SearchEngineUpdate with Vanessa Zamora - 03-10-2008 Part I
Abstract: 1. ComScore Reveals Large Web Firms Access To Online Consumer Data, 2. The Debate of Paid Vs. Organic Paid Listings: Engine Ready Study
Vanessa Zamora
Video Content Producer, SearchEngineWorld
6:47 pm on Mar. 10, 2008 (utc 0)
Transcript
Monday March 10, 2008
ComScore Reveals Large Web Firms Access To Online Consumer Data
ComScore analysis of online consumer data conducted for The New York Times, reveals that larger Web companies, including Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, and AOL are learning increasingly more about people’s search behavior and actions while online, giving them an advantage over traditional media companies when competing for ad dollars. Clues are gathered several hundred times a month, revealing users tastes and preferences, in order to deliver relevant content and advertisements, that Web companies effectively profit from. Privacy advocates have expressed concerns over the data collected by Web companies, which have noted that consumer data is not tied to individual names but rather an unidentifiable code. Web companies have also said that consumers benefit with advertisements tailored to their interests. Five large Web firms — Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, AOL and MySpace — record at least 336 billion data collection events in a month, not counting their ad networks. Yahoo had the most consumer data collection points during December on its sites – 110 billion collections, or 811 for the average user, not including collection opportunities on partner sites, followed closely by News Corporations MySpace and Time Warner’s AOL unit. Google also has scores of data collection events, but the company says it is unique in that it mostly uses only current information rather than past actions to select ads.
The Debate of Paid Vs. Organic Paid Listings: Engine Ready Study
For those in online marketing, the question of whether paid or organic search engine listings are more effective is an ongoing debate, however a new study by Internet Marketing company Engine Ready found Paid listings to be more valuable. Engine Ready analyzed 18.7 million visits to 27 client Web sites and found that visitors who clicked on paid links were 17 percent more likely to make a purchase, and they spent about 18 percent more per order. The average value for those visitors who come to a Web site through an organic search result was measured at $1.35 compared to a $1.91 value for those coming through a paid search advertisement. However, the most valuable kind of Web site visitors are those that come directly to a site by typing its Web address directly into their browsers with an average value of $5.69 a visit.
6:47 pm on Mar. 10, 2008 (utc 0)