Behavior-based ad targeting in the works at MSN search
Online marketers have been measuring the success of paid search marketing efforts by engine and by keyword performance. But behavior-based targeting of keywords—in which marketers can boost their bid for keyword position within search results based on whether a registered searcher fits a desired demographic or geographic profile—is about to make even tighter management of keyword spending possible, Danielle Leitch, vice president of marketing and analytics at search engine marketing firm MoreVisibility.com, tells InternetRetailer.com.
MoreVisbility has several search market clients as well as its own search marketing program participating in the beta version of the behavior-based ad targeting program rolled out by MSN Search in October. With a registration process required for My Yahoo users and Yahoo e-mail accounts, and Google moving in the same direction with registration required for Gmail users, “Shortly, it will be across the board,” says Leitch of behavioral online ad targeting.
Under MSN’s process, for example, once a registered user logs in, the engine “knows” what profile the user fits based on information the user supplied at registration, and it can see what registered users fitting any given profile are searching for. That knowledge allows a search marketing advertiser to boost its bid so as to appear in a higher keyword position in search results delivered to users who fall within a desired demographic target. It’s less important for the marketer to appear at the top of search results delivered to those who fall outside the desired target, so the marketer can limit the premium it pays for top position to a smaller, defined group, while setting a lower CPC bid so as to show search results in a lower position to the rest of the search audience, Leitch explains.
The technology automatically segments the premium CPC from the maximum bid set for the rest of the search audience among registered MSN users for which it has demographic profiles. It also can segment out bidding based on the geographic location of the searcher on MSN who is also a registered and logged-in MSN user, Leitch notes; for example, a retailer with an East Coast warehouse, able to ensure Christmas delivery later in the season for local customers, might choose to extend premium bidding on a holiday promotion later in the season for searchers logging in from eastern states than for those from western states.
It’s too early to determine what ROI the MSN beta on behaviorally targeted advertising is producing for MoreVisibilty itself or for its clients, Lietch says, noting that as a beta, the process is so far only in limited distribution, and it tracks only registered MSN users and not all users of MSN`s search engine. However, keyword performance data the engine can generate based on the ability to link who is searching with what they are searching for stands to be immediately useful to marketers, she says.
Pointing out that search engines already provide marketers with information on keyword popularity and search volume by keyword, she says MSN can now layer on top of that monthly statistics on keyword popularity within specific demographic groups. “So if you know your sweet spot as an advertiser, that is extremely beneficial from a keyword selection standpoint," Leitch says. “And if you don’t know your sweet spot, it helps you find out, because once you add your keywords into your campaign on MSN, it will report back to you on where the clicks came from.”
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