Maru Marketing Blog

So last time I checked, Comscore had the current search engine market share break down for June 2008 which looked like this:

Google: 61.8%

Yahoo: 20.6%

Live Search: 8.5%

AOL: 4.5%

Ask: 4.5%

How does that look over time? Well since November of 2007 Google’s market share of domestic searches increased by 5.8% while Yahoo and MSN both fell 9.6% and 13.8% respectively. Also it is important to remember that AOL outsources it’s ads to Google which makes for a combined 66.3% market share. From May 2008 to June Google gained may have only increased it’s share by .03%, but MSN Live Search fell 5.4%. As a paid search marketer I find this to be great news. I know, I know, Google is taking over the world and monopolizing the entire online advertising landscape, which is concerning, but from an ease of use and flexibility standpoint I welcome their success. Anyone who has spent anytime optimizing an account can tell you that the information and tools Google provides advertisers is light years ahead of the competition.

Let’s consider the big three’s platforms: Google Adwords, Yahoo Panama, and Microsoft Adcenter. First Adwords, what’s not to love? Well a lot of things, but considering the other platforms its like driving a luxury sedan with all the bells and whistles, whereas Yahoo’s Panama is like driving a 1976 Ford Fiesta, drunk, with a flat tire on an unpaved country back road…………. with the engine on fire. And I would say Adcenter is more like a Honda Accord, its nice, and there is potential to make it even better. But with the convenience and ease of use does come some downside. In my experience the marketplace for keywords on Google is more saturated which leads to higher cost per clicks. To combat this however, Adwords provides multiple levels of optimization that can help you surpass your competitors (which we will discuss in later posts). Additionally, Adwords has Google’s gift to account managers it the form of Adwords Editor. Adwords Editor is an offline tool that allows you to manage your account without having to wait for pages to load. It also enables you to find and replace words in ad copy, append text and destination urls, look at data for various date ranges, makes waffles, cleans your house, and most importantly allows you to quickly react to changes in the marketplace. I know what you are thinking, “Wow this thing is amazing, surely all the other engines have something like this?” Well sort of, and no. MSN’s Adcenter has Adcenter ACE, which is very similar to Adword Editor except does really work and is poorly supported. Provided you do manage to get it installed and download you account, it will probably cause you computer to crash as soon as you try to edit you account. When I first attempted to use Adcenter ACE instead on downloading my account, it downloaded other people’s accounts, scary. As for our buddies over at Yahoo, well they don’t feel it necessary to have an offline tool, so you are stuck with good old bulk sheets (which will ultimately lead to multiple errors and numerous upload attempts).

Then there is reporting. Reporting is essential for any successful paid search campaign. Google’s Adwords allows you to look at number of different reports for virtually any given date range from the Adwords interface and the report center. Yahoo’s and MSN’s reporting on the other hand is filled with all different types of fail. Panama, does provide decent reports, but suffers from one very critical flaw: you cannot view campaign performance by day without pulling multiple reports. That’s right, want to see how your best campaign performed each day last week? Well get ready to burn valuable time pulling seven different reports for each day. Why is this such a critical flaw? Given your market, keyword performance and impression volume can vary greatly depending on the day of the week. More importantly it is imperative that you identify these trends and optimize for the ebbs and flows of the market. All in all, Yahoo provides solid access to data from both the interface and report center, however to see data over time will ultimately result in doing the same report over and over again for different dates. Microsoft Adcenter lets you run reports that give you all the essential data you need, and YES it does allow you to see data by day, but again it has a it’s own critical flaw: the date ranges you can view from the interface. Say you want to compare data from yesterday and the same day last week. You should be able to just enter the desired dates you want to see right? No my friends that would be too easy. Unlike Google and Yahoo, Microsoft tells the only dates you can view and lacks the ability to input custom date ranges, hence another flaw that just throws your time into the incinerator. The reason Yahoo and MSN reporting flaws frustrate me so much is because they are simple fixes that could allow for an overall more efficient and enjoyable user experience.

Lastly there is account support. It is important to note that the level of support varies greatly not only by engine but by the amount you spend with them. If you are drop $100k a month on clicks, you will most likely have a dedicated account rep, but for a smaller account it can be difficult to get the help you need in a timely fashion. If you are able to get an account manager, a lot will depend who you are able to get and their capabilities. I have had the best experience with Google and Microsoft, and have found their staff to be accommodating and extremely knowledge. My dealings with Yahoo support have not been stellar, but overall manageable.

Now that my rant is out of the way, what does this mean for you the advertiser? While Google seems like an unstoppable force is the search industry, Yahoo and MSN cannot ignored. The goal of the Maru Marketing marketing blog is to provide you with insight as to how best optimize your account and avoid pitfalls that will cost you time and marketing dollars. Google may be the largest search engine on the planet, but given the resources available on each engine, I am glad they are. “We must not allow a mineshaft gap!”, well compared to it’s competitors the gap between Google and all the others is vast, and I don’t see it closing anytime soon. So in essence, stop worrying, read the blog, and learn to love the Google.

In Japanese maru can mean a number of different things, but is most commonly translated as circle or perfection. Maru LLC was founded by Ryan Currie and Francisco Debs, and named after Ryan’s favorite bar in Japan. We chose the maru to represent our company because it is an image that reflects our approach to search marketing. Each point in the circle is important, and missing one piece causes the circle to loose its shape. Maru LLC was founded June 2008, and we are excited about our new venture.

We are currently working on our site, but should be up soon.