The latest research commissioned by Microsoft and carried out by Nielsen NetRatings suggests there is a lot more to the ‘which engine’ decision than ad formats and CPCs.
The study (pdf) shows a significant difference in consumer attitudes to the different search engines which, crucially, can be leveraged to a marketers advantage.
For many the traditional approach to Pay Per Click marketing has been to max out volume on the clear market leader Google before looking to expand traffic levels at a later date across Yahoo, MSN et al. More savvy marketers have known for some time that these engines are far from equal and to make the most of a client’s (often tight) budget it is essential to play to their individual strengths.
This is where the new research comes in.
95% of people agreed with the statement “I trust the search engine” in reference to Microsoft’s Live Search, compared with 89% and 83% respectively for Yahoo and Google, whilst 69% agreed that Live Search would “only list websites that are reliable and trustworthy” compared to 54% and 47% for the other two engines. This is particularly surprising considering the mind-blowing amount of love and loyalty held by many towards Google (although this is less true of those working in online marketing!).
Also valuable from a search marketing perspective is the response to the statement “I tend to view a website more favourably if it appears in the sponsored listings”. A huge 36% of Live Search users agreed with this statement, compared to 18% for Yahoo and only 15% for Google. This is particularly surprising considering the long-held perception that user’s don’t trust paid listings and that an organic listing carries a lot more weight.
Before this starts to come across as a total evangelisation of MSN Live Search it is important to point out that it has some fairly serious limitations, and there are times when the traditional ‘Google first’ approach remains the best way to go. Volume on MSN, and to a lesser extent Yahoo, remains a major issue, and as such wherever a campaign relies on targeting niche areas, or high converting long-tail keywords, there is little either can do to help.
Reliability of the data
Oddly enough it only seems to be MSN investing time and money into these studies, with little or no comparable efforts from either Google or Yahoo. So to waht extent can we rely on this data? Cretainly it all casts MSN in the most favourable light, but then if you’re Google or Yahoo why would you release studies that suggested you weren’t the top dog in the market? Also, the fact that these studies are carried out by Nielsen NetRatings puts a fairly large stamp of both reliability and impartiality on them, whilst years of experience working with all three engines also supports their findings.
So what does this mean from a marketing perspective? Where a user trusts the search engine, and this same trust is extended to the sites within its listings they are more likely to provide their contact details, believe a particular message, and have faith in the company’s products and services; in short they are more likely to convert. This tallies with research into conversion figures for the three engines which suggests MSN tends to be up to 2x more likely to generate conversions than either of the other two big players.
So where ROI is the primary goal for a campaign MSN is worth considering as a first, rather than a second or third, port of call, but as a campaign moves towards the niche and the highly specific Google remains the only realistic option when more than a dozen clicks a month are required.