Search

Online search is huge. Gargantuan. It's the jumping off point for the Internet's millions of users. Google is the biggest brand on the planet, within 10 years of its launch.

A lot of people using search aren't looking for something new. They're trying to find their way back to places they've already been. According to online ad company Atlas, 71% of paid search clicks are of this nature. People are navigating, as opposed to exploring. Search is becoming a giant, visual, interactive map, helping us navigate our lives and the body of human knowledge.

Google has blazed a trail with Universal Search, recently introduced in Australia. The system combines listings from video, images, news and book searches, along with traditional search. If you haven't already found your way to the old vertical search options in Google (search Images, News, Maps, Groups, Scholar etc. - right above the search field, start here, then expand your horizons!)

Google has also just released an integrated application for the iPhone and iPod touch. The webapp allows users to access to Google search, Gmail, Calendar and Reader applications in one place. Google remembers where you are and gives relevant, localised search results - all formatted for your iPhone.

As the out and out market leader, commanding around 80% of the paid search market, Google can afford to commit time to growing the search market. As such, it comes across as being rather philanthropic (particularly in countries where it's not subject to the pressures of controlling governments) because it's constantly conducting experiments, with the help of users, to improve the experience of search. From contextual search to short cuts, Google is always looking for new ways to solve problems. If you want to participate in Google's various experiments to improve search, check out Google Experimental

But Google isn't alone in its desire to improve. New visual tools, meta-searches and vertical search engines are making navigation much more intuitive. Search Crystal, which allows users to compare multiple engines, including images, video, social news and RSS feeds, is a clever tool, which can be embedded as a widget on your website, or on Facebook. Again, it's in beta mode right now, so get using it and tell them how to make it better!


Search Advertising

Unsurprisingly, search + directories, worth around $600m in 2007, is the largest category of online advertising. Search + directories accounted for 45% of all online adspend in quarter 2 2007 (IAB). Banners and rich media were 28% of spend and classifieds, 27%. Search adspend has risen considerably in the past five years, accounting for just 20% of expenditure in 2002. Strong growth is predicted, with Google estimating market growth at around 30-40% next year (SMH 15.11.07), which is conservative compared to some projections.

Within paid search, Google's user-friendly AdWords is the dominant player. Advertisers assign keywords to their ads and when one of those words is used in a search, the ad may appear next to the results. The positioning of ads is determined by a number of factors, governed by a 'quality score'. This factors in how relevant the ad's copy is to the content on the advertiser's website, and, the click-through rate from the ad. Advertisers pay when people click through to their ads.

Such is the influence of Google AdWords that both Facebook and Yahoo! have used the system to promote their own advertising platforms. Yahoo's sponsored search Panama has recently undergone a facelift, with the introduction of a quality score. It seems they're keen to address gripes about user-unfriendliness. 'Easy' and 'simple' are duly stressed, with a promise to get your campaign online in minutes in 5 easy steps.