Research | Internet Marketing Blog

Ask.com admits to secret anti-Google campaign

Ask.com has launched a guerrilla-style marketing campaign designed to encourage British internet users to broaden their choice of search engine.

In the last couple of weeks, posters featuring a megaphone, a link to information-revolution.org and the slogan "stop the information monopoly" began appearing on tube trains, lamp posts and elsewhere. They warn libertarians about Google's 75% UK market share, although the name of the organisation behind the campaign was not disclosed.

by Robert Andrews 16 March 2007 09:28am 1 comment

comScore metrics re-jigged to acknowledge AJAX

Web stats auditor comScore has introduced a new 'visits' metric to augment its 'page views' tracking after conceding its previous system unfairly represented Yahoo!

Yahoo! protested in December after comScore data placed it behind MySpace for pages viewed. Yahoo!'s increasing use of AJAX means users create fewer page views because tasks can be completed without reloading pages.

by Robert Andrews 15 March 2007 09:41am 0 comments

Topshop traffic from MySpace grows

MySpace is giving a big boost to British fashion retailers, with the proportion of their traffic driven from the social networking site growing fast in the last year.

Referrals from MySpace accounted for 5% of visits to Topshop.co.uk - far less than searches from either MSN or Yahoo!, according to Hitwise data.

by Robert Andrews 01 March 2007 17:19pm 0 comments

eBay makes friends with Bebo

eBay is partnering with Bebo to allow users of the social networking site to list auction items on their profiles.

The agreement will allow Bebo's 30m members to detail items they want to buy or sell. Clicking the link will take visitors directly to eBay's own pages, the Wall Street Journal said.

by Robert Andrews 01 March 2007 17:18pm 0 comments

Wikipedia's Google traffic balloons, search site 'should pay'

The amount of traffic sent from Google to Wikipedia has shot up 166% in the last year, according to data from Hitwise.

The open encyclopedia last month broke into the US' list of top 10 websites, up four places on the previous month. Now researcher LeeAnn Prescott has revealed that 70% of Wikipedia's hits come from search queries, and 50% from Google alone.

by Robert Andrews 19 February 2007 11:31am 0 comments

Search market jumps 62% in North America

Spending by North American advertisers on search rose 62% to $9.4bn last year, according to new figures from the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organisation (SEMPO) .

The group estimates that SEM spending – including paid placement, paid inclusion, SEO and the purchase of technology platforms - will double by 2011, at an aggregate spending total of $18.6bn.

by Richard Maven 09 February 2007 09:31am 0 comments

TV leads to web as rebate hunters flock to search

Search engines saw an explosion in the number of Britons searching for Council Tax last week after a documentary showed how thousands may be elligible for a rebate.

Martyn Lewis of Moneysavingexpert.com appeared on TV to report how hundreds of users of his site's forum had claimed up to £1,000 because their homes were incorrectly banded.

That prompted an avalanche of search traffic form rate-payers Googling for more information, according to data from Hitwise.

by Robert Andrews 02 February 2007 17:12pm 0 comments

'Silver surfers' prefer internet to DIY and gardening

A survey carried out by AXA has found that retired people are browsing the internet rather then the traditional pastimes of gardening and DIY.

The AXA report, which looked at the online habits of retired people in 11 countries, calls these internet users 'silver surfers'. In the US, Canada, Australia and the UK, silver surfers are using the internet more than six hours a week.

by Graham Charlton 02 February 2007 12:14pm 3 comments

Funding round puts poll marketing centre-stage

Web polling firm Vizu has received a $2.9m investment that aims to do for market researchers what AdSense does for advertising.

The investment, led by $1.5m from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, will go toward the just-launched Vizu Answers.The service allows marketers to create multiple-choice polls that appear on partner sites around the world.

by Robert Andrews 01 February 2007 17:11pm 0 comments

YouTubers would flee video ads

Three-quarters of YouTube viewers would visit the site less often if the video behemoth placed ads before clips, according to a poll.

YouTube founder Chad Hurley, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, told BBC News the site was mulling placing three-second commercials ahead of uploaded videos and sharing the revenue with producers.

by Robert Andrews 31 January 2007 13:34pm 0 comments