| Christmas 2008 Retail Analysis: Electronics Retailers Most Active on Paid Search |
According to Hitwise Australia, Appliances and Electronics websites enjoyed the strongest growth in the retail sector over Christmas, with Australian visits increasing by 27.2% amongst all websites comparing December 2007 and December 2008. Underpinning the strong performance of visits to Appliances and Electronics websites was a significant investment in paid search traffic by electronics retailers.
In a Hitwise portfolio of the top 100 product search terms driving traffic to the Shopping and Classifieds industry, electronics-related terms accounted for 63.59% of paid clicks (4 weeks ending 27 December 2008). The top 100 product search term portfolio represented 5.86% of all paid clicks to Shopping and Classifieds websites.
Competition on leading paid terms was fierce, with paid rates (versus organic traffic) ranging from 18.54% ('Music') to 56.37% ('Tickets').The leading product search term was the 'iphone', attracting a paid search rate of 69.02%. Other leading product terms included, 'wii', 'ipod', 'tomtom', and 'navman'. Google was responsible for driving 20.34% of paid clicks to the top 100 product search terms; followed by Live with 0.69% and Yahoo! Search with 0.56% (Search Engine analysis is on respective Australian and .com properties). Paid clicks represented 21.79% of search traffic to the top 100 product search term portfolio. An analysis of the total clicks sent, including both paid and organic, indicates that Google represented 93.17%, Live 3.61% and Yahoo 2.3% of traffic.
In addition to capitalising on the peak shopping period for the year, the strong activity on pay-per-click campaigns by retailers may have been motivated by the Government stimulus package before Christmas; retailers were looking for a boost in consumer spending on presents. Retailers will need to monitor and adjust their search marketing efforts in response to any spending incentives provided by the Government this year.
*'% of Top 100 Paid Clicks' is calculated on base of top 100 paid searches for product terms on click volume.
Period: 4 weeks ending 27/12/08.
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| 1. |
Electronics |
63.60% |
46.50% |
| 2. |
Apparel |
6.90% |
36.00% |
| 3. |
Books |
6.40% |
49.80% |
| 4. |
Christmas |
4.60% |
47.80% |
| 5. |
Games |
3.00% |
25.50% |
| 6. |
Music |
2.80% |
18.50% |
| 7. |
House & Garden |
2.70% |
38.80% |
| 8. |
Adult |
2.60% |
43.30% |
| 9. |
Gifts |
2.30% |
55.50% |
| 10. |
Tickets |
2.10% |
56.40% |
| 11. |
Health & Beauty |
1.60% |
43.90% |
| 12. |
Automotive |
1.00% |
37.50% |
| 13. |
Sports |
0.40% |
38.00% |
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| Understanding Competitors’ Advertising Strategies by Comparing to Your Audience |
By using Hitwise Demographics and Lifestyle tools, you can identify the differences between the audience of your website and that of your competitors, industries and overall online population. For example, if you are Myer, and one of your competitors is Harvey Norman, by conducting an audience 'Compare With' report you can compare the key differences between the two websites. The chart shows how Myer's audience profile differs from Harvey Norman by age. The representation index is highest for the 18-24 age bracket, where Myer attracts 35% more of the audience than Harvey Norman with a share of 17.55% for the four weeks ending 31/01/2009. This insight is invaluable for gaining a competitive edge over your direct competitors.
For Hitwise clients who would like to discuss these products further, please contact Hitwise Customer Support, or visit the Hitwise University and review the Hitwise Demographics and Lifestyle Upgrade - Client FAQ.
To learn more about Hitwise data and Demographics and Lifestyle tools, request a Demographics or Lifestyle profile on your website or your competitor's.
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| 1. |
18 - 24 |
17.55% |
12.97% |
135 |
| 2. |
45 - 54 |
18.12% |
16.82% |
108 |
| 3. |
Over 55 |
22.61% |
23.22% |
97 |
| 4. |
25 - 34 |
22.92% |
25.13% |
91 |
| 5. |
35 - 44 |
18.80% |
21.87% |
86 |
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| Formatting Title Tags for Search Engine Optimisation |
The title tag is one of the most important factors on your page that contributes to organic Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) rankings. It should describe the content of the page but also be qualified so that it encourages a call to action.
A title tag has the following html format ‘<title></title>’ and is included before the ‘<body>’ tag on a page. You should ensure that each page on your website has a unique title tag; otherwise Google may identify your pages as having duplicate content, on the basis that they have the same title tag.
Case study:
We need to add a title tag to a page on the Hitwise website for webinars. From the perspective of Google Analytics, here are two examples of a poorly and well formatted title tag:
Example 1: <title>Untitled Page – Hitwise</title>
In this first example you will notice that the title does not describe the content of the page, which could lead Google Analytics to believe that there is an issue with the content management system or that the title tag has not been set. Would you want your content on Google Analytics ranking for the word 'Untitled Page'?
Example 2: <title>Webinars February 2009 - Hitwise</title>
In this second example, the title tag is well formatted; it describes the content of the page, the relevant period and also highlights the user to the brand. Remember the terms closest to the start of the tag get preference which is why you should aim to keep the brand at the end of the title tag.
For more information on this topic or about Hitwise Search Marketing Services please email search.csm@hitwise.com.
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| SBS World News Australia – www.sbs.com.au/news |
The SBS World News Australia (www.sbs.com.au/news) website jumped 87 places within a week to rank 6th in the Television - Programmes industry for the week ending 07/02/2009. The website achieved a market share of 3.45%, which was a 25-fold increase from the previous week in the Television - Programmes industry.
SBS World News Australia is the online presence of the SBS World News bulletin and other news and current affairs programmes. It features news headlines and sections for viewers to have their say on current issues.
The website achieved an average visit time of 8.43 minutes for the week ending 07/02/2009, which was a 5.21 minute increase from the previous week.
The top five search terms driving traffic to SBS World News Australia for the 4 weeks ending 07/02/2009 were: sbs news, sbs, stimulus package, dateline and living black.
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| Health and Medical - Organisations |
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The following report lists the most popular terms typed into a search engine over the 4 weeks ending 07/02/2009 that resulted in traffic to websites classified by Hitwise within the 'Health and Medical - Organisations' industry. For example, the most popular search term was 'beyond blue' representing 1.34% of all search terms that delivered users to websites classified by Hitwise in the 'Health and Medical - Organisations' industry.
|
|
| 1. |
beyond blue |
1.34% |
| 2. |
cancer council |
0.61% |
| 3. |
worlds greatest shave |
0.46% |
| 4. |
diabetes australia |
0.44% |
| 5. |
aps |
0.36% |
| 6. |
st johns ambulance |
0.35% |
| 7. |
heart foundation |
0.33% |
| 8. |
depression |
0.29% |
| 9. |
royal melbourne hospital |
0.28% |
| 10. |
nbv |
0.26% |
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| Business and Finance - Stocks and Shares |
| This section includes any sites belonging to stockbroking firms or individual stockbrokers, or any sites offering online share-trading or related services. The category also includes sites which focus on stocks and shares. All data below is based on All sites » Weekly rankings for the week ending 07/02/2009 » Ranks by 'Visits'. |
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| 69.6% |
|
of traffic to this category was directed at domestic sites.
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|
|
| 1. |
Computers and Internet |
46.28% |
| 2. |
Business and Finance |
25.40% |
| 3. |
Computers and Internet - Search Engines |
23.52% |
| 4. |
News and Media |
16.91% |
| 5. |
Business and Finance - Stocks and Shares |
12.21% |
| 6. |
Computers and Internet - Portal Frontpages |
10.82% |
| 7. |
Business and Finance - Banks and Financial Institutions |
7.72% |
| 8. |
Business and Finance - Business Information |
5.69% |
| 9. |
News and Media - Print |
5.36% |
| 10. |
Computers and Internet - Social Networking and Forums |
4.91% |
|
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|
|
| 1. |
Business and Finance |
35.18% |
| 2. |
Computers and Internet |
27.34% |
| 3. |
News and Media |
17.01% |
| 4. |
Business and Finance - Stocks and Shares |
16.68% |
| 5. |
Business and Finance - Banks and Financial Institutions |
10.25% |
| 6. |
Computers and Internet - Search Engines |
9.99% |
| 7. |
Business and Finance - Business Information |
8.20% |
| 8. |
Entertainment |
6.86% |
| 9. |
News and Media - Print |
6.48% |
| 10. |
Computers and Internet - Social Networking and Forums |
5.42% |
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| How To Survive a Recession? |
Search term variations on the term 'how to' always provide interesting insight into the population's psyche and curiosities. It is generally very representative too considering the staggering amount of variations.
For the four weeks ending 07/02/2009 there were over 208,000 variations with perennial favourites once again featuring highly including: 'how to write a resume'; 'how to tie a tie'; 'how to draw' and 'how to lose weight' which were all in the top ten.
However that week there was a new leader - a 'how to' that's never featured in this auspicious list before. In a sign of the times 'how to survive a recession' was the number one search variation for the term 'how to' for the four weeks ending 07/02/2009 and accounted for 0.20% of all searches for the term. Now you know.
Visit the Hitwise To Go website for regular updates.
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