• by dave.b , Max Kalehoff , March 1, 2006

The gold rush of search engine marketing continues, making the big search companies wealthier while providing advertisers with the most measurable advertising tactic in history. For good reason, marketers big and small have given credence to the short-term, direct-response benefits of paid search and optimization. OK, that's dandy. But the cost of that excitement is that search often takes a back seat when it comes to longer-term, more strategic applications.

One significant area where search has tremendous potential involves the long trail of search-query data that consumers leave behind when seeking, comparing and analyzing information. Similar to consumer-generated media--which marketers are increasingly paying attention to amidst the rise of blogs and other social media--consumer search queries represent one of the largest pools of unprompted consumer intelligence. Setting aside keyword buys, consider the wealth of real-time insight into consumer intentions, behaviors, attitudes and drivers.

Searchers are, by definition, highly engaged with the task at hand, so the data they produce in this psychological state are especially valuable and otherwise difficult to collect. And with "engagement" the new buzzword in marketing and advertising circles, it almost seems a crime for any marketer to omit search behavioral analysis--both quantitative and qualitative--as a key input into overall marketing strategy.

Borrowing lessons from CGM measurement and analysis, there are several strategic applications where businesses should leverage consumer search behavioral data. For purposes of this discussion, we'll assume some of the most critical data are from your own Web site server logs, as well as visitor- and ISP-centric sources from companies like comScore, Hitwise and Netratings. (If the big search engines licensed data, they too would be extremely important.)

Four Search Lessons From the CGM Measurement Playbook:

1. Identifying The Right Marketing Questions. Traditional market research--in both survey and focus group settings--often fails to solicit meaningful or accurate feedback because the researchers simply did not know the right questions to ask. Similar to CGM, marketers can tap into search queries to collect unprompted feedback to guide further investment in traditional customer research methods. For example, are sizable volumes of search queries related to a particular automobile suggesting discontent or liking, or heightened interest in distinct attributes? Searchers--essentially, highly involved information seekers--can help identify those key questions marketers should be asking their customers, or determine where to probe deeper.

2. Divulging Consumer Insights. Similar to identifying the right questions, search behavioral data can be used for divulging insights--pure and simple. What are consumers thinking, and what truly matters to them? What questions are they asking in relation to your industry, competitive set or specific brand? What problems or challenges are top of mind? Do time, seasonality and events impact consumer experience and behavior? Consider searches that new moms execute; they can lend tremendous insight into the most important psychological and emotional concerns they have for their newborns. Or consider major national events or even tragedies; marketers can study search data to better understand how consumers interpret and adapt to such events, and what their priorities are.

3. Identifying Issues and Trends Early On. When customers have issues or concerns, they often turn to internal engines on company Web sites as well as public search engines. Therefore, companies should analyze the queries related to their broad industry categories, specific brands and individual products to identify issues and concerns, as well as monitor customer concerns over time. Are searches indicating an upcoming storm of demand for a particular product or service? Or are searches like "faulty products," "recalls" or "class-action lawsuit" mysteriously emerging in connection to one of your brands?

4. Measuring Brand Equity and Marketing Effectiveness. Finally, marketers can look to search behavioral data to better understand marketing effectiveness and brand health. For example, are brand searches increasing concurrently with traditional offline advertising spends? Are search queries reflecting the messaging in your overall marketing? Are searches indicating spiked demand for your product, or a desire to purchase or seek store locations? Or is your marketing causing greater customer interest versus your competitors, as evidenced by brand searches?

So What's Next? To be sure, I've only begun to scratch the surface--there certainly are many more strategic research applications. But the key point is that search behavioral data and analysis should be applied way beyond the isolated search-marketing department (or agency), as it so often is today. As demonstrated by my few examples above, the potential utility spans every key marketing stakeholder, including brand management, corporate communications, customer relations, product development and quality, and advertising, among all others.

How will this notion of search as a strategic research asset advance? For starters, the early successes will be among innovative marketing executives who can apply search behavioral data creatively and holistically in their organizations. There are few firm protocols, and the greatest value comes when the concept moves across departments and functions.

Secondly, the unstructured nature of this data--essentially, human language and expression--will require tailored linguistic technologies and research techniques, similar to CGM analysis. The reality is that search is characteristic of the long tail--there are millions, if not billions, of popular and niche phrases and terms to be decoded.

Third, search behavioral and query data will increasingly be linked to and studied in relation to other consumer research and customer data, including media consumption and purchasing behavior. It will increasingly enter the worlds of customer relationship management systems, market modeling and econometrics.

 

Where do you see search behavioral data benefiting your organization?