PPC Predictions for 2010

Predicting the future of any industry is always going to be difficult, but for PPC it is even more complex. Although leading analysts are estimating that paid search will grow significantly this year, how much and it what areas remains uncertain.

What is clear however is that as more and more cash is pumped into PPC , a greater number of tactics, channels and targeting options will need to develop to ensure that search marketers can deliver better ROI’s to their clients, and therefore spend even more money on paid search.

I expect the following trends to help drive paid search growth as we head into 2010.

PPC Trends in 2010

High keyword prices mean that marketers are going to need to be more savvy to new optimization techniques in 2010. Forrester Research recently reported that two-third of marketers believe that high keyword prices are their biggest challenge in paid search. Therefore there is a real importance in increasing ROI using campaign tactics such as keyword management, campaign testing and geographic and demographic targeting.

Keyword Quality Score also has to be a priority, because it is an easy way to bring down costs of a campaign whilst at the same time driving conversions up via careful keyword selection, appropriate match types and use of negative keyword terms.

Geographic & demographic targeting techniques is expected to be used more and more by marketers this year. It is however important that it is used carefully to bring a positive ROI.

Campaign testing is another area where investment is expected. Whilst best practice rules apply to all campaigns, ROI fluctuates massively from site to site. By testing a campaign, a strategic advantage will be gained which will result in a more sales and an increased ROI for the business.

Improved Multichannel PPC Marketing

Google recently announced it’s findings that more than half of online shoppers research their purchases on the internet before going on to finalise the transaction in store. This comes as no surprise but highlights the fact that search marketers are currently missing out on credit for potentially half of the revenue that their campaigns are generating.

In 2010, tools for measuring cross channel buying will become more accurate and accessible. For example tracking phone calls through a PPC ad to taking in-store surveys about a high street brand.

We expect these techniques to be perfected more and more, and as they are, multi channel merchants will be in a better position to make decisions on their search strategies to bring both online and offline conversions.

Increasing dominance of Facebook and Twitter

Currently, search engines are processing over a billion queries every month, with the majority of course being handled by Google. Whilst the marketshare clearly belongs to Google, we are seeing an emergence of Social Media websites in the search mix.

Facebook, for example, has over a billion queries on its site each month, and this figure is rising rapidly. Many  social networking sites are expected to extend their own search technology in 2010 and 2011. They will allow users to query the user-generate content in their news feeds. This means that users will find it much easier to get recommendations from their friends on where to go on holiday, what designer bag they should buy or what film they should see at the weekend.

Eventually, PPC search marketers will have to evolve to keep up and tailor their campaigns to account for a more ‘social’ set of keywords. By doing this they will be able to capture customers earlier in their consideration cycle – something that is harder to do on search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Also, the value of this traffic is going to be much higher because people typically place a lot of trust in word of mouth recommendations, particularly from friends.