In my last blog post, I had mentioned Google Instant’s preference to show brand results when letters were typed. We tried the same experiment in the UK and here are the results.
Here again, we are seeing a very strong preference for branded terms. The implications are the same as mentioned last time. First, top suggested brands such as Argos, Next, Tesco and Very, among others, should benefit from increased traffic. At SMX’s panel discussion on Google Instant, I had shown how certain US brands such as Pandora, Mapquest and Zillow are seeing increased traffic.
Second, expect increased competition on branded keywords. In my experiments, I have found that in general, advertisers in the UK are more reluctant than US advertisers to bid on their competitors’ branded keywords. Google is in a way, going to force this competition. Net-Net: Higher CPCs on branded keywords over the long run.
Currently in the UK, Google Instant only works if you are logged in to your Google account. As a result, traffic trends have not changed much yet. However, when Google Instant becomes the default way of searching, expect these trends to manifest.
Dr. Siddharth Shah
Director, Business Analytics
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