WSJ.com - The New Benefits of Web-Search Queries

Commentary:
Since starting Search Engine Operator, Inc (www.SEO.cc), September of 2005, we have stressed to our clients to use the keyword research we supply them to understand their clients better. The WSJ (Wall Street Journal) published an article (below) on February 6, 2007 titled “The New Benefits of Web-Search Queries.” Corporate America is using the keyword data to understand what their potential consumer is looking for and then selling to them in their language. In the dental world this could be as simple as stressing “cosmetic dentistry” vs. “sedation dentistry.” Check it out and feel free to ask questions.

Article:

February 6, 2007


The New Benefits of Web-Search Queries
Companies Use ResearchTo Develop Products,Trail Consumer Interests
By KEVIN J. DELANEYFebruary 6, 2007; Page B3

Some businesses are discovering that Web search isn't just for marketing their offerings -- but also for deciding what to sell in the first place.
National Instruments Corp., an Austin, Texas, maker of software and hardware for engineers and scientists, had for years sold products that required buyers to install circuit boards in their desktop computers. Then research revealed that engineers, when searching the Web for such products, were increasingly attaching the letters "USB" -- the initials of Universal Serial Bus, a type of interface commonly found on computers -- to their queries. That observation reinforced National Instruments' decision to sell new versions of its products with USB interfaces and helped it pick which products to start with.
SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS

• What's New: Companies are using data about what consumers are searching for on the Web to help with product research and decision-making. • The Background: Search ads have been used in marketing for years; now some firms say search data can give broader insights for running their businesses. • Step to Consider: Numerous Web sites provide free data on what Internet search terms consumers are using.
The result was "one of the fastest-growing and most-successful product launches from a volume and revenue perspective, ever" for the company, says Christer Ljungdahl, National Instruments' director of Web and direct marketing.
People conduct hundreds of millions of search queries daily, many looking for goods or services to buy. Businesses in the U.S. this year will spend an estimated $8.3 billion to have their ads displayed alongside the results offered up by search engines, according to eMarketer Inc. Now, some companies such as National Instruments are figuring that what users type into search boxes offers insight into what people are actually interested in buying.
Businesses are learning to use Web-based services from Internet companies Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. and other independent tools to evaluate the volumes of searches conducted on any given keyword. While few businesses say search data are their only source for product research or decision-making, some say it plays a useful role.
Companies that buy search-related advertising through Google and Yahoo can access the online keyword tools, which enable them to enter specific terms and see estimates of consumer search queries or clicks on related search ads for a given time period. Yahoo has a free online tool accessible to anyone as well at inventory.overture.com/d /searchinventory/suggestion/1.
Typing "widget" into that service, for example, indicates that consumers conducted 17,564 searches containing the word through Yahoo in December, while they searched for "gadget" 58,979 times. Yahoo says it plans to release an upgraded version this year. Microsoft Corp. has a free prototype service that offers historical monthly search volumes and forecasts for a few months, as well as an age and gender breakdown of those searching (adlab.microsoft.com/ForecastV2/KeywordTrendsWeb.aspx2).
Other so-called keyword-research services include Wordtracker from Rivergold Associates Ltd., which has a free version of its service that estimates daily query volume for terms and related keywords (freekeywords.wordtracker.com3). Some other Web sites (www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion4 and tools.seobook.com/general/keyword5) let users research keywords, drawing from the Yahoo and Wordtracker data.
In addition, Trellian offers a free version of its service called KeywordDiscovery (www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html6). Other software that companies commonly use to monitor traffic on their Web sites can provide some data on what words consumers are searching for, since it often tracks what search query led them to the site in the first place.
Google offers a free service called Trends (trends.google.com7) that lets users see graphs of relative query volumes over time for any given keywords, and even compare relative query volumes for several keyword phrases. The data on Trends are delayed by one month in some cases, and Google doesn't provide numerical values for the volumes, instead just graphing them in relative terms.
Companies use such keyword tools to help tweak the marketing of their products. Some try to buy advertising linked to the most popular keywords entered by users in searches related to the companies' businesses. Others look for the words consumers most often use in relation to their offerings and create marketing content that could be picked up by search engines. Businesses also often use software to analyze users' activities on their own Web sites to help decide what to sell and how to more effectively present it.
Siemens Medical Solutions is going a step further in selecting a name for a new personal health-card product based largely on search-related data gleaned from Yahoo and Google tools. The product name hasn't been finalized, but "the search volume research is driving the decision," says Inga Broerman, senior manager of interactive marketing at the unit of Germany's Siemens AG.
There is evidence that data about consumer searches could prove valuable to businesses in other ways. As part of an experiment, Google analyzed search-query volumes related to movies released in 2005 and compared them with opening weekend box-office revenue for each movie. The company found that it could predict with 82% or higher accuracy based on consumer search activity as early as six weeks before the opening whether a film would top $25 million in receipts its first weekend.
While Hollywood studios already have other ways, such as consumer surveys, for helping predict blockbusters, the Google experiment shows how an automated approach could be brought to the issue. The Internet company believes there are potential applications of similar analyses in other industries, such as using search-query activity to anticipate consumer demand in order to staff call centers appropriately.
Then there is the matter of product research. Thomas McDermott, owner of 4 Aces Golf in Gettysburg, Pa., is using query-volume data to help decide which brands of golf clubs to carry in the online golf store he plans to open by this summer. A former Google sales executive, Mr. McDermott says initially he can only carry a handful of brands of clubs and that he is looking to find the brands with the strongest consumer-search interest to help his business quickly get off the ground.
At National Instruments, the company recently released products used by automotive engineers to test the quality of cars. Partly based on its search research, National Instruments decided to release an additional version of the product compatible with a specific automotive data protocol. "Search helped us validate that this was a big enough market space," Mr. Ljungdahl says.
Brett Crosby, a Google senior manager for its Analytics service, which helps companies track user activity on their sites and the success of their online ads, applauds that approach. "If people aren't listening to the way customers are voting through search for what they want on their Web site and the products they want them to build, they're not listening to their customers," he says.
Write to Kevin J. Delaney at kevin.delaney@wsj.com8

URL for this article:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117072306604598983.html

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