Commentary

Search Insider Summit Buzz-o-Meter: How Low Can Ya Go?

I was once told that top-10 columns are the lowest form of publishing. Wonder what that makes a column with 10 top-10 lists? Lower than the lowest piece of whale dung at hide tide? Let's find out...

As many of you may know, I've been tracking the buzz at the bi-annual Search Insider Summit since the second show back in November of 2006. Think of it as the Google Trends of, well, Google trends. 

Below is a recap of the past 10 shows, along with the buzzword density of each topic -- that is,  the number of times as a percentage of all shows that a particular buzzword made the list -- including the top 10 from last week's SIS.

November 2006

1. Branding - 30%
2. Integration - 30%
3. Engagement - 10%
4. Assists - 10%
5. Mobile, Local (tie) - 80%, 20%
6. Long Tail - 10%
7. E-mail - 10%
8. Click Fraud - 10%
9. Truthiness - 10%
10. Relevance - 10%

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May 2007
1. Transparency - 30%
2. User-centricity - 10%
3. Content - 20%
4. Analytics - 40%
5. Community, Connection (tie) - 10%, 10%
6. Integration - 30%
7. Discovery, Personalization (tie) - 10%, 10%
8. Social, Mobile, Video (tie) - 60%, 80%, 10%
9. Funnel - 10%
10. Intent - 20%

December 2007

1. Consumers - 10%
2. Universal - 10%
3. Big Agencies - 20%
4. Query - 10%
5. Facebook - 50%
6. Analytics - 40%
7. Recession - 30%
8. Mobile - 80%
9. Widgets - 10%
10. Transparency - 30%

May 2008 - Part 1 and Part 2

1. Google - 50%
2. Clicks - 10%
3. Social, Facebook (tie) - 60%, 50%
4. Integration - 30%
5. Conversation - 10%
6. Branding - 30%
7. Data, Analytics (tie) - 20%, 40%
8. Strategy - 20%
9. Twitter - 40%
10. Mobile, Local (tie) - 80%, 20%

December 2008

1. Google - 50%
2. Economy, Recession (tie) - 20%, 30%
3. Data, Analytics, Attribution (tie) - 20%, 40%, 50%
4. iPhone, Mobile (tie) - 20%, 80%
5. Microsoft - 10%
6. Relationship, Transparency (tie) - 10%, 30%
7. Strategy, Tactics (tie) - 20%, 10%
8. Bid Management, Quality Score (tie) - 10%, 10%
9. Omniture - 10%
10. Social - 60%

May 2009

1. Twitter - 40%
2. Attribution - 50%
3. Exchanges - 10%
4. Last-Click - 10%
5. Bless You, Gesundheit (tie) - 10%, 10%
6. Economy, Recession (tie) - 20%, 30%
7. Free, SEO (tie) - 10%, 30%
8. Affiliates - 10%
9. Social, Mobile (tie) - 60%, 80%
10. Osprey - 10%

December 2009

1. Google -50%
2. Crap, Suck, Puke (tie) - 10%, 10%, 10%
3. Attribution - 50%
4. Social - 60%
5. Agencies - 20%
6. SEO - 30%
7. Twitter - 40%
8. Metrics - 10%
9. Bing - 20%
10. Yahoo, AOL (tie) - 20%, 10%

April 2010

1. Intent, Targeting (tie) - 20%, 10%
2. Apple, iPad, iPhone, iAds (tie) - 10%, 10%, 20%, 10%
3. Mobile - 80%
4. Audience - 10%
5. Apps - 10%
6. Facebook, Social Media (tie) - 50%, 60%
7. Content - 20%
8. Attribution - 50%
9. Bark! - 10%
10. Digital Natives, Gen Next (tie) - 10%, 10%

December 2010

1. Google - 50%
2. Facebook - 50%
3. Like - 10%
4. Data - 30%
5. Bing - 30%
6. Mobile - 80%
7. Attribution - 50%
7. Display, Yahoo (tie) - 10%, 30%
9. Groupon - 10%
10. Funicular - 10%

 

May 2011

1. Marketing - 10%. The focus of this show was reinvention. And, in delivering on that theme, SIS Programming Chair and MC Gord Hotchkiss not only gave attendees a new framework for thinking about search, he reinvented what exactly a search conference could be. Indeed, this show went deep on the M in SEM and light on the S (see #10). As for the Es, they were pretty well represented, starting with...

2. Google - 50%. The Big G was everywhere, including my shirt every day --  and night (except for the Yahoo dinner).

3. Facebook - 50%. John Yi from FB showed us how social networks have reinvented word-of-mouth and, in the process, given us an alternative to the authoritative algorithm.

4. Twitter - 40%. Beyondways to leverage this fast-growing social media channel, the debate about the on-stage content that appeared throughout the show on the Twitter screen has now carried on after the show about the Twitter screen.

5. Brand, Branding (tie) - 30%. It should come as no surprise that the Buzz-o-Meter reveals an inverse relationship between "branding" and "recession." Like the groundhog seeing its shadow, when marketers see a bad economy, we can expect a few more months of direct-response dollars. Fortunately, this year the Punxsutawney purse strings seem to be nice and loose.

6. "Minority Report" - 10%. That scene with John Anderton walking through the mall made its way into three, count 'em, three, presentations. Credit Steven Spielberg with reinventing behavioral targeting. Meanwhile, Tom Cruise made another appearance, this time as Jerry Maguire, in my deck about personalization vs. privacy and the implications for advertising.

7. Bing, Yahoo (tie) - 30%, 20%. It's only a matter of time before these two are tied in the query share rankings as well. For what it's worth -- and what it's worth seems to be a steady 30% overall share -- both Bing and Yahoo are continuing to innovate the search experience, as demonstrated by Stefan Weitz and Shashi Seth respectively and respectfully.

8. Love - 10%. Love was in the air, literally, as the South Florida Lovebugs mated all around.

9. SEO Rapper - 10%. Chuck killed it. And me. Although I had it coming. It appears my rapskillspeaked in Deer Valley. 

10. Search - 10%. Last and, by some accounts, least on the list of hot topics at the Search Insider Summit was search itself. Indeed, the conference's namesake is now tied with Gesundheit and Truthiness when it comes to all-time buzzword density. Perhaps it's time to go with the name we joked about back in May of 2008... the Neurological Insider Summit! Think about it...

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