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Performics 50 Search Engine Marketing Index Uncovers First Quarter Trends

Sales growth outpaces campaign growth by more than 30 percent

New York, NY, 6/22/2006 - Sales growth between Q1 2005 and Q1 2006 markedly outpaced campaign growth, according to the Q1 Search Trend Report released today by Performics, the performance marketing division of DoubleClick. While campaign size and cost each grew nearly 40 percent, year-over-year sales surged more that 70 percent. In fact, the return on investment realized by search advertisers in March was stronger than it had been at any time in the previous 15 months. The growing gap between spend and sales indicates that advertisers are making smarter decisions about how to maximize their search marketing spend, said Stuart Frankel, president of Performics.
The Search Trend Report is based on analyses of the Performics 50, the only index of actively managed, ongoing paid search engine marketing campaigns. The latest Performics 50 offers insights and illustrates trends based on data from October 2004 through March 2006.

Online Stock Market Trading Another key finding is that higher priced, competitive terms played a more significant role during the holiday season than during the first quarter. Consumers in Q1 2006 versus Q4 2005 tended to click on more specific keywords rather than generic category terms, which garner higher costs per click. The percentage of keywords priced above $1.00 fell from seven to five percent from the end of Q4 to the end of Q1, while the percentage of total clicks on these keywords dropped more from 11 to four percent during the same time period.

Stock Investing Course The findings indicate a shift in shopper behavior during the holiday season. Shoppers in the fourth quarter were buying for others and although they knew they were going to purchase something, they werent necessarily sure what, said Frankel. However, in the first quarter, when shoppers were buying for themselves, they had likely already narrowed down the options, and therefore were searching with more specific terms.

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Stock Market Game The report also confirmed an expected falloff in search costs in Q1 2006 from Q4 2005, as advertisers reduced their bids following the holiday season. Both Cost per Keyword (CPK, total cost of owning a keyword over the course of a month) and Cost per Click (CPC) returned to levels near those in the first quarter of 2005. The average CPK slid about 50 percent from a fourth quarter high of $59 to near $30 throughout the first quarter.

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Stock Investing Game Summary of Key Takeaways from the Q1 2006 Search Trend Report:

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Journal Prime Rate Street Wall - Programs continue to grow and become more efficient. Compared to Q1 2005, the average number of active keywords those receiving at least one click or conversion per month was up 36 percent in Q1 2006. Total spend and clicks were up 37 and 24 percent, respectively, while sales increased 72 percent.
- Keyword growth is outpacing clicks. Year-over-year growth of active keywords outpaced the growth of clicks indicating searchers were clicking on a wider variety of keywords.
- Cheaper keywords make a comeback. Although nearly 30 percent of clicks came from keywords priced at a Cost per Click (CPC) of more than 50 cents in December, that proportion dropped to below 20 percent in March.
- Keyword ownership costs returned to near Q1 2005 levels. The overall CPK (Cost per Keyword) dropped from a fourth quarter high of 59 dollars in December to near 30 dollars throughout the first quarter
- Advertisers are growing savvier. Advertisers were able to keep high prices in Q4 from deflating their return on investment. Additionally, they transitioned well from high price to low price keywords from Q4 to Q1.

engine optimization is an important consideration if the website will rely on search engines to generate traffic. When looking at how a search engine will index a website, HTML offers the best choice. engine spiders are designed to interpret and understand HTML code. In recent years, some search engines have made progress at indexing Flash content as well, although that can be deceiving for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that search engine spiders do not have the ability to run Actionscript code, which means that any dynamic content or Actionscript generated links, will not be indexed. The second reason relates to the way that search engines index and rank content. Generally they would prefer to see content packaged in discrete, relevant units like the pages in an HTML website are. With a Flash site, all of the content appears to be in one file, causing content dilution in the search engines.

Stock Market News Seasonal spikes in consumer activity require search advertisers to quickly react to changing market conditions to avoid ineffective ad expenditures, added Frankel. The reports findings indicate that advertisers are increasingly cognizant of these issues and are adjusting strategies accordingly as search engine marketing continues to grow.

Stock Investing Basics About the Performics 50
The Performics 50 was established in April 2004 to provide advertisers with a practical way to gauge the success of their search campaigns against an industry average. It is a representative index that monitors the growth of paid search advertising by providing a stable platform for benchmarking and analysis.

Stock Investing Software To create the index, Performics selected the 50 paid search campaigns that most closely represented the average number of monthly clicks across all campaigns based on the first three months of April 2004. Performics drew on almost 300 active campaigns across a wide range of industry categories, and excluded the very top and bottom of the ranges. Each month after that, new campaigns have been added only when campaigns previously in the index deviated significantly in traffic.

Stock Market Trading When Performics introduced the Performics 50, the company unveiled cost per keyword (CPK), which measures the total cost of ownership of a keyword over the course of a month. Trending data based on average CPK represents actual advertisers search costs and helps advertisers grade the quality of growth in their own search campaigns, much like a stock market index provides context for a particular stocks performance against the market.

Stock Investing For Dummy Why is CPK relevant? CPK incorporates both the supply and demand components of all keywords in a campaign, measuring the actual costs an advertiser paid for keyword positions and resulting click traffic. A keyword with a cost per click (CPC) of $.80 that receives ten clicks in a month, for example, costs an advertiser less than a keyword with a CPC of $.50 that receives 20 clicks.

Stock Market Crash Advertisers can use the index to understand a number of benchmarks and dynamics, including the average price paid by advertisers across a portfolio of keywords. Other findings give advertisers contextual comparisons for factors such as: growth rate of active keywords, which indicates searcher demand; overall advertiser investment and budget decisions; and market competitiveness.

Stock Investing Tip The full Search Trend Report is available at www.doubleclick.com/knowledge.

Stock Market Chart About DoubleClick
DoubleClick provides technology and services that empower marketers, agencies and web publishers to work together successfully and profit from their digital marketing investments. Our focus on innovation, reliability and insight enables clients to improve productivity and results.

Online Stock Investing Since 1996, DoubleClick has empowered the original thinkers and leaders in the digital advertising industry to deliver on the promise of the rich possibilities of our medium. Today, the companys DART and Performics divisions power the online advertising marketplace. Tomorrow, we will continue to enable clients to profit from opportunities across all digital advertising channels as consumers worldwide embrace them.

Stock Market Crash Of DoubleClick has global headquarters in New York City and maintains 21 offices around the world to serve its more than 1500 clients.

Stock Investing For Beginner Source: DoubleClick

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