comScore Releases 2007 U.S. Internet Year in Review

Google and Facebook among Biggest Winners in 2007

RESTON, VA, January 30, 2008 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report highlighting the major trends in U.S. Internet activity in 2007, including top gaining properties and site categories, and core search market growth. The biggest winners in 2007 featured some of the top Internet brands, including Google, Facebook, Wikipedia and Craigslist.

Top-Gaining Properties in 2007

A study of the growth in visitors among the top 100 U.S. Internet properties revealed that 2007 was a strong year for several of the largest properties. Social networking giant Facebook.com reaped the benefits of opening registration to all users, jumping 81 percent versus December 2006 to 34.7 million visitors in December 2007. Wikipedia Sites gained 34 percent to reach nearly 52 million visitors, continuing its reign as the Web’s most popular reference hub. Leading classified site Craigslist.org jumped 74 percent to 24.5 million visitors, while AT&T grew 27 percent to 30.2 million visitors boosted by its exclusive deal with Apple as carrier for the iPhone. Yellow Book Network jumped an impressive 137-percent to 10.4 million visitors

Several of the top-gaining properties were driven by the acquisition of Web entities including, but not limited to, the following:

• Everyday Health gained 349 percent driven by its acquisition of several web sites and the addition of Drugs.com to their network.
• Women’s category leader, Glam Media, grew 213 percent during the year, due in large part to the addition of several new entities, including Quality Health Network, MyYearbook.com, and LifeScript.com, among others.
• Yellow Book Network grew 137-percent to 10.4 million visitors, as visitation to Yellowbook.com Sites tripled (up 207 percent to 4.6 million visitors) and one new entity was added to the property.
• iVillage.com: The Women’s Network gained 27 percent with the addition of Sugar Publishing, MakeoverSolutions.com, and iWin.com, among others.
• Demand Media added numerous entities under its Demand Media Knowledge and Demand Media Games media titles, which contributed to its 149-percent growth.
• OfficeMax’s dramatic 199-percent gain was driven primarily by a December 2007 surge in visitation to its popular viral holiday greetings site ElfYourself.com.

comScore Top 20 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* (U.S.) December 2007 vs. December 2006 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
	Total Unique Visitors (000)
	Dec-06	Dec-07	% Change
Total U.S. Internet Audience	174,199	183,619	5
Everyday Health	2,690	12,073	349
Glam Media	7,994	25,028	213
OfficeMax	5,130	15,339	199
Demand Media	5,999	14,958	149
Yellow Book Network	4,386	10,388	137
ValueClick Sites	6,339	13,013	105
Facebook.com	19,105	34,658	81
WorldNow – ABC Owned Sites	8,714	15,474	78
Craigslist.org	14,075	24,468	74
Experian Interactive	8,054	12,500	55
Yellowpages.com Network	16,168	24,453	51
AmericanGreetings Property	11,982	18,102	51
Comcast Corporation	18,716	26,445	41
UGO	8,450	11,912	41
The Mozilla Organization	10,948	15,267	39
Answers.com Sites	10,707	14,899	39
Wikipedia Sites	38,585	51,851	34
iVillage.com: The Womens Network	13,545	17,234	27
AT&T, Inc.	23,833	30,212	27
Internet Broadcasting Systems	9,894	12,394	25

*Ranking based on the top 100 properties in December 2007.

Top-Gaining Site Categories in 2007

The top-gaining site categories in 2007 reflected trends in both the online and offline worlds. The politics category grabbed the top position, gaining 35 percent, as the 2008 presidential election and primary season kicked into high gear. Women’s community sites also jumped 35 percent, as the top two properties in the category, Glam Media and iVillage.com, saw strong growth. With the ever-increasing coverage of celebrity news, from Britney Spears’ meltdowns to Anna Nicole Smith’s death, entertainment news sites jumped 32 percent. Online classifieds had a strong 2007 growing 31 percent versus year ago, as it continued to impinge on traditional news media’s classified revenues.

comScore Top 10 Gaining Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.) December 2007 vs. December 2006 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
	Total Unique Visitors (000)
	Dec-06	Dec-07	% Change
Total U.S. Internet Audience	174,199	183,619	5
Politics	6,192	8,384	35
Community - Women	51,632	69,854	35
Entertainment - News	37,093	49,023	32
Classifieds	31,867	41,688	31
Career – Training and Education	7,865	10,279	31
Gay/Lesbian	1,843	2,367	28
Retail – Consumer Goods	28,829	35,936	25
Finance – News/Research	43,317	52,064	20
Teens	23,313	27,979	20
Religion	19,101	22,886	20

Core Search Query Growth in 2007

In 2007, searches at the five major core search engines increased 15 percent to 9.6 billion searches. Google Sites led with 5.6 billion searches in December 2007, up more than 30 percent from the previous year. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 2.2 billion searches, followed by Microsoft Sites (940 million), Time Warner Network (442 million), and Ask Network (415 million).

comScore Core Search Report* December 2007 vs. December 2006 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore qSearch 2.0
Core Search Entity	Search Queries (MM)
	Dec-06	Dec-07	Percent Change Dec-07 vs. Dec-06
Total Core Search	8,348	9,636	15%
Google Sites	4,317	5,629	30%
Yahoo! Sites	2,300	2,211	-4%
Microsoft Sites	871	940	8%
Time Warner Network	465	442	-5%
Ask Network	396	415	5%

* Based on the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.

More than 113 billion core searches were conducted in the U.S. during all of 2007, with Google Sites accounting for nearly 64 billion, representing a 56 percent share of the market.

Source: http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2043

Today Is the Most Depressing Day of the Year, Google Says No

Are you depressed or unhappy today ?

Maybe you are feeling just fine but Cardiff researchers say that the third Monday of January is the unhappiest or most depressing day of the entire year because of factors like bad weather, unpaid Christmas holiday bills and failed New Year resolutions.

Kate Redway said: ‘Sadly, one in five people in the UK experience depression and this time of year can be particularly difficult, with people in debt after Christmas and finding it hard to settle back into a work routine during dark days.’

However Bill Tancer of Hitwise is not convinced and he intelligently uses search traffic to prove his point. According to Bill, if the world is really feeling depressed and low, they will probably Google the causes and treatment of depression. And that’s not happening.

There are absolutely no spikes for searches related to “depression” and non of the anti-depressant websites have seen any remarkable jump in web traffic.

On the contrary, traffic to sites was highest in November around Thanksgiving which is the start of the holiday season. So people start to feel the blues before the launch of holidays and not afterwards.

It’s an interesting case because search traffic is being used to challenge an “emotional” theory which is otherwise so tough to prove. I’m feeling lucky.


Source: http://www.labnol.org/home/health/google-not-feeling-depressed-unhappy/2114/

Top 5 SEO and Link Building Challenges for 2008

Fear has infected the entire Web community -- not just link buyers and sellers. Google's public attack on paid links has caused a flood of scared Webmasters who are scared to link to other sites. Google's assault on paid links has forced Webmasters to ask: What is a paid link?

Here are the top five trends and challenges SEOs, link builders, and Webmasters face.

1. Webmasters Scared to Link Out

There has always been a segment of Webmasters scared to link out. The number of fearful Webmasters has increased drastically because they're worried Google will consider it a "paid link."

What does Google consider a paid link? Here are two real-world scenarios:
A hotel sends you vouchers for two free nights at their newest chain of suites to reward their "best customers," generate buzz, and gain links.

A software company doesn't charge you their normal consulting rate of $150 an hour for the 15 minutes it took them to fix the problem. You decide to recommend and blog about how great they are.

Linking out is not so black and white anymore.

2. Overuse and Abuse of NoFollow Tags

With that fear of linking to other sites, many Webmasters are choosing to put a NoFollow tag on all outbound links, including established links that may have been live for years. Those established links could be the very links getting you top rankings.

Just the other day I ran across a well established hosting company that put NoFollow tags on their internal links to main product pages from within their content. Most experienced SEOs understand the value and importance of links from within content.

If an established hosting company uses NoFollows in this way, can we honestly expect average Webmasters to use NoFollow on external links in the proper way?

Plus, search engines change their mind on how they want people to use NoFollows over time. At one time, NoFollow was supposed to be used for blog comments that might be spam. Now they want you to use them on all advertising and to sculpt your PageRank.

Wonder why there is confusion and overuse?

3. Neglected Link Building Destroys Top Rankings

Many sites have enjoyed top rankings for years without being proactive in link development. Once they got top rankings they started to take their rankings for granted. Some feel a sense of "entitlement" to top rankings.

"I am generally finding this sense of entitlement and arrogance among Webmasters who have maintained rankings for some time," said Benjamin Pfeiffer, president of RankSmart.com. "If they can't get the rankings, they throw a Google tantrum. This attitude, however, shows their inexperience, as a good SEO would never be so hasty."

This trend of established sites dropping off the first page will only increase in 2008. The fact is while these sites were enjoying the benefits of top ranking; their competition was been proactive in promoting their site and building links.

Ironically, it's much easier to maintain top rankings than play catch-up. Yet large enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses treat SEO and link building as a one-time cure.

4. Google Paid Links Assault: Collateral Damage

With every search engine update, there's always collateral damage. As Google turns up the assault on paid links, some unsuspecting and innocent sites will be wounded.

The average site owner doesn't keep up with SEO. They're not reading Matt Cutts' blog (Google Engineer), SEO sites, or checking for updates to the Google Webmaster Guidelines. They're busy running their business to support their family.

Most people's lives don't revolve around search engines, a fact often forgotten by SEOs and search engines.

In doubt? Consider how many "professional designers" still produce sites that aren't search engine friendly.

5. Scarcity of Link Building Resources

Anyone who has spent time developing high-quality links knows it's time consuming and tedious work. Experienced custom link developers have been in high-demand for some time now.

With Google going to battle with paid links, the demand for custom link development will increase, making custom link services even harder to find.

Companies must decide where to allocate finite resources. For companies with larger budgets, it's easier to outsource link development or take it in-house. Many may reallocate funds from traditional marketing to SEO.

This is harder for companies with smaller budgets. They must make more difficult choices about allocating their limited resources.

This will surely be a challenging and adventurous year. Creative and outside-the-box thinkers will thrive.

As Winston Churchill said, "The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty."


Source:       http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3628061

Search Engine Demographics - Google, Yahoo and MSN

It’s amazing to think that search engines can calculate the gender % of users and their age. But it’s true and recent studies have shown interesting statistics.

A recent study carried out by Hitwise showed that 55% of Google users are male, whereas 58% of MSN users were female. Did you know that paid search listings are most likely to be clicked on my females and organic ads are most likely by males.

Click on Organic Ads Clicked on Paid Ads

Women 56.9% 43.1%

Men 65.4% 34.6%

Google and Yahoo are used mostly by users who are under the age of 34 while MSN is used widely by users who are over 55. Visitors to Google sites are 42% more likely to buy online than the average internet user.

Google, Yahoo and MSN combined make up 85-90% of all searches made by internet users today.

Let’s not forget Ask and AOL who apparently are favourites with the female user….


Source: http://www.vertical-leap.co.uk/blog/Search-Engine-Demographics-ndash;-Google-Yahoo-and-MSN.asp

MSN AdCenter Labs - What a Surprise!

I recently attended the PPC Summit in Los Angeles where I interacted with online marketers from around the country. To my surprise, many of the presenters at the conference referenced MSN adCenter Labs. This is Microsoft's website for testing new prototypes of tools they are currently developing.

After returning from the conference, I decided to check it out for myself. Below is an overview of the tools I found most useful for optimizing your paid search campaigns:

Detecting Online Commercial Intention: Type in a keyword to view the probability that the keyword is commercial or non-commercial. In other words, this tool helps answer the question "Is the searcher a potential customer, or just researching information?" This tool clarifies exactly what the searcher is looking for.

Search Funnels: This is one of my favorite tools! MSN describes it as "a tool to help visualize and analyze our customer's search behaviors." You can see what your customers are searching for before & after they search on keywords you bid on. I entered in "Gucci" and, the tool yielded the graph below. You can use this information help better understand who you are marketing to. It can also help you create more relevant ad text.

Keyword Forecast: Think of this tool as a "snapshot" of a keywords demographics. This displays monthly impression history and age and gender statistics in easy-to-read bar graphs. You can choose to view the data as Flash, pictures, or text.

Keyword Mutation Detector: Use this to generate common keyword misspellings and variations. Unlike many keyword permutation tools, I was surprised that the variations seemed like real typos. It would be handy if you could export your results easily to a spreadsheet, but exporting is not yet a feature in this tool.

If you do decide to use these tools, take note of the disclosure of at the bottom of the page "The tools shown on the adlabs website are not yet in production; they are demos or prototypes of tools that we might include as production adCenter tools in the future."

MSN adCenter Labs is a great resource for agencies and individuals to use when developing campaigns in unfamiliar industries. The tools reveal much more than just forecasted search volumes. Overall I was impressed with the prototypes and look forward to their actual release. I encourage you to visit MSN adCenter Labs, and see what you can get the tools to do for you!

Source: http://www.roirevolution.com/blog/2007/10/msn_adcenter_labs_what_a_surprise.html?utm_source=roinews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=roinews+2007-11&utm_content=200711_msn_adcenter&utm_nooverride=1