• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, December 15, 2011

Kenshoo will move to integrate data from Covario Organic Search Insight and other SEO platforms to enable keyword-level analysis and optimization. It's part of the company's product road map for 2012, along with plans to bring check-in data into Kenshoo's platform to view alongside search and social, and compare online advertising with in-store traffic.

Next year, Kenshoo also plans to add performance data to allow campaign management in an offline environment, improve paid-search algorithms to understand marginal impact of each customer interaction, and expand beyond Facebook to enable ad management across other social networks.

The move signals a change in partnerships and collaboration among industry rivals to support search engine marketing and social media.

Such changes convinced Michael McVeigh, vice president of strategic services at Zeta Interactive, a full-service marketing agency, to move $50 million in annual client budgets -- about 20 accounts.

Historically, the agency had run campaigns on a proprietary in-house search engine marketing platform the company will "sunset." McVeigh said the move to Kenshoo's technology will better support clients, such as Sony and Hard Rock Hotel, through SEM and bid management services.

Some agencies and smaller search companies that are focused on strategic planning, consumer insights and brand positioning can't keep up with the speed with which technology changes. They choose to shut down proprietary technology and opt in to programs offered by companies with more sophisticated platforms.

McVeigh used descriptors like "laser focused" and "fast scaled" to describe Kenshoo's technology, which pushes out about 24 release cycles -- four major ones -- yearly. 

Making the commitment to technology requires a different organizational structure, said Aaron Goldman, Kenshoo CMO. "We have 150 engineers in Tel Aviv working around the clock to get things done," Goldman said. 

On the impact front, Kenshoo's technology serves up more than 4 billion Facebook ads weekly, more than 1 billion SEM ads delivered daily, and more than 1 million clicks and conversions tracked hourly.

Aside from client search budgets, Kenshoo continues to attract top talent from companies such as Total Immersion, which focuses on augmented reality; and eBay, which provides online auctions and small business sites.

Building out its social services and link with search engine marketing, Kenshoo Social supports Facebook ad and targeting formats and provides segmentation and cross-channel attribution through the Facebook Ads API. Behind this move, Kenshoo snagged Max Polisar of Total Immersion. Kenshoo named Polisar social vice president, sales; and Chris Knoch as Kenshoo social vice president of client services. Knoch joined from Ready Financial.

This week, Kenshoo appointed William Martin-Gill general manager of Kenshoo Enterprise. He joins the company from eBay, where he served as director of global search engine marketing and managed the company’s global paid-search efforts and Triton platform. Before joining eBay in 2004, Martin-Gill spent three years with the Boston Consulting Group, where he and a team conceived and launched Orbitz.com. 

The company also appointed Ziv Oren CIO, joining Kenshoo from 888, an online gaming company; and Sarit Firon, who held the position of CFO at MediaMind.