Breaking Down Paid Search, Part 1
Google has long seemed to have a love/hate relationship with the affiliate marketing company. That is to say, they seem to hate affiliates and love to make their lives difficult. Two weeks ago we received a tip on an update, and we wrote about Google’s upcoming Quality Score through the lens of a particular search query and the results that such a search displayed. In "Affiliate Arbitrage" we spotlighted the results produced when performing a search for "blockbuster video online." This search returned 10 listings that ultimately lead to the exact same link. To me, that’s amazing. While one company ultimately benefited from the multiple listings, that one company didn’t take an active role in the placement. They simply provided the monetization vehicle – a high paying affiliate offer. And, while I suspect at least one company managed to have more than one listing, for the most part, a separate entity ran each listing. And, almost everyone played by the rules. The two that didn’t had minor infractions, namely the destination URL being different from the display URL.
Two days ago, the Quality Score change we referenced kicked in, and we’ve heard stories from both search advertisers and content ones, although nothing devastating yet. Now, if you are wondering about the Blockbuster sites that are still showing, here are some follow-up observations. The number one result, Blockbusteronlinesignup.com , was among the top listings two weeks ago. It has three background images, two button images, two embedded flash ads, and nine links, five of which reinforce the domain name (their text is Blockbuster online). In other stats, it has 493 words, 9 headings, and mentions the word blockbuster a total of 14 times. And, what shows above the fold is a direct copy of Blockbuster’s homepage. In the number two spot (and given Google’s testing, your results might vary), Free.BlockbusterVideoTrial.com, has a very similar execution to the number one listing. It has a barely modified version of the Blockbuster homepage up top. It has four links to Azoogle, and six internal links (Sitemap, Newsletter, About Us, Privacy, Terms, and Contact). It has 291 text based words and references blockbuster 11 times. Despite it’s colloquial text opening line ("Hmmmm…") it has a nicely designed lower portion.
Rounding out the top three, BlockbusterDvdOnline.com, also follows a similar format as the previous two listings, in that a click on the ad goes to a landing page that matches the root domain and is not framed. The page also leverages elements of the Blockbuster homepage but with some hacked elements – header, cutout, custom button. It has six links to Azoogle, and five internal links. Number four goes to Blockbuster.com, number five to the slightly deceptive Blockbuster.FreeMonth.com (display URL doesn’t match destination), a site that follows the formula of numbers one and two. Number four is Blockbuster, similar to two weeks ago. The biggest changes from two weeks ago include two quasi-competitive sites being listed – GameFly.com and Intelliflix.com – and an unexpected listing based on what we’ve seen before, www.couponcommando.com/Blockbuster. The coupon site looks like one you’d expect to find in the natural search results. At first glance, you can’t decide whether the person was bidding all along and the quality score change made them both relevant and their low cpc within the threshold to get listed. Then again, they might simply be a long standing site with good history, that like Amazon.com, can have an easier time getting listed for a particular product.
The last one of this particular result set (which has varied for me based on time of day) is a new entrant on the affiliate front, Video.BlockbusterTotalPass.com. It was registered just ten days ago, but has the best SEO score of any at 81% (via DomainTools.com). TotalPass has 332 words and the most original design of this style. It still looks like an affiliate site, but it doesn’t copy Blockbuster’s home page design. Similar to the others, it has many links to Azoogle’s offer page, but exudes a polish that one-ups all similar sites, having no different features, just better executed ones. Its SEO score puts it behind the number one result Blockbusteronlinesignup.com‘s 83%, just ahead of number two result BlockbusterVideoTrial.com‘s 78%, but behind the surprising 91% of the relatively textless number three BlockbusterDvdOnline.com. It does rank ahead of Blockbuster.com, is 2 points behind CouponCommando.com, and near the 85% of the number five Blockbuster.FreeMonth.com . SEO score alone can’t explain everything. Two from last time but not present now, Blockbuster-Trial.com and com–Click.Info split on SEO score, with Blockbuster-Trial having a 90% where as com–Click.Info managed a low for this group of 70%.
They say that the only certainties in life are death and taxes. For one’s online life, that might read Google and Quality Score. As we wound up seeing, affiliates still dominate the "blockbuster video online" query, but we do see an ever so slight decrease. Instead of 10 out of 12, affiliates owned 5 out of 8 in one trial, and 8 out of 10 in another. In other words, the Quality Score change had an impact. Like a change to a creature’s physical environment, this one didn’t wipe out a whole species, it increased their evolutionary pace. We’ll see if Google’s plans for Intelligent Design work out in producing the type of advertisers they want or if they simply succeed in making those they don’t want even more persistent and resilient. Join us for Part 2, also published this week, where we take a more holistic approach and look at some of the core components to today’s search campaigns. Continue reading here.
