Many articles have already been written about the Google’s decision to direct signed-in users to encrypted search, which effectively hides a sizable portion of referring keyword data from marketers. Estimates of the amount of impacted queries range from 15% - 20%. This figure is likely to rise with the introduction of Google Plus and its integration into the SERP, which encourage users to log in.
Google’s official explanation for the move is that it was intended to protect user privacy, but as Danny Sullivan pointed out, this explanation doesn’t make sense given that the referring keyword data is still available to AdWords advertisers. However, there is another lens to view this change through; the competitive environment.
Google has a long track record of acquiring or disintermediating third parties who develop businesses based on its ecosystem. Businesses that rely upon Google to provide traffic and data tend to end up competing against a Google product. This may soon be the case with search retargeting.
Over the past few years, we’ve the rise of search retargeting services such as Magnetic and Chango and data exchanges such as Blue Kai. These services utilize behavioral data (including search data) to target display ads. Google generates and owns a good portion of that search data. See where I’m going with this?
For now, Google’s competing retargeting products are relatively unsophisticated. AdWords advertisers can retarget based on 1) pixeling visitors to their sites or 2) interest categories as defined by Google. Interest categories are fairly broad buckets (you can see what Google thinks you’re interested in by visiting www.google.com/ads/preferences). So how are users classified into interest categories? According to Google, it’s “…based on the types of websites you like to visit”. This is in contrast to ads on Google.com, which are “…related to websites you visit, recent searches and clicks, or information from your Gmail inbox”.
However, Google could enhance the value of its retargeting product by incorporating that rich search query data and allowing advertisers to target display ads based on both the sites users visit and their search history. In addition to providing more granular targeting, such a move might also allow advertisers to make use of the 15% - 20% of referring keyword data which is now held exclusively by Google. This is not necessarily bad for the existing players; Google's entry may increase the visibility of search retargeting as a marketing tool.
This is not implausible given that Yahoo! had just such a product prior to the Bing merger and the ongoing rumors of a Google data exchange (which would sell this targeting data for use outside of AdWords). It's a logical way for Google to monetize its data stream and to exhance the value of AdWords. So, my prediction for 2012 is that we’ll see a Google search retargeting product, a Google data exchange for buying rich targeting data, or both.
Hi Richard,
ReplyDeleteYou raise some very good points here - whether Google gets into the search retargeting space is anyone's guess frankly. And if they do, it's not necessarily a bad thing for search retargeting companies. This will raise interest for search retargeting, the same way Google helped to promote site retargeting.
Just as a fyi, Chango does not sell behavioral data to advertisers. We always keep data in-house and buy media through our own Demand Side Platform. This way advertisers get the benefits of being able to optimize data and media at the most granular level.
Ben Plomion
Director, Marketing & Partnerships
@Chango
Hi Ben,
DeleteI totally agree with you; Google's entry may be a win for the space by increasing visibility (so long as they don't cross the 'creepy' threshold and provoke a backlash).
Thanks for the clarification on your product. I'll update the post to clarify the distinction between Chango and data exchanges.
All the best,
Richard