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Earlier this week, comScore released the results of a study examining recent changes in consumer attitudes and perceptions about the state of the U.S. economy. The study found that consumers in all income segments are cutting back on spending due to concerns about the economy, and that they were doing so to an even greater extent in July 2008 than in April 2008.

So, what does this mean for search engine marketers?

Many consumers have become increasingly cost conscious and are turning to the Internet for pricing information. The survey findings revealed that nearly three out of four consumers believe the Internet has made it “a lot easier” or “somewhat easier” to find better, more useful pricing information.

In addition, 75 percent of respondents said that they believe the Internet will become an even more important channel for pricing information, with 41 percent of respondents saying it will be “a lot more important” and 34 percent of respondents saying it will be “somewhat more important” in the future.

Do you need some examples to drive this point home?

In New York, Andrew Jeffery of Minyanville.com reports, “It appears the city that never sleeps has finally succumbed to the economic slowdown, and it’s not just the neon “Recession Special” sign outside Gray’s Papaya.”

In San Francisco, Liza Zimmerman of the S.F. Wine & Cocktail Examiner reviews a “Recession special: the Viansa 2007 Dolcetto is another well-executed example of using classic Mediterranean grapes on California soil.”

When Hyundai asked the Complex Blog to review their first Genesis offering touching down in the states, the company best known for econo-boxes “threw Complex the keys and we took this recession special for a ride.”

But wait! There’s more!

Go to the Rates and Registration Details page for SES Chicago 2008. Just like last year, there is an Early Bird Rate that enables you to save $200 if you register before November 21. But, unlike last year, there is also a “Recession Special,” which lets you save $600 if you register before September 26.

And if you want to appear as “sartorially challenged” as one SEM industry observer said “the brains of Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization are,” then turn up at SES Chicago wearing the “Recession Special Shirt” being offered by Ten Deep at Turntablelab.com. According to the review, “Nothing like a nice, timely shirt that reflects things going on in today’s headlines.”

Of course, wearing such a shirt violates the dress code in the SES Speaker Guidelines, which states: “Business casual attire is recommended. Formal business attire is perfectly fine. If in doubt, overdress. You won’t feel out of place, as many speakers will also be in formal attire. How you look has an impact on how well the audience receives your presentation.”

It’s a classic dilemna for marketers: Follow the guidelines or take advantage of today’s headlines. What would I recommend? I’d advise you to jump on the “recession special” to save $600, but skip over the shirt. But, I should disclose that SES is a client. If you want to take more of a fashion risk, that’s a decision that you’ll have to make for yourself.

SES San Jose 2008 was held just a couple of weeks back, but still gives us enough time to find out what topics the top 10 videos on YouTube from the event were about.

Okay, so I only looked at the YouTube videos posted on the SESConferenceExpo’s channel — but that provides an apples to apples comparison. Besides, this is more about the topics discussed at the show than the popularity of the one channel versus another.

So, what are the topics covered in the top 10 videos from SES San Jose 2008?

1. (with 251 views) Avinash’s Long Tail Terms, Bouncy Icebergs, and Analytics

Avinash Kaushik of Google and Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now, Inc., talk about goals, bounce rates, and all sorts of important topics for marketers interested in measuring their campaigns, especially with Google Analytics. Later on in the video, Avinash talks about new features in Google Analytics like the partner program and data visualizations to help marketers understand what works and what doesn’t. He moves on to testing at the end, and plugs Bryan’s new Google Website Optimizer book, Always Be Testing.

2. (with 128 views) Small Business Viral Marketing Tips, SES San Jose 2008

Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide and Andrew Goodman of Page Zero Media follow up their SES San Jose 2008 “Igniting Viral Campaigns” session with a discussion of the best tips on viral campaigns and social media marketing, especially for small business who want to make the most of their business online without spending too much money. The two talk about using social media sites like Linkedin and Twitter to communicate one’s marketing message to a dedicated and enthusiastic audience.

3. (with 121 views in 1 week) Mobile Search Lazarus, Mobi Job with Rebecca Lieb

Rebecca Lieb of ClickZ opines that mobile search is back and in a strong way, of course as a result of better smart phones and with what she and others see as the death of mobi. I interview Rebecca on her Death of .mobi panel at SES San Jose 2008 to learn more about the changing mobile search landscape.

4. (with 121 views in 2 weeks) Social Responsibility & SEM for Nonprofits with Jamie Welsh

Jamie Welsh of 10 Percent Solution talks with Byron Gordon of SEO-PR about her organization’s work to certify companies with respect to three categories: philanthropy, as defined through the donation of five percent of pre-tax profits or one percent of sales; volunteerism through individual employees; and green sustainability.

5. (with 80 views) Measuring Web 2.0 with Star Trek & SiteLogic’s Matt Bailey

Matt Bailey of SiteLogic Marketing talks Trekkie lore and web analytics with Jamie O’Donnell of SEO-PR about his SES San Jose 2008 panel on Web 2.0 measurement. Matt’s famous Star Trek/Web Analytics mashup played well at the show as he explained the increasing likelihood of Enterprise ensigns’ chances of survival given various circumstance, including the color of their shirts, shuttlecraft landings, and the captain’s amorous liaisons.

6. (with 78 views) Johanna Wright of Google on Google Universal Search

Johanna Wright of Google talks with me about Google’s Universal Search platform, which integrates various online media in its search results page to offer searchers a wider selection of relevant results. Johanna gives some insight for SEO (search engine optimization) pro’s into how the vertical backends are put together and advocates a thoughtful approach to making information accessible to Google through use of sitemaps and detailed descriptions.

7. (with 76 views) Lee Siegel Punches the Internet

Lee Siegel, author of Against the Machine, talks with Kevin Ryan of Search Engine Strategies and me about why the internet is an abuse — and not a use of the internet for human life. Well, that’s the big-picture idea, at least. Mostly he just beats up on Gawker. No objections here…?

8. (with 63 views) A/B Test Experts Tim Ash and Bryan Eisenberg

Tim Ash of SiteTuners and Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now, two A/B testing gurus, talk landing page testing shop on the conference floor at SES San Jose 2008. Tim and Bryan discuss the crucial nature of testing for the bottom line with the triple threat of incrased online competition, rising PPC costs, and a recession economy. Tim also talks about SiteTuners’ new self-service portal which opens up, for the first time, some of SiteTuners’ large-scale multivariate testing tools to in-house SEM’s (search engine marketers).

9. (with 57 views) How Much Search is Enough - Kevin Ryan at SES San Jose 2008

Kevin Ryan of Search Engine Strategies (SES) talks with Byron Gordon of SEO-PR at SES San Jose 2008 about his panel on holistic approaches to online marketing, in which he and the other agency panelists investigated what the appropriate mix of search and other online mediums was in properly integrated campaigns. Kevin relays some tips from the speakers regarding how to experiment in order to make the most of your online presence.

10. (with 54 views) Soothware Online Advertising Platform Intro with Tim Ogilvie

Tim Ogilvy of Soothware chats with John Mulligan of SEO-PR about his company, Soothware. Soothware helps advertisers manage their search advertising and display advertising campaigns in one place, tapping into Google and the RightMedia ad Exchange.

There are more videos on the SESConferenceExpo’s channel — and another 20+ videos from SES San Jose 2008 over on the WebProNews Video Blog. And you’ll find even more videos from the event at SEOWebTraffic’s Channel, SocialJulio’s Channel, StepForth’s Channel, HHeitzman’s Channel, SageRock’s Channel, ChrisDaviesCa’s Channel, misiggaes’ Channel, and HudsonHorizon’s Channel.

While you really had to be there to catch all the action, at least now you can get some samples of the what turned out to be the best attended SES of all time. That’s right. There were more people at SES San Jose 2008 than attended SES New York 2008 or SES San Jose 2007 — the next two biggest shows.

Search marketers deal with landing pages everyday in their work, but not all landing pages are created for paid search campaigns. Many landing pages, or sometimes entire sites are created for offline advertising on television, radio, and magazine ads.

Should these landing pages be tested as well? I talked to Google Website Optimizer’s Tom Leung to get his thoughts on how testing can influence offline campaigns.

Leung said there are two ways that tools like Website Optimizer can be used in offline campaigns:

1. As already mentioned, to test landing pages created for traffic coming in from offline ad campaigns.
2. Using paid search or display ad campaigns to make informed decisions on creatives designed for offline ad campaigns.

The second point really got my attention. Leung expanded by saying that SEM’s can use landing page testing as a “bargaining chip to get a seat at the table with other marketers in your organization.”

This information gained from testing is highly useful to marketers planning offline campaigns. As a search marketer, you can use testing and analytics tools to be the one in their department or agency who knows the most about a target audience. That knowledge is highly useful to your colleagues, and can help you work more as an integrated team.

Even though offline and online campaigns can generate interest from consumers with different expectations, at the very least, testing can rule out things that don’t work. An image, text, or highlighted feature that just doesn’t resonate can be discovered through landing page testing. Marketers can test these factors in a paid search or other online ad test, and use the results to develop creatives for offline ads.

Online ad tests can also be used in advance of an offline-to-web ad campaign.

For offline traffic driven to landing pages, you can use those preliminary tests to narrow down the number of landing page options for the initial traffic driven from the offline ad. When the offline traffic begins to arrive (and you’re expecting enough traffic to run a test), you can test the first visitors. You don’t want to test more than 1 page per 100 conversions. Multivariate testing should generally be reserved for large, national campaigns.

WiderFunnel Marketing used Website Optimizer for Tourism BC’s TV-to-Web ad campaign for HelloBC.com. According to a published case study, the campaign targeted the Los Angeles and San Francisco markets. Tourism BC experienced a 52% conversion rate (filling out a web form), up 7% from the previous year.

Even though search marketing has been gaining ground for years, SEMs still may find themselves struggling to lend their insight to traditional marketing methods that have been around for decades. Landing page testing is not just a must for SEMs in their own work but can be a strength to participate in the greater strategy at hand.

What do you think about landing page testing and integrating marketing campaigns? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Online publishers are increasingly turning to ad networks to sell unused inventory, according to a study released by the International Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Bain & Company.

In 2007, ad network accounted for 30% of total ad impressions, up fro 5% in 2006.

Two reasons were given for the growth:

• Interviews with online publishers, conducted as part of the study, indicate that the lack of adequate pricing tools and inventory management discipline contributed to the growth in available ad space. This is causing publishers to seek out ways to sell large inventories of unsold ads. Publishers often lack basic information on realized prices and inventory sold by client and channel, limiting management’s ability to make effective decisions.
• Large marketers continue to shift significant portions of their advertising budgets online and view ad networks as an effective way to achieve greater buying scale and drive down CPMs.

“What this benchmark study tells the industry is that there is a need for more sophisticated yield management on the part of premium publishers, for stronger partnerships between publishers and ad networks, for development of best practices, and more focus on the value of interactive advertising,” said Sherrill Mane, senior vice president, Industry Services of the IAB. “Our industry is at an important juncture and now is the time for publishers to adopt strategic approaches to the use of ad networks who themselves have become critical players in the digital ecosystem.”

Here are additional nuggets of information from the study:

• Overall, online publisher revenues grew by a healthy 32% in 2007 versus 2006, yet ad network revenues grew more rapidly (in excess of 50%), as marketers boosted online spending
• High demand for premium video inventory resulted in CPMs 2-3 times greater than display ads on average.
• Most publishers in the study lack information to closely measure the impact of cross-platform sales, though most indicate focus on using cross-platform to drive volume, not price.

Related Reading:
Two Large Ad Networks Embrace Behavioral Targeting
Local Advertisers Shifting Dollars to Internet

Analytics firm Covario says Yahoo gained paid search advertising at the expense of Google in the second quarter of 2008.

Covario also said that paid search has gone through a “compression” period, where growth has declined from 52% to 43%.

“Our client roster inspired us to launch this analysis series due to our customers’ unique positions in the advertising ecosystem – they are US-based, but also global in the scope regarding their paid search advertising programs, so they tend not to be retailers or ecommerce vendors who focus on one geographic region,” said Craig Macdonald, vice president of marketing and product management at Covario. “It is very exciting for us to be able to observe first-hand such trends as the bucking of the biggest losing streak in the paid search market – the loss of market share by Yahoo to Google.”

Of course, Google has seen a decline in clicks and search ads they attribute to increasing quality of their ads. That reasoning worked for Q1 results, which blew away Wall Street expectations, based largely on analytical data. Q2 disappointed the street, but so did Microsoft and Yahoo.

On Saturday night, while watching the Olympics, I learned that there is a British swimmer named Hannah Miley. As a mom of a 10 year old, I found this amusing as my daughter has been thoroughly obsessed with the Disney show Hannah Montana where the lead character is played by Miley Cyrus.

I was curious as to how the search engines would handle a search for Hannah Miley. Would the results be completely dominated by the increasingly scandalous teen queen? Or would there at least be one mention of the Olympic athlete?

First, I checked out Google. After all, they’re the best search engine in the world and everyone knows it except people in China (who prefer Baidu) and southeast Asia (who prefer Yahoo). Perhaps we should learn something from this year’s Olympic hosts and their neighbors.

Google had ZERO results for Hannah Miley the swimmer on their front page. They didn’t even pull results from their news search product, which does have results about the swimmer - during the Olympics! Tsk. Tsk.

Next, I moved onto Microsoft’s Live Search. I was greeted with an photo of an Olympic event as the background and part of their new home page design. The first result for Hannah Miley was about the British swimmer!

The main link was to NBCOlympics.com, who is partnering with Microsoft for the Olympics. Then there were several site search links below to send searchers automatically to more detailed information they might be looking for.

You might say that’s cheating, that it’s not part of some supreme algorithm. I say, it’s useful and relevant information for searchers and most will not particularly care how it got there.

Plus, Microsoft did include a link to Hannah Miley’s wikipedia page as part of their “regular” result, something the googlebot ignored.

Last, I headed to Yahoo. They served up some news results for the Hannah Miley search. The first one was for the British swimmer and the second was for the Disney star. Then the organic results are dominated by the latter, save for one result from Zimbio.com about the athlete.

So that’s how the “big three” search engines are handling the 2008 Olympics. Microsoft clearly takes the gold, Yahoo is half-heartedly participating, and Google is sitting out the games altogether.

And if you think it’s unfair of me to use a search for “Hannah Miley” as the basis for such a statement. Check out the screenshots below for a search for American superstar swimmer Michael Phelps and tell me who’s serving up the best results. (This time Yahoo wins the gold!)

There’s one book every search engine marketer will be reading this fall:

Planet Google: One Company’s Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know.

Based on unprecedented access he received to the “Googleplex,” New York Times columnist Randall Stross takes readers deep inside Google. His revelations demystify the strategy behind the company’s recent flurry of bold moves, all driven by the pursuit of a business plan unlike any other: to become the indispensable gatekeeper of all the world’s information, the one-stop destination for all our information needs.

Will Google succeed? And what are the implications of a single company commanding so much information and knowing so much about us?

As ambitious as Google’s goal is, with 68 percent of all Web searches (and growing), profits that are the envy of the business world, and a surplus of talent, the company is, Stross shows, well along the way to fulfilling its ambition, becoming as dominant a force on the Web as Microsoft became on the PC.

Google isn’t just a superior search service anymore. In recent years it has launched a dizzying array of new services and advanced into whole new businesses, from the introductions of its controversial Book Search and the irresistible Google Earth, to bidding for a slice of the wireless-phone spectrum and nonchalantly purchasing YouTube for $1.65 billion.

Google has also taken direct aim at Microsoft’s core business, offering free e-mail and software from word processing to spreadsheets and calendars, pushing a transformative — and highly disruptive — concept known as “cloud computing.” According to this plan, users will increasingly store all of their data on Google’s massive servers — a network of a million computers that amounts to the world’s largest supercomputer, with unlimited capacity to house all the information Google seeks.

The more offerings Google adds, and the more ubiquitous a presence it becomes, the more dependent its users become on its services and the more information they contribute to its uniquely comprehensive collection of data.

Will Google stay true to its famous “Don’t Be Evil” mantra, using its power in its customers’ best interests?

Idearc Media, which owns Superpages.com and publishes the Verizon Yellow Pages, has announced an advertising partnership with .mobi network HelloMetro. The two already have a partnership to extend advertising across HelloMetro’s .com pages.

“We have received great results in our current agreement with HelloMetro.com and the new agreement can only bring more visibility and more leads for our advertisers on Superpages.com,” said Robyn Rose, vice president of Internet marketing for Idearc Media.

HelloMetro owns over 1,500 city-based Web sites that see more than 2.7 million unique visitors a month combined. HelloMetro serves up your typical content of interest in local guides - attractions, restaurants, special events, movie show times, lottery results, real estate, jobs, phone directories.

“As we continue to add cities to our list of Web sites content becomes increasingly important,” said Clark Scott, CEO of HelloMetro.com. “Superpages.com’s local business content will provide an added bonus to our robust city-specific content.”

Related Reading:
Former Citysearch CEO Heads to Idearc
Idearc to Add-on SEM Services
Local.com to Distribute Superpages Ads
Superpages Gets Local Mobile App
Superpages.com Revises Ad Algorithm

After being owner-less for a little over a year, JupiterResearch has been acquired by Forrester Research for $23 million. Previously, JupiterResearch had been sold by Jupitermedia to Kagan Research, but then Kagan got acquired by financial business intelligence firm SNL Financial.

“We are very excited to be joining the Forrester brand, culture, and community,” said David Schatsky, president, JupiterResearch. “For a quarter of a century, Forrester has been a trusted advisor to many of the top businesses and organizations in the world, and we are honored to bring the best of JupiterResearch to the Forrester name.”

JupiterResearch is the source of a ton of great online marketing data. Check out these posts covering data released by Jupiter:

1.8 Billion Internet Users by 2012, China to Overtake US Internet Use by 2011
Blended Search Increases Your Visibility - Jupiter Research
Marketers Increasingly Turn to Social Networks
Jupiter Research Report Says Most Search Marketers Happy with ROI

Google revenues topped $5.37 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, an increase of 39 percent compared to the second quarter of 2007. That’s also an increase of 3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2008.

But those numbers still disappointed investors who basked in the glow of Google’s growth and perhaps lingered a little too long in the sun.

The big news? Weakness in key sectors such as real estate, where paid search has proven resilient in the face of the recession. As SEW readers know, Auto finance average CPC was down in June; as was the total Finance category.

Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs, or TAC. In the second quarter of 2008, TAC totaled $1.47 billion, or 28 percent of advertising revenues.

“Strong international growth as well as sustained traffic increases on Google’s web properties propelled us to another strong quarter, despite a more challenging economic environment,” said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, in a statement. “As we continue to focus on innovating in our core business of search, ads and apps, we also look forward to enhancing the experience of our users and expanding the reach of our advertisers and partners with new technologies and formats, particularly as our integration of DoubleClick gains momentum and creates new opportunities in display advertising and elsewhere.”

Highlights of the 2nd Quarter:

Google Sites Revenues - Google-owned sites generated revenues of $3.53 billion, or 66% of total revenues, in the second quarter of 2008. This represents a 42% increase over second quarter 2007 revenues of $2.49 billion and a 4% increase over first quarter 2008 revenues of $3.40 billion.

Google Network Revenues - Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $1.66 billion, or 31% of total revenues, in the second quarter of 2008. This represents a 22% increase over network revenues of $1.35 billion generated in the second quarter of 2007 and a 2% decrease over first quarter 2008 revenues of $1.69 billion.

International Revenues - Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $2.80 billion, representing 52% of total revenues in the second quarter of 2008, compared to 48% in the second quarter of 2007 and 51% in the first quarter of 2008. Had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the first quarter of 2008 through the second quarter of 2008, our revenues in the second quarter of 2008 would have been $88 million lower. Had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the second quarter of 2007 through the second quarter of 2008, our revenues in the second quarter of 2008 would have been $249 million lower.

Revenues from the United Kingdom totaled $774 million, representing 14% of revenue in the second quarter of 2008, compared to 15% in the second quarter of 2007 and 15% in the first quarter of 2008.

Paid Clicks - Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 19% over the second quarter of 2007 and decreased approximately 1% over the first quarter of 2008.

The growth of paid clicks year-over-year is good news, showing the strength of the paid search marketplace. As Google has stated previously, the company has made an effort to improve the quality of clicks rather than increasing click volume. AdWords and AdSense were down sequentially, due to quality control and seasonality.

Google acknowledged the weakness of key sectors (Autos, Finance, Real Estate) that have wreaked havoc with display advertising. Real estate sector for paid search and contextual ads is down year-over-year. Auto ad spend is up year-over-year, but not consumer financing.

Ad Sense partners may have felt the squeeze too. Traffic Acquisition Costs (TAC), the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, decreased to $1.47 billion in the second quarter of 2008. This compares to TAC of $1.49 billion in the first quarter of 2008. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 28% in the second quarter, compared to 29% in the first quarter of 2008.

The majority of TAC expense is related to amounts ultimately paid to Google’s AdSense partners, which totaled $1.32 billion in the second quarter of 2008. (TAC is also related to amounts ultimately paid to certain Google distribution partners and others who direct traffic to Google’s website, which totaled $154 million in the second quarter of 2008.)