AN INTEGRAL PART OF LIFE

Nearly half of all internet users use Search Engine Web Sites daily.

Search engine marketing is the fastest growing advertising medium and Irish companies spend in excess of €30 million annually, with some individual budgets breaking the €1 million barrier.

This statistic stems from Amárach research launched at the recent Search Marketing Conference, the first Search Marketing Conference for Ireland. The conference was attended by over 300 people and featured a host of international speakers from Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and leading Search Engine Marketing agencies including search guru Danny Sullivan.

Unique Insight

The specially commissioned research contained unique insights into the behaviour of Irish consumers when using search technology online. The research was based on a telephone survey of 1,000 adults aged over 18, conducted in March. With companies like Google making more money from advertising on their sites in the UK than the likes of Channel 4 and ITV, it is clear that the trend in search usage revealed in the Amárach research will make search engine marketing (SEM) a key channel for Irish advertisers in the years ahead.

According to Gerard O’Neill, Chief Executive of Amárach Consulting, “what surprised me most about the findings was the prevalence of search behaviour, and how central a part of peoples’ daily internet lives using search engines has now become.”

When asked what he thinks the future holds for Irish companies advertising online O’Neill said, “I see a story of considerable growth in advertising spend online. I would expect by 2010 you’ll see operators like Google and Yahoo! making as much money from search advertising in Ireland as some of the smaller television channels like TV3 or TG4.”

Interesting Results

The survey also found that 53% of all adults now use the internet in Ireland, rising to an even higher level of 74% of those aged between 18 to 34 year olds. The average Irish internet user now spends an average of six hours online every week. Men spend more time online than women, nearly six and a half hours a week versus five and a half hours. Meanwhile 18 to 24 year olds spend the most time online at over eight hours, rising to nine hours among young males.

The research also shows that, when looking at younger users, 18 to 24 year olds, the use of search engines jumps to over two thirds searching online on a daily basis. Indeed, 93% of internet users use search engines at least once a month.

Commenting at the event, Martin Murray, CEO, Interactive Return said, “Ireland is currently behind the US in terms of investment in search marketing but this is an area where Irish companies could challenge the giants of international industry. With many Irish companies offering services and targeting international markets, search marketing delivers a truly global and selective audience.”

Sponsored Links

Almost all search engines on the web now have ‘sponsored links’ or ‘sponsored results’ which are paid for by advertisers and which appear alongside the main search results. These are a key part of the revenue of companies like Google and Yahoo. The good news for SEM advertisers is that 66% of Irish internet users will at some time click on a sponsored link when doing an online search according to the Amárach survey.

However, the frequency of such behaviour is quite low with just 3% of users of internet search engines clicking on a sponsored link ‘almost every time you do a search’.

“That percentage will increase as and when people actually experience from sponsored links real value in terms of it providing them with information about products and services that they mightn’t have gotten from the traditional search they would have done normally. If people get more success from using sponsored links then undoubtedly through word of mouth and repeat business that percentage will increase,” explains O’Neill.

Signaling A Change

According to the Chief Executive of Amárach Consulting, the internet is now a dominant communications and entertainment channel for 1.7 million Irish consumers, signaling the change coming about in society today.