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| The Axandra newsletter archive - 1 July 2003 |
| Welcome to a new issue of the Search Engine Facts newsletter.
This week, we're presenting you the results of a very interesting web users research, and we're telling you how Overture countered Google's AdSense program.
Table of contents:
We hope that you enjoy this issue and that it helps you to get more out of your web site. Please pass this newsletter on to your friends.
Best regards,
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| 1. Facts of the week: Online, the clock is ticking |
| Last Wednesday, Penn State researchers presented the results of their research in a paper titled "An Analysis of Web Documents Retrieved and Viewed" at the 2003 International Conference on Internet Computing in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Their findings are very interesting for anyone involved in search engine marketing.
The researchers analyzed more than 450,000 Web queries submitted to AlltheWeb.com in a 24-hour period, reviewing users' actions in chronological order. The length of sessions, number of pages visited and relevance of results were analyzed.
Several patterns emerged:
- Half of all users entered only one query.
- 54 percent viewed just one page of results in each session (a session was a query or series of queries submitted by a user during one interaction with a search engine).
- Only 19 percent went on to the second page in sessions.
- Fewer than 10 percent of users bothered with the third page of results.
A similar drop-off in numbers occurred when the researchers considered how many results searchers viewed per query:
- About 55 percent of users checked out one result only.
- More than 80 percent stopped after looking at three results.
These percentages illustrate why a good ranking on major search engines can make the difference between commercial success and failure.
Dr. Jim Jansen, assistant professor and one of the researchers of the study, gives good advice for web site developers: "If you want to be looked at, it is absolutely critical that the abstract be crystal clear about the
purpose of your Web site. Eight out of 10 times, the abstract dissuades people from going to the site."
If you want your web site to succeed, you must make sure that your web pages are optimized for a top 10 search engine ranking (for example, with our software tool Internet Business Promoter).
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| 2. Search engine news of the week |
Overture's Content Match counters Google's AdSense
In a move that perhaps counters Google AdWords and AdSense, Overture announced the launching of Content Match - a contextually targeted ads system that displays Overture listings when you're viewing related content on Overture partner pages.
Content Match rolled out on Friday, with listings appearing on several of MSN's content areas, including MSN Entertainment, MSN Money and MSN Tech & Gadgets, as well as on sites in the MyFamily.com Network and the Away Network.
Google toolbar 2.0 beta blocks pop-up ads
Google added three new features to their toolbar, a free program that adds a strip of buttons across the top of Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser:
- a tool that stops pop-up ads from being displayed
- an auto-fill tab for quickly filling out web forms
- a "blog this" button for automatically posting a note to a web log about the web page you're visiting.
EBay offers pay per click ads to its merchants
EBay started a new advertising program for its sellers on Thursday whereby EBay merchants can bid on keywords to trigger banner ads.
"For example, an EBay merchant selling classic furniture that bids the highest on the term 'antiques' would have a banner ad displayed on the search results page anytime a user queried 'antiques.' The banner ad can lead to a specific item, a merchant's online store, or its 'About Me' page. The merchant only pays when a user clicks on the ad."
Search engine newslets
On Monday, Google allowed a short glimpse at their news service in German. Now the page is displaying English news.
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Try Before You Sell
Do you want to see which ads Google's AdSense program would display on your page? Just enter your URL on this page.
Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster
"The easier it is to find places with good information, the less time users will spend visiting any individual website. This is one of many conclusions that follow from analyzing how people optimize their behavior in online information systems."
Is SEM Becoming Unaffordable?
"I'd be hard-pressed to name a medium in which upward price pressure is as strong as it is in search engine marketing (SEM). Overture's and Google's keyword pricing is spiraling."
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Copyright © 2005 Axandra / Voget Selbach Enterprises GmbH
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