Understanding the Trends on Google Display Networks (Part I)
April 10, 2012
The recent times have seen a phenomenon where search converges with social networking, in a manner that search engines are becoming more like social networks, and social networks are working like search engines. This was emphasised by Google’s foray into the world of social networking with its Google+, whose official launch post was dubbed “Search, plus Your World”. As marketers, you have to understand the implications of this, and how it affects your advertising strategies on the world wide web.
The +1 Feature
Organic search is becoming more and more personalised, which means that a global SEO strategy to achieve top ranking in the search engines is becoming a thing of the past. Google addressed this problem with the introduction of its +1 button, which works a great deal like the Facebook “like” button. If you have a Google profile, you can +1 an article you like, which will then show up on your profile. This can be searched through a +1 website search and in turn, help you achieve some ranking. While this started as a way to share articles, blogs and information, it was made available to advertisers soon enough. The addition of a +1 ad on your profile means that a friend in your circle has +1ed it, so it is perhaps more trustworthy and may be of more interest to you now. It is like allowing your ad to go up on the Google Network, and then having Google work for you to gain more visibility for your advertisement. This is taking advantage of the entire digital experience of a user, assuming that customer-centricity is working in the background, and allowing your campaign to benefit from this personalisation.
What this means is, when you +1 an ad, the recommendation will show up on the bottom of the ad whenever a friend views the ad anywhere on Google’s Display Network. Since the +1 button was already producing over 4 billion impressions a day, as an advertiser, this might mean a great deal to you and your campaign.