"Web analytics firm WebSideStory released a study showing the following conversion stats across their many clients:
AOL traffic 6.17%
MSN traffic 6.03%
Yahoo traffic 4.07%
Google traffic 3.83%"
Conversion rate is defined as the number of clicks, it takes, to generate a action...it might be sale,lead, or download. (so based on the above info, 6.17 out of every 100 clicks in AOL traffic, generates a conversion for the advertiser)
So, it would appear that Google is the least effective. AOL is most effective for ROI.
This is garbage data.
I will go into a few of the reason why it means nothing.
1 - Google is the biggest
2 - Google "pushes" data throught AdSense, meaning they buy media to SHOW relevant contextual keywords - so this data is flawed.
3 - Google has more "testing" going on, so marketers will naturally test more variations of themes, as well as price points -- becasue their bidding system is more robust.
4 - Everyone likes to pile on the big guy.
5 - The study DID not measure data beyond a click, meaning that - if someone clicked on a link in Google for airlines, and went back within 48 hours to complete the sale, it did NOT track latient conversion.....CONVERSION TAKING PLACE AFTER THE CLICK.
But hey, if I worked at AOL, (which I do not) I'd do a massive press release -- I mean MASSIVE...to tout this data that AOL is #1 in conversion rates, from their search traffic...
I'd make sure it (the release) was in the Wall Street Journal, and nearly every place media folks would be.
Guess the AOL/Goog partnership will pay off afterall, for BOTH parties.
I don't believe this data at all, but, what the heck, --- America Online Media Sales should turn this into a HUGE win for their company, and run with some good dat athat supports the fine people at AOL.
