Commentary
One Keyword, 909 Advertisers
- by Rob Garner , February 11, 2009
There have been many search marketers (including myself), who have long been saying that the search space is going to get very crowded in terms of competition in both paid and natural results. As evidence that this trend has hit -- and maybe even passed -- the tipping point in certain competitive keyword spaces, I typed "coats" into Google and checked out "view more advertisers."
The result? There were "about" 909 advertisers for the term "coats" alone.
The details of how and why so many ads are showing
up for the term is worthy of a much longer column. Some are aggressively bidding to own the term from a branding perspective. Some have calculated a true ROI, and are appearing in their sweet
spot that makes this very broad term profitable. Others have no idea what they are doing and are bidding blindly, staying visible until their budget flames out. And even more have their campaigns
set to broad match for the term, which may be done with or without much thought (my match for "coats" with quotes yielded 734 advertisers).
"Coats" is certainly not the only term with
this type of volume, and many other broad related terms have similar volumes of competition. For example, check out "shoes" (566), "books" (931), and "college" (808). This high volume is not just limited to
single-word terms. "Apply for a credit card" yielded about 281 advertisers, and an even lower volume financial phrase, "savings account" had more than 200 advertisers. "Mortgage
refinance" had 202 advertisers.
Even some local searches have a lot of competition. "Dallas home for
sale" had more than 40 competitors, and "Southlake Texas home for sale" had 17 matches. The implication is that advertisers in competitive keyword spaces are going to have to be very smart
about their campaigns on many different levels (again, the topic of a much longer column).
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The volume of ads also brings up other questions. Is it a sign of how the economic climate has
driven more and more advertisers to search? When will some of these newer advertisers become more sophisticated with their paid search campaign strategy, in terms of developing keyword lists and
matching options? Realizing that the paid space is expensive and crowded, will any of these advertisers shift budget into developing natural search traffic, where the majority of clicks occur?
With limited SERP real estate, can one engine's paid search space truly support this much competition at the keyword level?
Again, too many questions to answer in a short and casual
column such as this, but to get a perspective on the volume in the mix for a single term, I'll leave you with the first 75 or so advertisers listed in Google Adwords for the exact term "coats", by
display URL:
www.SmartBargains.com/Coats
www.amazon.com/Turfer
www.Zappos.com/Coats-Jackets/
www.LandsEnd.com coats
coats.GreatStyleDeals.com
Like.com/Coats
JCPenney.com
www.StJohnKnits.com
Shopzilla.com
www.JillianDistributors.com/Jacket
www.CoatsFirm.com
www.espritshop.com/Coats
Become.com
www.EddieBauer.com
www.MichaelKors.com
TerritoryAhead.com
www.Talbots.com
www.RusticSkins.co.uk
Yahoo.com
www.anthropologie.com
www.Leatherup.com
www.KingSizeDirect.com
www.moonbeamclothing.com
www.ShopNBC.com
WorkingPerson.com
www.orvis.com
chamberscooke.com
menssuitseparates.com
www.JillianLeather.com
nordstrom.mobi
www.poshandbeyond.com
www.ohwhatanightonline.com
BiggestBook.com/Coats
GrovesIndustrial.com
www.jacketjump.com
www.Top4Finds.com
www.AllHeart.com
savecrazy.com
www.pricerunner.com
NameBrandApparel.com
northdelta.net/jackets.htm
www.LeatherCoatsEtc.com/Chaps
oldisnewagainfurs.com
www.eBay.com
www.eurothreads.com
www.lamodarocks.com
Coats.Industrial101.com
ELLE.com/Shopping/Outerwear
shop.ebay.com
Coats.BizRate.com
mySimon.com/kristen-blake-coats
www.NexTag.com/Winter-Coats
Coats.pronto.com
www.medelita.com/womans-lab-coats
Macys.com/Coats North Face Coats
www.Altrec.com/Coats
purelocal.com/sports-coats
Fur-Coats.explaned101.com
www.ShopUniformWarehouse.com/Coats
www.Shoebuy.com/Marmot-Coats/
www.UnButtonedMaternity.com/Coats
24BB.biz/Coats-Jackets
www.SoftSurroundings.com/Coats
www.FlowerShopping.com/Coats
www.GatorsPlanet.com/Coats
Bluefly.com/Andrew-Marc-Coats
www.Dots.com/Coats
www.craftedwithlove-santabarbara.co
www.net-a-porter.com/Coats
www.Woolrich.com/Coats
www.SoccerGarage.com/Coats
ExOfficio.com/Coats
Coat.OhDeal.com
Search.Live.com/cashback
www.EagleEquip.com
ParagonSports.com/Northface
QwikLook.com/Dog
motoliberty.com
PriceGrabber.com Womens Coats
ivyblue.com
PremierPetSupplies.com
clothingwarehouse.com
Alight.com
Good news - ROI marketing works.
Bad news - everyone wants to do it.
That's why ROI marketers must look beyond Search to get results...we see our own Pulse 360 sponsored links business growing very quickly as advertisers seek to connect with consumers on content pages on top quality sites like MSNBC or Gannett Digital.
This will not let up and we'll all need to be innovative to continue to find ways to efficiently connect marketers with consumers.
wow. did you see some of those landing pages (the topic of a much longer column)...
Thanks for all of the feedback. Clint - allow me to clarify. It is the tipping point for the "crowded paid results page with a lot of competition", not for "search" as a whole. True - there are many stories within that one keyword, and many are wasting their money. But we don't know how many because we don't know their business. Maybe some really are going for brand metrics, and though most are probably not, it is fair to say that there are many others who could use some help.
Michelle - agreed. Certainly the topic of a much longer column. : )