SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--When it comes to finding that special gift for that special Valentine, searchers are still most often looking for the tried and true bouquet of flowers, and marketers that paid five cents per click on February 1 will pay almost $8 two weeks later to rank highly on “roses,” the most valuable cost-per-click (CPC) keyword for the Valentine’s Day holiday.
These are just two of the findings in a report today from Performics, put together in association with BrightEdge, focusing on search marketing strategies for Valentine’s Day.
Performics and BrightEdge analyzed the top 83 terms related to Valentine’s Day last year and found that the majority of activity surrounded the top 10 terms, such as “roses,” “orchids” or “Vermont teddy bear.” These top ten terms made up almost 80 percent of all searches, and “flowers” and “Valentine’s Day” combined to account for nearly half of all searches. The rise in search volume primarily took off at the beginning in February, as terms like “Flower Delivery” increased nearly 125 percent month-over-month.
In the period leading up to Valentine’s Day from February 1 to February 12, the average CPC for the top ten terms increased 32x. The most dramatically bid-up keywords were often directly related to terms that showed consumer intent to purchase, such as “delivery” or “cheap.” In addition, branded keyword prices also increased, as leaders like FTD Flowers ensured that consumers looking for their brand did not get redirected to competitor sites.
When analyzing SEO activity, Performics and BrightEdge found that changes for the month of February were not as dramatic as what is seen in PPC, but there was still opportunity for sites to improve their rank. In fact, in the pre-Valentine’s Day months, businesses like 1-800-Flowers and Proflowers.com were able to take market share away from sites like Wikipedia and IMDB. These sites rank high on terms like “flowers” even though they are not in the Valentine’s Day gift business.
“For some industries, Valentine’s Day is a holiday that can make or break a fiscal year,” said Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge. “By using a combination of SEO and PPC, you can dominate the search pages for critical holiday keywords and, at the same time, maximize search efficiency. Brands can form long- and short-term search strategies that will give them a unique leg up on the competition even in a very competitive and cluttered market.”
To download the full report, go to http://brightedge.com/valentines-day-search-marketing. More information on the BrightEdge SEO platform can be found at http://www.brightedge.com.
About BrightEdge
BrightEdge is the leading enterprise SEO platform and the trusted partner of the largest and most recognizable brands in the world. BrightEdge helps marketers rise above the increasing clutter of the web and drive organic revenue from search engines across the globe in a measurable, predictable way. The BrightEdge technology drives more than $3 billion in organic search for leading brands across industries, including seven of the top 10 retailers, and Fortune 1000 leaders in e-commerce, technology, media, Internet, financial services and consumer goods. BrightEdge is based in San Mateo, CA and is privately held with financing from Battery Ventures, Altos Ventures and Illuminate Ventures.
About Performics
Performics integrates the art and science of Performance Marketing to optimize digital actions that accelerate brand engagement, participation, leads and sales. Our performance specialists are certified experts and recognized thought leaders whose proficiency in paid search, SEO, feeds, social, display, mobile and affiliate empowers our clients to make smart decisions about their digital spend and increase ROI. Founded in 1998, Performics is now the performance marketing agency for ZenithOptimedia, part of VivaKi within Publicis Groupe—the world’s third largest communications group and the top global spender in search—and leverages exclusive partnerships with leading publishers for scale and innovation. Performics is headquartered in Chicago, with global hubs in London, Paris and Singapore. [Publicis Groupe, Euronext Paris: FR0000130577]
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