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| SERPs - Your Consumers' Window on Your Brand |
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Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are becoming a recognised term used by online marketers. The value of a SERP should not be underestimated. Here, we explore the true value of SERPs and its influence on the consumer. When the concept of interactive television was first introduced back in the 1990's, we were constantly reminded that this new piece of technology was actually giving us the power to control what we watched and when we wanted to watch it. However, consumers still had little control of the brand or its value which has come full circle with the introduction of blogging and citizen journalism. As of mid-June this year, there were 12.5 million blogs online with a staggering 48,000 being added each day. The power of blog sites and citizen journalism should not be underestimated. Whilst blogs and citizen journalism has given the consumer more of a say on brands and ultimately their value - the real power however lies in the SERPs. Search Engine Results pages are one of the key areas that Search marketers evaluate and change during any campaign or long-term planning. It is crucial that this page carries a brands or products key offerings and messages, furthermore, there has to be market differentiator to encourage people to purchase where relevant. Forrester estimates that search engine marketing (including paid listings, contextual search, site optimization and paid inclusions) will generate a spend of 1.4 billion euros in Europe in 2005, an uplift of 65% compared with 2004. With such a predicted considerable spend - the importance of SERPs cannot be overlooked. From an overall web position perspective, blogs are ultimately where the message sits the SERPs are the key holders to the vast information and views found within blog sites. Google has, in effect, become many brands home page in that consumers seeking advice or information on a product prior to purchasing may well type in a subject of brand name. The results may not necessarily bring up the brands own website but a host of other sites providing third party information or comments from consumers who have already purchased. A recent report from Delahaye found that in message boards 11% of comments are negative and 23% of all comments in blogs are also negative (Source: Search is brand by Market Sentinel). In this way we are beginning to see a more interactive way of marketing. The marketing industry has to listen to what its consumer wants - or face devaluing its brand through message boards and blogs. Moreover, the introduction of RSS is now a recognized method in distributing news and news from bloggers, giving yet more power back to the consumer. This can only be perceived as a good sign for those with ethical marketing and brand products. The introduction of more interactive online campaigns has only led to companies being able to add value to their brand. |
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