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Over the summer Google has widely rolled out it’s +1 button as a rival to Facebook’s “Like” button. You’ll see it against search results in Google and you’ll see it added to a rapidly growing number of independent websites including Affiniti’s and also on blogs (like this one). Very soon you’ll see it everywhere.

The Google +1 button allows you to vote for a site – the site’s given you what you need and you think it would benefit others to see it too. So, it’s easy to see why it’s great for social media (just like Facebook’s “Like” button). But its strength goes beyond just this “sharing” aspect. With +1 Google also has the potential to take these votes and incorporate them into their natural search ranking mthodology. Within natural search one of the factors that impact rankings is in-bound links to a site. These have always been viewed as votes for a site. Obviously these votes have been open to abuse and while Google has undoubtedly found ways to weed out poor quality votes (e.g. links from sites of poor quality themselves or from less relevant sites) they continue to seeks ways of refining their ranking algorithm. +1 gives them an additional tool – potentially it allows millions/billions of people to add their weight behind what is is useful and what is not. So, watch this space.

But how about this – could it also impact on bid prices for paid search (i.e. Google AdWords). Google’s famous “Quality Score” impacts on bid price – if your quality score is lower than a competitor’s then you’ll have to bid more than your competitor to keep your advert as high up the list as the competitor. But what if everything were equal? What if (for a given keyword) a greater proportion of people visiting your site from an Adwords ad click on a +1 button than they do for a competitor for the same term? Surely this would be telling Google your site is of a better quality? If this were the case you’d be able to lower your bid without losing position?

While this is speculative the potential seems to be there. Which begs the question – do you have the Google +1 button on your site? If you don’t then contact us and we’ll help you.

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We’ve been delving into our web analytics data and we thought we’d share with you a few juicy nuggets about UK browser market shares! It’s hard to believe now but way back in 2005 Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (version 6 in this case) had 95% of the browser market – in other words 95% or people used IE as their “preferred” browser. The remaining 5% was mostly Firefox.

Firefox then kicked up a gear and by mid 2008 it held 12% of the market. There were rumblings from other browsers too, most notably Apple’s Safari. By the middle of 2009 IE (v 7 & 8) was struggling against an onslaught by Firefox, Safari and then Chrome from Google. By the end of 2009 IE was down to “only” 75% share.

2010 saw IE lose a further 20% share thanks mainly to Chrome and Safari. And where are we as at the end of August 2011? Firefox has stalled at around 13% share, Chrome’s growth has slowed and is now at 18% share and Safari, if anything, has gathered pace and stands at 24% share. This leaves IE with a “paltry” 40% share.

And where will IE stand in 12 month’s time – well, if current trends continue it will be in 2nd place behind Safari by the time London hosts the 2012 Olympics. Now, who’d have predicted that in 2005?

Source: Affiniti Digital Media’s web analytics data.

Note: If you want to identify website performance improvements through the use of web analytics data then contact us.

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Affiniti has just launched a massive paid search campaign for QuickSilver – a big name in the personal finance arena. The campaign has been launched across multiple paid search networks simultaneously – Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing & Microsoft AdCenter.

Given the nature of the market in which QuickSilver operates the challenge has been to identify keyphrases that are likely to be profitable and drive sufficient volume. The campaign was built from scratch using multiple data sources and then combined into a single coherent entity. The campaign utilises paid search best practice and in particular that of Google AdWords.

Affiniti will now manage QuickSilver’s paid search campaign and aim to optimise it fully over the coming weeks and months.

If your business would benefit from a highly competitive paid search campaign like this then get in touch with us.

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