1. Best and Worst of Paid Search
in 2009: The Omniture Response
COMPANION PIECE
Forrester Research, lead by Shar VanBoskirk, addressed the issues surrounding
the best and worst of paid search in 2009 in a report of the same name. In the Paid search ads fail due to:
report, Forrester judged the success or failure of paid search campaigns based on
a system of judging they called the “Search Marketing Review” (hereafter “the Keywords:
Review”). The Review was Forrester’s objective means of reviewing 300 of the The searched key term is used
most relevant search terms spread out among major industry verticals to diagnose improperly or not at all
various “search program strengths, defects, and ways to improve effectiveness.”*
The report identified ways that paid search campaigns were falling short Conversion:
throughout specific industry verticals. Search ads don’t properly
motivate buyers or weed out
Since many of the industry-specific challenges could be applied to most any those who won’t buy
organization—no matter the industry—we put vertical aside in this companion
guide and offer our feedback about how solutions in the Omniture Online Landing page:
Marketing Suite can address the paid search challenges Forrester identified. Searchers are taken to pages
that don’t properly fit the
BUSINESS CHALLENGE searched term
According to the Review (which included five common search terms across six
different industries and then a qualitative evaluation of the first 10 Google AdWords
ads that appeared), more than half of search-based ads failed to be effective.
Why?
Forrester stated*that the ads failed in three main categories:
1. Keywords—they were inefficiently used or not used at all in the ad itself
2. Conversions—the ads failed to screen out irrelevant clickers or move them
to take action
3. Landing pages—visitors were taken to pages not relevant to their search, or
pages that offered “not enough content or too much detail*”
Omniture can help marketers streamline and optimize their paid search marketing
through the use of solutions found in the Omniture Online Marketing Suite. This
guide has aggregated reports, briefs and webinars that address how Omniture can
assist you with the challenges outlined above.
OMNITURE IMPROVES YOUR PAID SEARCH M ARKETING
Keywords
Forrester’s Review found that more than 25 percent of the ads they saw did not
include the keyword searched in either the title of the page or the page copy. Users
need to see that their searches are relevant and leading them to the right places.
Omniture offers a white paper that discusses how you can avoid this issue by
effectively reinforcing your marketing message from keyword to your landing page,
and additionally how to test better options for your pages.

2. Access the full guide: OMNITURE SEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS
How to Exponentially Increase Conversion from Search. Plan for short and long-term business goals
Forrester points out the importance of not just looking at
Conversion instant measurement data that comes from paid search ads,
Not every customer will take the same path to a purchase but making sure that customer relationships are maintained
or other conversion on your site. Still, over time, you’ll be through looking at both SEO and paid search.
able to identify the paths that are better worn by the many
who come through your site. These well-beaten paths are World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. needed to improve the
often the different segments that make up the whole of effectiveness of their paid search campaigns and increase
your customers. As you begin marketing specifically to these their rankings and return on ad spend associated with their
segments, you will be offering a more relevant experience keyword purchases. They were able to achieve a 245% ROAS
to your customers and waste less money on umbrella with Omniture SearchCenter.
campaigns that are relevant to no one because they try to
encompass everyone. See the success the WWE saw with Omniture SearchCenter:
WWE Improves Search Marketing Strategies with Omniture
Omniture offers a webinar that will give you a new SearchCenter.
perspective of segmentation and how companies have
increased conversion from targeting specific segments: Use Search across user’s purchase processes. Instead of just
Using Segmentation to Retrain & Attract Customers. focusing on paid search strategies that drive sales, marketers
must be making ads that influence customers to convert.
Landing Pages
Too often, the landing page that a search ad takes a Omniture and EngineWorks team up in a webinar to share
customer to is not relevant to the search. The page can be some tips on how they have created search ads that are
too generic leaving the customer to search for more. It can attributed to improving conversion.
be a page with too much information, or the wrong page
altogether. All of these drive customers away quickly and, Watch the webinar:
unfortunately, very efficiently. Building a Search Powered Marketing Mix.
SearchCenter is Omniture’s solution for optimizing and
automating search marketing campaigns. Let SearchCenter *The Best and Worst of Paid Search In 2009. 7/23/09. Shar VanBoskirk,
Forrester Research.
help you gain consistency from your search ad message
to the landing page. Learn more about Omniture
SearchCenter’s Landing Page Optimization feature.
OMNITURE—THE LEADER IN ONLINE BUSINESS OPTIMIZATION
Omniture, a business unit of Adobe Systems Incorporated, is a leading provider of online business optimization software for managing
and enhancing online, offline and multi-channel business initiatives. Hosted and delivered via on-demand subscription service and on-
premise solution, Omniture software enables customers to capture, store and analyze information generated by their Web sites and
other sources, providing business insights into the performance and efficiency of marketing and sales initiatives and other business
processes. For more information, visit www.omniture.com
WEB: omniture.com
EMAIL: info@omniture.com
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