Efficient Frontier Releases UK Search Engine Performance Report

In addition to the US Search Engine Performance Report released this week, Efficient Frontier has once again released its sister publication, the UK Search Engine Performance Report. The analysis is taken from a fixed sample of large scale UK search engine advertisers across the finance, travel, retail, entertainment and telecommunications sectors. The UK sample saw signs of growth in the  search marketing sector in Q2 2010, but also cost-per-click rates still down on last year.
 
Search spend by the UK sample grew by 10 per cent over the last 12 months, and managed to remain flat over Q2 which is typically seasonally low. CPC rates are still significantly reduced from the same period last year by up to 20 per cent. Interestingly, for the first time in five quarters, all the major search engines saw a slight increase in CPC rates in Q2 over Q1 (between three and eight percent).
 
If the UK follows the pattern set by the US over the last six months, this could indicate a bottoming out of search engine cost drops and the market deflation of the last year. The US saw consumer demand rise, followed by advertiser demand, which pushed up CPC costs and search spend in Q2 this year.
 
We are predicting a cautious 10 to 15 per cent growth this year in UK search spend as the European economy remains fragile.

For more details about Q2 2010 and our outlook, download the entire report here.

Merinda Peppard -  Global Marketing Manger