A fresh take on search
Roberto Hortal
Head of eBusiness

The search landscape
 Sponsored search grew 52% to £1.2b in 2006,
57.8% of total online ad spend – the largest
share, and growing the fastest
 Set to overtake national newspapers (£1.9b)
 264 searches per second, or 706M a month
 Google rules
Sources: IAB UK online adspend 2006, Hitwise, Nielsen/Netratings Aug 2006

The basics of search
 Natural search results
 Relevance: content and metadata
 Popularity: PageRank
 Sponsored search
 Quality score: CTR, ad relevance, keyword
relevance, landing page relevance
 Eligibility: CPC limits
 Position: ad rank vs. competing ads

The economics of search
 Average keyword price rose 16.5% in Q3 2006
to $1.48.
 Most expensive keywords above $80
 Average search PPC conversion is 3.6% (4.2%
for organic search)
 Channel and keyword scarcity
 Easy, affordable brand protection
 Relevance – keywords and landing pages
Sources: Keyword Price Index (Fathom online), Cyberwire, Marketing Sherpa

Aggregators and search
 The new intermediary
 Higher in the search value chain: from general
price comparison to deep product awareness
 Customer champion or commoditisation agent?
 Pushing keyword prices even higher
 Charge for access, move towards display/PPC
 Aggregator landscape expanding -
fragmentation, consolidation should follow

Affiliates and search
 Why affiliates?
 Reaching others’ loyal customers
 Controlling cost
 SEO: building your pages’ rank
 Brand protection or brand extension?
 Different types of affiliates - diverse strategies
 Potential pitfalls: the link counter and the
affiliate cost spiral

Social networks and search
 Google is NOT a search engine, it’s a
Reputation Management Engine
 MLNW: participate &trust vs. infiltrate & control
 Social Media Optimisation = SEO 2.0. A long
term game with many moving parts
 Be useful, be relevant, encourage
sharing
 Not a Second Life, a richer first life
Sources: Wired - Clive Thompson

Search through mobile
 Next year’s biggest thing... since the early 90s
 Local entertainment – cinema, fast food,
drinking, taxis – followed by local traffic info
 Convergence and virtualization – UMPC, Foleo,
sub subnotebooks, iGoogle, Web desktops
 Availability and relevance, not device, will be
key
 Early mover advantage up for grabs?
Sources: m-spatial

Future touchpoint
 A dominant Google – mail, talk, apps, checkout,
desktop, earth, gears, radio, maps
 Will search become ubiquitous?
 Will deliberate search go away?
 What will brand ads be in the world of Google?
 The social phenomenon
 Brands as friends
 Customers even more firmly at the driving seat

A fresh take on search
Thank you
Roberto Hortal
Head of eBusiness
roberto.hortal@uk.royalsun.com