Every year, Ad Age ranks the top performing U.S. search marketing agencies based on the previous year's U.S. and worldwide revenue. This year, the top three agencies held their 2012 report rankings, with iCrossing, 360i and iProspect coming in at No. 1, 2, and 3 on the list of largest U.S. search marketing agencies. 360i was responsible for the fast-thinking Oreo tweet during the blackout at this year's Superbowl. The agency also received a Facebook Studio Award for an Oreo social media marketing campaign. iCrossing recently received a Shorty Award for their Maker's Mark #CocktailParty2012 [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Features: Analysis | Magazine | Search Ads | Search Ads: General | Search Marketing | Search Marketing: Branding | Search Marketing: General | SEM Industry: Awards | Social Media Marketing

Stop a search marketer on the street, whether a grizzled veteran or relative newcomer, and ask him/her to list the top goals of ranking in the search results; they will talk to you about traffic, revenue and conversions. Likewise, in reflecting what is top of mind for search marketers, a perusal of industry websites shows a majority of articles focused on the same. Far less covered -- whether research, POVs or even "thinking-out-loud" blog posts -- is content focused on other benefits of appearing in the search results, such as brand development. For decades, marketers have invested in g [...]

Related Topics: All Things SEO | Channel: SEO | Search Marketing: Branding | SEO - Search Engine Optimization | Stats | Stats: Search Behavior

Yesterday, I received a package all the way from the United Kingdom. It was a chocolate bar but it was packaged differently. The cover around the bar had a personalized message to me that read: Hey Barry, We wanted to send you a treat to introduce ourselves! To find out who we are type: "Who Sent Me Chocolates" into Google. So, I naturally went to Google and searched for [who sent me chocolates] and then clicked on the first result. It took me to a marketing company named CMA Digital and asked me to type in my code. After I entered the code, it took me to a customized landing page wit [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search | Search Marketing: Branding | Top News

Yahoo has suffered through its fair share of turmoil over the last few years: a revolving door of CEOs, significant layoffs, investor revolts, and a declining share of the search space, both paid and organic. One recent bright spot for Yahoo was their first year over year growth in search revenues after traffic acquisition costs (ex-TAC)  since their alliance with Microsoft in the fourth quarter of 2010. In fact, before last quarter, Yahoo hadn't shown Y/Y growth in search revenue ex-TAC since they began reporting it in 2009. Not too shabby then, and Yahoo's results were generally well [...]

Related Topics: Advanced | Channel: SEM | Enterprise SEM | How To | How To: PPC | Microsoft: Bing Ads | Search Marketing: Branding | Yahoo

You're surfing your favorite news portal before leaving for work. Almost subliminally, you notice an ad for a new book on financial planning. Next, you drop by a forum to chat, and someone is talking about the same book. You then quickly pop in to Amazon.com to select some reading material for a weekend trip - and there's the title again, in the recommended list of "Weekly Picks". Hmm... you start wondering. What's that book about? Who's the author? But you don't have time to explore further. At the office, you check your email and Gmail displays an ad for the book you now realize you've bee [...]

Related Topics: All Things SEO | Channel: SEO | Search Marketing: Branding

[caption id="attachment_82475" align="alignright" width="258" caption="Display and search - are search marketers becoming the new media planners"][/caption] Chalk and cheese? Oil and water? Facebook users and MySpace users? Just how different are search marketers and display advertisers? Just three years ago, these two groups of people would be completely segmented, often sitting at opposite ends of an agency office, rarely collaborating on projects and with a slight dislike of each other. Their ways of working were very different, their basic principles were alien to each other, and [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | Search & Display | Search Marketing | Search Marketing: Branding

Search engine marketing -- both pay-per-click and SEO -- remains a strong source of traffic and sales for retailers. That's according to an Internet Retailer survey conducted in April of 102 web-only retailers, chain retailers, catalogers and consumer brand manufacturers. According to the survey, 27% of respondents say that search engine marketing is responsible for more than half of their online sales. (See chart at left.) 47% say that more than a quarter of their web sales stem from search engine marketing. That includes both PPC- and SEO-driven sales. As far as traffic is concerned, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Search Ads: General | Search Marketing: Branding | SEM Industry: Stats | Stats: General | Stats: Spend Projections

Yesterday there were three press releases from three search platforms, two aimed partly or substantially at the local market, that are incorporating the Facebook Ads API into their platform capabilities: Marin Software, Clickable and Kenshoo. Here are excerpts from the three releases: Marin Software: Marin Search Marketer will provide marketers with the tools necessary to manage large-scale advertising programs through Facebook Ads. By marrying impression, click, and cost data with conversion and revenue data, Marin Search Marketer will provide a complete view of campaign ROI and effec [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Search Ads: General | Search Marketing: Branding | Search Marketing: General | Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing

I'm writing this on January 1, 2010, and I'm reminiscing about the changes to paid search that emerged in 2009 which will impact your brand and affect how you execute your brand strategies on paid search in 2010 and beyond. Here are the top four big changes, in my mind: Google changes its trademark policy On June 15, 2009, Google changed its trademark policy to make it easier for advertisers to use brand names in ad copy text. Prior to this change, Google restricted the use of brand names in ad text and was willing to take action to prevent it, allowing brand owners to authorize spec [...]

Related Topics: Brand Aid | Channel: Strategy | Search Marketing: Branding

In today’s real-time brand management world, separate teams often control strategy and channel tactics for SEO, PPC, public relations, online reputation management and social media. In many cases, however, out-of-box thinking and creative silo-breaking to cross traditional boundaries can yield sweet marketing fruit. Today I'm going to explore the systematic use of paid channels like AdWords and Facebook ads as channels for intervening in quickly moving public relations incidents. Ads can play an important role as powerful tools for supporting the usual tactics of social media and reputat [...]

Related Topics: Brand Aid | Channel: SEO | Search Marketing: Branding | Search Marketing: Public Relations

In case you didn't see it there was an article in the Wall Street Journal this morning that seeks to capture a kind of shift or broadening of advertisers' attitudes toward search marketing. Formerly search was something of an island and not well integrated into wider marketing campaigns. Many search + display studies and several years later it appears that marketers have developed a somewhat more nuanced view of search in the context of broader consumer behavior. Here are some bits from the article: Sprint is buying the top ads tied to phrases consumers tend to search for when they are clo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords | Google: DoubleClick | Search Ads: General | Search Marketing: Branding | Search Marketing: General

It is not uncommon for businesses to find that the relationship they have with their affiliates is one of the most difficult to handle. On the one hand, affiliates can be valuable partners that provide leads and sales for your company. But on the other hand, they are independent entities which require compensation for their services and have their hearts equally divided between your best interest and their own. But if you stop and think about it, this is not an unusual situation: your business probably relies on a number of providers and suppliers with whom it has built a relationship of trust [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | How To: SEM | Legal: Trademarks | Search Marketing: Branding

There's no question that the vast majority of brand loyalty is created post click—once consumers are brought to a landing page with relevant offers and other brand messaging.   However, what happens in that 2-3 second window prior to the click?  A lot more brand building than you think. First impressions count Search marketers spend countless hours figuring out how to connect consumers to a brand/product, and then articulate that in an ad that won't get more than a mere glance.  But despite its short lifespan, an ad must be truthful, deliver value, and resonate with consumers. [...]

Related Topics: Brand Aid | Channel: SEM | How To: PPC | How To: SEM | Search Marketing: Branding

SEMPO formally released data on the state of search engine marketing, its annual survey of agencies and marketers. This year's survey consisted of 800 respondents from all over the globle. However 68 percent of respondents were from the US, with 20 percent coming from a range of countries. Seven percent of respondents were from Canada and 5 percent from the UK. The respondents/clients represented a range of industries. The top sectors were "retail, business services, electronics manufacturing and financial services." As part of the findings and related report SEMPO forecast that SEM spen [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Search Ads: Behavioral Targeting | Search Marketing: Branding | Search Marketing: General | SEM Industry: General | SEM Industry: Stats | Top News

If your company has a major brand, domainers who exploit cybersquatting have likely already targeted your business. Their practices are often looked down upon, but if their dark powers weren't effective, they wouldn't make money. Still, you can learn the same black magic and turn it into good and profit for your company. In this down economy, don't ignore the shady domainers—instead, strike back by reducing what they're costing you and increasing your profits! Read on and I'll explain how. I don't want to stray too far off into a tangent, but terminology has been rapidly shifting about, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: General | How To: SEO | Search Marketing: Branding | SEO: Domain Names & URLs

When brand awareness is the goal, it's sometimes easy to implement PPC as a "go to" for increasing awareness quickly and effectively. But, paid search is just one part of a broader, long-term brand awareness campaign. This week's infographic explores how SEMs can utilize all facets of search to achieve increased brand awareness. Graphic by Elliance, an eMarketing firm specializing in results-driven search engine marketing, web site design, and outbound eMarketing campaigns. The firm is the creator of the ennect online marketing toolkit. The Search Illustrated column appears Tuesdays at [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Infographics | Search Illustrated | Search Marketing: Branding

Everyone managing cost-per-click (CPC) campaigns lives by three magic letters that can make the difference between a friendly pat on the back and a hefty push on the back... out the door. Those letters are ROI (return on investment). Put another way, are you bringing in more money from your CPC campaigns than you are paying out in clicks? I say "everyone," but maybe I should clarify: everyone who actually has something they can measure their ROI against—be it product sales, lead generation, or maybe just newsletter signups. But what if you don't have a hard measurement—what if [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Search Ads: General | Search Marketing: Branding

Since the advent of "blended" or "universal search" last year across the major engines, there's been ongoing discussion and speculation about its impact on user behavior and search marketing. Gord Hotchkiss last year wrote extensively about how blended search (on Google) has in fact shifted the user focus from the so-called "golden triangle" at the upper left of the page to a more distributed pattern that resembles an "E." Now search marketing firm iProspect has released a study (conducted by JupiterResearch) that shows users are responding to the various specialized content types within sear [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Universal Search | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Bing SEO | Search Marketing: Branding | Search Marketing: General | SEO: General | SEO: Video Search | Stats: Search Behavior | Yahoo: SEO | Yahoo: User Interface

Ever walk into a store to purchase something, only to find it’s not there? You know what you want and you’re ready to buy, but you can’t find it. Bewildered, you paw through the shelves, searching high and low, but to no avail. Exasperated, you leave. Sound like fun? Hardly. When you walked into that store you had expectations. When you walked out, all you had was disappointment. Clearly, consumer expectations are very real, but keep in mind that they’re not limited to brick and mortar venues. Online consumers have the same expectations as their offline counterparts. Likewi [...]

Related Topics: Brand Aid | Channel: Strategy | Search Marketing: Branding

As Yahoo was apparently laying off its promised 1,000 workers today, I was at the Time-Life Building in New York as a panelist for the third Yahoo Searchlight Awards. I've had the honor to be a part of this event since its inception in 2005 and think it's a terrific opportunity for ad agencies to showcase and share best practices about search, display, and integrated ad campaigns. In the three years of Searchlight the campaigns have become dramatically more sophisticated and inventive. The four finalists (out of a total of 40 entries) were the following agencies and their clients: -- Carat [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Search Marketing: Branding | SEM Industry: Awards | Yahoo: Search Ads