Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Articles

As mentioned by Brand Republic last week, a recent study has shown that despite the reductions in online marketing spends during the last quarter of 2008, search engine advertisers have improved their ROI (Return on Investment) by 25% during the first three months of 2009.PPC (Pay Per Click)... read more

There's lots of discussion in the blogosphere about shortfalls in Google's local service, see this article from Blogstorm.The bloggers are complaining that searches for non-geographic specific phrases are now including local search results dependent on Google's best guess of your location. The... read more

I was recently planning a weekend away to Cardiff for a live event that I had tickets for. Not having ever stayed a night in a hotel in Cardiff I went to Google Maps, put in the address for the venue of the event I was attending and then searched for ‘Hotels nearby’ - which search, as I assume... read more

A recent study by Hitwise, the search industry’s leading source of search behaviour data, reported that whilst the usage of one and two-word searches has declined, the use of three, four and five word searches has increased. In fact, these ‘longtail’ searches of three and above words account... read more

An article posted on Brand Republic confirms that since Google altered their brand bidding policy in May 2008, the average Cost Per Click (CPC) has increased and the average Click Through Rate (CTR) has decreased. I am not surprised by the findings of this research, and I think it was... read more

I have read of alarming numbers of companies jumping the PPC ship because they feel it is not right from them. Now, I would like to ask: Is it not right for them or was it not done right for them? As Google announced last month, it increased Q4 profits yet in the UK market share declined... read more

Anyone who drives on any of the main commuter routes into Manchester (or probably any of the UK's towns or cities) is unlikely to have failed to notice the bright yellow advertisements for the Government's latest healthy eating and exercise campaign, Change4Life. Now, a Government initiative... read more

Whilst high street sales continue to fall and the recession takes a firmer grip on UK shoppers’ spending habits, online sales have hit new highs. Recent reports from the high street confirmed what forecasters had been predicting – that there was a 1.4% reduction in pre-Christmas sales in... read more

For years, I've been helping business owners tobecome more successful online, so I've seen a lot of the numbers! It doesn't matter what sector you are in, whether it be Legal, Recruitment, Health Insurance, IT Support, Dentures, Business Management Training, Diamond Jewellery, Memory Sticks,... read more

As mentioned in one of my previous posts, the Christmas period has a major effect on Search Marketing campaigns, and Christmas 2008 was no exception. I was reading in the Independent this morning that online sales hit a new high this Christmas. The article compares the fact that as high... read more