How did our predictions fare for 2011?

We made 5 predictions for 2011 last January, so here we review these and assess what actually happened during the year:

1) Rising CPCs encourage more creativity: there was certainly a further growth in the average Cost-per-Click (CPC) within PPC advertising campaigns – and in particular on Google Ads (AdWords) – as the space for buying a high ranking position continues to become more competitive. Although markets vary, we estimate that bid prices have risen by around 15% on average, which means that, for most advertisers, the cost of a site visitor continues to rise and therefore conversion rates are becoming more important. The need for creativity applies both to the advertising campaigns and to the website where visitors land, and although there have been some advances in this area, many companies aren’t doing enough yet to test landing pages, content changes, offers and checkout paths to improve conversions. At the advertising source, there is more data now available in Google Ads (AdWords) to help users target their spend to the best areas and also a focus on Quality Score can help keep the cost per click down. However, the popularity of the PPC market is making it still more competitive and the ones who test and improve will survive.

2) Mobile marketing becomes more prominent: although the importance of mobile marketing has been slow to arrive, 2011 was definitely the turning point, with a notable growth in the use of smartphones and significant increases in mobile site visits recorded in website analytics. Google has certainly been encouraging mobile-specific activity through new services and data in AdWords, plus as user behaviour continues to changes, mobiles are becoming a more significant share of the search sector. The overall visitor share from mobiles for most websites is still below 10%, but the trend is now moving upwards at a faster rate and so companies have to think about their mobile marketing activity, including how their website appears on smartphones.

3) Location marketing will be a big new opportunity: as the use of mobile phones increases, so have the opportunities for local business marketing, which is a primary use of phone searches. Smartphone apps that use location targeting are growing, and social media is also developing these options, although sites like Foursquare haven’t quite taken off and Facebook’s location services have faced some privacy issues. Google Places has also gone through some structural changes in the past year and can remain a frustrating system, but local search remains a big opportunity for companies who rely on a localised market.

4) The line between social media and search becomes blurred: this has not been a clear cut trend over the past year, although social media remains the big new opportunity for companies to develop their marketing techniques, as well as being a frustratingly time-consuming process as well! The most notable event was the launch of Google+, their long-awaited social networking tool which is being closely integrated with Google accounts. This service will struggle to gain market share off Facebook (see below) but remains the most obvious way that social and search will work together to influence results – as can already be seen by users logged into Google when searching – as well as provide more signals back to Google on how search results may perform.

5) Video marketing and advertising gains market share: YouTube remains a significant traffic magnet, being one of the most visited sites on the web, and advertising opportunities here have increased so that the service’s owners, Google, are starting to make a profit from the site at last. However, the use of video hasn’t yet seen a significant increase in usage by online businesses that would be expected, mainly due to the perceived barriers to entry and the application of ideas for video use in specific sectors. It looks like this will remain more of an opportunity for those who are comfortable with the medium and can test the potential for their market.

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