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comScore today released its first report on the U.K. search market from its enhanced comScore qSearch 2.0 online search measurement tool. The service, which was first launched in the U.K. in September 2007, has been updated to include several local market properties where search activity occurs, such as Rightmove Sites and Bebo.com.

I discussed how this expanded definition of “search” changes the landscape in the U.S. back in March in an article entitled, “Introduction to Search Engine Marketing at SES New York 2008.”

In the U.K., Google Sites continued its reign as the leading search property in April with 74.2 percent of all searches. eBay ranked second with 6 percent, followed by Yahoo! Sites (4.3 percent) and Microsoft Sites (3.4 percent).

Two U.K. properties, Rightmove Sites (0.8 percent share) and Bebo.com (0.7 percent share), ranked amongst the top 10. Popular social networking property, Facebook.com, claimed a 1.8-percent market share in April.

Yes, people conduct searches at social networking sites. It’s not your father’s SEO.

Last week, Google launched Google Merchant Search. This week, Edward Cowell, Director of digital marketing agency Guava; says, ““Google Merchant Search will truly put the cat amongst pigeons for some of Google’s biggest search advertisers, the financial services comparison websites.”

Price comparison websites are big business in the UK and all the major industry players
advertise heavily on Google. Research by Resolution Foundation shows that 45% of UK adults used a comparison site to help them make a financial decision in the last year and that the price-comparison market is estimated to be growing at 30% a year.

That’s why the launch of the new service comes at a critical time for Google and its financial services advertisers. Says Cowell, “Most big financial services websites are just coming to terms with a marked increase in their paid search advertising budgets due to the recent changes in Google’s trademark bidding policies, so Merchant Search could be rubbing salt into the wound.”

Sites such as Ebay have boycotted Google Adwords by withdrawing its adverting when Google attempted to encroach on PayPal’s territory. So, uprisings are not unheard of in the search arena.

That’s why Cowell and the rest of the industry is waiting to see how the price comparisons companies react to the launch of Merchant Search.

Google Merchant Search has quietly launched as a test program to compare products and services in shopping comparison engine fashion. Google Merchant Search is a test feature, apparently in the UK, and is not available for every search. You may see it when conducting some searches but not others.

Lead gen providers like Bankrate.com in financial services, one of Google’s largest customer segments, can’t be too pleased with Google offering a free service that competes indirectly with theirs.

Our friends over at SearchEngineLand had the story first with “Outing Google Merchant Search” as if GMS were in the closet.

Here’s the view from Google and their FAQ for Google Merchant Search.

What is Google Merchant Search?

Google Merchant Search is an easy new way for you to find products or services from providers who match your needs.

What products or services are supported through Google Merchant Search?

The service is currently only available for secured loans from financial services providers.

How do you choose which providers to show me?

Our search results are based on the criteria you provided in your request; we compare your request with our list of participating providers, and show those that are most relevant for you. Participating providers pay Google when someone requests a quote through this system.

How does Google connect me to the provider?

You submit your contact details and request a time to speak to the provider. A Google operator will call you at the appointed time, then connect you with the provider. Because we do not share your contact information with the provider, they won’t be able to contact you again about your request unless you decide to give then your contact details.

How much does it cost to use Google Merchant?

This service is free for the user (the person searching for services). Please note that when calling the free phone number from a mobile phone, operator or carrier charges may apply.

When Google announced the addition of video units to Adsense, it only rolled out the program only to U.S. Adsense users. A month later, the program was expanded to the UK, Ireland and Canada. Now, the program includes 8 additional countries, and here they are:

France
Italy
Spain
Australia
Netherlands
Poland
New Zealand
Japan

Hat tip to Australian SEW reader David Webb, who noticed the change.

Cambridge, Massachussets-based JumpTap has announced the expansion of their European mobile search and advertising network. The company is adding offices in Madrid, Spain and Stockholm, Sweden as part of the expansion. JumpTap pointed to recent projections from eMarketer, which see European spending tripling over the next three years, as part of the reason for the expansion.

“We are experiencing stellar renewal rates from our advertisers in Europe which is attributed to highly successful campaign results,” commented Dan Olschwang, president and CEO of JumpTap. “We have established our superior leadership working with the mobile advertising medium across global markets, and our clients are gaining a competitive advantage derived from our expertise and lessons learned.”

Related Reading:
8 Spending on Mobile Search Ads to Reach $2bn by 2013
Social Networking on Mobile Phones is Hot in the UK
Avoid the Pitfalls of Mobile Marketing

Nielsen Online has released April 2008 social media rankings for the U.K. YouTube topped the list for the seventh straight month in a row.

Here’s a look at the top 10:

And the top 10 from last year.

What do you think about YouTube’s popularity? Are you leveraging online video in your social media campaigns? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Even if you truly believe you’ve won $900,000 in the nonexistent 2008 Yahoo/Google Award promotion, please do NOT respond to the following inquiry.

Sure it might be a good idea for Yahoo to incentivize searchers with Yahoo share of searches dropping year-over-year. But this is not it.

Thanks to Incisive Media Marketing VP Matt McGowan for sending us the laugh of the day.

Dear Lucky Winner,

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Nine Hundred Thou sand Dollars (US$900,000.00 ) in the YEAR 2008 YAHOO/GOOGLE AWARD promotion which is organized by YAHOO/GOOGLE INC. for the introduction and Launching of the new YAHOO ! BETA MAIL which all YAHOO! as well as all other subscribers are required to switch to.

This is to encourage both Yahoo and non Yahoo users to start using Yahoo !

The online Cyber draws was conducted from an exclusive list of five hundred thousand email addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer selection from the web.

Your email address is attached to Ref No:

ESE/WIN/008/02/10/MA & Batch No:EULO/1007/444/606/08; Serial No:
6594.

Bear in mind that prizes will strictly be remitted to winners that officially file in for their claims within the given time frame. To begin your claim, you are to forward this message to our accredited claim’s agent including your : 1. Name: 2. Address 3. Marital Status: 4. Occupation: 5. Age: 6. Sex: 7. Nationality: 8. Country of Residence:9. Telephone Number: 10:Fax number:

Contact Person: Mr. GEORGE GRANTS

EMAIL : grantsgeorge@XXXXX.com

Your prize award has been insured with your email address and will be transferred to you upon meeting the requirements of the Gaming Board Authority which includes
your statutory obligations.

Best Regards,

Mr. Gabriel Christopher

(Lottery Coordinator).
London,
England

Note: All Won Prizes must Be claimed/Cleared not later than Two Weeks of receipt of this email notification. After this time, all other winnings will be considered as
UNCLAIMED and returned to National Treasury.

AOL has announced the completion of its acquisition of Bebo, a social network based in the UK. Bebo boasts an estimated 40 million users worldwide.

Randy Falco, Chairman and CEO of AOL, said of the deal, “AOL is now fully focused on growing our business in three key areas – our advertising network, publishing and people networks – by delivering relevant content and advertising across the Web, and we’re making great progress in each area.”

But will the acquisition threaten another ad network? Last year, Yahoo UK inked an ad deal with Bebo for the social network’s display advertising.

Google leads in UK search engine spending for the first quarter of 2008, according to data released by Efficient Frontier. The search engine enjoyed 85% of the market. Click-Through Rates (CTR) actually saw a slight decline for Google over Q4 2007, but the ROI increased by 14%.

The same couldn’t be said for Yahoo. Yahoo’s search advertising market share was 11.9%, down 0.5% from Q4 2007. CTR declined 38% quarter-over-quarter and ROI declined 6%.

MSN increased their market share by 0.4% in Q1 to reach a 3.5% market share in the UK. While MSN’s ROI dropped 10%, it was still 17% higher than Google’s ROI.

Related Reading:
Paid Search Click Data: Syndicated Versus Pure Search Referrals
Social Networking on Mobile Phones is Hot in the UK
Google Sees 79% European Market Share in March 2008

There is a discussion at WebmasterWorld forums about Yahoo sending visitors to country specific versions of their homepage.

So if you try and go to Yahoo.com from England or Germany you end up at the country specific version of the Yahoo homepage. Google has been doing this for a long time, interesting that it has taken this long for Yahoo to catch on and drive local traffic to their many country specific sites.

Could this help international search numbers?