E-business Briefing: August 2005

As Category Services Director, Nick Jones is responsible for developing all vertical categories across Overture in the UK, including Travel, Retail, Automotive, IT & Telecoms, Property, Finance and Recruitment. Nick is also directly responsible for the Travel sector. Nick has spoken at numerous conferences and seminars, including Internet World and travel industry events. 

Prior to joining Overture, Nick obtained some early e-commerce experience at Corbis, the stock photography company. He holds a Masters degree in Modern History from Glasgow University.

*** Special Overture offer for E-consultancy newsletter readers: click here for a free £50 to help kickstart your paid-search campaign on Overture (for new accounts only) ***

1. How has search marketing evolved over the past five years?

Paid search now accounts for 40% of online ad spend in the UK – given the fact that the model didn’t even exist in Europe five years ago, you can see that search marketing has been a growth phenomenon...

Compared to the start of search marketing five years ago, there are now many different sponsored search products to help advertisers, for example contextual advertising, mobile search and local search.

In addition, tracking tools have become more and more sophisticated by default – advertisers are now wiser to the fact that they need to track their clicks through to conversion if they are to get the most from their sponsored search campaigns.

Increasingly, search marketers are looking at the use of search marketing for branding purposes and to drive purchases offline - marketers now appear to be taking a more holistic view of search.

2. What are the main opportunities offered by paid-search? How should paid listings be used in conjunction with organic listings?

In a nutshell, sponsored search is a highly targeted form of marketing. Targets are not ‘cold prospects’ – they are people who are already searching for what you can offer, so the lead is more likely to convert to a sale than most other forms of marketing.

Contrary to other types of advertising, there are no significant costs up front in terms of media buying or creative costs. With prices starting from as little as 10p each, advertisers ‘bid’ on search terms relevant to their business and are then listed in order of bid price in the search results on major websites and portals. The advertiser then only pays the bid price once a prospect actually clicks through to their website.

It can take a while for an organic search campaign to come to fruition, so SEMs often advise clients to use paid listings at the beginning of any SEO campaign to ‘kick-start’ it. Due to the near-immediate nature of sponsored search, it can often be used to test consumer reactions to a new strategy or new product line for example.

3. Recent E-consultancy research suggests about 1 in three FTSE 500 marketers don’t bother with paid-search. Probably higher still with SMEs right now. Which types of sectors/companies have yet to adopt paid-search as an acquisition channel?

Some sectors have been slow on the uptake – however we are now starting to see growth in the Automotive, Property, Recruitment and Entertainment sectors.

We’ve found a few sectors which are slower still – FMCG retail is a good example of a sector that is still not taking advantage of paid search as a marketing medium.

4. Are there any rules of thumb for newcomers? Where should you begin?

First of all, it is imperative to set your campaign goals and objectives. Are you looking to sell something online, capture customer data or provide information for an offline sale? If seasonal demand affects your business, think about the times of year when people are most likely to be searching for your business and adapt your budgets and search terms accordingly.

Next, try to understand your target audience and how they search. Overture has tools to help you do this, which you can find in the ‘Advertiser Centre’ at www.uk.overture.com.

Choose a variety of relevant search terms - Keyword Assistant is a free tool that allows you to see terms that are related to each other and how many times people searched for them in the last month (see above for link).

Remember that some of the highest conversion rates come from the less popular - but more specific - terms.

5. What about tips and tricks for the more mature adopters of paid-search? How can you better optimise campaigns?

Where possible, include the search term in either your title and description (ideally in both) – our research shows that including the search term in your titles and descriptions can generate a 50% higher click-through rate.

Also, don't be 'salesy' - be honest and factual in your descriptions, this is what attracts consumers. Do not use superlatives – saying you’re the best doesn’t provide the most relevant information for the user. If you really are the best, back it up with relevant evidence on your site.

Landing site optimisation is a crucial factor in converting clicks to sales. Once a potential customer clicks through to your site, the process to their search 'destination' should be as clear and straightforward for them as possible. We all know how frustrating it is to click on a search result that appears to be just what you're looking for - only to be taken to a completely irrelevant page……

E-consultancy Training Courses coming up We've still got some places on the following half-day training courses we're running in the coming months. Cost is £245 + VAT as a subscriber. Legal Briefing for Online Marketing, 14 September Advanced Retention E-mail Marketing, 28 September (REARRANGED date) Online PR, 13 October Advanced Affiliate Marketing, 3 November

To fully optimise your campaign, tracking is vital. Ensure you know which terms, title and descriptions are working the best for you, so you can allocate your budgets more effectively and optimise clicks to conversions.

6. Can you highlight the main differences between Overture, Google Adwords, Espotting, Mirago etc? How do these respective audiences differ?

Each sponsored search provider has a different distribution network, which is the main difference. The basic model is the same for all players in that you pay to get listed in search results and only pay when someone clicks on your listing – however, the way the model differs between players.

For example, with Overture, you choose how much you want to bid for a search term and listings are ranked in the order of bid price. With Google, it’s a little more complex – where you appear in the search results depends not only on how much you bid but also on the click-through rate for your listing.

7. How easy/difficult is it to manage paid-search campaigns across multiple networks? Do you think the introduction of MSN will prompt more marketers to outsource search requirements?

It’s difficult to comment on how competitive paid-search management tools work. Our Search Optimiser tool allows the management of bids and keywords within your paid-search campaign across the Overture network – There are also plenty of third party bid management tools around to help.

8. What trends are you seeing in 2005 vs 2004? (by sector / spend / keyword trends / outsourcing etc)

The volume of advertisers and related spend have continued to grow year on year – both organically and as a result of the growth of our distribution network. Interestingly, we’re seeing an increase in the average number of search listings per account, with more and more advertisers bidding on search terms that previously had no or very few bids (we call these the ‘tail terms’).

9. Did you see the Craigslist vs Google Maps mash-up? Is that the future of search? Presumably mobile is going to be a big deal?

We certainly believe Mobile Search creates vast opportunities for the future. Overture currently offers a mobile travel directory across Vodafone, Orange and the Yahoo! WAP portal.

We are also developing a full, free text WAP search engine which integrates results from three distinct mobile sources. Overture believes this will be the first of its kind.

10. What about local search? Whereabouts are we at, and where is it going?

Local search is a natural evolution for this marketplace. Allowing advertisers to easily market to customers within a defined radius of their business location, local search will also make it much simpler for searchers to obtain the exact business information they need to purchase products or services locally.

The performance-based model of local search is an attractive, cost-effective option to any size of advertiser, but there are specific benefits to both big brands and SMEs. For example, a large retailer could use local search to target specific campaigns and promotions to customers in specific store areas - or simply use the model to drive foot traffic to stores. For SMEs, they don't even need a website to use Overture's local search product - a simple 'locator page' is set up, showing general information about their business, contact details and a dynamic map.

Overture's local search product, Local Match, is currently available in the US, on sites like Yahoo!, MSN and CNN.

11. And then we have the ‘pay per call’ scenario. Duplicate acronyms aside, how much of a big deal is this likely to be? Will Overture get in on the act?

Pay-per-call is potentially an interesting development in this marketplace and something that Overture may assess in the coming months.

12. Has the SME sector warmed to paid-search yet? How is Overture targeting new SME customers?

Yes, SMEs are certainly getting the hang of sponsored search and seeing it as a cost-effective way of receiving targeted leads to their websites. We target SMEs in a number of different ways – through advertising and PR within publications aimed specifically at this sector, participation in industry events and also through joint educative seminars with associations like BusinessLink and regional Chambers of Commerce.

13. Many consumers don’t understand the difference between an organic vs a paid-for listing. Do you think this is a problem or an opportunity?

I don’t think it’s either, to be honest. As long as a consumer receives a relevant result for their search, I don’t think they mind if it’s organic or sponsored. The most important thing for a consumer is finding the most relevant information! Having said that, we clearly don’t want consumers to be confused – and all of the Overture listings on our partner sites are clearly labelled as paid-for listings.

14. How have things changed at Overture since the Yahoo deal?

Things are much the same, and being part of a company with such a huge, global, consumer brand clearly presents plenty of opportunities across the whole business.

We continue to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary and will re-brand to become Yahoo! Search Marketing (this has already happened in the US) early next year. 

*** Special Overture offer for E-consultancy newsletter readers: click here for a free £50 to help kickstart your paid-search campaign on Overture (for new accounts only) ***


Nick was interviewed by Chris Lake, editor. Comments? Discuss search marketing on the forum.

1. Google in bed with Apple for iTunes search? (Search Engine Journal)
2. Firefox market share falls for the first time (Inquirer)
3. Murdoch rumoured to be eyeing Blinkx (CNET)
4. UK Consumer demand for mobile email widespread (cellular-news)
5. Internet auctions boost UK wealth (BBC)
6. Swedish start-up to offer 24MB connectivity to UK households (Business Europe)
7. Walkman vs iPod - The Times verdict (The Times)

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