Michael Roebuck's Blog

Time has come yet again for another Search Engine Strategies conference. I always look forward to these events as I get to hear the latest from the search engines and I also get to see friends and colleagues that I've gotten to know over the years in the same industry. When you live in a small town like I do, it's nice to be able to talk with others that understand what you are talking about. I was especially pleased to run into an old colleague, Warren Duff from I Need Hits. He was a regular at these shows but has since moved up throughout the company and doesn't travel as much nowadays. We had a nice chat. It's probably been about 3 years since I've seen him. Of course I ran into other friends as well; Rob Snell, Dave Burke, and others.

Today was an interesting day. It's kind of a blur. Sometimes time flew by and others it seemed to lie still. It definately was a day of statistics. One fact that I hadn't really realized was the increase in paid advertising in search. Sure, we've all seen it, but I never put two and two together. The search engines are making money from the paid ads right? Then it's only logical that they show the ads more often. Because Search Engines are showing more ads, the organic to paid ad click ratio is changing. Over 70% of searches contain a paid ad. It used to be about 70% of searchers clicked on organic results and 30% clicked on paid. That ratio is now changing and 62% of the searchers are unaware of the difference! According to Comscore, there has been a 38% increase in paid traffic click thru's and a 29% increase in organic from last year.

Also, because big brands are putting more money into paid ads, they are driving up the prices and shutting out the small businesses. Because of this, there has been a big shift towards local search. We have already seen this and work with local search, but if you aren't testing local search, you need to start.

Another interesting study was with Enquiro and the heat maps. There studies show that searchers look at the paid listings on Google but not MSN. Go figure! We don't do a lot with MSN PPC because of very low conversions. I guess we aren't alone!

Some more fun facts for parties include:

According to Nielsen/Netratings; Market Share:
49.4% Google
23.0% Yahoo
10.3% MSN
6.9% AOL
2.3 Ask


According to Hitwise; Market Share:
60.2% Google
22.5% Yahoo
11.9% MSN
3.3% Ask
2.2% Other


Comscore reports:
Google Users typically have higher incomes
MSN Users typically are older than 35 years old
Yahoo Users typically are younger than 35


iProspect reports that 68% searchers click on the first page of results only.


Enquiro reports the best PPC positions to be in are 1,2,3,7 or 8.


Everyone typically agrees that you need to do both; top position PPC (if your conversions allow) and organic listings. Searchers tend to think those listings in the top 3 to 5 positions are authorities on the searched subject. Therefore, get top rankings!

You like statistics? Visit Hitwise blog at ILoveData.com.

OK, that's enough statistics for one day. Come back tomorrow for day 2 of Search Engine Strategies from San Jose, California! (Or the next day as tomorrow is the Google Dance. I might be out late. Don't wait up for me!

Also, before I go..... We were fortunate enough to arrive in San Jose two days early so we could take the train to San Francisco. We had a great time and managed to visit Alcatraz. Below are some pictures of the trip. If ever in San Francisco, be sure to eat the Clam Chowder from a sourdough bread bowl as well. Absolutely delicious! Take Care and see you tomorrow!

Google Sitemaps Presentation. Lots of cool new happenings with Google.


Matt Cutts with Google


Karl and Jessica on the train to San Francisco.




Al Capone's cell














Remember my post about the oxygen bar in Las Vegas? I guess they have one in California as well! At least it wasn't next to a plastic surgery doctor.