When it comes to top SEO priorities, digital brand executives are making sure that they understand the impact on search marketing and optimize for social signals including Likes, tweets and Google +1s, indicating that they have an increasing need for tools to leverage these insights in the coming year. In the past year it has become widely recognized that social signals are a new form of backlinks that drive search rankings, and leaders are committed to succeeding in this new arena.

The report also uncovered that brands are expecting their search marketing systems to have the enterprise-grade technology championed by cloud pioneers like salesforce.com. This includes security and associated certifications like ISO 27001, reliability and proven strategies for disaster recovery, and scalability to support customer needs.

The need for global support increased by more than 55 percent, with more than 70 percent indicating that their search programs are being run in multiple countries.

“The fact that so many executives are looking for things like enterprise-grade infrastructure, social signal measurement and global reach means that brands are focused on leveraging this technology for mission critical operations,” said Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge. “At BrightEdge we have focused our technology team to be sure that we have what leading search marketers need in 2012.”

For more on BrightEdge’s annual search marketers survey, please visit www.brightedge.com/2012-search-marketers-survey-results. To join the discussion about the findings, please visit us at www.facebook.com/seoplatform, or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/brightedge.

About BrightEdge
BrightEdge is the leading site, search, and social management solution for global enterprises, helping more than 1,100 of the world’s largest brands stay ahead in the rapidly evolving Internet landscape. BrightEdge S3 drives more than $4 billion in organic search across industries, harnessing the power of analytics to drive revenue from web sites, search engines and social networks across the globe in a measurable, predictable way. BrightEdge is based in San Mateo, CA and is privately held with financing from Battery Ventures, Altos Ventures and Illuminate Ventures.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Advertising on Facebook continued to get more competitive in the second quarter of 2011, with Cost Per Clicks (CPCs) increasing by 22% from the first quarter of 2011. Brands that are actively acquiring fans on Facebook are on course to double their fan base Year on Year (YOY) by October, demonstrating an increasingly competitive marketplace for consumers’ attention. Meanwhile, search spend was up 8% in the second quarter of 2011, but down from 17% YoY in the first quarter, likely due to advertisers focusing on Return on Investment (ROI) instead of volume, as well as the continued slower-than-expected global economic recovery.

This is according to Efficient Frontier, a leading performance marketing company managing more than $1 billion in marketing spend annually on behalf of advertisers worldwide, and its subsidiary Context Optional, the leading provider of social marketing management for global brands and agencies. This data and specific industry trends were released today in the first joint Digital Marketing Performance Report for Q2 2011.

“Facebook advertising is moving from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘must have’ for global brands, which is illustrated by their increasingly competitive marketplace,” said David Karnstedt, President and CEO, Efficient Frontier. “We believe that Facebook CPCs will continue to rise at a double-digit pace for the remainder of the year, so brands would be wise to add social media marketing to their overall digital marketing spend sooner rather than later.”

Additional Report Highlights

Facebook comments have a viral effect

An analysis of 10 million fans managed by Context Optional demonstrated that for every brand post, there was an average of 100 comments in response. However, brands with more fans received additional interactions. For every 17,000 additional fans generated, the brand received one more comment per post. This demonstrated that there is a viral effect to having more fans as this creates more direct responses (from existing fans) and also indirect responses (from friends of fans).

Facebook spend mostly incremental

Facebook constitutes approximately 5% of search budgets, though for some advertisers this can peak at 25% during time-sensitive, offer-led promotions. In the entertainment category there are some large advertisers who solely advertise on Facebook. This hints that there are new advertising budgets from the gaming and dating sectors going to Facebook, which would not have gone into Search otherwise.

Bing/Yahoo! gained 3.4% points of spend share from Google since Q4

Bing’s continued focus on higher quality and higher monetized traffic is paying off. Last quarter it was noted that the ROI on Bing/Yahoo! was better than Google. Bid management technology such as that used by Efficient Frontier has enabled advertisers to take advantage of that by moving budgets as appropriate. However, in international markets where the search alliance has not yet been implemented, Google’s dominance continues unabated, with the exception of Japan.

Broad-based search is up across most sectors

Retail: Spend was up 9% YoY, with 3% attributable to CPC increases.
Finance: Spend was up 22% YoY partially from CPC increase and partially from click volume increase.
Auto: Spend was down 2% YoY despite CPCs increasing 6%.

International SEM Analysis

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, spend grew 7% YoY, reflecting advertisers’ confidence in the continued expansion of e-commerce. ROI fell slightly by 3% compared to last year but remains steady quarter-on-quarter. A more detailed look in the Q2 2011 data shows that the ROI was the highest in April in this quarter, being 3-4% higher than the other two months, corresponding to the Easter holiday season and the warm weather.

France, Germany, Australia, Japan

In France, Google has gained 1% market share from Bing and Yahoo! from the previous quarter. In Germany, Yahoo! is losing out to Google, down from 6.4% in Q1 2011 to 5.1% this quarter. This is also a significant quarter in Australia, where Google broke through the 92% share with an increase of almost 3%. However, their click share was only 90.6% and Yahoo!’s click share was 9.4%, making the cost efficiency on Yahoo! much greater than on Google. The Google/Yahoo! share trend has been the opposite in Japan, where Yahoo! gained an almost 4% share from Google in the last quarter.

Outlook for 2011

Facebook CPCs will continue to rise at double-digit pace

Even if CPCs increase at 20% per quarter for the remainder of the year, this will still result in an 80% growth in a year. This could reasonably equate to a doubling of Facebook’s revenue from marketplace ads. Also, with marketplace ad CPCs increasing and already-active brands exploiting the channel, advertisers should immediately focus their efforts on acquiring new Facebook fans, as well as exploiting new ad formats such as Sponsored Stories to find further efficiencies.

Advertisers will increase understanding of Facebook channel

Continued testing and investment in Facebook will see advertisers evaluate and likely increase their spend. Looking ahead, Efficient Frontier believes that advertising dollars will shift from offline media to search, Facebook and display. While we believe all online advertising channels will continue to grow, the Facebook channel will show the strongest growth in the months ahead.

Bing/Yahoo! will benefit if ROI improvements continue

The search marketplace is largely rational, so advertisers will move money towards Bing/Yahoo! to take advantage of ROI improvements. If the Search Alliance renews integration in international markets next year, non-U.S. advertisers should make the same budgeting decisions.

To download a copy of the full report, go to: http://www.efrontier.com/sites/default/files/EFCO_Q2GlobalReport_Final.pdf.

Research Methodology

This analysis was completed based on data from Efficient Frontier search engine marketing customers and the resulting Efficient Frontier’s Customer Index. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index represents a subset of Efficient Frontier clients who have spend data for six consecutive quarters or more whose resulting SEM metrics are then normalized to average industry category contributions established by multiple third-party data providers. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index consists of a fixed sample of large scale U.S. search engine advertisers across multiple sectors, including finance, travel, retail and automotive. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index sheds light on trends in search engine spending and performance on a year-over-year (YoY) and quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) basis.

Our analysis of Facebook performance was based on data from both the Efficient Frontier and Context Optional platforms. A client index representing more than 15 advertisers and 20 million fans from a multitude of verticals including retail, entertainment, CPG and Finance was built from a subset of advertisers, brands and fans managed through the platforms. Advertiser and user behavior was then analyzed for three quarters beginning Q4 2010.

About Efficient Frontier and Context Optional

Efficient Frontier is a leader in online digital marketing, managing search marketing, display and social media campaigns for advertisers and agencies around the world. Efficient Frontier currently manages more than $1 billion in annual digital marketing spend on behalf of its clients globally.

In May 2011, Efficient Frontier acquired Context Optional, the leading provider of social marketing management solutions for global brands on the leading social networks, including Facebook and Twitter. Context Optional’s Social Marketing Suite enables global enterprises to build, manage and measure their brand presence, and engage their fans to increase mindshare, word of mouth, customer loyalty and website traffic. Together, Efficient Frontier and Context Optional offer a complete solution for brands to acquire, activate and drive value from fans on Facebook and Twitter.

Efficient Frontier is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in New York, Chicago, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and India, and technology licensing partnerships in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. Context Optional is headquartered in San Francisco. Efficient Frontier is a privately held company with funding from Redpoint Ventures and Cambrian Ventures. For more information on Efficient Frontier, visit http://www.efrontier.com and for Context Optional visit http://www.contextoptional.com.

SES Toronto 2011
TORONTO – During SES Toronto at the Hyatt Regency Toronto June 13-15, 2011, Canadian marketers will have the opportunity to hear from their peers on the latest trends in search engine optimization (SEO), social media, local, mobile, link building, video optimization, pay-per-click (PPC), usability and more.

“We know that our Canadian friends have many of the same social media and search marketing challenges and opportunities that we have in the U.S., but there are slight twists and variations,” said Matt McGowan, Managing Director of Americas for Incisive Media. “That’s why we programmed SES Toronto to include the leading voices in all aspects of Canadian marketing. This gives attendees the opportunity to mingle with their fellow-country marketers, share experiences, and go away briefed on the latest Canadian-specific trends that can immediately benefit their marketing programs.”

Now in its eighth year, the SES Toronto conference includes two days of search marketing sessions, vendor exhibitions, and networking events on June 13 and 14, and one day of training on June 15. Throughout the conference, there are informal opportunities for attendees to mingle, including a networking reception at the end of the day on June 13. From now through May 18, marketers can register for SES Toronto to receive an early-bird savings of up to $200.

The two Canadian keynote speakers are Amber Mac, technology journalist, best-selling author and columnist, and Tracy Smith, Vice President, Performance Marketing and Go-To-Market, Yellow Pages Group.

Canadian experts included in the SES Toronto program are:

Speakers:
Kerstin Baker-Ash, Head, Performics Canada
Guillaume Bouchard, Co-founder and CEO, NVI
Laura Callow, Senior Search Marketing Manager, Intuit Canada, Global Business Division
Dave Davies, CEO, Beanstalk SEO
June Li, Founder and Managing Director, ClickInsight
Steve Mast, President, Delvinia
Jeff Quipp, Founder and CEO, Search Engine People Inc.
Ezra Silverton, President and Founder, 9th sphere

Moderators:
Andrew Goodman, SES Advisory Board and President, Page Zero Media
Jim Hedger, writer and broadcaster
Robert Rock, Account Manager, Search Engine People

Register now to attend the SES Toronto conference, including all conference sessions, keynotes, the expo hall, training sessions and partnered events.

About SES

Incisive Media’s SES is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include ClickZ for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research and Search Engine Watch, which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Risk, and SES Conference and Expo. For more information, visit www.incisivemedia.com

For more news and event updates visit the SES press room at http://media.searchenginestrategies.com.

U.S. Explicit Core Search

Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in March with 65.7 percent market share (up 0.3 percentage points), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 15.7 percent and Microsoft sites with 13.9 percent (up 0.3 percentage points). Ask Network accounted for 3.1 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.6 percent.

*“Explicit Core Search” excludes contextually driven searches that do not reflect specific user intent to interact with the search results.

More than 16.9 billion explicit core searches were conducted in March. Google Sites ranked first with 11.1 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 2.7 billion, Microsoft Sites with 2.4 billion, Ask Network with 520 million and AOL, Inc. with 272 million.

U.S. Total Core Search

Google Sites accounted for 64.1 percent of total core search queries conducted, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 18.0 percent and Microsoft Sites with 13.6 percent. Ask Network comprised 2.8 percent of total search queries, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.4 percent.

* “Total Core Search” is based on the five major search engines, including partner searches, cross-channel searches and contextual searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the
core domain of the five search engines are not included in these numbers.

Americans conducted 18.9 billion total core search queries in March. Google Sites ranked first with 12.1 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 3.4 billion and Microsoft Sites with 2.6 billion.

“Powered By” Reporting

In order to accurately represent the continued evolution of the search landscape, comScore is providing insight into the share of algorithmic explicit searches that are powered by Google and Bing, and branded as such to the consumer. Google’s “powered by” share is composed of searches conducted at Google entities, as well as branded searches at AOL and Ask. Bing’s “powered by” share is composed of searches conducted at Microsoft entities as well as branded Yahoo! entities.

In March, 68.2 percent of searches carried organic search results from Google, while 26.4 percent of searches were powered by Bing organic results.

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

SES Toronto 2011
TORONTO – The Hyatt Regency Toronto will be the venue for Incisive Media’s SES Toronto, to be held June 13-15, 2011. From now through April 15, marketers can register to receive a pre-agenda savings of up to $400 for the Canadian-focused search and social marketing event. An attractively-priced All Access Passport, which includes access to all conference sessions, keynotes, the expo hall, training sessions and partnered events, is being offered.

“It should be a really exciting SES Toronto this year because we’ve got a slew of new content for attendees,” said Matthew McGowan, Managing Director of Americas for Incisive Media. “The social media and search arena has changed drastically in the last year, especially with the growing influence of smart mobile marketing. We’ve lined up all the experts to share their new practices and innovations with our Canadian colleagues.”

Along with SEO, SEM and PPC sessions aimed at the Canadian market, SES Toronto features sessions that have been popular with State-side conference attendees, but never presented in Canada. These sessions include:

Key Points in Launching a Global Website
Smart Mobile Marketing
Next Generation YouTube Marketing
Content Marketing Optimization
Managing Your Online Reputation
What Every Paid Search Advertiser Needs to Know about the Bing/Yahoo Alliance
Social Media Solutions on a Budget
Enterprise Level SEO
Local 2.0: the Evolution of Search

This is the 8th year Incisive Media has presented SES Toronto, which features sessions specifically geared towards beginners, intermediates and advanced marketers. The conference program runs all day June 13 and 14, as does the Expo Hall. June 15 is set aside for training workshops. Throughout the conference, there are informal opportunities for attendees to mingle, including a networking reception at the end of the day on June 13.

To attend SES Toronto, fill out the registration form here.

About SES

Incisive Media’s SES is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include ClickZ for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research and Search Engine Watch, which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Risk, and SES Conference and Expo. For more information, visit www.incisivemedia.com.

COLUMBIA, Md. – Merkle (www.merkleinc.com), the nation’s fastest growing customer relationship marketing (CRM) agency, announced its acquisition of Pittsburgh-based IMPAQT, a recognized leader in search marketing. IMPAQT’s expertise in SEM, SEO, bid management and search analytics complements Merkle’s extensive analytics, database and digital marketing capabilities and expands its integrated customer marketing solutions. The combination of search with Merkle’s CRM assets is unique in the marketplace and will provide a lens into customer behavior that will allow brands to further optimize conversion, media measurement, keyword and bid strategy at the intersection of search and database marketing.

In February 2011, The Forrester Wave recognized IMPAQT as a market leader among search marketing agencies. Its roster of clients includes world-class brands such as Mercedes, Office Depot, Chase, Tiffany & Co. and Penske. IMPAQT is a formidable force in the search marketing arena and has experienced significant growth, now with over 80 employees and projected gross revenue in 2011 to exceed $90M. IMPAQT’s proficiency in search combined with Merkle’s longstanding expertise in CRM strategy, data management and analytics will give marketers the opportunity to enhance both customer acquisition and engagement.

“This acquisition brings together two standout companies,” said Merkle CEO David Williams. “This is an exciting time for us, and we are looking forward to putting this unique combination of competencies and capabilities that search and CRM bring together to work for our existing and future clients. The fusion of both organizations unites our mutual drive for innovation, entrepreneurialism, analytics and market leadership.”

Merkle’s acquisition of IMPAQT signals its ongoing commitment to accelerating its digital strategy to include investments in digital acquisition and engagement capabilities, focusing on e-mail, mobile, social, site optimization, performance display and search. In addition, Merkle continues to expand its staff and capabilities and is evaluating acquisitions in digital creative, analytics, technology and strategy. Through the integration of these existing competencies, new digital technologies and the skills of its industry experts, Merkle provides its customers access to best-in-class CRM across media and channels, both online and off.

“IMPAQT’s acquisition by Merkle will greatly expand our growth opportunities in the coming years,” says Richard Hagerty, IMPAQT’s CEO. “We look forward to our two companies working together on innovations within areas of marketing that have yet to be targeted by our competition, defining new relationships between CRM and Search and expanding our already extensive analytics capabilities.”

Merkle Inc.

Merkle is the nation’s largest and fastest growing customer relationship marketing agency. For more than 20 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. By combining a complete range of marketing, technical, analytical and creative disciplines, Merkle works with clients to design, execute and evaluate Integrated Customer Marketing™ programs. With more than 1,400 employees, the privately held corporation is headquartered near Baltimore in Columbia, Maryland with additional offices in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Little Rock, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Hagerstown, MD and Shanghai. For more information, contact Merkle at 1-877-9-Merkle or visit www.merkleinc.com.

IMPAQT

IMPAQT is a privately held Search Marketing agency helping Fortune 1000 marketers gain revenue, branding, awareness and top Internet rankings through Search-based Paid Placement campaigns and Organic Web site optimization, as well as social media marketing and data integration.

IMPAQT’s customized client consulting, coupled with powerful analytics tools and analysis, has catapulted it to the top tier of Search Marketing agencies worldwide. IMPAQT manages millions of keywords for more than 100 brands and has managed more than 500 campaigns since its launch in 1999. IMPAQT has doubled its annual growth rate over three years, ranking as one of Inc. Magazine’s fastest growing companies. Please visit www.IMPAQT.com to learn more.

SEATTLE – BlueKai, the world’s largest data auction marketplace for all audience data and online marketing’s largest source of user intent data, announced a partnership with Efficient Frontier, a leading global performance marketing company with an integrated optimization platform across search, display and social.  Under the agreement, Efficient Frontier will participate in a beta program where client keyword lists will be submitted to BlueKai and matched against intent data segments.  Efficient Frontier will then use this set of intent data to drive targeting for display advertising against the qualified audience.  Buying BlueKai Intent™ by keywords will enable search marketers to identify in-market audiences – defined by existing search keyword lists – and reach them outside the walls of search engines with any media partner and at significant scale.

“This new keyword based intent offering from BlueKai will give us a simple and effective way to reach consumers with display ads using relevant search data,” says David Karnstedt, President and CEO of Efficient Frontier.  “BlueKai data has always been associated with high quality in-market shoppers and we are excited to partner with them to help our clients take the depth, accuracy and successes of keyword targeting and apply it to the world of display.”

BlueKai Intent™ is the largest source of audience data revealing auto, retail, travel and financial intenders at scale. BlueKai provides access to 160 million unique consumers who are ready to buy, by aggregating real-time in-market actions such as product comparison, loan calculations, auto configuration and keyword searches on vertical and commercial sites.  By processing billions of data points daily, BlueKai has classified hundreds of thousands of keywords into organized, hierarchical categories and offered intent data to advertisers at large scale. This has enabled the display and video ecosystem to unleash unprecedented targeting capabilities.  Through the Beta program, marketers can now access these behaviors through keyword lists that reach beyond the walls of search engines.  Efficient Frontier is the first of beta participants to make this new offering available to select search marketing clients.

“It’s indisputable that intent data drives performance and keyword search is a clear indicator of someone’s intent to purchase.  That’s why we’re taking that additional step by making it easy for a marketer to use their well crafted keyword lists in their display buys,” says Omar Tawakol, CEO of BlueKai.  “This really starts to break down the wall between search and display and we’re excited to partner with Efficient Frontier, a market leader in search and now display and social media advertising, to bring this innovative capability to their clients.”

With BlueKai Intent™, search marketers can utilize their existing search keyword lists and create a BlueKai data audience based on those keywords.  BlueKai’s data-centric approach gives advertisers the flexibility to transport their search intelligence and reach their audience across their preferred media partners.  Furthermore, BlueKai analytics provide valuable intelligence on additional in-market attributes on any search audience; giving marketers actionable data segments for audience.

At the center of the digital data economy, BlueKai (www.bluekai.com) created the world’s largest data auction marketplace for all audience data.  BlueKai aggregates valuable shopping and research activities across the Internet to build the largest source of intent data on over 160M shoppers across 7 key verticals including auto, travel, finance and retail.  BlueKai now sees 200 million unique consumers each month and manages over 750 million data events per day.  In strategic partnerships with top data aggregators, the BlueKai Exchange collectively offers over 30,000 data attributes across in-market, demographic, geographic, lifestyle, and B2B categories to increase performance and scale for direct response and branding campaigns.

BlueKai is designed with consumer transparency and control in mind. The BlueKai Registry enables consumers to see what marketers know about them, edit their online preferences and gain rewards in charitable donations. The privately-held company is based in Bellevue, WA and is a recipient of the AlwaysOn 2009 OnMedia 100 award as a Technology Innovator in Advertising.

ATLANTA – The U.S. paid search market continued to heat up in Q3, with spend on paid search advertisements increasing nearly 6% year-over-year as marketers again turned to search marketing to fuel online growth. Among the engines, Google took an even more dominant lead, picking up two percentage points to garner more than 80% of all U.S. PPC ad spend in the third quarter. But early data coming out of the Bing and Yahoo! alliance reveals that the partnership is showing strong results for advertisers thus far, boding well for Bing to become a viable competitor to Google in the future.

These findings come from a report released by SearchIgnite, a leading provider of paid search optimization and online media solutions managing more than $600 million in PPC spend annually.

Detailed findings in the report include:

- Google Continues to Seize Significant Market Share: Google now stands at more than 80% of PPC ad spend, up nearly two percentage points from just last quarter, and taking the most dominant market share lead since SearchIgnite began tracking spend share among the engines (2007).

- Strong Quarter for Paid Search with Solid Momentum for Q4: Paid search spend in Q3 increased 5.8% year-over-year compared with flat growth a year ago and exhibited positive momentum month-over-month, with July growing 4.9%, August 5.8% and September 6.7%. The growth throughout the quarter bodes well for a strong Q4.

- Early Results from Bing-Yahoo! Alliance Positive for Advertisers: Despite widespread speculation that CPCs for the new search alliance will hyper-inflate, PPC ads delivered by Bing show little CPC inflation thus far and SearchIgnite does not anticipate that they will be markedly inflated in the future. In addition, click-through rates (CTRs) have increased for advertising served on the combined Bing-Yahoo! search inventory, revealing that Bing’s ad serving algorithm delivers more relevant advertising than Yahoo!, positive news for advertisers.

“Google continued to increase its dominance in the paid search market in the third quarter,” said Roger Barnette, CEO of SearchIgnite. “However, the Bing/Yahoo! alliance is performing well for advertisers thus far, and marketers want to see a viable competitor to Google in the market. We feel that there is a real opportunity for Bing to capture significant market share in the near term if these early results continue to play out in the fourth quarter.”

The complete Q3 report can be downloaded at: http://about.searchignite.com/en/research/early-results-bing-yahoo-alliance-positive-signs-advertisers

This report is the latest in a series of SearchIgnite white papers reviewing trends across the search landscape. Previous quarterly reports can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/searchigniteresearch.

About SearchIgnite

SearchIgnite is the leading provider of search optimization and digital media attribution solutions that help major marketers achieve their search marketing goals quicker and spend their advertising budgets smarter. The company’s media management technology offers an advanced suite of tools to manage, optimize and report on paid search campaigns in one central dashboard, as well as gather insights into the relationship between media channels including PPC, SEO and display. Some of the world’s leading brands and advertising agencies depend on SearchIgnite to power their search campaigns and improve their online media ROI.

For more information, please visit http://www.searchignite.com/ or follow the company on Twitter @searchignite.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Move over, Yellow Pages. Good riddance pricey online marketing. Go Daddy introduces AdSpace, a marketing product designed to help small businesses conquer online advertising without huge investments in time, money or technology. Instead of spending hours to create an effective online ad campaign, users can now hand over a few key pieces of information to Go Daddy’s Search Marketing Experts and be advertising on the Web’s largest stage within 24 hours.

According to a study by The Kelsey Group and ConStat, Inc., more than 70 percent of consumers today start with search engines when looking for a local business. One of the most coveted spots on the Internet is prominent placement on Google, but the “do it yourself” method of getting there can be somewhat overwhelming.

AdSpace offers the “do it for me” approach, and it’s easy. All business owners need to do is provide basic data about their services, then Go Daddy creates a website specifically designed to drive phone calls and generate e-mail inquiries from potential customers. Go Daddy’s team of search marketing experts then create a keyword-based local advertising campaign on Google’s search results page, linking back to the site.

Phone calls are literally recorded and e-mails captured in the AdSpace dashboard – to help users organize new contacts and measure their sales performance.

Just like most of Go Daddy’s services, AdSpace is available to customers for a fraction of what other providers charge. There are no set-up fees, and AdSpace can be used on a month-to-month basis.

“Building a business, in this economy, can be tough,” said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “AdSpace was designed for small businesses wanting to leverage the power of the Internet – businesses that know they need to advertise online, but don’t have big budgets or tech experts to feel comfortable taking financial risks.”

Frank Yaconis, owner of the Scottsdale Discover Hyundai dealership, is familiar with the ease and performance of AdSpace firsthand. While testing the product during its pilot phase, Yaconis saw a return on investment almost immediately.

“AdSpace is providing results for our dealership,” said Yaconis. “Within minutes of our ad campaign going live we were getting sales calls and emails from prospective buyers – the third call turned into a sale!”

The product can also be used to improve customer service. The AdSpace phone call-recording feature provided Yaconis the data he needed to conduct additional training with his employees.

“We can listen to our calls online, which has helped us improve the sales process for our staff,” Yaconis said. “Based on a review of our very first call, I improved our standard telephone greeting when we answer the phones.”

Raymond Boggs, a senior analyst with International Data Corporation (IDC) specializing in SMB research, identified the benefits of the ease of use and pricing structure of AdSpace.

“Many small businesses are still missing the boat when it comes to online promotion,” said Raymond Boggs, vice president of small/medium business research at IDC. “It can be complicated to establish and manage an effective online marketing effort, and also to measure results, but a resource like Go Daddy’s AdSpace brings advanced but affordable capabilities to even the smallest firms.”

AdSpace is backed by Go Daddy’s world-class 24/7 customer support.

To get started with an online advertising campaign for local business, visit http://www.GoDaddy.com/Business/Local-Advertising.aspx.

To learn how to build and grow your business online, visit www.GoDaddy.com.

Follow & Friend Go Daddy on Twitter & Facebook.

About The Go Daddy Group, Inc.

Go Daddy is a leading provider of services that enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence. Go Daddy provides a variety of domain name registration plans and website design and hosting packages, as well as a broad array of on-demand services. These include products such as SSL Certificates, Domains by Proxy private registration, ecommerce website hosting, blog templates and blog software, podcast packages and online photo hosting. The Go Daddy Group has more than 43 million domain names under management. Go Daddy registers, renews or transfers a domain name every second. GoDaddy.com is the world’s largest Web hosting provider and is the world’s No. 1 domain name registrar according to Name Intelligence, Inc. During the first half of 2010, The Go Daddy Group registered more than one-third of all new domain names created in the top six generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, including .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz and .mobi.

Search Marketing Expo East 2010
NEW YORK – Search Marketing Expo East 2010 – Yield Software, a leading provider of next-generation Web marketing technology, introduced advanced pay-per-click (PPC) campaign management and new custom search engine marketing (SEM) reporting features in its flagship Yield Web Marketing Suite for Advertisers and for Agencies.

Power Editing is a new part of the Paid Search Optimizer module in the Yield Web Marketing Suite. It enables managers of PPC campaigns to quickly and efficiently establish and then edit very large, complex campaigns of up to thousands of ad groups, with multiple ads in each group targeting many thousands of keywords or more across Google, Yahoo and Bing.

“As our customer base has grown from mainly smaller business to larger and more complex enterprises and agencies conducting equally complex search marketing campaigns, we responded with the creation of Power Editing to better meet their needs,” said Matt Malden, founder and CEO of Yield Software. “Now, sophisticated campaign managers are able to leverage the many features and options already available to them in the Yield Web Marketing Suite, but with even greater speed and efficiency.”

New Custom Reporting expands on the already robust tracking and reporting infrastructure in the Yield Web Marketing Suite. Search engine marketers can now customize reports to display exactly the data and analytics they need to be successful in every aspect of their search marketing and search engine optimization efforts.

Yield Software Custom Reporting enables users of the Yield Web Marketing Suite to design reports; save those report definitions; share reports; generate reports; and schedule reports to be delivered via email on a periodic basis.

About Yield Software

Yield Software (www.yieldsoftware.com) delivers next-generation Web marketing technology. Its flagship product, the Yield Web Marketing Suite, is a fully automated, totally integrated search marketing system that optimizes paid search, natural search and landing pages from a single, easy-to-use cloud-based interface.

LOS ANGELES – What if even a fraction of the billions of dollars generated by search engine advertisers was directed towards good causes? That is the concept behind GoodSearch.com, a Yahoo-powered Internet search engine that donates 50% of its revenue, approximately a penny per search, to the charities designated by its users.

GoodSearch, LLC, announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued the company US Patent 7,769,738. The patent protects proprietary technology pioneered by GoodSearch that enables users of an Internet search engine to designate a third party, such as a charity or school, to share in the revenue generated by search-related advertising.

You use GoodSearch exactly as you would any other search engine and the pennies add up quickly – just 500 people searching four times a day will earn around $7,300 in a year. It doesn’t cost the users a thing!

More than 92,000 nonprofits and schools are now registered with GoodSearch and the site has quickly spread via word-of-mouth and the blogger community. Examples of organizations listed on the site include: The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation which has earned more than $14,000; the ASPCA which has raised more than $34,000; and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital which has earned more than $12,000.

“We know there are a lot of people who want to do good but may not have the time or the money to help out.” said Ken Ramberg, Co-Founder of GoodSearch and former President of JOBTRAK, the largest online career site for college students (now a division of Monster.com). “GoodSearch’s patented technology makes it as easy as possible. We’ve taken something people do every day — search the Internet — and have turned it into doing good.”

“With so many companies entering the Internet technology space, those with robust intellectual property portfolios will likely be the ones most trusted by their partners and customers. The issuance of patent 7,769,738 will provide our 92,000 non-profit and school partners, and millions of users, a high level of confidence when utilizing GoodSearch’s proprietary search engine to help support their favorite cause.”

SES San Francisco 2010
SAN FRANCISCO – Search Engine Strategies (SES)

Yield Software, a leading provider of next-generation online marketing technology, announced that it has introduced a new version of its flagship Web marketing system called Yield Web Marketing Suite Lite. This completely free version enables any advertiser to effortlessly optimize the performance of their pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Executives from Yield Software will have demonstrated the new service at the SES – San Francisco Conference & Expo at Moscone West in both 416.

“Leading businesses continue to turn to PPC advertising as the best way to drive qualified traffic to their websites, and turn that traffic into sales and revenue,” said Matt Malden, founder and CEO of Yield Software. “The Yield Web Marketing Suite Lite extends the power, efficiency and effectiveness of our search marketing optimization algorithms to any advertiser, for free.”

Advertisers continue to shift from more traditional advertising channels, such as direct mail, radio, and print ads, to online marketing channels, especially search engine marketing (SEM). However, many are unsuccessful in their SEM efforts and fail to generate the desired returns from their marketing campaigns.

“Search engine marketing is a competitive and dynamic marketplace,” said Malden. “Manually managing SEM campaigns requires significant domain knowledge and expertise, including understanding bid and competitive dynamics, keyword selection, geo-targeting, conversion tracking, traffic analytics and many other factors.”

The Yield Web Marketing Suite Lite automates and optimizes SEM campaigns, and allows any business to effectively compete in online advertising. It’s the only algorithmically-driven bid management solution that works across all three major search engines and is completely free. The Yield Web Marketing Suite Lite enables any advertiser to manage up to $500 per month in PPC advertising free of charge. For more information, go to www.yieldsoftware.com/product/lite.

About Yield Software

Yield Software (www.yieldsoftware.com) delivers next-generation online marketing technology. Its flagship product, the Yield Web Marketing Suite, is a fully automated, totally integrated search marketing system that optimizes paid search, natural search rankings and landing pages.

About SES

Incisive Media’s SES is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine marketing. Other Incisive Media resources for interactive marketers include ClickZ for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion, and research and Search Engine Watch, which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry, and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person, and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services, and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Risk, and Search Engine Strategies. For more information, visit www.incisivemedia.com.

SAN FRANCISCO – Dapper, a pioneer in transforming display advertising into a predictable and scalable performance marketing channel, announced that it will host a Fixing Advertising special event – The Quants Strike Back: How SEMs are Leveraging their Expertise to Transform Display into Profitability – at Search Engine Strategies in San Francisco next week.

The must-attend evening forgoes the panel format in favor of an intimate fireside chat with search marketing experts who have “crossed over” to display advertising, where they are using their data-centric skills to run profitable display campaigns. eBay’s Daphne Liska and Expedia’s Greg Taylor will join SEM expert and Dapper executive Chris Zaharias in a deep dive on how to transform display into a profitable channel – and how to win big in the next area of innovation for performance marketers who want to gain an edge over their competitors.

Fixing Advertising: The Quants Strike Back kicks off at 7:00 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, August 17 at The W Hotel San Francisco, located at 181 3rd St. at Howard. Registration is open to all, but space is limited and all Fixing Advertising panels have sold out to date. More information and a registration form are available at www.fixingadvertising.com.

“Many of the biggest companies today have drastically improved their businesses and brands based on successful search marketing,” said James Beriker, CEO of Dapper. “Now, as growth in search has tapered off and many marketers have maxed out their ability to efficiently scale their business through SEM, brands are actively seeking the next performance channel that can scale. Display is exciting because it leverages what works in search – and this is resonating with large, sophisticated advertisers. We look forward to bringing a conversation about display to the search community in San Francisco.”

Dapper’s highly successful Fixing Advertising series explores the developing display ecosystem of DSPs, data, and dynamic ads to better inform advertisers about the potential for this medium and to bring innovation to the forefront of the discussion. Over the past year, the event has brought together the best and brightest in this developing space in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Chicago. Participants represent the advertisers and technologists on the leading edge of display, including AdBrite, AppNexus, BlueKai, Catalyst S+F, CareerBuilder.com, DataXu, Expedia, Kayak.com, MediaMath, Orbitz, PubMatic, the Rubicon Project, Travelocity, Turn, United Online, Yahoo! and others. Podcasts of previous panel discussions are available at www.fixingadvertising.com.

About Dapper

Dapper is leading a movement to fix display advertising by transforming ads from generic, broadcast messages to intelligent, content-rich, and highly relevant ad units. Dapper’s IntentMatch™ technology automatically indexes an advertiser’s entire product catalog, buys impressions based on user intent, and matches users to the right products in a dynamic ad unit, driving profitability in display. Dapper is privately held with funding from Accel Partners. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA with offices in New York and Tel Aviv. For more information, please visit the company’s website (http://www.dapper.net).

NEW YORK – August 9, 2010 – Magnetic (www.magnetic.is), the leader in search re-targeting, today announced integration with BrightRoll, the leading provider of online video advertising services, to improve and optimize performance on video ads. BrightRoll now has a key differentiator, where it can apply the pinpoint accuracy of search engine marketing to deliver brand-building engaging ads to customers wherever they are on the purchase funnel. This is one of multiple agreements Magnetic has entered with video ad networks.

Search engine marketing is the highest performing form of advertising on the web. Magnetic applies this performance to other forms of display advertising. When users finish researching interests and leave the search engine, Magnetic’s search data enables re-targeting on all types of ads wherever consumers are on the web to significantly increase conversions. Magnetic has more than 200 million user profiles on a wide array of consumer interests such as finance, autos, consumer packaged goods, and travel.

“The amazing power of online video creates a visceral response from users, given how engaging the ads can be. Imagine serving a stylistic video of a BMW racing through the streets of New York to a user who is in purchase mode for a luxury car – and we know this because the user’s key word searches show the exact intent. This is the branding opportunity we are delivering,” said Josh Shatkin-Margolis, CEO of Magnetic. “By combining this opportunity with search, the highest converting source of data, we’ve made it easy for advertisers to create a perfect synergy of ad creative, media, and data.”

According to comScore, more than 177 million U.S. Internet users watched video content in June, and it recognizes BrightRoll as a top video ad networks in terms of potential reach of the total U.S. population. Online video advertising offers more variety and options in visually engaging with consumers than static text ads. As the segment applies search re-targeting to find the right audience in online video advertising, BrightRoll advertisers can now leverage search intent data with their own knowledge of what consumers want.

“We view search re-targeting as a valuable tool that allows advertisers to reach specific consumers who will be most receptive to their brand messages,” said Tod Sacerdoti, CEO of BrightRoll. “By combining Magnetic’s targeting technology with our video advertising platform, we’re able to solve the needs of our advertisers by delivering targeted campaigns at scale with a high return on investment.”

Magnetic is making search re-targeting easy for ad networks, agencies and DSPs. Its open marketplace leverages search intent data for all types of display advertising.

About Magnetic
Magnetic™ makes search re-targeting easy. The Magnetic data marketplace empowers advertisers and publishers to use search data as the key indicator of intent and re-target campaigns to the most relevant audience online. With more than 200 million search profiles, Magnetic significantly lifts the value of media and improves campaign performance. Magnetic’s advanced technology provides the largest payment to search data providers. It is the search data partner of choice for more than 90 leading agencies, ad networks and DSPs. Magnetic is headquartered in New York, funded by investors including Roger Ehrenberg, Founder Collective and NYC Seed. For more information visit: www.magnetic.is.

Consumer Response Also Increases Significantly – Website Visitors Twice as Likely To Fill out a Form, View a Video and Print Driving Directions

SES San Francisco 2010
IRVINE, Calif. – Small businesses continue to increase their search spending over last year, while Yahoo! drew some of that spend away from competitors Google and Ask, according to the latest quarterly report from WebVisible (www.webvisible.com). Businesses offering jewelry, loans, mortgages and job recruitment services increased spending significantly from Q1 to Q2 2010.

The average small business advertiser spent $2,231 on search advertising in Q2 2010 – up by 1.4 percent from Q1 2010 and by 159 percent over Q2 2009. This continues the strong year-over-year (YoY) gains seen in the last several quarters – YoY spending was up 91 percent in Q1 2010 and 111 percent in Q4 2009.

Consistent with previous quarters, the most popular advertiser categories in Q2 2010 were attorneys, general contractors and dentists. Air conditioning contractors, landscapers and businesses offering irrigation services, fencing and awnings increased seasonal spending from Q1 to Q2 2010.

These are among the top findings of the fourth installment of The WebVisible Report: State of Small Business Online Advertising Q2 2010, which examines trends among WebVisible’s U.S. advertisers from Q2 2009 through Q2 2010 and represents nearly $23 million in U.S. small business advertiser spending from more than 12,000 individual advertisers in Q2 2010. This report also includes an analysis of data from more than 10,000 advertisers in the U.K. in Q1 and Q2 2010.

“There are several findings in this report that could indicate a recovering economy – search ad spend among small businesses continues to increase over last year, categories like jewelry and job recruitment services have increased spending over the last quarter, and consumer response rates continue to rise,” said WebVisible CEO Kirsten Mangers. “Over the past year, conversion activity increased on almost all website actions – filling out an online form, watching a video, bookmarking a page or printing driving directions. For advertisers this is great news. The more options a company provides, the more actions a website visitor will take – giving advertisers multiple opportunities to establish a connection with each potential buyer.”

Nearly half of all clicks – 43 percent – resulted in a web conversion in Q2 2010, up by 22 percent over Q1 2010 and 39 percent over Q2 2009. Conversion activity more than doubled for form fills, video views, printed driving directions and bookmarking in Q2 2010 versus Q2 2009, suggesting that users are taking advantage of additional website options provided by advertisers.

The percentage of clicks resulting in a phone call to the advertiser increased by 29 percent over the previous quarter and by 58 percent over the same period last year.

In Q2 2010, spending shifted toward Yahoo! and away from Google and Ask, while Bing remained flat. Yahoo! gained 4.0 percentage points in share, while Google lost 2.0 percentage points, Bing lost 0.6 and Ask lost 1.4.

Click-through-rate (CTR) was up for all the search engines when compared to a year ago. But Yahoo! was the only one to experience an increase over the last quarter. Yahoo!’s CTR for Q2 increased by 35 percent over Q1 2010. Compared to Q1, Google’s CTR was down 4.4 percent and Bing’s was down 6.6 percent.

CPC (cost per click) increased by 23 percent on Yahoo! and by 9.8 percent on Bing. Google showed the most stable CPCs, with a quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) increase of just 2.2 percent.

UK Search Trends

Yahoo! performed the strongest for small business advertisers in the U.K. in Q2 2010 – its share of spending increased by 8.1 percent over Q1 2010, its CTR improved by 3.3 percent and CPCs increased by 4.7 percent.

Bing and Google lost U.K. share of spending in Q2 2010 versus Q1: Bing’s share was down 15.1 percent and Google’s share was down 6.9 percent.

CPCs rose in the U.K. by 5.4 percent on Google and 3.7 percent on Bing. Bing’s CTR dropped by 7 percent, while Google’s CTR was up by 1.5 percent.

U.K. CPCs were on average one-sixth of CPCs in the United States in Q2 2010 (adjusted for currency). Clicks on Bing and Yahoo! cost the same amount in each respective country, and were 20 percent cheaper than clicks on Google in both countries.

The top 10 U.K. advertiser categories accounted for less than 14 percent of total advertisers in Q2 2010, compared to 43 percent in the United States.

Average U.K. advertiser spending decreased by 1.8 percent from Q1 to Q2 2010. The categories that showed the highest gains in that period were printers, beauty salons and car servicing shops.

Anyone can request a full copy of The WebVisible Report by going here: http://www.webvisible.com/wvreport. Members of the media contact info@edgecommunicationsinc.com or call (818) 990-5001.

About WebVisible, Inc.

WebVisible makes it easy for small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) to be found online, where and how customers are looking. The leading provider of local online marketing products and services since 2001, WebVisible was among the first to pioneer the use of search as a reliable, measurable avenue to connect directly with a buyer’s needs. The company has helped more than 100,000 SMB customers from more than 4,000 industries in 14 countries to create innovative and accountable Internet advertising campaigns. SMBs partner with WebVisible directly and through its many partner companies, including Intuit, British Telecom and The New York Times Company. WebVisible is based in Irvine, Calif. For more information, visit www.webvisible.com or call 949-255-9677.

The overall industry average click fraud rate was 18.6 percent. That’s up from the 17.4 percent reported for Q1 2010 and the 12.7 percent rate reported for Q2 2009.

In Q2 2010, the countries outside North America with significant CPC traffic producing the greatest volume of click fraud were Singapore, Pakistan, Japan, Ukraine and China respectively.

“Over the past several quarters, we’ve seen the overall click fraud rate slowly trending higher,” said Paul Pellman, CEO of Click Forensics. “The main reasons appear to be the continued sophistication of botnets and malware prevalent in the fast-growing search marketing space. We advise online marketers to be watchful of their campaigns as they spend more on search advertising in the coming quarters.”

Since 2006, Click Forensics has published online advertising industry data collected from the first independent third-party Cost Per Click (CPC) and online advertising fraud detection service. The service monitors online media traffic across over 300 ad networks as well as billions of clicks from top search engines, comparison shopping engines, social networks, leading publishers and advertiser web sites – providing the most accurate view of online advertising audience quality.

For more details and to read the full report, visit http://www.clickforensics.com/resources/click-fraud-index.html.

About Click Forensics, Inc.

Click Forensics® is the industry leader in online ad verification and traffic quality improvement for the online advertising community. Click Forensics provides audience verification and traffic quality management solutions for leading online search and display advertisers, agencies, publishers and ad networks. The company also regularly publishes industry data on online advertising audience quality. Click Forensics is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is privately held with funding from Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings is available at www.ClickForensics.com.

ATLANTA – US paid search spend increased 14% in Q2 2010 from a year earlier, following an 11% year-over-year increase in Q1. The first two quarters of the year have marked the strongest period of growth for paid search since Q4 2008, indicating that online PPC spend is bouncing back from the recession-level growth declines experienced throughout 2009. These findings come from a report released by SearchIgnite, a leading provider of search optimization and online media attribution solutions managing more than $450 million in PPC spend annually.

Other notable findings in the report include:

- Market less reliant on retail sector for growth: Retail paid search spend grew 7% YoY, less than the overall industry growth, marking the first quarter in more than a year where non-retail spend grew more than retail PPC spend.
- Bing gains YoY, but growth slows heading into the summer: Spend on Bing increased 26% YoY, but declined -9.6% from Q1, the engine’s second quarter of QoQ declines. The engine dropped slightly to 6.2% share of search spend in the U.S.

“Search has bounced back from recession level lows and is poised for a very strong second half,” said Roger Barnette, CEO of SearchIgnite. “We’ve seen a marked increase in activity across our clients this year, with non-retail marketers bolstering their search investments for the first time since 2008.”

The complete Q2 report can be downloaded at: http://about.searchignite.com/en/research/u-s-paid-search-spend-continues-bounce-recession.

This report is the latest in a series of SearchIgnite white papers reviewing trends across the search landscape. Previous quarterly reports can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/searchigniteresearch.

About SearchIgnite

SearchIgnite is the leading provider of search optimization and digital media attribution solutions that help major marketers achieve their search marketing goals quicker and spend their advertising budgets smarter. The company’s media management technology offers an advanced suite of tools to manage, optimize and report on paid search campaigns in one central dashboard, as well as gather insights into the relationship between media channels including PPC, SEO and display. For more information, visit us at www.searchignite.com or follow us on Twitter @searchignite.

This new partnership enables eNom to offer its customers a new website traffic generating service essential for online success. Search marketing will be added to eNom’s product portfolio that includes domain name registrations, website hosting, SSL certificates, and site builder tools. eNom will be offering this new product through www.eNomCentral.com and BulkRegister.com.

Marchex Local Leads is a turnkey digital marketing product that leverages multiple search engines, mobile and other call- and lead-based distribution sources to generate leads and new business for advertisers. Marchex Local Leads, formerly known as Marchex Connect, was voted Search Engine Strategies’ “Best SEM Technology Platform for SMBs” in 2008 and 2009.

“As one of the largest registrars worldwide, our goal is to provide businesses with the most comprehensive range of services to help them be successful online,” said Chris Sheridan, Vice President of Sales for Demand Media®, Inc., the parent company of eNom, Inc. “Marchex’s Local Leads product offers our customers a scalable, proven and powerful performance marketing product that we believe will be very attractive to our customers.”

“Marchex is excited to offer eNom’s business customers the capability to acquire new customer relationships,” said Brooks McMahon, Senior Vice President of Small Business Marketing Products at Marchex. “Search Engine Marketing is one of the most efficient and cost-effective customer acquisition methods, which makes it a critical component of a business’ marketing plan. Marchex Local Leads will add more value to eNom’s already robust set of business services.”

About Marchex:

Marchex’s mission is to unlock local commerce globally by helping advertisers reach customers wherever they may be – in mobile, offline and online channels, including on our own local and category websites.

Our performance-based call advertising products, the Marchex Pay-For-Call Exchange and Marchex Call Analytics, are reinventing how businesses acquire new customers through the phone. Our award-winning Small Business Marketing products empower local businesses to efficiently monitor their online presence, communicate with their customers, and acquire new ones. Every day, our products support tens of thousands of advertisers and partners, ranging from global enterprises to local businesses.

For more information about Marchex, please visit www.marchex.com.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – In Q2 2010, the Search Engine Marketing (SEM) industry posted solid year on year (YoY) growth of 24% and 9.7% quarter on quarter (QoQ) growth. This is according to Efficient Frontier, a leading performance marketing company managing more than $900 million on behalf of clients worldwide on an annual basis. This data and specific industry trends were released today in the company’s Q2 2010 U.S. Search Engine Performance Report.

“The second quarter growth for the sector exceeded our expectations. We anticipate that the positive trends will continue for the back half of the year with retail leading the charge,” said David Karnstedt, President and CEO, Efficient Frontier. “We see the demand for online performance marketing continuing into 2011, especially in the areas of search, display and social media.”

Report Highlights:

Spend Growth Accelerates, Exceeding Expectations

In Q2 2010, the search marketing sector continued to bounce back, shrugging off a still uncertain economic environment. YoY spend was up 24%, with a 9.7% increase in spend QoQ, partly due to a recovery in Cost Per Click (CPC) prices which rose across all of the major search engines. Overall, return on investment (ROI) in search was up 4% YoY and was 10.6% higher than last quarter (Q1 2010).

Retail Sector Leads the Recovery

In the first half of 2009, search felt the adverse affects of a sputtering global economy. In sharp contrast to a year ago, search marketing in Q2 2010 is showing a strong recovery.

The retail sector leads the recovery with 38% growth in spend YoY and 16% growth QoQ, a pace that far exceeds the typical modest quarterly rise in Q2. Retail CPCs continue to grow at 18% YoY and 17% QoQ, indicating a growing aggressiveness on the part of advertisers in this sector. Consumers are also playing their part in driving the recovery with impression volume up 65% YoY, signaling continued consumer interest in online shopping.

Seasonal Strength Bolsters Travel; Auto Improves While Finance Lags

The travel sector also enjoyed a recovery in this seasonally strong quarter with a 10% YoY increase in spend due to a 13% YoY increase in CPCs. The auto sector continued its growth with a 6% YoY increase in spend. The Finance sector took a 2% dip in growth despite a 22% YoY decrease in CPCs. Although advertisers were not able to monetize leads as well, interest remains high for financial products.

Retail: Spend was up 38% YoY due on strong consumer and advertiser demand
Travel: Spend was up 10% YoY on CPC gains
Finance: Spend was down 2% YoY due to a decrease in CPCs that was largely offset by volume growth
Auto: Spend was up 6% YoY on CTR and CPC gains
Bing Continues to Gain Market Share while Yahoo! Loses

Bing continues to grow its market share at Yahoo!’s expense. Taking quarterly fluctuations into account, Bing’s spend share has grown from 6.1% in Q1 to 6.4% in Q2 2010. Bing click share has remained stable QoQ. The YoY spend share gain for Bing is 56% and YoY click share gain is 36%.

Meanwhile, Yahoo! continues to lose market share as spend fell to 18% from 18.7% in Q1 2010 and click share fell to 19.4% from 20.1% in Q1 2010. Yahoo!’s Q2 2010 numbers represent a 12% YoY spend share loss and a 9% YoY click share loss. Google’s market share has grown slightly in Q2, with both spend share and click share up to 75.6%.

Outlook for H2 2010

After a Strong First Half, Q3 is a Critical Quarter

The last two quarters have shown strong growth in terms of SEM spend (20% YoY in Q1 and 24% YoY in Q2) and we expect the positive trends to continue for the second half of the year. CPCs continue to make a strong recovery, indicating growing demand and larger advertising budgets, which should continue to contribute to the expected growth in the coming quarters. However, weakness in the European economy might negatively affect Q3, so we remain cautious as we keep our SEM growth expectations in the 15-20% range.

Microhoo! Expectations

Given the diverse performances of Bing and Yahoo!, we remain cautiously optimistic about the Yahoo!/Microsoft partnership. In the long run, we believe that the integration will bring small advertisers on board the unified platform, increasing marketplace demand, and lift CPCs. However, we are uncertain of the short-term effects. Currently, the unified Microsoft and Yahoo! stance is that advertisers will only be allowed to place the same bids across both search engines. Due to the very different ROIs across Yahoo! and Bing, we feel this will be detrimental to advertisers because the high ROI on Bing will subsidize the lower ROI on Yahoo!. The net effect could be suppressed CPCs, dampening the impact of greater demand.

Retail to Continue its Growth

Out of the four sectors, we expect retail to continue showing strong growth in search engine spend in the range of 30+%. We have found retailers increasingly willing to experiment and explore new ways of online marketing, using all available channels such as search and display, and using cross channel marketing to help them attribute offline revenues to online efforts.

Research Methodology

This analysis was completed based on data from Efficient Frontier search engine marketing customers and the resulting Efficient Frontier’s Customer Index. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index represents a subset of the company’s clients with spend data for six consecutive quarters or more, whose resulting SEM metrics are then normalized to average industry category contributions established by multiple third party data providers. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index consists of a fixed sample of large scale U.S. search engine advertisers across multiple sectors, including finance, travel, retail and automotive. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index sheds light on trends in search engine spending and performance on YoY and QoQ basis.

The complete U.S. Search Engine Performance Report: Q2, 2010, is available for download from the Efficient Frontier website at: http://www.efrontier.com/research/search-engine-report/Q2-2010

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About Efficient Frontier

Efficient Frontier is a leading digital performance marketing company managing search and display optimization for large-scale marketers around the globe. Founded in 2002, Efficient Frontier pioneered the application of modern portfolio theory to Search Engine Marketing. Today, the company combines its core predictive modeling algorithms and bidding technology with comprehensive, value-added services to manage more than $900 million in annual spend globally. The largest and most sophisticated advertisers and agencies partner with Efficient Frontier to achieve and sustain optimal campaign performance and growth in highly complex and competitive marketplaces. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in New York, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and India, and technology licensing partnerships in Japan and Australia. Efficient Frontier is a privately held company with funding from Redpoint Ventures and Cambrian Ventures. For more information, please visit www.efrontier.com and subscribe to the Efficient Frontier blog at blog.efrontier.com and follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/efrontier.

CHICAGO – At The Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition (IRCE 2010), Adlucent, a leader in retail search engine marketing, announced today the initial results of its search marketing campaign for Discount Office Items, an online retailer based in Columbus, Wisconsin. Adlucent was chosen to manage the online retailer’s search marketing strategy based on the firm’s extensive experience with some of the world’s leading retailers, and its “pay for performance” model that guarantees the client’s success. In the first three months, the Adlucent campaign drove over 100% year over year revenue growth profitably.

“Adlucent is the only search marketing firm we found that guarantees results by tying its compensation to our success,” said Discount Office Items CEO Tim Horton. “The firm’s pay for performance model gives me the confidence that our campaigns are optimized to hit revenue targets, rather than monthly spending goals. That means I no longer have to worry about whether our ad budget is being spent in the right place, because we both have the same motivation.”

As an experienced e-tailer, Discount Office Items already employed an extensive search marketing program. But with thousands of products and dozens of categories to promote, the campaigns were growing more difficult and expensive to manage. To expand Discount Office Items’ online presence profitably, Adlucent used its Deep Search™ platform, developed specifically to manage complex retail campaigns with millions of products. Using Deep Search™, Adlucent was able to reallocate time and money to the products and categories likely to be most profitable for Discount Office Items. As a result, Adlucent expanded the retailer’s keyword coverage by 1,000%.

Drawing on its decade of retail expertise, the firm also created, tailored and optimized ads and landing pages for individual products and categories. Adlucent includes this work in its pay for performance model, deviating from the agency-standard practice of billing for creative work at additional rates.

“Retailers are incredibly sophisticated marketers,” said Adlucent CEO Jon Armstrong. “They come to us when they have reached the limitations of their current search marketing campaigns. Our unique services help our retail customers drive additional revenue and profit.”

About Discount Office Items

Discount Office Items was founded in 2003 by Tim & Jim Horton with the goal of offering customers a large selection, low prices and top notch customer service. The company allows customers to compare its prices side-by-side with competitor prices on its Web site. By combining this strategy with fast (and often free) shipping, Discount Office Items has become one of the 500 largest Internet retailers online. For more information visit www.discountofficeitems.com.

About Adlucent

Adlucent helps the world’s largest online retailers increase sales by attracting and delivering highly qualified customers. As a performance-based sales partner, Adlucent has developed its Deep Search™ technology to drive results that are three times more effective than traditional search engine marketing. Adlucent is a privately-held company headquartered in Austin, Texas. More information is available at www.adlucent.com.

IRVINE, Calif. – WebVisible (www.webvisible.com) announced that online advertising and search veteran Jon Rosen has joined as Chief Revenue Officer, to lead the company’s continued expansion of its revenue channels and partnerships worldwide. Rosen will be responsible for direct and channel sales, and marketing for the company.

Rosen has more than 25 years’ experience driving revenue, business development and marketing teams for leading public and private companies. He was an early pioneer in search marketing when, in 1998, he was the founding president of the leading SEM firm, iProspect. The agency was the first to develop sophisticated, successful search advertising campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. Rosen took the company from inception to become the recognized leader in large-scale search marketing services.

For the past 11 years, Rosen has focused on interactive media, managing Internet advertising and search for companies ranging from successful startups to global media companies including the search division at America Online (NYSE: AOL).

Prior to WebVisible, Rosen was the executive director for strategy and business development at AOL Search, which included AOL local search. He architected several high-value acquisitions and partnerships and developed America Online’s SEM and SEO division. Rosen also served as a corporate officer for Autobytel (Nasdaq: ABTL) – one of the largest automotive search advertisers and online properties – where he led business development, advertising sales and operations, partner acquisition and search marketing. At Spot Runner, a well-known local advertising innovator, Rosen ran the company’s online, search and local business.

Rosen also has served in search advisory and committee roles for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Doubleclick, Market Hardware (acquired by IAC), search software company SearchForce, Vacanza (Purchased by Mountain Reservations) and video search engine MeFeedia.

“WebVisible is experiencing tremendous growth, and we’ve brought on several executives in the last year that have proven scale and innovation resources,” said Kirsten Mangers, WebVisible CEO. “Jon has been at the forefront of search and online marketing since the early days, and he brings to WebVisible a wealth of expertise and market insight. He has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to chart a course and reach the destination, and we’re excited about his vision for how he can help WebVisible continue to grow and enhance the services we provide to local advertisers.”

“This is a very special group of people here at WebVisible – a team of professionals who truly care about helping local businesses achieve success,” said Rosen. “The devotion and years of innovation have led to an undisputed leadership in bringing search and online advertising to the local market and the channel partners that serve them. We’re in the midst of an exciting time for both WebVisible and local interactive advertising.”

About WebVisible, Inc.

WebVisible makes it easy for small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) to be found online, where and how customers are looking. The leading provider of local online marketing products and services since 2001, WebVisible was among the first to pioneer the use of search as a reliable, measurable avenue to connect directly with a buyer’s needs. The company has helped more than 100,000 SMB customers from more than 4,000 industries in 14 countries to create innovative and accountable Internet advertising campaigns. SMBs partner with WebVisible directly and through its many partner companies, including Intuit, AT&T, British Telecom and The New York Times Company. WebVisible is based in Irvine, Calif. For more information, visit www.webvisible.com or call 949-255-9677.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – In Q1 2010, the Search Engine Marketing (SEM) industry posted solid year on year (YoY) growth of 20% and a quarter on quarter (QoQ) decline of 8%, which was less than half of the decline posted last year. This is according to Efficient Frontier, a leading performance marketing company with more than $900 million in global client spend annually. This data and specific industry trends were released today in the company’s Q1 2010 U.S. Search Engine Performance Report.

“The performance marketing industry is off to a strong start in 2010,” said David Karnstedt, President and CEO, Efficient Frontier. “We saw strength across the retail, finance and autos categories and initial signs of a comeback in travel. We continue to believe that the search sector will approach gains of 20% year over year.”

Report Highlights:

Q1 2010 Executive Summary

Spend Growth Exceeds Expectations

In Q1 2010, the search marketing sector slowly roared back, building on a fourth quarter 2009 that posted solid sequential and year on year growth. YoY spend was up 20% with a light seasonal pull-back in QoQ spend of 8%, less than half of the previous year’s sequential drop.

Search query and click volumes are up substantially YoY while Cost per Click (CPC) remains relatively stable. Overall, return on investment (ROI) in search was up 4% YoY as consumers returned to purchasing with a more favorable economic outlook.

Retail Keeps the Accelerator On Beyond the Holidays

In Q4 2009, spend in the retail sector grew 17% YoY and 46% QoQ. Building on that momentum, retail spend grew 32% YoY in Q1 with a relatively tame seasonal 27% QoQ decline. CPC grew 10% YoY after a 9% YoY decline in Q4, suggesting strengthening advertiser demand.

Query volume was up 73% YoY in Q1 2010, clearly depicting that consumers’ shift to shopping online shows no signs of abating. Rather, the light post-holiday Q1 abatement in query volume suggests that the online channel is a consistent part of day-to-day life rather than a one-off spike during the holidays.

SEM Strength Expands in Finance and Autos

Both the finance and automotive sectors saw a return to health this quarter as spend increased 9% YoY. Large query volume increases in automotive, up 29% YoY, highlight a renewed consumer interest in the new and used cars.

Travel showed initial signs of a comeback as spend grew 38% QoQ in the seasonally strong first quarter. Travel CPCs and spend were down just 4% YoY, the most favorable YoY comparison in several quarters. The numbers for the various sectors included:

Retail: Spend was up 32% YoY on strong consumer and advertiser demand;
Travel: Spend was down 4% YoY in the seasonally strong Q1;
Finance: Spend was up 9% YoY on click through rate (CTR) gains;
Auto: Spend was up 9% YoY on volume gains.
Search Engine Share Growth Goes Bing, Bing, Bing

After a pause in growth during Q4, Bing renewed its market share gains in Q1 2010 as it increased its click and spend share to 5.5% and 6.5%, respectively. These represent YoY gains of 45% in both click and spend.

In contrast to Bing’s growth, their partner Yahoo! saw further losses in market share across both clicks and in spend. Yahoo!’s share of clicks fell to 20.5% from 24.2% in Q1 2009 and 22.7% in Q4 2009. Additionally, Yahoo!’s share of spend fell to 18.7% from 21.3% in Q1 2009 and 22.7% in Q4 2009. Yahoo!’s Q1 2010 numbers represent a 15% YoY click share loss and 12% YoY spend share loss.

Google expanded its dominant position in Q1, closing in on 75% share of both spend and clicks. Return on investment on Google is up 16% YoY on slightly lower CPCs and improving conversion rates. Overall, clicks were up 8% YoY and 4% sequentially (QoQ).

Outlook for 2Q10 and 2H10

Advertiser Spend Trends

Efficient Frontier believes that SEM growth will approach 20% YoY for the full year 2010. There are several reasons for this prediction, including: 1) Impression volumes are higher in all sectors as compared to a year ago, indicating greater consumer interest; 2) CPCs have made a broad recovery, indicating greater demand and larger budget appetites from advertisers; 3) Broader economic conditions appear to have stabilized, a trend that will result in a lift in consumer purchasing and companies advertising online.

Search Engine Landscape

The search engine landscape is experiencing shifts in both click and market share as Bing continues to emerge. Unfortunately for their broader partnership, Yahoo!’s loss in share is Bing’s gain. There is also no sign of Google’s growth abating as they close in on 75% share of spend and clicks.

Research Methodology

This analysis was completed based on data from Efficient Frontier search engine marketing customers and the resulting Efficient Frontier’s Customer Index. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index represents a subset of the company’s clients with spend data for six consecutive quarters or more, whose resulting SEM metrics are then normalized to average industry category contributions established by multiple third party data providers. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index consists of an axed sample of large scale U.S. search engine advertisers across multiple sectors, including finance, travel, retail and automotive. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index sheds light on trends in search engine spending and performance on a year-over-year (YoY) and quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) basis.

The complete U.S. Search Engine Performance Report: Q1, 2010, is available for download from the Efficient Frontier website at:

http://www.efrontier.com/research/search-engine-report/Q1-2010

http://twitter.com/efrontier

http://www.facebook.com/efrontier

About Efficient Frontier

Efficient Frontier is a leading digital performance marketing company managing search and display optimization for large-scale marketers around the globe. Founded in 2002, Efficient Frontier pioneered the application of modern portfolio theory to Search Engine Marketing. Today, the company combines its core predictive modeling algorithms and bidding technology with comprehensive, value-added services to manage more than $900 million in annual spend globally. The largest and most sophisticated advertisers and agencies partner with Efficient Frontier to achieve and sustain optimal campaign performance and growth in highly complex and competitive marketplaces. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in New York, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and India, and technology licensing partnerships in Japan and Australia. Efficient Frontier is a privately held company with funding from Redpoint Ventures and Cambrian Ventures. For more information, please visit www.efrontier.com and subscribe to the Efficient Frontier blog at blog.efrontier.com.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Anchor Intelligence, the leading traffic quality solutions provider, announced that it is launching ClearMark for Keywords, a predictive, keyword bid optimization system, at Search Insider Summit in Florida. ClearMark for Keywords is the first and only system that predicts the value of each keyword in an advertiser’s portfolio, even in the absence of conversion data. Moreover, Anchor announced that eBay, the world’s largest online marketplace, has agreed to use ClearMark for Keywords to optimize its keyword bidding strategies and enhance the ROI of its search campaigns.

ClearMark for Keywords, Anchor’s predictive keyword scoring system, leverages traffic quality data within the Anchor network to provide advertisers with optimal bids per keyword. Unlike any other bid optimization system, Anchor’s ClearMark for Keywords enhances bid management by leveraging data that have historically been unavailable to search marketers. As the leading traffic quality solutions provider, Anchor Intelligence collects conversion information and best-of-breed network security intelligence from across the web to measure traffic quality and its impact on keyword performance. For example, by using information about what users did prior to clicking on an ad, Anchor’s ClearMark for Keywords predicts the likelihood that those same users will convert on an advertiser’s site. It then issues optimal bids that can be uploaded directly to search engines and 3rd party bid management companies, enabling search engine marketers to reallocate their ad spend and improve the performance of their SEM campaigns.

ClearMark for Keywords outperforms traditional optimization strategies that are based primarily on historical conversion data by providing advertisers with a proactive, predictive response to external factors that have a significant impact on the performance of each keyword. And unlike any other keyword bid management system, ClearMark brings to bear a tremendous amount of network data otherwise unavailable to advertisers to generate optimal keyword bids.

As a result of its unique traffic quality perspective, ClearMark for Keywords benefits not only belly and tail keywords that do not have enough conversion data to drive sound decisions, but also competitive head keywords, for which small percentage increases in lift yield large gains in revenue.

Recently, eBay completed a trial using ClearMark for Keywords across its U.S. based keywords campaigns and was encouraged by the results. After measuring the performance outcome from that test, eBay will continue to utilize ClearMark for Keywords. In the past 5 years, eBay has developed a world-class SEM platform built on strong technology and data analytics, and will continue to assess the insights derived from the Anchor network with this platform. Using Anchor Intelligence, eBay expects to acquire even more quality users with an increased likelihood to purchase on eBay.

“We are encouraged by the results of combining Anchor Intelligence’s unique data footprint and analytics with our own SEM platform. We look forward to a continued collaboration to drive ROI for eBay’s ad campaigns,” said Matt Ackley, Vice President of Advertising and Internet Marketing at eBay.

“Anchor Intelligence enables advertisers to achieve world-class performance from their keyword spend by leveraging our unique data assets and predictive analytics,” said Ken Miller, CEO of Anchor Intelligence. “We are confident that ClearMark for Keywords will fundamentally change the way online advertisers manage their SEM ad spend going forward.”

About Anchor Intelligence:

Anchor Intelligence Inc., headquartered in Mountain View, CA, provides ad networks, search engines, and advertisers from around the globe with rigorous, cutting-edge solutions to maximize advertiser ROI. With its diverse portfolio of data and predictive analytics derived from across the web, Anchor’s award-winning ClearMark suite enables industry players to improve the performance of advertising spend online by predicting click and keyword performance. For more information, visit: www.anchorintelligence.com. Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/AnchorIntel.

ATLANTA – U.S. paid search spend increased 11% in Q1 2010 from Q1 2009, marking the strongest quarter for paid search since the fourth quarter of 2008. In addition, search marketing was flat quarter-over-quarter (-0.5%), a metric that typically shows declines in Q1 due to decreased marketing spend following the holidays. These findings come from a report released today by SearchIgnite, a leading provider of search optimization and online media attribution solutions managing more than $450 million in PPC spend annually.

Other notable findings in the report include:

Retail and travel sectors driving growth. Retail and travel marketers drove much of the growth in paid search, with spend from these verticals up 26% and 9% year-over-year (YoY) respectively. For retailers, this marked the fifth straight quarter of YoY PPC spend increases since SearchIgnite began tracking this metric
Bing grows YoY, yet dips in Q1 due to reliance on retailers. Spend on Microsoft’s Bing increased 22% YoY as the engine continued to take share from Yahoo!. However, Bing saw the most declines of all engines quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) due to a decline in retail search spend following the holidays, a vertical which continues to be a key driver of growth for the engine.
“We saw some indication that the impact of the recession on the digital economy was waning towards the end of last year,” said Roger Barnette, President of SearchIgnite. “The strong paid search growth in Q1 is another hopeful sign that the worst of the storm is over and that the search market is poised for a solid year ahead.”

This report is the latest in a series of SearchIgnite white papers reviewing trends across the search landscape. These white papers can be downloaded at: http://about.searchignite.com/en/about/research-white-papers.html.

About SearchIgnite

SearchIgnite is the leading provider of search optimization and digital media attribution solutions that help major marketers achieve their search marketing goals quicker and spend their advertising budgets smarter. The company’s media management technology offers an advanced suite of tools to manage, optimize and report on paid search campaigns in one central dashboard, as well as gather insights into the relationship between media channels including PPC, SEO and display. Some of the world’s leading brands and advertising agencies depend on SearchIgnite to power their search campaigns and improve their online media ROI.

SearchIgnite is part of Innovation Interactive, a digital marketing services company. For more information, please visit http://www.searchignite.com/.

BUDD LAKE, N.J. – CoolerAds, the industry-leading local online advertising platform for community newspapers and their local advertisers, announced the acquisition of Atricity, a full-service Internet marketing company based in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Atricity specializes in providing online advertising services such as web site design, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and social media marketing by developing a robust fulfillment supply chain with an emphasis on the hyperlocal market.

“We’re absolutely thrilled that the entire Atricity team will be joining CoolerAds and leading our sales and fulfillment efforts for our new web solutions division,“ said Peter Previte, CEO of Coolerads. “With the deep management background and experience of Atricity’s team delivering Internet marketing solutions, we are confident the new CoolerAds Web Solutions group will quickly become a leading provider of Internet marketing services to locally-based, small businesses nationwide,” added Previte.

Josh Ehrig, CEO of Atricity, a seasoned entrepreneur and experienced Internet professional, sees intrinsic value with the CoolerAds platform and distribution channel strategy. “CoolerAds clearly sees the value in leveraging community-based, local marketing through their experience working with community newspapers. With this acquisition, we will expand their long-standing advertiser relationships by delivering local marketing results to all of their channel partners. Small businesses need a trusted partner to help them navigate online advertising options and create a comprehensive Internet marketing program that will attract new customers. CoolerAds Web Solutions is that partner,” added Ehrig.

According to Borrell Associates, local online advertising is expected to grow to over $14 billion in 2010., CoolerAds expects heightened demand for these new solutions. “The timing of this acquisition fits perfectly with the launch of our new suite of business tools,” continued Previte. “We’ve tracked increased demand for our services from small and medium sized businesses, and the addition of Atricity will accelerate our ability to exceed that demand.”

Locally based businesses interested in leveraging the expertise of the CoolerAds Web Solutions team to establish a complete Internet marketing program should visit www.coolerads.com or call 908-698-4357.

About CoolerAds

CoolerAds is the industry-leading local online advertising platform for community newspapers and their local advertisers. The CoolerAds platform provides back office productivity tools for publishers, including its patent pending display ad archiving system, electronic proofing, electronic tear sheets and a suite of communication tools that help reduce costs and generate more revenue. CoolerAds.com provides affordable online advertising packages for small businesses which enable them to attract local customers with content publishing tools, online deals and social networking features. Structured content from advertisers is disseminated out to the web helping the small business owner get exposure in multiple places on the Internet, including their local newspaper’s web site. www.coolerads.com

About Atricity

Atricity is an Internet marketing company that helps unleash the power of the Internet and puts technology to work for businesses. The company’s seasoned industry professionals have the passion and drive to build great websites and customize web marketing solutions for the hyperlocal market. Recognizing that businesses need a complete web strategy, the company takes a comprehensive approach, marshalling its diverse resources to position each client at their customers’ fingertips, establish credibility, foster goodwill and build confidence in clients’ products and services. www.atricityonline.com

SAN DIEGO – Covario, Inc., the leader in search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) software and services for Fortune 500 companies, announced the program and keynote speakers for INFLECTIONPoint 2010, the company’s invitation-only customer conference. The two-day conference begins Wednesday, February 3, 2010 in San Diego.

INFLECTIONPoint 2010 will bring together senior executives in search and digital marketing to discuss critical business and industry issues, as well as new opportunities and challenges facing large advertisers today and in the future. A myriad of industry experts, keynote guest speakers and interactive panelists in marketing roles with top Fortune 500 companies will share their digital advertising best practices.

Shar VanBoskirk, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, will deliver the first keynote address. Shar is a leading expert on how businesses can leverage interactive marketing channels and technologies to drive sales and deepen customer relationships. During her 12 years with Forrester, she has been instrumental in the development of many of the company’s interactive marketing program evaluation methodologies, training courses, and marketing planning tools. Shar’s research focuses on overall interactive marketing strategies, crafting efficient and effective interactive programs, organizing for interactive marketing, and integrating interactive channels into the rest of the marketing mix.

On Thursday morning at 9:30am, Penny Baldwin, SVP of Integrated Marketing at Yahoo!, will deliver the conference’s second day keynote address. Penny is a 20-year veteran of global brand strategy development and execution across all internal and market-facing touch points. Most recently, she served as Managing Partner of Young & Rubicam Brands, Y&R Advertising and Wunderman Direct Marketing. As agency leader and manager, Penny was responsible for leading the efforts of large global teams across industries. Her experiences span technology, retail, packaged goods, finance, travel, gaming, wireless communications, entertainment, healthcare and sports marketing.

In addition, there will be a series of moderated panel discussions and backstage showcases with senior marketers from large brand advertisers. The panelists and backstage showcases’ presenters will include executives from Adobe, Apollo Group, Autodesk, Cabela’s, Cisco, IBM, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Sony Pictures, T-Mobile and Yahoo!.

Furthermore, Covario will showcase its new product, a solution for display advertising that provides comprehensive reporting in a simple and scalable way. In addition, Covario’s executive team will talk about its recent acquisition of Netconcepts. The former Netconcepts had great success with many large consumer brand retailers and etailers through the management of natural search engine rankings using its GravityStream technology software solution.

“We are very excited to host INFLECTIONPoint for our valued business partners. This event allows our clients to showcase successes they have achieved and challenges they have overcome in search and online marketing,” says Russ Mann, CEO of Covario. “With our recent Netconcepts’ acquisition and the launch of Display Ad Insight, Covario is now poised to offer our business partners a complete set of search and online marketing and analytic solutions, which will showcase their brands and products online and via mobile in the most effective, scalable ways.”

To learn more about INFLECTIONPoint 2010, Covario’s invitation-only conference, please visit http://www.covario.com/inflectionpoint. If you would like to request an invitation to this exclusive event, please contact marketing@covario.com.

About Covario, Inc.

Covario, Inc. is the leader in SEM and SEO software and services. The Covario portfolio provides global organizations with robust interactive and search marketing analytics solutions for paid search advertising and organic search engine optimization (SEO). Covario enables complex and distributed organizations to control brand integrity, ensure budget transparency and deliver quantifiable results across business units, distribution channels and languages. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, Covario’s growing customer list include some of the world’s best known brands in high tech manufacturing, retail, ecommerce, financial services, consumer electronics, media, entertainment, publishing and consumer packaged goods. For more information on Covario call 858.397.1500 or visit http://www.covario.com.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – The Search Engine Marketing (SEM) industry posted solid sequential and year on year growth for the fourth quarter of 2009. Marketers, especially in the retail category, took advantage of growing consumer demand and took a more aggressive position with their search campaign spend. This is according to Efficient Frontier, a leading performance marketing company with more than $750 million in global client spend annually. This data and specific industry trends were released in the company’s Q4 2009 U.S. Search Engine Performance Report.

“The fourth quarter results and the 2010 outlook paint a much rosier picture than we’ve seen in more than a year,” said David Karnstedt, President and CEO, Efficient Frontier. “While certain sectors, such as travel, continue to lag, we expect overall growth to exceed 15 percent for the full year 2010.”

Report Highlights:

In 2009, the search marketing sector slowly climbed out of the malaise established in the final months of 2008, culminating in a fourth quarter 2009 that posted solid sequential and year on year growth. Both sequential Quarter on Quarter (QoQ) and Year on Year (YoY) growth were up 6%. However, overall Cost per Click (CPC) remains well below year ago levels, indicating that overall market competition remains suppressed.

The Strong Tide of Retail Lifts Search

The key barometer for Q4 is always retail, and in the fourth quarter of 2009, retailers spent aggressively in search. Spend in the retail sector grew 17% Year on Year (YoY) and 46% Quarter on Quarter (QoQ), an impressive showing given the unsure footing of the overall economy. Search ad impression volumes that result from retail queries spiked 90% YoY and built on four quarters of positive sequential growth.

CPC posted strong sequential gains in retail but remains down 9% from year ago levels, holding back spend growth slightly. Consumers’ average transaction size was down about 5% YOY but posted a normal seasonal lift of about 5% sequentially QoQ, indicating more cautious spending due to the economy. While clicks originating from search engine marketing converted at the same rate less revenue resulted from those clicks. The net impact on Return on Investment (ROI) was positive as CPC was down 21% YoY in Retail.

SEM Sectors Outside of Retail Reflect a Cautious Consumer

The positive trend in retail was not upheld in other sectors. Travel continues its downward spiral as spend dropped 20% YoY and 25% QoQ, above the typical seasonal impact.

The Q3 bump the Autos category received from the Cash for Clunkers program dissipated quickly as consumer interest fell back to the levels of Q2. Advertiser demand in the autos sector rose as CPCs drifted up 7% sequentially, resulting in a slight 2% spend increase. Finance spend continues to be stable as weaker advertiser demand is offset by rising consumer interest and available clicks.

Retail: Spend was up 17% YOY on large volume gains, and seasonal sequential strengthening of CPC and conversion rate.
Travel: Spend was down 20% YOY driven by weak CPC.
Finance: Spend was up 2% YOY on volume gains.
Auto: Spend was up 2% YOY on volume gains.

Trends by Search Engine

Google’s particular strength in Retail helped them post strong gains in both spend and clicks in the quarter. Google’s share of clicks rose to 74.4% and reversed a downward trend in share since the launch of Bing. Yahoo! was the biggest loser in paid click share, giving up a full 3.4% since Q3 in moving from 24.4% to 21%. Bing held steady at 4.6% in Q4 vs. 4.7% in Q3.

Google’s share of spend also rose, but at a slightly slower rate, moving up from 73.9% in Q3 to 74.5% in Q4. While Yahoo! gave up significant share in clicks they lost only 0.5% in spend as a strengthening CPC at Yahoo! offset some of the click loss. Bing remained relatively stable in moving from 5.3% in Q3 to 5.1% in Q4.

Outlook for 2010

The Coming Seasonal Strength in Finance and Travel

Retail drove the 4th quarter and all signs point to continued strength in 2010. CPCs have been dropping in Travel for an extended period and consumer search volume (interest) is up only modestly. Conversely, consumer search volume is up considerably in Finance (+66% YoY in Q409). Efficient Frontier expects modest strength in finance and continued weakness in travel in 2010.

Bing To Return to Growth

Bing’s momentum dissipated in Q409 as Google’s strength in retail gave them the upper hand. Efficient Frontier believes that this alteration in the trend line for search engine share should be temporary with Bing’s comparative strength in travel, finance, and autos, providing a boost for share gains in the first half of 2010. The company expects a 30% gain to put Bing in the 6-7% range for share of clicks by the end of 2010, with accelerators available through distribution deals.

Potential Impact of the Microsoft-Yahoo Deal

The Microsoft-Yahoo! deal may have a unique impact beyond the sum of the Yahoo! and Microsoft’s collective share. Competition in Microsoft’s AdCenter will grow as the Yahoo! demand and advertiser base is absorbed, driving up CPCs. A deeper understanding of any impact or changes to distribution partners may change the outlook for CPC and volume. Importantly, Yahoo!’s crumbling paid click share hit 21% in Q409 from 24.8% in Q408, a drag that could offset Bing gains.

Overall Sector Growth Predictions

After a strong Q4 and continued recovery in the overall economy, we expect 15-20% range in SEM spend growth for the full year of 2010. Market competition in SEM should continue to recover adding CPC growth on top of volume expansion.

Additionally, the developments in the ad exchanges controlled by the engines (Right Media, AdX, and AdECN) will increasingly align display with search. As platforms like Efficient Frontier enable marketers to manage across search and display, a more comprehensive understanding of the full value of marketing will emerge. The most likely outcome is that the engines with strong display offerings will deepen their control of online ad spend.

Research Methodology

This analysis was completed based on data from Efficient Frontier search engine marketing customers and the resulting Efficient Frontier’s Customer Index. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index represents a subset of the company’s clients with spend data for six consecutive quarters or more, whose resulting SEM metrics are then normalized to average industry category contributions established by multiple third party data providers. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index consists of a axed sample of large scale U.S. search engine advertisers across multiple sectors, including Nance, travel, retail and automotive. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index sheds light on trends in search engine spending and performance on a year-over-year (YOY) and quarter-over- quarter (QOQ) basis.

The complete U.S. Search Engine Performance Report: Q4, 2009, is available for download from the Efficient Frontier website at:

http://www.efrontier.com/research/search-engine-report/Q4-2009

http://twitter.com/efrontier

http://www.facebook.com/efrontier

About Efficient Frontier

Efficient Frontier is a leading digital performance marketing company managing search and display optimization for large-scale marketers around the globe. Founded in 2002, Efficient Frontier pioneered the application of modern portfolio theory to Search Engine Marketing. Today, the company combines its core predictive modeling algorithms and bidding technology with comprehensive, value-added services to manage more than $750 million in annual spend globally. The largest and most sophisticated advertisers and agencies partner with Efficient Frontier to achieve and sustain optimal campaign performance and growth in highly complex and competitive marketplaces. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in New York, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and India, and technology licensing partnerships in Japan and Australia. Efficient Frontier is a privately held company with funding from Redpoint Ventures and Cambrian Ventures. For more information, please visit www.efrontier.com and subscribe to the Efficient Frontier blog at blog.efrontier.com.

Search Engine Strategies London 2010
LONDON – Search Engine Strategies (SES) announced the newcomer programme for the 2010 SES London Conference & Expo. The programme has been designed specifically for people with a fundamental knowledge of online marketing and advertising.

Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media’s Interactive Marketing Group, including Search Engine Strategies, Search Engine Watch and the ClickZ Network, said,

“The percentage of first-time attendees at SES expos throughout the world has grown significantly. These are people with a very basic understanding of search engine marketing (SEM) including pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and search engine optimization (SEO)). Our research has shown that the global increase in online marketing activity is proportionate to the number of newcomers attending the expos. Businesses are expanding their online marketing teams. They are using SES as a platform for improving the skills of their experienced staff, as well as encouraging newcomers to explore the processes and apply them to their business marketing strategy. This schedule will enable delegates new to online to select the right session and maximize their time at SES London.”

The beginner’s schedule for SES London (16th-18th February 2010) includes the following tracks:

Day 1

Introduction To Search Engine Marketing
This session will provide a clear and concise overview of the key concepts involved in search engine marketing.

SEO 101
Learn what’s available in this session that is especially geared toward beginners, with details on programs from major providers and advice on how to succeed.

Day 2

Successful Information Architecture
This session will provide a fresh look at how to successfully architect your site for search engines and how specific page elements and design technologies may impact your ability to gain good organic listings.

Paid Search 101
Paid Search is one of the quickest and most efficient ways to gain visibility on the search engines. This informative session will familiarize attendees with the key players and cover a variety of paid search advertising topics including writing effective ad copy, creating targeted landing pages and auditing paid listings.

Developing Great Content
Without meaningful content and compelling copy, your website is not grabbing the attention it deserves. In this session, we’ll explore a diverse range of Web content development strategies along with innovative techniques for dramatically boosting the visibility and interactive appeal of your site.

Further details of these sessions, including keynote presentations and the full programme can be found at http://www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/london. More advanced marketers can attend sessions on search advertising tools, web analytics and advanced paid search tactics.

SES London is the leading UK event for education in interactive marketing. The SES Conference & Expo is designed to ensure that delegates are given the skills and knowledge to help them maximize search marketing for their business. It also provides a forum for delegates to communicate with the search engines themselves as well as connect with collegues and friends.

SES London will feature sessions that will help marketers at all levels of understanding to maximize success online – whether they are new to online marketing or have advanced skills and experience. Intermediate workshops and panel debates cover key applications such as video, podcasts and blogs as well as design and writing for search engines. More advanced marketers can attend sessions on search advertising tools, web analytics and advanced paid search tactics.

All sessions are uniquely ranked according to content and degree of understanding, making SES a crucial event for anyone interested in search marketing.

About SES
Incisive Media’s Search Engine Strategies is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include the ClickZ network for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research and Search Engine Watch which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Risk, and Search Engine Strategies. For more information, visit www.incisivemedia.com.

CHICAGO – Today at the Search Engine Strategies (SES) Chicago conference, experts from Clix Marketing, Click Forensics, Pepperjam and Page Zero Media will participate in a panel discussion titled: “Ads in a Quality Score World.” Panelists will explore the impact that the quality of online advertising campaigns has on overall ROI and performance. This includes a detailed overview of various ad quality factors as well as tips on increasing the perceived relevancy of campaigns.

Search Engine Strategies (SES) is the leading international conference series for webmasters, digital agencies, online marketers and corporate decision makers. Over the years SES has guided search marketers of all skill levels through the fast changing and complex world of search.

Panel Participants:

Moderator: David Szetela, CEO, Clix Marketing
Steve O’Brien, Vice President of Marketing & Sales, Click Forensics
Kristopher Jones, President & CEO, Pepperjam
Andrew Goodman, SES Advisory Board & Principal, Page Zero Media
When:

Wednesday, December 9, 2009, 12:45-2:00pm

Where:

Hilton Chicago
720 S. Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60605

About Click Forensics, Inc.

Click Forensics is the industry leader in audience verification and traffic quality improvement for the online advertising community. Click Forensics provides audience verification and traffic quality management solutions for leading online advertisers, publishers and ad networks, including companies such as Yahoo!, Progressive Insurance, GenieKnowsMedia.com, Experian, Nextag, Moxy Media, Turn, Traffic Engine, Vegas.com and many others. The company also publishes data on online advertising audience quality, including the Click Fraud Index®, the top independent source of industry click fraud data. Click Forensics is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is privately held with funding from Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings is available at www.ClickForensics.com.

LONDON – Incisive Media announced that Avinash Kaushik, author of Web Analytics 2.0, co-founder of Market Motive Inc and analytics evangelist for Google will be a keynote speaker at the London SES Conference and Expo 2010.

Avinash works with some of the largest companies in the world to help them evolve their online marketing strategies to become data-driven and customer-centric organisations. He recently received the 2009 Statistical Advocate of the Year award from the American Statistical Association and is in great demand as a speaker at major industry conferences in the U.S. and Europe.

Now celebrating its 11th year in the capital, the UK’s biggest event for online marketing will take place on 16-18 February 2010 at the Business Design Centre, Islington. Organized and hosted by Mike Grehan, recognized globally as a leading authority on search, SES London will focus on search engine marketing (SEM) (including pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and search engine optimization (SEO)). For more details, go to http://www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/london

Avinash will be focusing his keynote presentation on Web analytics, looking specifically at how to unlock the value of Web data to achieve long term success for your business online.

Mike Grehan, VP and Global Content Director, said:

“Web analytics is crucial to the success of any online marketing campaign. In addition to the dedicated sessions we have scheduled within the programme I am thrilled to welcome Avinash as a keynote speaker on this subject. As a thought leader, Avinash makes sense of what is often a frenetic discipline. This is a tremendous opportunity for delegates to hear from the world’s leading analytics evangelist.”

SES London is the leading UK event for education in online marketing and. The SES Conference & Expo is designed to ensure that delegates are given the skills and knowledge to help them maximize search engine marketing and optimization for their business. It also provides a forum for delegates to communicate with the search engines themselves.

SES London will feature sessions that will help marketers at all levels of understanding to maximize success online – whether they are new to online marketing or have advanced skills and experience. Intermediate workshops and panel debates cover key applications such as video, podcasts and blogs as well as design and writing for search engines. More advanced marketers can attend sessions on search advertising tools, web analytics and advanced paid search tactics.

All sessions are uniquely ranked according to content and degree of understanding, making SES a crucial event for anyone interested in search marketing.

About SES
Incisive Media’s Search Engine Strategies is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include the ClickZ network for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research and Search Engine Watch which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Risk, and Search Engine Strategies. For more information, visit www.incisivemedia.com.

For more news and event updates visit our SES Blog at: http://blog.searchenginestrategies.com/

NEW YORK – Digital marketing agency 360i issued a white paper revealing key trends shaping search marketing strategy and introducing PageShareSM, a new metric for quantifying the success of a brand’s presence on the search engines. As part of the report, a brand SEO audit calculating approximate PageShare was performed for each of the Top 100 Advertisers in the United States.

PageShare is a weighted value assigned to a marketer’s presence for a set of keyword terms in the search engines. It is calculated by analyzing the number of text listings occupied by a marketer across the first three search engine results pages (SERPs) for a respective keyword or keyword set and then assigning a weight to each of the marketer’s listings based on their rank.

The report revealed other notable findings about the prevalence of universal search results, such as news, maps, video, images, and social media listings on the search engines.

Key findings include:

Universal search listings appear more frequently for non-brand terms: Universal search listings composed 8% of all results analyzed for the brand keywords measured in this study. For non-brand keywords, universal listings made up 57% of results.
Social media has a small, but influential presence within natural search and these types of results are expected to grow significantly in 2010: Social media results appeared for 7% of all analyzed for both the brand and non-brand keywords.
The majority of social media listings are controlled by a party other than the marketer: 77% of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook listings that appeared for brand searches were controlled by a party other than the marketer.
PageShare values vary widely based on industry, keyword type and more: Across the brand terms measured for the Top 100 Advertisers list, most marketers performed well, although those with many digital destinations faired best.
“The search landscape is rapidly changing, offering marketers an increasing number of ways to gain real estate on the engines,” said John Ragals, COO of 360i. “The fast pace of innovation on the engines also presents new challenges for SEO strategy and marketers now face a growing need to rethink the way they assess their natural search dominance.”

Download the full report at > http://bit.ly/360istateofsearch

About 360i

360i is an employee-owned digital marketing agency that drives results for Fortune 500 marketers through insights, ideas and technologies. 360i helps its clients think differently about their online presence and evolve their strategies to take advantage of the new world of marketing communications – one where brands and consumers engage in interactive and multi-directional conversations. Current clients include Colgate, H&R Block, JCPenney, NBC Universal, Nestle and Office Depot, among others.

360i is a division of Innovation Interactive, a digital marketing services company. For more information, please visit http://blog.360i.com.

NEW YORK – To help fuel growth in a challenging economic environment, marketers are investing more in performance-based search advertising. As a result, pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns are growing increasingly complex. To simplify marketers’ lives while delivering greater return on investment, Clickable introduced Version 2.2 of its Pro search-management solution.

Clickable Pro is a simple solution that makes it easier than ever to manage performance across all major advertising networks, like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. With Version 2.2, Pro now has more powerful reporting, more flexible keyword management tools, and map-based location targeting.

“Marketers today are often managing hundreds of campaigns, thousands of ad groups and huge keywords sets,” said Vernon Steward, Clickable vice president of product management. “With Version 2.2 of Clickable Pro, managing complex accounts becomes easier and more profitable than ever before.”

Clickable Pro activates instantly and helps marketers survive and thrive. Clickable Pro’s ActEngine™ delivers critical quantitative and qualitative recommendations to maximize profitability. Clickable Conversion Tracking, bulk keyword editing and elegant reporting enable advertising professionals to achieve their goals in less time.

Clickable Pro 2.2 New Features:

Improved Location (Geo) Targeting: Clickable’s map-based solution simplifies location targeting while giving marketers more ways to reach their audience. Users can add standard locations, create custom radius targets, or exclude negative targets – all in one consistent interface.
Reporting Enhancements: Pro’s PDF and Excel reports now are more powerful, with custom reporting groups, flexible data views and the ability to handle large and complex data sets.
Improved Keyword Bulk Edit Tool: Clickable’s Keyword Bulk Edit tool now handles even larger data sets and introduces several interface improvements, including custom date filters and more flexible dcustomization of columns.

Clickable Assist And Certification

Clickable is a marketer’s trusted advisor, with world-class customer support via email, live chat and phone – and an extensive community of advertisers and marketing professionals. For marketers and agencies that need extra help getting started, Clickable Assist delivers tiered packages of managed services to ensure immediate success. Clickable also recently launched its Pro Certification program, which covers fundamental best practices like geo-targeting, copywriting and bid management, as well as Clickable Pro features and functionality.

About Clickable

Clickable is a platform that makes online advertising simple, instant and profitable. It empowers beginners through professionals to maximize their advertising investment. Clickable makes you more efficient, effective and confident. That’s why customers often say: “Clickable is like having a trusted advisor always by your side ensuring success.” To learn more, visit www.clickable.com, or follow @clickable on Twitter.

AUSTIN, Texas – While millions of online shoppers will turn to comparison shopping engines before making a purchase this holiday season, many visitors to these sites will be botnets looking to steal money from merchants. To help ensure shoppers are qualified before passing them on to merchant partners, Click Forensics®, Inc.  unveiled a new online audience verification platform at the ad:tech New York conference, which comparison shopping engines and other content aggregators can use to measure the quality of site visitors and their likelihood to make a purchase. The technology also allows comparison shopping engines to match the revenue they receive from merchants to the investments they make in SEM campaigns in order to maximize profits.

“Comparison shopping engines and other content aggregators need a simple way to optimize the money they spend on search engine marketing, while improving the quality of leads they send on to merchant partners,” said Paul Pellman, CEO of Click Forensics. “The solution we’re delivering today does just that. To our knowledge, it’s the only system available that provides the ability for content aggregators to manage traffic acquisition and traffic monetization in a single interface.”

The new Click Forensics audience verification platform for content aggregators measures and analyzes each paid click to determine its value to the site and its merchant partners. The platform can be tuned to block certain types of online traffic that deliver poor ROI, while helping aggregators increase spend on more profitable site visitors. As a result, content aggregators can increase profitability and improve relations with merchant partners, who are more carefully scrutinizing the quality of traffic they accept. Key features of the new online audience verification platform include:

* High-Volume Campaign Support – the platform is capable of measuring the quality of tens of millions of clicks, which can support the increase in demand during the busy holiday season.
* Real-Time Quality-based Filtering – prevents fraudulent and low-quality traffic from reaching merchants, which helps to optimize ad spend and retain advertisers and merchants.
* API Integration – allows the organization to integrate the online audience verification platform directly with existing internal reporting and billing systems. In addition, the API integration can be used to augment in-house filtering solutions.
* Browser-based Reporting – all traffic can be viewed via a powerful browser-based dashboard, which allows customers to drill down into audience quality statistics for individual merchants, partners, campaigns and ad providers. Content aggregators can also analyze the incoming and outgoing traffic flows through a single interface.

The power of the Click Forensics online audience verification and traffic quality management platform is derived from monitoring online media traffic across over 300 ad networks as well as billions of clicks from top search engines, content aggregators, leading publishers and advertiser web sites – providing the most complete and holistic view of search and online advertising traffic quality. Combining more than three years of online advertising data and patent-pending heuristics to measure and score traffic quality in real-time, the best and worst sources are flagged so advertisers, publishers, content aggregators and ad networks can select only the kind of traffic they want in order to improve the overall performance of online campaigns.

For more information on Click Forensics, visit www.clickforensics.com. Follow us on Twitter: @ClickForensics.

About Click Forensics, Inc.

Click Forensics is the industry leader in audience verification and traffic quality improvement for the online advertising community. Click Forensics provides audience verification and traffic quality management solutions for leading online advertisers, publishers and ad networks, including companies such as Yahoo!, eBay, Progressive Insurance, Experian, Nextag, Moxy Media, Turn, Traffic Engine, Vegas.com and many others. The company also regularly publishes industry data on online advertising audience quality. Click Forensics is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is privately held with funding from Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings is available at www.ClickForensics.com.

BERLIN – Incisive Media and BBP announced its latest results for the Search Engine Strategies Berlin 2009 Conference & Expo. With less than four weeks to go (SES Berlin takes place on 24th-25th November 2009 at the Crowne Plaza Berlin City Centre) organisers have seen an increase in the number of delegates attending this year’s show compared to last year’s Hamburg event. See www.searchenginestrategies.de

Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media’s Interactive Marketing Group, including Search Engine Strategies, Search Engine Watch and the ClickZ Network, said:

“Germany released figures in August which showed that its economy grew by 0.3% in a quarter. This is extremely encouraging especially when you consider that many other rich economies were still shrinking. Germany has emerged from the recession and spend in digital marketing and advertising will increase as businesses in the region look to regain market share online. We have seen attendance figures for SES Berlin up by over 15% compared to last year’s German event as businesses are looking to invest more of their budgets in digital marketing.”

SES is the leading Global event for education in online marketing and advertising, including Search Engine Marketing (SEO and PPC). Organised and hosted by Thomas Bindl, one of Europe’s leading authorities on search, the SES Conference & Expo will teach delegates everything they need to know to help them maximize search engine marketing and optimization for their business and provide a forum for delegates to communicate with the search engines themselves.

SES Berlin will be held at the Crowne Plaza Berlin City Centre on 24-25 November 2009. Register early and save money. For more information about Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo 2009 please visit www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/berlin

About BBP

BBP is a European multimedia company with a strong focus on online marketing, e-commerce and customer contact. These topics are presented in trade magazines, newsletters and websites as well as events and awards. Both the events and the magazines are leaders in their respective fields. The events attract over 15.000 visitors every year and the publications inform well over 100.000 professionals every month.

About SES

Incisive Media’s Search Engine Strategies is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include the ClickZ network for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research and Search Engine Watch which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Risk, and Search Engine Strategies. For more information, visit http://www.incisivemedia.com.

For additional news, updates and discussions on Search Engine Strategies events, visit the SES blog at: http://blog.searchenginestrategies.com/

“YPG makes it simple for SMB advertisers to find new business. We already provide merchants and businesses of all types with leads from multiple sources across the Internet, mobile and print media. The new paid search product is a full service offering designed to be simple, effective and hassle-free for advertisers,” said Stephane Marceau, Chief Marketing Officer, Yellow Pages Group. “The services will allow our advertisers to find new business through search engines such as Bing (MSN), Yahoo!, Google and other top tier online properties. Marchex is a natural partner for us given their experience in the U.S. with leading publishers serving small and medium-size businesses.”

“YPG is the trusted source for Canadian businesses when it comes to local advertising,” said Russell C. Horowitz, Marchex Chairman and CEO. “This strategic partnership reinforces Marchex Connect as the platform of choice for companies who want to offer performance advertising products to their SMB end customers. We look forward to helping YPG further extend their leadership position in the Canadian local advertising market and believe this is the first of many exciting opportunities our two companies will work on together.”

About Yellow Pages Group

Yellow Pages Group is Canada’s leading local commercial search provider. Each year, it publishes more than 340 Yellow Pages™ and residential directories. YPG also owns and operates Canada’s most visited online directories – YellowPages.ca™ and Canada411.ca™ along with CanadaPlus.ca™, a network of seven local city sites. YellowPages.ca™ can be accessed on mobile devices as well as at mobile.yp.ca and through mobile applications on BlackBerry®, Apple iPhone™ and Google™’s Android™. Yellow Pages Group is indirectly held by Yellow Pages Income Fund (TSX: YLO.UN). For more information, visit www.ypg.com or for recent news on the Company, follow http://twitter.com/yellowpages_ca.

About Marchex

Marchex, Inc. (www.marchex.com) is a leading local search and performance advertising company. Marchex’s innovative advertising platform delivers search- and call-based marketing products and services for local and national advertisers. Marchex’s local search network, one of the largest online, helps consumers make better, more informed local decisions through its content-rich Web sites that reach tens of millions of unique visitors each month.

CHICAGO – AdGooroo (www.adgooroo.com), a leading provider of online marketing competitive intelligence and keyword tools, introduced its Application Programming Interface (API), which enables Web developers to use AdGooroo’s competitive intelligence data in building their own applications.

Using the AdGooroo API, developers can create applications that might include integrating coverage and ranking data with a campaign management dashboard, creating a rules-based bidding engine within Excel, or tracking natural search rankings in an iPhone application or Google desktop widget, for example.

“This API lets developers access AdGooroo’s proprietary data to build virtually any application that meets their needs,” said AdGooroo Founder and CEO, Rich Stokes. “Users can now create and manage campaigns more efficiently, generate more relevant and specialized reports, and develop additional tools and applications to better serve their clients’ needs.”

Current SEM Insight clients have been granted first access to the API, and AdGooroo is now offering the API to new customers as well. The initial release of the API will be available free of charge. Subsequent releases will be offered with a points-based system, which can be spent to retrieve data from the AdGooroo systems.

The AdGooroo API is based on REST architecture and supports many data transfer formats such as JSON, XML and CSV. Web developers utilizing the AdGooroo API can use their chosen programming language, including .NET, Perl, PHP or other common programming language.

To learn more about or access the AdGooroo API, visit api.adgooroo.com.

About AdGooroo

AdGooroo provides online marketers and agencies actionable, on demand competitive intelligence tools that proactively monitor an industry’s advertising landscape to help them build a long-term competitive advantage. Based in Chicago, AdGooroo provides competitive intelligence to search engine marketers through its tool suite, including AdGooroo Express, SEM Insight and Trademark Insight. AdGooroo tools leverage access and automation to provide advertisers with lists of competitors’ top keywords, ad copy, campaign statistics and more. Top agencies and brand advertisers leverage AdGooroo competitive intelligence tools. For more information, visit AdGooroo.com.

SAN MATEO, Calif. – SearchForce, a SEM and bid optimization platform company, announced it has launched an auto-generated, overall performance summary that will significantly aid search engine marketers and agencies with a simpler workflow and reporting solution. SearchForce’s SEM management platform now allows agencies to easily produce an advanced report that addresses all important campaign metrics within a single document that can be automatically emailed to pre-designated recipients. This requires a simple, one-time set up of the desired information, including campaign data and trend charts, cross publisher metric distributions and keyword assist patterns, referring domains and search query data to name a few.

“This overall reporting system eliminates the tedious and time-consuming act of having to stitch together multiple reports into one,” said Dhiren DSouza, president and co-founder, SearchForce. “Now clients can employ a reporting mechanism that tracks a campaign in greater depth than ever before within any SEM and bid optimization platform. This not only streamlines the reporting process, but also enables search engine marketers to quickly identify and react to market trends and statistics, boosting overall performance.”

“SearchForce has built a unique reporting solution that addresses the entire workflow of SEM – from organizing complex data to creating advanced workbooks with relevant metrics and reporting,” said Peter Amerio, Pay Per Click Marketing Manager at Platform Ad. “It’s not only important to look at what has transpired but it’s also a vital tool for strategizing and succeeding on future campaigns. Plus, this saves us hours of time and resources every day since to date we’ve had to consolidate this data by hand.”

Click here to see a screen grab of the new report.

New features with this version include an integrated creative A/B testing solution, advanced campaign editing capabilities and enhancements to the dynamic keyword segmentation and portfolio optimization framework.

About SearchForce

Founded in 2004, SearchForce provides a sophisticated, highly customizable technology platform for agencies, brands and buyers looking for a competitive edge in bid optimization, campaign management and reporting. Developed for strategic marketers, SearchForce is the only company offering a truly customizable and seamlessly scalable bid optimization and campaign management platform to meet specific SEM needs and objectives. SearchForce’s platform allows customers to effectively manage large-scale, paid search marketing campaigns across Google, Yahoo!, MSN to deliver higher returns at a lower cost, and with less work. The company’s software is used by some of the largest online advertisers, advertising agencies and corporations around the globe. For more information, call 650-235-8777 or visit searchforce.com.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Adchemy, the pioneer of Audience Relationship Management (ARM), formally introduced its technology that uses science and data to help large marketers and their agencies connect at scale with their audience in meaningful ways. The company has already secured a large number of customers. The launch comes in conjunction with the announcement of a strategic global alliance with Accenture today, under which the two companies will help large enterprises and their agency partners build more effective digital experiences for their customers.

Tim Breene, Accenture’s senior managing director of Strategic Initiatives, joins Adchemy’s Board of Directors. In addition, Accenture has made an equity investment in Adchemy’s recent $30+ million funding round, along with existing investors Mayfield Fund and August Capital.

“We see audience relationship management as an emerging category that has the potential to dramatically alter the online advertising landscape,” said Breene. “Every marketer has an audience segmentation model. Making this segmentation work on an anonymous digital audience has been a perpetual challenge for digital marketers. Audience relationship management effectively addresses that problem.”

Adchemy’s state-of-the-art Audience Management Platform uses science and data to help large marketers and their agencies connect with their audience in meaningful ways. The platform allows marketers to customize banner ads, search ads and websites in real time. It consolidates audience data, identifies audience segments, values them, and automatically delivers relevant and consistent marketing messages to each segment. As a result, marketers can massively scale their digital marketing campaigns while maximizing audience engagement and conversion.

Audience Relationship Management (ARM) Category

Most companies face high barriers in tailoring their digital marketing to each audience segment and deliver less-than-relevant untailored experiences to all segments. Marketers are challenged with obtaining reliable predictions about the content that would be the most relevant to different audiences and then navigating operationally inflexible systems to adjust their marketing campaigns to respond to different segments. Furthermore, functional departments each have their own siloed relationship with audiences, forcing the conversation to re-start at each consumer touch point.

ARM is an emerging category of solutions, with many companies driving the trend. Just as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) enables a seamless experience across multiple touch points with a customer, the ARM vendors help marketers build relationships with audiences before they become customers.

The goal of ARM is to maintain a tailored conversation with an audience segment, and do so with high levels of operational efficiency for marketers.

“Marketers need to have more meaningful interactions with their audience members in order to increase the probability of making them customers,” said Murthy Nukala, CEO of Adchemy. “The emerging ARM category is addressing this issue with many point solutions in the market. But there hasn’t been a solution that ensures consistency or continuity across all these interactions.”

“The Internet has long held the promise of individualizing interactions with audiences, and Adchemy is making it possible at scale,” said John Danaher, President, TransUnion Interactive. “Adchemy is delivering ROI by helping us better understand our audiences and introducing operational efficiencies to truly deliver tailored marketing messages. We believe Adchemy’s partnership with Accenture to help large marketers compete in the digital channel is very important and necessary.

Adchemy Audience Management Platform

The Adchemy platform is available for marketers in two integrated sets of solutions: Adchemy for Search and Adchemy for Display.

Adchemy for Search

Adchemy for Search allows search engine marketers (SEMs) to improve audience engagement and conversion by creating highly relevant and consistent marketing experiences at mass scale.

Adchemy for Search automates several steps:

• Models consumer intent in a keyword metadata structure
• Annotates keywords in a SEM’s keyword portfolio with metadata, and enables the SEM to create a large number of highly relevant keywords.
• Creates “tightly themed” ad groups which contain keywords with similar metadata.
• Generates highly relevant, intent-based, grammatically correct ad copy for each ad group.
• On click, dynamically composes landing pages that are highly relevant to the keyword and consistent with the ad content.
• Manages bids on keywords, and tracks conversion and profitability for each keyword.
• Consolidates campaign management and reporting across all major search engine publishers into one interface.
• Can share data with call centers to ensure consistency of telemarketing calls
• Continuously tests and optimizes ad copies and landing pages to ensure maximum ROI
As a result, search marketers can scalably create and manage highly relevant ad copy and landing pages for every single keyword in their portfolio. Audience engagement and conversion are maximized, and overall search marketing ROI increases.

Adchemy for Display

Adchemy for Display allows display marketers to improve audience engagement and conversion by identifying very specific audience segments and creating highly relevant and consistent marketing experiences at mass scale. Adchemy for Display automates several steps:

• Creates a standard representation of an online audience member
• Provides an integrated solution to reach more audience members across a wide footprint of publishers and ad exchanges
• Allows marketers to cherry-pick high-value audience segments in real-time
• Dynamically creates a banner ad that is targeted specifically for an audience segment
• On click, dynamically composes a landing page that is relevant for a specific audience segment and consistent with both the displayed banner and the banner element clicked upon
• Can share data with call centers to ensure consistency of telemarketing calls
• Continuously tests and optimizes banner and landing pages to ensure maximum ROI
As a result, marketers using Adchemy for Display no longer need to buy large pools of undifferentiated inventory and waste countless impressions. Marketers can create very specific audience segments, price them accordingly, and automatically show highly relevant and consistent marketing messages to each segment.

About Adchemy

Adchemy is the pioneer of Audience Relationship Management (ARM). It is a technology company that uses science and non-PII data to help large marketers and their agencies connect at scale with their audience in meaningful ways. More than 300 customers have used Adchemy, to present a cohesive, customized experience across multiple touch points with audience members. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in Redwood City, CA. www.adchemy.com.

Search Engine Strategies Berlin 2009

BERLIN – Incisive Media and BBP announced the schedule for this year’s SES Berlin Conference & Expo which has been designed specifically for people with a fundamental knowledge of online marketing and advertising. The announcement follows the rise in the number of newcomers to Search Engine Strategies Events in the last year.

Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media’s Interactive Marketing Group, including Search Engine Strategies, Search Engine Watch and the ClickZ Network, said:

“We have seen a significant increase in the number of first-time attendees at recent SES conferences with a very basic understanding of search engine marketing (SEM), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and search engine optimization (SEO). The global increase in online marketing activity has encouraged more companies to send their people to explore the processes and apply them to their business marketing strategy. As SES covers all areas from beginners to advanced, with multiple tracks, we have created a fundamental schedule which makes it easy for newcomers to select the right session and maximize their time at SES Berlin.”

The fundamental’s schedule for SES Berlin (24th-25th November 2009) is outlined as follows:

Day 1

• Introduction To Search Engine Marketing
This session will provide a clear and concise overview of the key concepts involved in search engine marketing.
• Successful site architecture
This session will provide a fresh look at how to successfully architect your site for search engines and how specific page elements and design technologies may impact your ability to gain good organic listings.
• Search Advertising 101
Learn what’s available in this session that is especially geared toward beginners, with details on programs from major providers and advice on how to succeed.
• Keywords & Content: Search Marketing Foundations
Learn how to target the right terms in your paid and organic search marketing, and where your keywords should be used.
• Link Strategies 2009
This session will explore everything from white hat to greyish and black hat link building techniques thanks to a top panel of top link building experts.

Day 2

• SEO Mythbusters
Our panel of experts debunks common misperceptions and misleading practices about SEO.
• Extreme makeover – live site clinic
This interactive session takes volunteers from the audience and examines their websites live delivering general feedback about improvements necessary to gain more traffic from search engines.
• Turning the Social Web into ROI
This session will take a look at the marketing opportunities available through social media and how best to begin building an overall strategy.
• SEO expert Q&A
Join us for a no-holds-barred interactive session in which veteran search engine marketers disclose some of their favorite search engine optimization and marketing tips, tricks, and secrets.
Further details of these sessions can be found at http://www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/berlin. More advanced marketers can attend sessions on search advertising tools, web analytics and advanced paid search tactics.

SES Berlin will be held at the Crowne Plaza Berlin City Centre on 24-25 November 2009. Organised and hosted by Thomas Bindl, one of Europe’s leading authorities on search, SES Berlin Conference & Expo will teach delegates everything they need to know to help them maximize search engine marketing and optimization for their business and provide a forum for delegates to communicate with the search engines themselves.

Register early and save money. For more information about Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo 2009 visit http://www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/berlin

About BBP
BBP is a European multimedia company with a strong focus on online marketing, e-commerce and customer contact. These topics are presented in trade magazines, newsletters and websites as well as events and awards. Both the events and the magazines are leaders in their respective fields. The events attract over 15.000 visitors every year and the publications inform well over 100.000 professionals every month.

About SES
Incisive Media’s Search Engine Strategies is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include the ClickZ network for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research and Search Engine Watch which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Risk, and Search Engine Strategies. For more information, visit www.incisivemedia.com.

LONDON – Incisive Media announced the dates for the London SES Conference and Expo in 2010. Now celebrating its 11th year in the capital, the UK’s biggest event for online marketing will take place on 16-18 February at the Business Design Centre, Islington. SES London will focus on search engine marketing (SEM), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and search engine optimization (SEO). For more details, go to http://www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/london

SES is the leading global event for education in online marketing and advertising, including Search (SEM/SEO). Organised and hosted by Mike Grehan, recognized globally as a leading authority on search, the SES Conference & Expo is designed to ensure that delegates are given the skills and knowledge to help them maximize search engine marketing and optimization for their business. It also provides a forum for delegates to communicate with the search engines themselves.

SES London will feature sessions that will help marketers at all levels of understanding to maximize success online – whether they are new to online marketing or have advanced skills and experience. Intermediate workshops and panel debates cover key applications such as video, podcasts and blogs as well as design and writing for search engines. More advanced marketers can attend sessions on search advertising tools, web analytics and advanced paid search tactics.

All sessions are uniquely ranked according to content and degree of understanding, making SES a crucial event for anyone interested in search marketing.

Mike Grehan, VP and Global Content Director said:

“Global spend on search marketing has continued to grow as businesses explore the many opportunities online marketing offers. With this growth comes change in methodology, tools and techniques and successful marketers need to learn and understand these – whether they are first-timers or very experienced in online marketing. That’s the only way to ensure continued success and stay ahead of the competition. SES London will enable delegates to achieve their online marketing objectives.”

About SES
Incisive Media’s Search Engine Strategies is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include the ClickZ network for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research and Search Engine Watch which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Risk, and Search Engine Strategies. For more information, visit www.incisivemedia.com.

Data Based on Efficient Frontier’s Q3 2009 U.S. Search Engine Performance Report

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – The Search Engine Marketing (SEM) industry continued its stabilization in the third quarter of 2009 and included some encouraging signs for the fourth quarter. This is according to Efficient Frontier, a leading performance marketing company with more than $750 million in global client spend annually. This data and specific industry trends were released today in the company’s “Q3 2009 U.S. Search Engine Performance Report.”

“The third quarter results and a look beyond provide some encouraging signs for the Search Marketing industry as well as the overall economy,” said David Karnstedt, President and CEO, Efficient Frontier. “While certain sectors, such as travel, have continued to lag, other categories such as retail have picked up as we head into the fourth quarter, which is a critical time for online marketers.”

Report Highlights:

Overall Market Trends

Q3 2009 showed more stabilization for the SEM industry. Quarter on Quarter (QoQ) spend was up slightly at 5% while Year On Year (YoY) declined 5%. YoY declines were driven by continued Cost Per Click (CPC) weakness with market leader Google’s search CPC declining for the fourth straight quarter. Return on Investment (ROI) remained stable as marketers continue to focus on efficiency.

Search Engine Market Share — Paid Clicks and Spend Trends

While continuing to hold a dominant 70% plus share position, Google lost ground in terms of Spend Share both on a QoQ basis a YoY basis by losing 1.78% and 0.83%, respectively. Although Yahoo!’s Paid Click Share was slightly up QoQ, it lost both Spend and Click Share YoY. Yahoo!’s Spend Share was down 0.07% and Click Share was down 2.43% YoY.

In contrast, Microsoft’s Bing continued to grow since its launch in June. QoQ Bing posted gains in Paid Clicks and Spend Share by 0.68% and 1.02%, respectively. Bing’s Spend and Click Share gains seem to be coming from Google rather than Yahoo! in Efficient Frontier’s advertiser base. A closer look at the Bing numbers shows category growth across Travel, Finance, Autos and Retail with the most significant gains in Travel and Finance.

Trends by Vertical Market

A view by industry tells a variety of stories, which is reflective of the overall economy. The travel sector saw a 14% loss QoQ and 39% loss YoY. While the QoQ loss is partially due to the seasonal nature of the travel industry, the YoY loss indicates continued weakness in this space. The Finance category has stabilized with positive growth in consumer demand, with a 1% decrease QoQ and a 7% increase YoY. Autos rode the wave of the Cash for Clunkers program spend with a sharp rise and fall in-line with that program’s start and finish, up 2% QoQ and up 6% YoY. The Retail category showed signs of life as spend was up 6% QoQ and up 2% YoY.

Q409 Outlook

Efficient Frontier believes that marketers’ cautious approach to SEM has begun to thaw as the overall economic outlook improves. Efficient Frontier’s clients are slowly shifting toward a more aggressive approach in the fourth quarter. While the company does not expect a return to the frenzied state of past years, the efficiency gains that resulted from lower competition and prices have left experienced search marketers ready to capitalize on an opportunity for cost-effective sales in the critical holiday season. The net result is a potential for double-digit QoQ and YoY growth in Q4 2009.

Consumers’ Searching Allures Hesitant Retailers

Retail is the obvious key to the fourth quarter and we expect search to outperform the general holiday season spend. Efficient Frontier is seeing a rise in impressions as consumers actively pursue deals and, as a result, retail marketers have increased spend on a YoY basis. The company expects strong consumer activity to continue and aggressive advertiser competition to follow as marketers look to capture interest and more importantly, sales. The net result of better conversions, improving ROI, and higher CPCs, will likely be seasonally strong spend increases for the retail sector in Q4 2009.

Research Methodology

This analysis was completed based on data from Efficient Frontier search engine marketing customers and the resulting Efficient Frontier’s Customer Index. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index represents a subset of the company’s clients with spend data for six consecutive quarters or more. Multiple third party data providers normalized the resulting SEM metrics to average industry category contributions established. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index consists of a fixed sample of large scale U.S. search engine advertisers across multiple sectors, including finance, travel, retail and automotive. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index sheds light on trends in search engine spending and performance on a year-over-year (YoY) and quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) basis.

The complete U.S. Search Engine Performance Report: Q3 2009 is available for download from the Efficient Frontier website at:

http://www.efrontier.com/research/search-engine-report/Q3-2009

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About Efficient Frontier

Efficient Frontier is a leading digital performance marketing company managing search and display optimization for large-scale marketers around the globe. Founded in 2002, Efficient Frontier pioneered the application of modern portfolio theory to Search Engine Marketing. Today, the company combines its core predictive modeling algorithms and bidding technology with comprehensive, value-added services to manage more than $750 million in annual spend globally. The largest and most sophisticated advertisers and agencies partner with Efficient Frontier to achieve and sustain optimal campaign performance and growth in highly complex and competitive marketplaces. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in New York, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and India, and technology licensing partnerships in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. Efficient Frontier is a privately held company with funding from Redpoint Ventures and Cambrian Ventures. For more information, please visit www.efrontier.com and subscribe to the Efficient Frontier blog at blog.efrontier.com.

CHICAGO – AdGooroo (www.adgooroo.com), a leading provider of online marketing competitive intelligence and keyword tools, unveiled Version 7.0 of Trademark Insight, which detects potential trademark infringement by identifying competitors bidding on or using marketers’ trademarks in their advertising copy online. AdGooroo is offering a single, free license on the upgraded version for a limited time to new customers.

Marketers use Trademark Insight to prevent competitive bidding and unauthorized usage of trademarked terms by monitoring trademarks on six search engines in 16 countries and tracking all competitors bidding on trademarked terms. Marketers can view the copy and average position of competing ads and track infringements back to the ad server or affiliate.

“In the current economic climate, it’s more important than ever for marketers to protect their brand, so AdGooroo is offering a complimentary Trademark Insight license for interested new customers,” said AdGooroo Founder and CEO, Rich Stokes. “Feedback is essential to our success, and we’ve made dramatic improvements to usability based on comments heard from customers. Trademark Insight is now better designed to provide the best quality data to empower marketers, while also streamlining a previously cumbersome and manual task.”

To learn more about AdGooroo or Trademark Insight, visit www.adgooroo.com.

About AdGooroo

AdGooroo provides online marketers and agencies actionable, on demand competitive intelligence tools that proactively monitor an industry’s advertising landscape to help them build a long-term competitive advantage. Based in Chicago, AdGooroo provides competitive intelligence to search engine marketers through its tool suite, including AdGooroo Express, SEM Insight and Trademark Insight. AdGooroo tools leverage access and automation to provide advertisers with lists of competitors’ top keywords, ad copy, campaign statistics and more. Top agencies and brand advertisers leverage AdGooroo competitive intelligence tools. For more information, visit AdGooroo.com.

NEW YORK – Search engine marketing is difficult and complex, but The Clickable Search Marketing Gurus are here to help.

After a year of contributing their expertise to hundreds of marketers in popular online communities and the Clickable blog, these ambassadors recently released the Clickable Guru’s Guide To Better Search Marketing, a published anthology of their teachings.

To celebrate the book launch, Clickable will host a party at its New York City headquarters on October 5, 2009, from 6:30pm to 9:30pm (following Day One of SMX East and right before the Internet Marketers Charity Party). Space is limited and attendees can reserve their seat by registering at http://clickable.pingg.com/Guru. The first 100 to register will receive a free, signed copy of the Guide.

There will be free food, an open bar, and a raffle to give away three iPod Nanos. Clickable will also offer complementary search consultations and demo its latest products. Clickable is an online platform that makes search advertising simple, instant and profitable.

“Everybody, from search marketing experts to marketers learning about pay per click for the first time, will find something valuable and enlightening in the Clickable Guru’s Guide,” says Sara Holoubek, corporate strategy consultant and columnist in the interactive and advertising industries. “If search and PPC are important to your business, you can’t skip this book.”

“Search advertising is such a critical part of today’s online marketing strategy, but making the most of the search opportunity requires a curious and analytic mind. Fortunately, the Clickable Gurus are just such creatures,” says Dana Todd, CMO, Newsforce and former Chairperson of the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO). “They’ve assembled a very consumable book for any level of expertise, and the lessons are invaluable. There were several creative ideas in the book that I hadn’t considered but will definitely do so now.”

About The Clickable Gurus

Clickable assembled the Gurus in order to give back to the search-marketing community, as well as gain front-line insights that help Clickable make better search-management tools. Clickable published the Guru’s Guide after a year of undercover Guru service, helping struggling marketers tackle real-world search problems in popular online communities and on the Official Clickable Blog. The electronic version of the Guru’s Guide is available for free from Clickable, and the hard copy version is available from LuLu.com for $9.99. (See the Gurus’ video blog post).

Meet Clickable At SMX East

In addition to the Guru’s Guide launch party, Clickable executives will be featured on two notable panels at the SMX East search marketing conference, taking place at New York’s Javits Center:

•October 5 at 9:00am: Ben Seslija, Senior Director of Analytics, will share his knowledge of search analytics on the panel “Web Analytics You Should Know.”
•October 6 at 10:45am: Peter Chun, Senior Director of Enterprise Solutions, will share his expertise on scalable local advertising technology on the panel “When An Agency Just Won’t Do.”
About Clickable

Clickable is a platform that makes online advertising simple, instant and profitable. It empowers beginners through professionals to maximize their advertising investment. Clickable makes you more efficient, effective and confident. That’s why customers often say: “Clickable is like having a trusted advisor always by your side ensuring success.” To learn more, visit www.clickable.com or follow @clickable on Twitter.

NEW YORK – MediaWhiz (www.mediawhiz.com), a leading performance-based online marketing company announced that it has strengthened its management team and client service offerings with the executive appointments of Gerry Bavaro and Mitch Tuch. These appointments reinforce MediaWhiz’s continued commitment to providing clients with results-driven services designed to improve their Marketing ROI.

In his new role as SVP, General Manager of Search Marketing services, Gerry Bavaro will oversee the development and growth of MediaWhiz’s search engine marketing products and services including: paid search, search engine optimization, link building, online reputation management and social media. Bavaro will also drive integration with other media channels in strategic planning and cross channel optimization that achieves maximum ROI for MediaWhiz clients by leveraging technology and advanced approaches to real-time bidding, analysis, and client management.

“Gerry’s senior management experience and proven track record will be integral to MediaWhiz’s continued success in redefining performance marketing and maximizing marketing ROI for clients,” said Jonathan Shapiro, CEO of MediaWhiz. “Search marketing is vital to our full suite of integrated performance marketing services because of its ability to drive results, and because companies are finding search increasingly complex to manage. We are very excited to have Gerry, a true search marketing industry leader, on our team developing advanced strategies that can help our clients succeed.”

As General Manager of Data Acquisition, Mitch Tuch will lead the co-registration advertising services area of MediaWhiz. His team will consult with the industry’s largest advertisers to strategically optimize their programs and will be responsible for all aspects of lead generation, including sales and distribution activities, across our portfolio of advertisers.

“We are thrilled to have someone with Mitch’s experience and track record joining the MediaWhiz team,” said CEO Shapiro. “We expect Mitch’s expertise and approach of ongoing, data-driven optimization and improvement to help our clients start conversations that turn into more high quality customers.”

Prior to MediaWhiz, Bavaro was Executive Vice President at Didit, a leading search engine marketing agency. During his five year tenure, he grew Didit’s operations from technology provider to highly strategic, search marketing agency focused on client ROI which increased company revenue by over 1,000% and solidified long-term relationships with clients including J Jill, Brookstone, New York & Company and Getty Images. Prior to Didit, Bavaro was an Account Director at AGENCY.COM where he managed interactive strategy and website development projects for Fortune 500 clients including British Airways, Blue Cross & Blue Shield and MetLife. He began his career in social/viral marketing, managing campaigns for Sony PlayStation and major music artists for A.D.D. Marketing, a pioneer in alternative marketing. Bavaro is a frequent contributor to search engine marketing industry publications, including MediaPost, DM News, and Internet Retailer, and speaks often at events.

Tuch joins MediaWhiz with over twenty years experience, and more than ten years specifically in online marketing. With his extensive experience with customer relationship management (CRM), loyalty marketing and branding initiatives, Tuch has developed programs for several Fortune 100 companies, including consumer packaged goods (CPG), pharmaceuticals, health and wellness, direct marketers and research. Tuch previously held senior management positions at Permission Data, Upromise, Q-Interactive and Catalina Marketing.

About MediaWhiz

Founded in 2001, MediaWhiz, one of the pioneers of performance marketing, has grown steadily to become an industry leader in the online marketing space. MediaWhiz combines five primary results-driven services: Lead Generation, Email Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Display Advertising, and Search Marketing into performance marketing programs that generate more high quality customers for its clients. More than 3,000 advertisers across dozens of verticals leverage the innovative solutions and online advertising expertise of MediaWhiz to improve their performance and ROI. The MediaWhiz advertising network consists of over 30,000 top online publishers, who leverage MediaWhiz to maximize the profitability of their Web traffic. MediaWhiz has approximately 140 employees between offices in New York (corporate headquarters) and Ft. Lauderdale.

In 2008, MediaWhiz was recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the Fastest Growing Private Companies in America and, in 2007, two MediaWhiz executives were chosen as finalists for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007® Awards. For additional information, please visit us at www.mediawhiz.com, or call 888-866-WHIZ.

MIDDLETOWN, Del. – eZanga Inc. (www.eZanga.com), a search engine and online advertising company, has incorporated display advertising into its Search Engine Marketing (SEM) capabilities, to further the reach of SEM campaigns the company runs for its clients.

Through eZanga Display, advertisers can run online display ads across a network of popular Web sites, targeting specific audiences based on geographical location, demographics and interests. The service also has remarketing capabilities that retarget visitors through display ads. For example, if a user clicks on an advertiser’s Web site from a paid listing secured through an eZanga SEM campaign, and then they leave the site, display ads for it will appear when that user visits one of the many publishers affiliated with eZanga Display. The display ads increase the chance that the user will visit the site again.

eZanga provides its eZanga Display customers with reports that detail budget used, number of impressions the campaign has secured, cost per thousand impressions (CPMs), number of unique visitors, and the geographical, contextual and demographic distribution of visitors.

“Research has shown that exposure to both search and display ads from the same advertiser results in a 22 percent increase for conversion rates over search alone,” said Richard K. Kahn, CEO of eZanga. “We launched eZanga Display in order to capitalize on both of these key Internet marketing channels to help our clients reach their bottom lines faster and more efficiently.”

About eZanga, Inc.:

Delaware-based eZanga (www.eZanga.com) provides online advertisers with local, regional and national advertising focused on generating high return on investment. eZanga offers SEM, PPC and contextual advertising solutions. eZanga also operates a search engine, which is powered by proprietary technologies that take advantage of Meta search by retrieving search results from multiple search engines and re-ranking and displaying the most relevant results without duplication. eZanga is an Inc. 500 company and was deemed Delaware’s fastest growing company by Inc. magazine in 2008 and 2009.

SAN MATEO, Calif. – SearchForce announced that it’s the first search engine marketing and bid optimization company to add support for content-rich image ads. SearchForce’s intelligent SEM management platform now allows users to dictate specific placement of image ads within Google’s network, as well as bid optimization, conversion tracking and reporting on these ads. The addition of image ads allows SearchForce to offer advertisers and brands the most complete set of tools to manage their contextual and search advertising programs.

To date, image ads have fallen largely unused by savvy search marketers due to lack of visibility and awareness of placement whereabouts, as well as the inability to clearly associate ROI with spend.

“Using image ads has been a very important part of our advertising services,” said Miles Olson, Director of Search Marketing, Apogee Search. “This new feature from SearchForce now makes it easier for us to manage and optimize these image ads and ultimately enables us to capture a more targeted audience and accurately track results.”

SearchForce’s proprietary, web-based platform provides the highest level of intuitive SEM analytics and bid-optimization. The company recognizes that every client campaign is unique, and accordingly, its bid optimization and campaign management platform is flexible, scalable and customizable.

Inclusive of image ads, SearchForce’s bid optimization boasts the ability to segment keywords by performance. Each segment can be managed by highly customizable bid strategies or user defined rules that run on a specified schedule. Beyond bid optimization, SearchForce’s dynamic keyword feature gives clients the ability to construct and automate their multiple programs with a high level of precision and control.

In May, the company further strengthened its bid optimization platform with a new profit algorithm enabling advertisers to adapt and react to unique market dynamics, adjusting bids based on quality, seasonality and day of the week patterns. As a result, advertisers can attract more qualified prospects. The company also incorporated Intra-day bidding to help clients ensure competitive position with maximum visibility.

About SearchForce

Founded in 2004, SearchForce provides a sophisticated, highly customizable technology platform for agencies, brands and buyers looking for a competitive edge in bid optimization, campaign management and reporting. Developed for strategic marketers, SearchForce is the only company offering a truly customizable and seamlessly scalable bid optimization and campaign management platform to meet specific SEM needs and objectives. SearchForce’s platform allows customers to effectively manage large-scale, paid search marketing campaigns across Google, Yahoo!, MSN to deliver higher returns at a lower cost, and with less work.

The company’s software is used by some of the largest online advertisers, advertising agencies, and corporations around the globe. For more information, call 650-235-8800 or visit searchforce.com.

ATLANTA – The launch of Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing, showed little impact on the company’s share of the U.S. paid search advertising market in Q2 09. While Microsoft’s share of spend remained flat, Yahoo! lost share to Google, which continues to dominate the search landscape, taking in 77% of paid search spend in Q2. These findings come from a report released by SearchIgnite, a leading provider of search optimization technology managing more than $350 million in paid search annually.

“Microsoft appears to be focusing its efforts on driving consumer interest and capturing increased search query share,” said Roger Barnette, President of SearchIgnite. “We have not yet seen this translate into more paid search advertising dollars for Microsoft, although typically consumer adoption precedes advertiser adoption.”

The SearchIgnite report also reveals that retailers were a key driver of the paid search market in Q2, with search spend from existing U.S. retail marketers (“Same Retailer Spend”) up 36% year-over-year. Growth increased as the quarter progressed, with retailers increasing spend by 55% in June compared with June 08.

“We’ve seen very strong paid search spend from retailers for the last several quarters, a trend that can be attributed to an increase in retailer’s promotional activity as they turn to heavy discounting and sales to drive purchases,” added Mr. Barnette.

This report is the latest in a series of SearchIgnite white papers reviewing trends across the search landscape. To download the full report, please visit: http://www.searchignite.com/.

About SearchIgnite

SearchIgnite is a leading provider of paid search and performance media optimization for large, sophisticated marketers. The company’s media platform gives advertisers an advanced suite of tools to manage, optimize and report on their paid search campaigns in one central dashboard. In addition to saving time and achieving their paid search goals, marketers who use SearchIgnite have the ability to gather insights into the relationship between media channels, enabling them to spend smarter. Some of the world’s leading brands and advertising agencies depend on SearchIgnite technology to power their online campaigns.

SearchIgnite is part of Innovation Interactive, a digital marketing services company. For more information, please visit http://www.searchignite.com/.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – As the economy slows its free fall, the Search Engine Marketing (SEM) sector appears to have stabilized, according to Efficient Frontier’s U.S. Search Engine Performance Report: Q2 2009. Additionally, Bing captured attention and momentum for Microsoft, increasing its paid click share by 5% month over month since its launch in June. Efficient Frontier, a leader in performance marketing with the largest SEM spend under management, developed the report based on a fixed sample of the overall Efficient Frontier U.S. customer base.

“Search has always been a microcosm of the overall economy and our U.S. Search Engine Performance Report has become the go to source for market analysis and trend spotting,” said David Karnstedt, President and CEO, Efficient Frontier. “The second quarter report indicates that the search marketing sector may have bottomed out as spending stabilized, which is good news for the industry. Additionally, with the launch of Bing and its early signs of promise, the battle between search titans is once again heating up.”

Overall Economic and Advertiser Trends

During Q2 2009, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) stabilized from a series of accelerating quarterly declines. Efficient Frontier’s data shows that the rate of decline in total spend year-over-year (YOY) lessened over the past two quarters. Overall, spend was down 21% YOY. This YOY drop in spend is a mild improvement from Q1’s 23% YOY drop in spend. Quarter Over Quarter (QOQ) spend from Q1 to Q2 was down 3%, indicating stabilization given the expected seasonal impact.

This aggregate market stabilization masks very different trends by advertiser size. Large advertiser trends matched the total market, showing a stabilization in spend. Medium sized advertisers increased spend, capitalizing on the opportunity to grow share efficiently given less competitive marketplaces, as well as greater access to marketing resources compared to smaller advertisers. Smaller advertisers continued to slow spend.

Advertisers also remain focused on efficiency, working to meet or grow campaigns at lower investment levels. Advertisers are using more aggressive return on investment (ROI) and cost-per-acquisition (CPA) targets to ensure higher SEM efficiencies. As a result, cost per clicks (CPCs) are down, resulting in a search market that is operating at a 30% higher efficiency rate YOY. However, search engine efficiencies varied significantly with Google’s ROI rising dramatically, while Yahoo! showed a moderate decline in efficiency.

Search Engine Market Share — Clicks and Spend

Paid click share was relatively stable and remained consistent with recent quarters. The largest move was made by Microsoft that posted gains in click share at the expense of Yahoo! In regards to spend share, Google saw a slight drop while Bing, and to a lesser degree Yahoo!, gained ground.

Performance of Bing

Microsoft launched Bing at the beginning of June 2009. An analysis of the performance of Microsoft Live Search and Bing, during the first two quarters of 2009, shows that the launch of Bing increased Microsoft’s click share by 5% month-over-month. While Microsoft had already begun gaining momentum in April 2009, the launch of Bing regained the spend share that Microsoft had lost between Q3 2008 and Q1 2009.

Bing’s paid click gains were most significant in finance and travel, increasing share by 17% and 10% respectively. Travel was the more expected gain, given the revamped consumer experience. Finance may have gained momentum because of the sub-category drill-down features in the new engine. Paid clicks for the retail category were flat.

Trends by Vertical Market

Automotive

Efficient Frontier’s data indicates that the automotive sector in search is in fact healthier than market conditions suggest. Manufacturers are making a play for market share given the bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler. Impressions increased QOQ, indicating a rise in shopping activity, a positive sign for U.S. auto sellers looking for market stabilization. Additionally, sellers of auto parts are performing well as consumers maintain and repair their existing cars, as opposed to purchasing new ones.

Retail

The retail sector has seen a large increase in impression volume and a corresponding decrease in Click Through Rates (CTRs). While these trends are indicative of comparison shopping as opposed to serious buyers, the increase in CPCs indicates a growing demand in the retail sector. After a poor Q1, the rising CPC in Q2 provides a glimmer of hope for the search retail sector.

Travel

Due to the current economic climate, the travel category is experiencing a wave of consolidation. As the larger players in this sector attempt to increase their competitive edge by offering incentives such as waved booking fees, the smaller aggregators are being squeezed out of the marketplace. Spend has declined by 31% and CPCs have fallen by 22%. In addition to less competition, lower revenue per booking in the travel sector has driven down the cost tolerance for search.

Finance

Spend in the finance sector is closely tied to the performance of the stock markets. As the markets declined between Q2 and Q4 2008, spend in the finance sector likewise declined. As the markets recovered in Q2 2009, spend in the finance sector also improved. In line with the trend noted in Q1 2009, impression volumes in this sector continued to soar for two reasons: (1) consumers were looking for information, but not necessarily buying a product; and (2) consumers in the buying cycle were less qualified.

Outlook

Due to the immediacy of action on the part of the consumer, and the measurement and response on the part of the advertiser, the state of paid search is very closely tied to the state of the economy. As the economy continues its slow recovery, Efficient Frontier expects advertising budgets to be in line with overall economic trends. As such, the company expects Q3 2009 to be similar to Q2 2009 in regards to spend and ROI trends.

Performance in the various advertiser sectors will vary as the economic climate and the subsequent unique variables pressure each sector differently. Weakness in the travel sector will remain as consolidation continues with smaller players being purchased or going out of business. The finance sector will continue to move in line with the stock markets. Retail and automotive sectors will react to shifts in consumer sentiment and spending.

Larger movements within the individual search engines over the coming quarters are also expected. It is likely that Microsoft, given their investment, will continue to support the early success of Bing to drive market share. Yahoo! appears vulnerable to spend share losses due to their trailing efficiency trends.

Research Methodology

Analysis for the Efficient Frontier report was based on data from a fixed sample of the overall Efficient Frontier U.S. customer base from Q2 2008 through Q2 2009, and covers nearly 81 billion impressions and 722 million clicks on search and content ads on Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft Live Search and now Bing. The report includes data from advertisers in the financial services, travel and entertainment, retail, automotive and business-to-business verticals.

The complete U.S. Search Engine Performance Report: Q2 2009 is available for download from the Efficient Frontier website at: http://www.efrontier.com/research/search-engine-report/Q2-2009.

About Efficient Frontier

Efficient Frontier is a worldwide leader in performance marketing solutions for both advertisers and agencies. Founded in 2002, Efficient Frontier pioneered the application of modern portfolio theory to SEM and today combines its core predictive modeling algorithms and bidding technology with comprehensive strategic and tactical value-added services to manage more than $750 million in annual search spend globally. The largest and most sophisticated advertisers and agencies partner with Efficient Frontier to achieve and sustain optimal campaign performance and growth in highly complex and competitive search marketplaces. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in New York, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and India, and technology licensing partnerships in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. Efficient Frontier is a privately held company with funding from Redpoint Ventures and Cambrian Ventures. For more information, please visit www.efrontier.com and subscribe to the Efficient Frontier blog at blog.efrontier.com.

LONDON – WPP announced a research project that is intended to explore the dynamics between search engine marketing and brand building. WPP agencies will work on the project with help from Microsoft Advertising.

“Today, marketers are spending billions on search engine marketing, primarily as a direct response mechanism,” said David Sable, vice chairman & COO of Wunderman, a WPP agency. “We think it’s time to better understand how search builds brands differently than traditional media. The connection between brand building and search marketing is at best, spotty and the research we will conduct may help shed light on how brands can tap into search as a brand and market share builder.”

WPP agencies Wunderman, BrandAsset Consulting®, and ZAAZ will be the primary drivers on the research initiative, which will delve into the developing interplay between brands and search engine efficacy. According to Sable, the WPP agencies are “intrigued by the next generation of search engine marketing, as evidenced by developments like Microsoft Corp.’s new search engine, Bing, and the opportunity it presents for consumers to embrace brands.” The study will encompass the impact search is having on WPP’s blue chip clients and consumers around the world.

“We’re pleased to work with WPP’s agencies on research in this area,” said Scott Howe, corporate vice president of the Advertiser & Publisher Solutions Group at Microsoft. “Coming on the heels of our launch of Bing, the opportunity is ripe to re-think preconceived notions about what search decision engines can and cannot do, and how the connections between search and display are becoming increasingly interwoven to drive brand awareness.”

The two companies will focus their efforts around the following areas:

* The correlation between brand awareness and search efficacy;
* How search engines are changing consumer behavior;
* How social marketing impacts the search for brands;
* The connections between paid search and brand development;

Research will be designed to uncover new findings on where and how search is working best: at what stage of brand development it generates the greatest impact and how the intersection of categories and consumer preference and purchase intent comes into play.

“Ultimately, we hope the findings that come out of this research will help inform media mix strategy for both direct response and brand building in the future,” Sable said. “We’re committed to helping clients improve their decision-making processes and better evaluate how their brands co-exist within the entire world of brands, and this research will us live up to this promise.”

This investigation will culminate in a report by WPP agencies on how the newly invigorated competition in search marketing is impacting consumers’ level of brand recognition – as well as the future direction of search. Initial findings are expected to be shared during Advertising Week in New York, in late-September 2009.

About Wunderman

Wunderman is the original architect of response-driven marketing, an estimated trillion dollar global industry. Today, with 50+ years of innovation, creativity, and insight, Wunderman stands as the first name in advertising that delivers measurable results. Throughout its network of 120+ offices in 50+ countries and 15+ specialized companies, Wunderman speaks the customer’s language—whatever the dialect—at the right time, creating profitable conversations that build brands and generate sales. Wunderman is part of Young & Rubicam Brands and a member of WPP.

About BrandAsset® Consulting

BrandAsset® Consulting helps business executives, investors and marketers assess and drive the strategic direction and intangible value of brands. We have created proprietary models and metrics using the world’s most comprehensive database of brands. Our BrandAsset® Valuator model has measured brands since 1993 and today over 35,000 brands have been evaluated among over 600,000 respondents in over 50 countries. Brand Asset Consulting is part of Young & Rubicam Brands.

About ZAAZ

ZAAZ employs a unique combination of logic and creativity to achieve positive business results for clients large and small. ZAAZ provides web strategy, creative design, user experience, web analytics, and site- and search-optimization services. The combination of strategic planning, smart execution and comprehensive analytics to scientifically measure and optimize the customer experience sets ZAAZ apart from other interactive agencies and its approach complements Wunderman’s “test and run” optimization philosophy. Founded in 1998, ZAAZ became part of Wunderman in July 2006.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – As the recession continues, advertisers and search engines alike have begun to successfully adjust their strategies by mapping to recent changes in consumer behavior to increase profitability. Additionally, return on investment (ROI) in search engine marketing (SEM) has shown a significant increase, a testament to the continued strength of the channel, according to the Efficient Frontier U.S. Search Engine Performance Report: Q1 2009. The report, developed by Efficient Frontier, the worldwide leader in Search Engine Marketing technology and services, is the largest independent research in the search marketing industry. It is based on an analysis of 84 billion impressions and 785 million clicks across a portion of Efficient Frontier clients, which includes some of the world’s largest brands.

The results of the Q1 research show that while search advertising spend is down slightly quarter-over-quarter (3.3 percent) from Q4 2008 to Q1 2009, ROI has improved by 10 percent in the same time period, revealing that advertisers are reducing spend in order to maintain a higher return. ROI improved significantly from January 2009 to February 2009 experiencing a 30 percent increase, while advertising spend improved 6 percent from February to March 2009.

Consumer search trends analyzed for the report show that comparison shopping has become a priority, while brand consciousness has lessened in importance. This change in behavior has led advertisers and search engines to adapt quickly to the new economic environment, seeking out new ways to target users. As a result, the ROI and cost-per-acquisition (CPA) goals of search advertisers have increased since October 2008, as marketers are more willing to compromise volume for increased profitability.

A recent report from industry research firm eMarketer states that, “the Internet’s share of total media ad spending is rising by at least 1 percentage point every year. Simply put: Marketers are spending more on Internet ads, while spending less on advertising in other media, such as newspapers, radio and magazines. Furthermore, eMarketer projects that the online share of ad dollars will continue to grow, rising from nearly 10% this year to slightly more than 15% in 2013.*”

“As the leading SEM firm, our Quarterly Performance Report serves as a barometer for what is happening in the overall economy,” said David Karnstedt, President and CEO, Efficient Frontier. “We believe that ROI will continue to be a priority for advertisers as they seek greater efficiencies in keyword marketplaces. This trend, coupled with increased search volume, represents a significant opportunity for advertisers to gain market share in key categories and obtain additional, valuable traffic at a discounted price point.”

Search Engine Market Share

The Efficient Frontier report shows year-over-year market share for Google, Yahoo and Microsoft experienced very little change. Google Search continued to dominate the market with 72.3 percent overall market share in Q1 2009, a minimal 0.9 percent decrease year-over-year. During the same time period, Yahoo Search gained 1 percent market share, for a total of 19.3 percent in Q1, while Microsoft Live Search came in at 3.5 percent market share, a 1 percent decrease year-over-year. While Google Search declined slightly on an annual basis, the company’s Content Network showed continued improvement, with click-through-rates (CTRs) increasing 250 percent year-over-year and 4.8 percent market share, a 1.1 percent increase year-over-year.

Consumer Search Trends

The economic downturn has affected consumer spending and therefore consumer search trends. An analysis of keywords for the Travel Sector in Q1 show that words like “cheap” and “discount” are being used more frequently, showing that consumers are looking for bargains, and are comparison shopping. This is a benefit for online retail, as SEM naturally lends itself to this mode of shopping. In the Finance sector, certain keywords like “mortgage” are soaring, with increased impression volumes and revenue per-click, while other keywords are experiencing increased impressions but are not converting at the same rate. This demonstrates that people are searching for financial information, but not necessarily buying. While more people are looking for information online and applying for loans or mortgages, the approval criterion has become more stringent, reducing the monetization value of the traffic.

Trends by Vertical Market

Finance – advertisers in this sector saw an 18 percent uptick in impressions year-over-year. However, spend and cost-per-clicks (CPCs) declined in the same period as advertisers found it difficult to monetize traffic. This shift occurred as people were looking for information, but not making as many purchases, so traffic in the buying cycle was less qualified than before.

Retail – trends in the retail sector indicate that while more users are searching online advertisers are working with decreased budgets. Additionally, the drop in click-through-rates (CTRs) and the increase in impression volume indicates that more searches in the retail space are from comparison shoppers, not serious buyers.

Automotive – as SEM spend in the automotive sector declined 7 percent year-over-year, the industry experienced a 32 percent decline in traffic. However, this traffic was very qualified, as indicated by the 36 percent year-over-year improvement in CTRs.

Travel – the travel sector saw a 42 percent increase in spend quarter-over-quarter, as well as a 52 percent increase in impressions for the same time period. However, year-over-year, impressions were the only metric to show an upward trend, increasing 32 percent. Spend was down 8 percent and CTRs declined 17 percent for the same time period, indicating that more users are searching online and advertisers are leveraging new avenues for travel advertising such as Google’s Local and Business ads.

U.S. Key Metric Performance Trends

Impressions – Impression trends are representative of user search patterns. In the context of SEM, the impression volume indicates the number of users interested in a product or a service.

In Q1 2009, overall impressions were up 11 percent, despite the decline in spending. This indicates that more people are searching online and that search engines are optimizing unused inventory by taking such actions as removing minimum bids. On a year-over-year basis, Google Search experienced 20 percent growth in impressions, while Microsoft Live Search saw 10 percent growth in impressions. Google Content trended down in impressions, declining 57 percent, due to continual improvements that enabled advertisers to better target users.

Return on Investment – when controlled for spend, a higher ROI indicates that more revenue will be earned for the same advertising dollar. SEM uniquely allows advertisers to measure ROI and dynamically change elements of their campaign based on those returns.

Quarter-over-quarter, ROI has improved for all search engines. Google Search, Microsoft Live Search and Yahoo Search saw a 10 percent, 43 percent and 12 percent improvement in ROI respectively, due to advertisers shifting towards efficiency in their marketing campaigns.

“Advertisers will continue to demand greater ROI from their search campaigns, as a buffer against economic uncertainty,” said Dr. Siddarth Shah, senior business analyst at Efficient Frontier. “We are at an interesting crossroads. On one hand, advertisers are slicing budgets. On the other, more users are searching online, and clicks are cheap. This provides the perfect opportunity for advertisers with deep pockets to embrace the downturn, to consolidate market share and continue growing their businesses.”

The complete U.S. Search Engine Performance Report: Q1, 2009 is available for download from the Efficient Frontier website.

Research Methodology

Analysis for the Efficient Frontier report was based on data from a fixed sample of the overall Efficient Frontier U.S. customer base from Q1 2008 through Q1 2009, and covers nearly 84 billion impressions and 785 million clicks on search and content ads on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Live Search. The report includes data from advertisers in the financial services, travel and entertainment, retail, automotive and business-to-business verticals.

About Efficient Frontier

Efficient Frontier is the worldwide leader in providing search engine marketing solutions for large advertisers and agencies. Founded in 2002, Efficient Frontier pioneered the application of modern portfolio theory to SEM and today combines its core predictive modeling algorithms and bidding technology with comprehensive strategic and tactical value-added services to manage more than $750 million in annual search spend globally. The largest and most sophisticated advertisers and agencies partner with Efficient Frontier to achieve and sustain optimal campaign performance and growth in highly complex and competitive search marketplaces. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA with offices in New York, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and India, and technology licensing partnerships in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. Efficient Frontier is a privately held company with funding from Redpoint Ventures and Cambrian Ventures. For more information, please visit www.efrontier.com and subscribe to the Efficient Frontier blog at blog.efrontier.com.

*eMarketer, “Online Advertising Pushes Through,” April 8, 2009