you if you give them the tools. Advocates tend to be heavy searchers, they use social sites & functionality, advocates like consumer reviews, etc. Engaging your advocates with tools (user reviews, email, community/groups) will result in higher visibility. Additionally, brands should get involved with enthusiast sites, communities & groups. Think about sites like TripAdvisor – people (myself included) book or avoid hotels based on reviews here. Encouraging your “advocates” (customers who had a good experience) to go to community sites like these and post a review can be a boon to your business. Some stats presented:

• 87% of advocates use search multiple times / wk
• 75% advocates use “social” sites / functionality
• Advocates use search t find retailer websites
• Advocates LIKE consumer reviews – convert higher as a result

The other key takeaway, and another concept that needs to be highlighted for marketers & advertisers is the impact of advertising on search. Lots of studies are coming out about this now. MSN presented a study on the impact of online display advertising on driving branded searches. Many of these types of studies are done in a volume that our clients can’t utilize (like Yahoo home page takeover advertising), but the results are obvious.

• There’s a strong strong connection between branding & search.
• Display advertising has a residual impact on clicks – more clicks on average continue to come several days after the display campaign.
• Display advertising Increases brand awareness, drives consideration, increase CTR, deliver consistent message, opportunity to increase reach via paid search