SEO News

There are many interesting findings from the report but perhaps the biggest takeaway is that more than half of the searches that resulted in a conversion – whether this was going into a store, calling a business or making a purchase – happened in just 1 hour, showing that mobile is possibly the most critical channel for search marketers and business owners. 

The power of mobile search

Of the searches conducted by participants, three out of four triggered actions, which ranged from additional research (36%) to a website visit (25%) to a store visit (17%) to a purchase (17%) to a phone call (7%).

And, on average each mobile search triggered at least two of the above actions, although product and shopping searches were more likely to have higher numbers of outcomes. 

Conversions also happened quickly after a search, with 55% occurring within just one hour of the original search. 

Ben Chung, Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads at Google, suggests that the reason for this speed could be due to the fact that 45% of mobile searches are conducted to help make a decision, this figure jumping to 66% when the search is conducted in-store.

We see this immediacy effect with mobile because not only are people potentially closer in physical proximity to a purchase, but they’re also close to the crucial decision moments. 

And when people use mobile search to help make a decision, they’re more likely to convert. So it’s important for marketers to be present during these searches, while also creating ads and experiences that are relevant to this immediacy. 

Quick and easy

Many people would assume that mobile searches are done on the go, like on a bus or train when a desktop is not readily available, but it seems the exact opposite is true. 

Almost 8 out of 10 mobile searches happen at work or home when a desktop could be easily accessed.

And according to the report, the reason for this is that consumers find mobile search quick and easy. In fact, 81% said that they were driven to mobile search because of the speed and convenience of it.

Remember, context is key

Another important takeaway from the research is that the types of searches people conduct is strongly tied to their specific context, such as the time of day they are searching and their current location.

Shopping searches, for example, were twice as likely to be conducted in-store and the report highlights that this is a key opportunity for marketers to reach someone who is already ready and prepped to take action. 

47% of businesses cite technology issues as the main barrier to website personalisation

• Though more than nine out of ten marketers agree that personalisation is critical to their success, almost half of companies lack the necessary technology to properly implement website personalisation.
• The findings come from the new Econsultancy/Monetate Realities of Personalisation Report, which found that 47% of companies cite IT roadblocks as a major barrier to adopting or improving website personalisation.
• A similar number of respondents (46%) pointed to legacy technology, while 44% cited lack of budget.

Poor quality data is the biggest barrier to effective email marketing

• Poor quality data is the biggest barrier to effective email marketing, according to the new Econsultancy/Adestra Email Marketing Census 2013.
• Half (50%) of respondents stated that the quality of their email database caused problems with their email campaigns, meaning that it has been the most common barrier for three years running.
• A further 43% cited a lack of strategy as a key problem, followed by lack of time (41%) and poor segmentation (39%).

Smartphone paid search CPCs were 46% cheaper than desktop in Q1

• Smartphone CPCs in the US are 46% cheaper than desktop at $0.30 and $0.56 respectively, according to Q1 data from Kenshoo.
• In comparison, tablet CPCs are just 18% lower than desktop at $0.46.
• This highlights the fact that it is still relatively cheap for businesses to target customers through mobile search campaigns, an opportunity that many brands are failing to take advantage of.
• Unsurprisingly though, the Kenshoo report shows that desktop still accounts for the vast majority of US search spend (86.1%) and clicks (81.2%), though smartphone and tablet clicks are proportionately higher than the amount of budget currently allocated to them.

Q1 2013 US search advertising clicks and spend by device

94% of businesses say personalisation is critical to their success

• The growing importance of delivering a personalised experience online is highlighted in a new Econsultancy and Monetate survey in which 94% of businesses stated that personalisation ‘is critical to current and future success.’
• Furthermore, the research found that for two-thirds (66%) of client-side respondents both improved business performance and customer experience are the main drivers for personalising the website experience.
• The Realities of Online Personalisation is based on a survey of more than 1,100 digital and ecommerce professionals working for brands and agencies, carried out in February 2013.

Education companies achieve highest average CTR in email marketing

• Education and healthcare organisations achieve the highest average click-through rate (CTR) on email marketing campaigns, while computer and telecoms companies yield the lowest results.
• The findings come from a new report from Silverpop, which measures the CTR as the number of unique clicks in the email message divided by the number of delivered email messages in a campaign.
• The report shows that the education sector gets the highest average CTR (5.8%) and its top quartile are also the highest achievers overall (12.8%).
• Overall top-quartile performers had click-through rates that were nearly four times higher than the median CTR of 2.3%. In contrast, bottom-quartile performers didn’t even muster 1% click-throughs.

Fashion accounts for around 83% of young men’s online spend

• Research into men’s online shopping habits and fashion trends from Rakuten LinkShare reveals that fashion accounts for around 83% of men’s online spend.
• Furthermore, one in two men aged 18-35 have a shopping app installed on their phone and over three-quarters of men are tempted to buy fashion online due to a free delivery offer or voucher code discount (78%).
• A fifth (20%) of men aged 18-35 have a barcode scanner app, supporting the growing trend for showrooming where shoppers research in-store and make a final purchase online.
• Nearly a fifth of men in this age bracket also use dedicated shop apps from specific brands (16%) and nearly one in five 26-35 year olds use QR code apps (19%).

Online videos drive deeper engagement than text articles

• Consumers are more likely to share, comment and “like” an online video than a text article, with humour the number one reason they interact with video according to new research.
• These are the findings of a new study of UK internet users by Usurv which questioned 1,000 UK adults about how they watch and respond to online video content.
• 56% of respondents said they had ‘liked’ online video content, 39% said they had shared a video and 36% had commented on video content.
• 51% of people said they had shared, commented on or ‘liked’ a video because “it was humorous” and 30% because they “knew others would want to see it”.  4% said they had shared commented on or ‘liked’ a video because “it outraged me” and another 4% because “it was extremely bad”.   

46% of consumer goods marketers use mobile ads for brand awareness

• Consumer goods advertisers primarily use mobile advertising for brand awareness rather than driving site traffic or increased footfall in-store, according to new research from Millennial Media.
• Almost half (46%) of consumer goods advertisers stated that their main campaign goal was brand awareness compared to an overall average of 14% among all industries.
• Site traffic (29%) and ‘sustained in-market presence’ (11%) were the second and third most-common campaign goals for consumer goods companies, while just 5% aimed to increase foot traffic.

Samsung smartphones gain popularity with Europeans

• According to new data from Adobe, nearly 30% of all smart­phone brows­ing in Europe now occurs via a Sam­sung device — up 9% in the last year.
• In contrast, Apple now dri­ves nearly 48% of smart­phone brows­ing (+4% YoY) in the 19 European countries monitored by Adobe’s Digital Index.

Avoid the inbox abyss

• According to new research from Pure360 only 4% of emails sent between midnight and 7am then go on to be opened.
• In fact, the best time to send an email is now during the ‘post-work peak’ as people are finishing up at work and heading home. More than a quarter (26%) of marketing emails that are sent in the most successful hour, 5pm to 6pm, are opened – 9% above average.
• The research is based on the analysis of 40,000 email campaigns sent by over 140 companies in 24 sectors, between January and December 2012. 

This week’s best graphic comes from Browser Media and looks at the current state of the UK’s SEO industry by evaluating 101 agencies included in our supplier directory.

For a more in-depth view of UK search companies check out our SEO Agencies Buyer’s Guide and keep an eye out for our forthcoming Top 100 Digital Agencies Report that’s due to be published in May.

UK SEO Agency 101