We will experiment with Pay-Per-Click in social media (prediction #5)

Overall, Cost per Click (CPC) is on the rise. New customers’ engagement on the opposite (which we can measure as Click through rate) is relatively stable. One of the things some of us will be tempted to do in 2010 is to launch small Pay-Per-Click pilot across social media channels.

They offer lower CPC and decent targeting. Engagement levels are expected to be quite low. Mention Facebook ads to advertising executives and most of them will run away ‘’I have never given a dollar to Facebook, they have to improve their ad targeting’’.

Well, I am going to give it a try anyway, perhaps running a small ($10 a day) campaign and see how it goes. Facebook offers the ability to target ads based on customers’ demographics such as location, age, birthday, sex, education, relationship, interested in etc.). But the primary reason why I got interested in Facebook is the ability to trigger ads based on certain keywords users enter when they update their status. For more information, you can read this great article from Business Insider.

Very recently, I also discovered LinkedIn ads. What I like about the LinkedIn program is an effective targeting based on user’s industry, function, location etc. The estimated CPC seems to be a lot higher than Facebook, but still lower than Google AdWords. I wonder what sort of click-through-rates one can get. But again, only experimentation will tell.

Stay tuned as I launch small pilots for both Facebook and LinkedIn in February!

We will test new segmentation and geo-targeting models (prediction #4)

2009 already saw an extensive use of geo-targeting. Google AdWords in particular offers a wide range of options such as domain name (e.g. google.de), search term (e.g. hotel Mexico City) and IP targeting (only users located in one given area will see the ads).

This trend will accelerate this year due to a number of factors such as:

1) Higher Cost-Per-Click (CPC) that pushes advertisers to look for those long tail (and more costs effective) keywords
2) The release of SpeedPPC version 4 which makes building geo-targeting campaigns very easy. The latest software now offers multiple seeds keywords where in past it only offered dual keywords. While in the past, we might have used 'Car dealer' 'Atlanta' to create 'Car dealers Atlanta', we can now add a third element 'Georgia'.
3) The proliferation of the Google Local Business Center. Businesses can now register for free and have a presence on Google map (including offering coupons). What does this mean for their Pay-Per-click efforts? Businesses who are already using AdWords can now add their address in the ad. I will post more information as I test this new feature. Stay tuned.

In the interim, here's an example of an ad through the Google Business Center.

We will find out the impact of the Bing & Yahoo partnership (prediction #3)

The latest rumor was that a U.S. regulatory decision will come in the first quarter of 2010. If approved, and many think it will be, Yahoo! will start fading out its organic and paid search platforms and substituting Bing, country-by-country. It is widely anticipated Bing will first start rolling-out in the U.S.

It is hard to tell whether the estimated 30% market share of a combined Bing & Yahoo will disrupt Google predominance in U.S. search. It is also difficult to predict what will be the impact of this new partnership for Bing and/or Yahoo advertisers.  This being said, it would make sense to imagine all pay-per-click will be managed through a joint (revamped) Microsoft AdCenter. Advertisers might want to familiar themselves with it and stat anticipating an influx of impressions when Yahoo and Bing searches are combined.

More to come in 2010. I am looking forward to using an alternative platform to AdWords. Most advertisers are a bit reluctant to use 3 and plus providers. Making this into two large platforms might turn out to be an easier sale.

We will experiment with more AdWords ad formats (Prediction #2)

In the past few months, Google introduced several new ad formats, including Sitelinks, Product Extensions, and Product Listings.


SiteLinks

According to the Google AdWords blog: ‘’Ad Sitelinks is a new AdWords feature that allows advertisers to extend the value of existing AdWords ads by providing additional links to content deep within advertisers’ sites. Rather than sending all users to the same landing page, Ad Sitelinks will display up to 4 additional Destination URLs in search-based text ad for users to choose from. By providing users with more options, advertisers can create richer, more relevant ads that improve the value of brand terms and other targeted keywords.’’

At this point, only a handful of large advertisers have been selected to test this new feature. Hopefully it will become more widespread in 2010.

Products extension

Another Google AdWords wonder, Product extensions allow advertisers to use existing Google Merchant Center account to highlight products directly in search ads. When AdWords text ad appears, and advertisers’ Google Merchant Center account contains products that are relevant to the searcher’s query, product extensions show the images, titles, and prices of products in a plusbox under your ad.

Products Listing
A second feature for e-tailers, Product Listing Ads works with an advertiser's Google Merchant Center account to serve highly targeted ads that include richer product information directly in the ad itself - including product image, price, and merchant name. U.S. users searching on Google.com may begin to see Product Listing Ads more frequently on their shopping related queries.   

While still new formats are being tested, they are designed to improve customer experience for web users. Advertisers should test them out.

AdWords headline can go beyond 25 characters.
Another small change Google introduced earlier in 2009 is longer headline. Google AdWords restricts the Headline of text ad to 25 characters. This is a good thing; it forces advertisers to be relevant while being concise. However a few bloggers reported they have been able to stretch this to 30 + characters. Apparently Google has been experimenting with it throughout 2009. I have been unable to find any post on the Google AdWords blog but I will continue looking. Longer headlines are particularly important for Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) when longer tail searches also appear in the headline. Up to now, DKI shortened longer tail keyword in the headline. 

The use of long tail keyword searches will rise (Prediction #1)

According to Marketing Charts, Searches containing five to more than eight words in length increased significantly among US users in fall 2009. Searches with one word amounted to 18.6% of all queries during the same time period (-2.3% compared to 2008). 

It is hard to find some consolidated data for 2009 but it’s pretty obvious Internet users are getting more sophisticated at using search engines, and have learnt to make use of longer keyword.  What does this mean for Search Engine Marketers? 

Increased customer targeting and more sophisticated campaign builder tool such as SpeedPPC will help us design more granular campaigns. Campaigns that only run a hundreds keywords or less will not only become less relevant but also very expensive to maintain. As Cost-Per-Click increases year over year, less sophisticated advertisers will see their ROI decrease. 

The good news is more resources (including a revamped Google AdWords learning center) will be available for Pay-Per-Click novice advertisers to jump on the longer tail keyword bandwagon. And those who don’t have the resources to launch ten to hundred thousand keyword campaign might consider outsourcing to Search Engine Marketing agencies. 

5 Search Engine Marketing predictions for 2010

It’s about time to wrap up 2009 and look forward to a more exciting 2010. Overall Search Engine Marketing (SEM) was less impacted by the recession than traditional advertising. Most companies came to realize that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click provide cost effective ways to attract new customers during tough times. According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), in 2009, close to $15Bn was spent through the various search and content networks in North America. This number is expected to reach close to $17Bn in 2010 as more advertisers focus on accountability and ROI and small and medium businesses jump on the bandwagon.  Repeat and new advertisers will see some major changes in 2010: 

Prediction #1: The use of long tail keyword searches will rise

Prediction #2: We will experiment with more AdWords ad formats
Prediction #3: We will find out the impact of the Bing & Yahoo partnership 
Prediction #4: We will test more geo-targeting campaigns

Prediction #5: We will experiment with Pay-Per-Click in social media