Google Says Use Search Ads to Help Improve Health Industry' s Credibility

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1. Google Says Use Search Ads to Help Improve Health Industry's Credibility - 2007-07-02 08:21:18-04
   

   I was strongly considering skipping this topic, but the amount of buzz an official blog post at the Google Health blog named Does negative press make you Sicko? caused, was pretty significant, in light of all the iPhone buzz this weekend.

   The Google blog post, which was then clarified to be personal opinion of a specific Google employee, was not a fan of Moore's Sicko movie. I did not see this movie, but from what I understand, it shows the bad side of the health care industry.

   Google then recommended that those in this industry should do what they can, which may be buy search ads, to help improve the industry's credibility.

   Many of our clients face these issues; companies come to us hoping we can help them better manage their reputations through "Get the Facts" or issue management campaigns. Your brand or corporate site may already have these informational assets, but can users easily find them?

   We can place text ads, video ads, and rich media ads in paid search results or in relevant websites within our ever-expanding content network. Whatever the problem, Google can act as a platform for educating the public and promoting your message. We help you connect your company's assets while helping users find the information they seek.

   You can read all the coverage via Techmeme. I love how Danny explained why Google posted such a thing and why he feels Google should step aside as an ad agency.

   There is a Cre8asite Forums thread with discussion on this topic, here are some select quotes:

   Personally, I'm not fond of Google using its muscle to sway public opinion or politicians, and then to do so while lining its pockets is just outrageous. It just feels all wrong. In a big, big, scary sort of way. I can't even describe how dangerous and wrong this all feels, but it's just one big blob of scariness that I don't like.

   So where does this put Google? It's a strong tide with lots of scientists and data going against the pharma industry. It's mainstream, and people generally support it (the universal healthcare debates of recent months come to mind). So with this tide about to hit properly, the pharma industry is going to go under pressure... and Google is telling them we can help you by paying us.

   Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums.

   

   
   
   
2. 5 - 6 Percent of Searches Spell Their Searches Wrong? - 2007-07-02 08:33:20-04
   

   The 5 to 6 percent figure is not scientific, it is based on several members sharing their log file statistics in a Cre8asite Forums thread.

   Those that did the leg work to figure out how many people they see come to them via a "did you mean" from Google is on average between five and six-percent. Typically, people are noticing a lower percentage, between one and two-percent, using spell checking features on Yahoo.

   Here are some quotes from the thread:

   I noticed that an average of 5 to 6% of all visitors from Google used the spell-correction to make it to my site.

   Google: 6.7% misspelled, 0.4% I'm feeling lucky

   Yahoo: 5.6% From related (rs=0), 1.0% Misspelled (SpellState)

   The related does not mean spelled wrong but the misspelled does, in Yahoo's case.

   Misspellings in Googe: 5.3%

   Misspellings in Yahoo: 1.7%

   Misspelled Google: 4.3%

   Misspelled Yahoo: 0.8%

   It is fairly interesting look at search referrers. Maybe one day, I'll dig deeper and take a look in our statistics for these metrics.

   Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums.

   

   
   
   
3. Comparing AOL's Search Data to Google's Estimate of Unique Queries - 2007-07-02 08:42:13-04
   

   The other week we reported that Google said about A Quarter of Google Searches Are Never Seen Before . Since then, Google clarified that the 25% figure was just a ballpark figure.

   JohnMu (aka SoftPlus) has started a thread at Cre8asite Forums discussing how he took the available AOL search data, to compare how many search queries are unique. Of course, we know those that search AOL are not the same as those who search using Google. In addition, this is a limited data set, but the data is nevertheless fun to look at.

   JohnMu summarized that for the three-month period that AOL data covered, 59% of all queries are unique. He added, "17% of all queries were made only twice (which might include those made by one user who just clicked to the next page in the search results)" and
   "8% were made three times."

   Now that JohnMu opened the box, he is being drilled to garner more information for the data. But these numbers are fairly interesting.

   Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums.