Archive for the ‘Search Engine Optimization’ Category

Google Click Through Rates (CTR)

January 30, 2010

The following graphic from Accuracast shows click through rates for paid positions 1 through 10.

Google Click Through Rates

Google Click Through Rates

CTR drops significantly from the first to third ad positions while click through rates at ad positions four through ten drop considerably less.

How can this data be used to evaluate the impact of raising or lowering an average ad position in a Google Adwords campaign?

November 2009 Share Of Ad Spending By Medium

January 29, 2010

Via MarketingCharts.com from Nielsen:

Share of Ad Spending By Medium 2009

Share of Ad Spending By Medium 2009

B2B Marketing: Integrated Online Communications Required

January 28, 2010

Top U.S. Social Media Sites December 2009

January 27, 2010

Via Nielsen:

U.S. Growth in Average time Person on Facebook and Twitter Outpaces Growth of Overall Category

People in the U.S. continue to spend more time on social networking and blog sites as well, with total minutes increasing 210% year-over-year and the average time per person increasing 143% year-over-year in December 2009. Year-over-year growth in average time spent by U.S. users, for both Facebook and Twitter.com, outpaced the overall growth for the category, increasing 200% and 368%, respectively. Among, the top five U.S. social networking sites, Twitter.com continued its reign as the fastest-growing in December 2009 in terms of unique visitors, increasing 579% year-over-year, from 2.7 million unique visitors in December 2008 to 18.1 million in December 2009. However, month-over-month, unique visitors decreased 5%

Top U.S. Social Media Sites December 2009

Top U.S. Social Media Sites December 2009

Twitter Local Trends: A Long Road To Hoe

January 26, 2010

Twitter has added Location settings for account holders to see what is happening in their particular city.

Twitter Local Trends

Twitter Local Trends

Twitter presently offers their location service at a Worldwide level or at the country level for Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, United Kingdom and the United States.

Further localized selections are available at the city level for fifteen cities thirteen of which are in the US.

Twitter Local

Twitter Local

If I were to guess why Twitter’s initial selections were so sparse I would guess its because they don’t yet have enough data from any other areas to populate and refresh real time lists.

I won’t expect to see the top 50 DMAs on their options list anytime soon.

Average U.S. Internet Usage December 2009

January 25, 2010

Via the Nielsen company:

The average US web user visited 83 domains, had 51 internet sessions, surfed 2,614 pages and spent an average of 56 seconds per page in December 2009.

Average U.S. Internet Usage December 2009

Average U.S. Internet Usage December 2009

How Google Search Ads Work

January 24, 2010

This video explains how Google search ads work and how they can be beneficial to Google users.

According to Google Product Manager Nundu Janakiram:

“People do web searches for three basic reasons” – Entertainment, Enlightenment and most frequently for Information.

Google search ads occur during “moments of relevance.”

Worldwide Internet User Stats

January 23, 2010
Internet User Stats

Internet User Stats

Top 10 Countries By Number Of Searches Conducted

January 22, 2010

From comScore:

“Search is clearly becoming a more ubiquitous behavior among Internet users that drives navigation not only directly from search engines but also within sites and across networks. If you equate the advancement of search with the ability of humans to cultivate information, then the world is rapidly becoming a more knowledgeable ecosystem.”

Top Search Markets Worldwide

The total worldwide search market boasted more than 131 billion searches conducted by people age 15 or older from home and work locations in December 2009, representing a 46-percent increase in the past year. This number represents more than 4 billion searches per day, 175 million per hour, and 29 million per minute. The U.S. represented the largest individual search market in the world with 22.7 billion searches, or approximately 17 percent of searches conducted globally. China ranked second with 13.3 billion searches, followed by Japan with 9.2 billion and the U.K. with 6.2 billion. Among the top ten global search markets, Russia posted the highest gains in 2009, growing 92 percent to 3.3 billion, followed by France (up 61 percent to 5.4 billion) and Brazil (up 53 percent to 3.8 billion).

Top 10 Countries By Number of Searches December 2009

Top 10 Countries By Number of Searches December 2009

*Searches based on “expanded search” definition, which includes searches at the top properties where search activity is observed, not only the core search engines.

The main takeaway from this month’s comScore data is that the 22 Billion US searches translates into approximately 73 searches per month per capita.

Bill Gates On Twitter, But What About Steve?

January 21, 2010

As of yesterday, Bill Gates has officially begun Tweeting his thoughts to the world.

When I first learned of his Twitter account, 50% of his Tweets were directed to Ryan Seacrest.

Yeah right. I am pretty sure Mr. Gates and Mr. Seacrest speak often.

In the Noise Age, he who gets attention wins.

Bill Gates On Twitter

Bill Gates On Twitter

How much long will it take before the real Steve Ballmer starts Tweeting?

What About Steve

What About Steve