The "Cans" and "Can'ts" of Google Mobile Ads to Look for in 2017

Google has made quite the headlines lately with their new page layout excluding right column ads, their new ad format allowing for more text space, and now their restrictions on landing page ads for mobile coming in 2017.

Greg Sterling reports to Marketing Land regarding these Google changes. Google has chosen to penalize ad ranking if an ad’s landing page includes “intrusive interstitials”. 

These intrusions are anything that includes a pop-up which blocks the content of the page, a standalone interstitial that has to be dismissed before viewing content, or an above the fold layout for an ad with the content below the fold.

However, few intrusions will be allowed including those in responses to legal obligation like cookie usage, age verification, or those top banner ads requesting app downloads.

With all of Google’s changes regarding ad formatting, it’s important to not forget the importance of landing page user experience. In 2017, it’ll be more important than ever. 

AdWords Flips the Script on the Well-Known Ad Specs

“If it’s not broken, why fix it?” might be one of the worst phrases to say to anyone involved in the advertising industry. A more accurate phrase would be, “if you’re early you’re on time, if you’re on time you’re late, if you’re late you’re running”. Well, that’s what my high school softball coach used to tell me, but hey, it applies to advertising as well.

In this case, Google AdWords would be running several laps for being so late to the game.

Anyone familiar with the traditional 25-35-35 character rule for AdWords has probably already taken note of this recent change. If you’re also late to the game, here’s the 4-1-1: Google has traded in its 15 year old design for a new and improved model. This new model lets advertisers have two headlines of 30 characters each followed by one description line of 80 characters.

This facelift allows for more prominent headlines, longer description line, and a relevant display URL that is automatically extracted from the final URL of the ad.

So what do we do with all the added real estate? Google suggests that advertisers focus on the headline saying, “big blue headlines are more prominent than your description text” which drive clicks and increase performance. Google also suggests that the second headline be cohesive with the rest of the ad. Use this space to deliver a call to action that previously was placed in the description like, “Attend Today’s Event” or “Sign up Here”.

So, why the sudden change after fifteen years? Well, Google announced that through their tests, “some advertisers have reported increases in click-through rates of up to 20 percent”.

The change might be hard though… especially for folks like Kirk who suddenly feels like he’s on an island in the middle of the ocean with no outside contact, that’s rough Kirk, real rough.

The Unimaginable Becomes Imaginable: Creative Doors That are Waiting to be Opened

We’ve all heard people talk about the future holding the unimaginable. It’s always interesting to me to think about what could happen in the future and then see what actually comes about. Somehow, my mind is still always blown. So far this year, the trend has continued. Technology has gone to new levels, invented new products, and taken consumers to a whole new world, (almost) literally. With these new technologies come many new opportunities for advertisers.

Jayson DeMers discloses seven marketing trends he expects to dominate in 2016, and sure enough, many of these expectant trends, are new entities in themselves.

First, Google will finally jump on board with in-SERP (search engine results page) video advertising. So this one isn’t new, but it’s new to Google. And it’s a new incident that Google isn’t leading the market in new opportunities, instead they’re following competitors Facebook and Bing who already have in-page video ads.

It is likely that mobile-optimized sites will no longer be good enough. Instead apps will take over as a more convenient, intuitive, and accessible alternative.

Digital assistants will surely open doors for advertisers. Never heard of a digital assistant? Well sure you have, just maybe not with that term; think Siri, Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa, or OK Google. These assistants use search engines when necessary which prompts the task for advertisers to become readily accessible so that the next time an iPhone user asks Siri, “show me the best pizza in my area” your mom and pop’s pizzeria will be the first on the list.

Proceeding on to the world of virtual reality: The Oculus Rift is a VR gaming device whereas other VR devices are used for general use. Surely advertisers can find their place through connections to social media channels, gaming, videos, and possibly even direct messaging.

Lastly, wearable technology is on the rise. The Apple Watch is the first of these devices but most definitely not the last. Again, new devices create new possibilities.

With all of these unimaginable technologies becoming imaginable and reality, advertisers can enter into a brand new world. Benefits include reaching people from the get-go. For example, many younger Internet users don’t see the intrusion of ads because that’s what they’ve always known while the older generations can recall a time where there were no ads. If advertisers are able to insert themselves into these opportunities from the start, users will know the product as is instead of remembering the “good ole days” of an ad free experience. However, with the rise in demand, it is likely the price for digital advertising will follow suit. 

Yahoo Looks to Drop in Ad Revenue

Have you ever heard someone say, “Yahoo it”? No? Me either. However, “Google it” is a phrase heard frequently. Google has morphed itself into a “noun” and has benefited greatly; Yahoo tells a different story.

Speaking in terms of ad revenue, eMarketer expects Yahoo to drop significantly in 2016 while Google continues to grow. Yahoo’s search ad revenue is expected to decline by 12.7% to $1.41 billion while Google looks to increase their revenue by 8.2% landing at $47.57 billion this year.

On the other side of digital ad revenue, Yahoo also expects their display ad revenues to drop. The graph below shows worldwide display ad revenues:

Currently, Facebook holds the number one spot with $22.37 projected display ad revenues in 2016 with Google coming in second with about half of that. Yahoo is the only company projected to decline in display ad dollars in 2016 with an expected dip of 15.1%. Meanwhile, companies like Alibaba, Baidu, Twitter, and Facebook are expected to increase their revenues by over 30%.

Google's Changing, Are You?

Recently, Google has launched a changed page view for its search results. Taking a look at the changes, three things are catching my eye, The Good, The Bad, and The (not so) Ugly.

The Good

According to Alistair Dent’s article, What Google’s New Layout Means for Search Marketers”, iProspect UK has found that top banner ads receive a click-through rate that is 14 times that of the CTR received from Google’s right column ads. This leads to wasted impressions on the right hand column which leads to low quality scores for those ads which lead to less impressions all together. In a gist, more banner ads equal more clicks.

The Bad

Google is reducing the number of ads per page to seven down from the previous 11. For advertisers this can be seen as a bad change due to a typical supply and demand equation; with the supply going down and the demand remaining the same (or even increasing) the price will likely go up. However, another way to look at it is to notice that there will now be more top-of-page ads which give a higher availability to those ads.

The (not so) Ugly

For this one, let’s look at an example snapshot from Dent’s article of what a search result page will now look like:

Not a ton has changed except for the fact that there is only one organic search above the fold in this scenario. Because of this, the balance between SEO (search engine optimization) and PPC (pay-per-click) is now increasingly important. The new look is likely to be uglier for the SEO ads that are fighting for that top above the fold result whereas PPC ads have a prettier view as they have a chance of better chance of being placed before the organic results.

Anyone in the industry will tell you that advertising is ever-changing and to keep up with the pace, advertisers must be ever-adapting. As side ads become a thing of the past, advertisers can expect to set a higher bid for their ads, strive for a placement in the expanded top ad section, eliminate ineffective impressions, and adjust their PPC and SEO campaigns accordingly. 

All in a week of digital marketing

A lot can happen in just one week, especially when it comes to the continuously evolving world of digital and social media. Here are some statistics from the last week alone that may just blow your mind.

1.      According to eMarketer, by the end of 2015, 32 percent of US companies with 100 or more employees will use Instagram for marketing. That percent is expected to jump to 71 in 2017!

2.      BuzzFeed’s CEO, Evan Spiegel forecasts that Snapchat’s Sponsored Selfie Filters will reach up to 16 million viewers a day. This ad purchase will cost roughly $700,000 per day.

3.      P.F. Chang’s is running a social event with the hashtag #PFChangsPink that has bumped their user generated content by 1,300 percent! This campaign is all to support October in the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

4.      Fast Company has reported that 60-70 percent of Snapchat users were clicking off of their video ads after only three seconds. This unwelcoming statistic has been crushed by Coca-Cola who is seeing video ads being watched in full completion by 54% of viewers

5.      Twitter is making news with their new Conversion Lift tool which, “helps brands measure the effectiveness of Promoted Tweets, enabling them to better target ads”. A San Francisco tech company claims that, “people who see promoted tweets are 1.4 times more likely to interact with a brand than those who don’t”.

6.      Millward Brown found that consumers between the ages of 16 and 45 watch an equal amount of video on television and online.

7.      eMarketer discovered that 88 percent of companies will use at least one form of social media this year.

8.      Thanks to the Democratic presidential debate, Hillary Clinton had 293,696 mentions via Twitter.

This can only leave one to wonder, what will be discovered next week?

Online Video Catches Up with Television

According to a new report from Millward Brown, consumers are spending just as much time watching online video as they are watching television.

This might not come as a surprise to many advertisers, as we have seen growth in online video streaming, however, this shifts how advertisers can best reach their target audience.

Millward Brown conducted a global study of over 13,500 multiscreen viewers (people with a TV and either a smartphone or tablet) in 42 different countries. The study showed that people between the ages of 16 and 45 watch 204 minutes of video a day. 

Those 204 minutes are split equally between television viewing and online viewing.

This study has shown that not only younger generations utilize online video, but also Generation X-ers.

Consequently, viewers tend to find online advertisements irritating. Only 19 percent of online viewers responded in favor of online ads during their videos while 27 percent of viewers feel positively about television ads.

Interestingly enough, 41 percent of people who were included in the study responded favorably to ads tailored to their interest. With that being said, only 25 percent of respondents like ads that had tracked their browsing history and promoted something from a website they had previously visited.

With this information, advertisers can start pushing their video ads onto online platforms. The most important measure of this transition will be the content and context in which the advertisements are displayed to make sure it is received with a positive connotation.

Sports, Sports, Everywhere Sports

What would we do without sports? Without Thursday night football and the exhilarating World Series? Without Sunday afternoons filled with golf and the Olympics where the best of the best compete to win the gold?

Thankfully, I don’t believe that’s a world that we have to contemplate. In fact, it might just be the other way around. Advertisers are expanding their capabilities and connecting sports with the world in ways we’ve never seen before.

Google is prepared to take the run full force during this upcoming NFL season. They have built a tool that places ads alongside football-related search results. Picture this: you’re watching the heated rivals, the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs, play in their first battle on the gridiron this season when you begin to think, “I wonder who won when the two teams played each other for the first time ever”. So, you automatically head to Google where you type your inquiry into the search engine and let the powerful mind of Google do the thinking. As your search results appear to answer your question, you see an Anheuser-Busch ad for Bud Light. But that’s not it, the fans drinking the Bud Light are wearing red and the cans have the Chiefs logo on them! Google has the power to place specific ads, in specific places, for specific people, at specific times.

Not only is Google on board with this real time advertising; social media outlets, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, have also bit the hook. Facebook aims to target football fans during NFL and college football games. Twitter offers several live-event tools, even one that allows brands to sponsor NFL related clips. Snapchat is working on a partnership to be able to have weekly NFL stories similar to their current “MLB Wednesdays” stories.

This instant advertising has many benefits for advertisers who capitalize. The New York Times reports from Nielsen stating that, “88% tablet and 86% of smartphone users access their device while watching TV”. Because of this second-screen, advertisers can now reach viewers on television as well as on their handheld device. Live online advertising also reaches those “cord-cutters” who no longer have cable but still desire to keep up with live sporting events via internet and social media. Advertising online is less expensive than on television which is a draw for many advertisers.

Tim Katz, a sports partnership lead for YouTube, says, “We see a ton of query volume happening in Google Search, particularly while events are happening live”. If more people are searching during events, then it only makes sense to get your message out when then when the traffic is high.

Lowe’s, the home improvement store, aims to do some real-time online advertising during Thursday night football games to encourage viewers to visit their store during the upcoming weekend.

As technology increases and the internet reaches limits we never thought possible, advertisers are able to combine their ads with sports, one of the worlds’ most loved activities.

From my personal opinion, sports aren’t going anywhere, and with that security, advertisers have their audience, now they just have to reel them in.

Is Ad Blocking a Major Concern for Advertisers?

Ad blocking may be a foreign term for many internet users, but that may change in the near future. There are many different kinds of software that allow customers to keep advertisements from appearing during their internet experience. With this software, an internet user’s experience has no pop-up, video ads, banners, or display ads of any kind.

This might sound peachy keen from a user standpoint, however advertisers might not feel the same way. The University of Oxford did a study that shows 41% of PC users and 11% of mobile users in the United States use ad blocking software regularly.

PageFair/Adobe did another study that looked at a more international scale. In Europe the amount of users using ad blocking software varies from 8.9% in Slovakia all the way to 37.5% in Greece.

Surprisingly enough, advertisers aren’t too concerned with this new ad blocking software. The following graph from eMarketer shows data collected from a survey by Strata that found that only 9% of advertisers say they have a major concern.

While the usage of ad blocking may be on the rise, it is comforting to know that your everyday user is not the prime culprit in this activity. PageFair/Adobe concludes that gaming and technology are amongst the top activities for which ad blocking is used. This tells advertisers that it is the more tech savvy user taking advantage of ad blocking and not your everyday user. At the bottom of the list sits shopping and search engines where few users utilize ad block. This is good news for advertisers as those are normally the targeted audience for advertisements.

Although ad blocking is on the rise, advertisers see no threat to getting their message across… yet. 

What's the point in using a unique tracking URL code?

I was recently in a meeting with a client, and we were working to set up a digital protocol for all current and future advertising campaigns. One topic of conversation was the kind of URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to use. A benefit that online campaigns have is how trackable they are. In order to maximize this, we discussed attaching unique tracking URL code to the messaging.

When I say unique tracking URL code, I mean that we are taking the landing page address where we want the ads to be directed to, and adding some descriptive parameters to it. In doing so, the client is able to see on the website analytics side more in-depth details like:

·        What website a visitor came from

·        What creative a visitor clicked

·        Which vendor can be attributed to the click (This is                helpful if you use more than one.)

·        What type of medium can be attributed to the click like        display, email, or search engine marketing

For example, if I ran a digital campaign and directed visitors to the Ruth Burke & Associates homepage of rburke.com, I’m not able to know on the analytics side where traffic came from. So, if I’m interested in seeing traffic from our blog, I would create the following URL with descriptors like: Blogspot as the campaign source, Blog as the campaign medium, and Unique URL Blog as the campaign name. That way, I know clicks with that information attached to it came from this particular blog post. It will help me see if it resonated with the audience because of how many or few clicks it received compared to normal traffic. Here is an example of the code:

rburke.com/?utm_source=Blogspot&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=Unique%20URL%20Blog

Knowing this information can help clients do A/B testing with creative to see what messaging leads to more clicks; in addition, clients can see which vendors produce the most clicks or which websites drive the most visitors. This information will hopefully aid the advertiser optimize the campaign to be the most effective and successful it can potentially be.

Where are women watching digital video content?

Watching videos online has become the new norm, more or less, for internet users in the United States. The question becomes is there a site where people view content more than others? While YouTube has the lion share of viewership, other vendors have made a dent in the landscape. A new poll conducted by SheSpeaks outlines how American women access digital video content online.

eMarketer reports on the poll results which shows that internet users who are female discover videos through these conduits:

·        YouTube with nearly 100% of poll responders

·        Facebook with 83%

·        Websites at 54%

·        Word-of-mouth at 49%

·        Blogs at 36%

·        Twitter at 27%

·        Instagram at 21%

Facebook is also one of the primary ways the women polled shared video content. Approximately 71% answered that they used Facebook to share.

Research shows that women have the slightly higher Facebook audience than men. In fact, eMarketer released estimates stating that females should hold the majority at 54.9% of the Facebook community from now through 2019.

How does a media buyer verify that a schedule actually ran?

As a media buyer, there is a lot of interaction between the media vendor and buyer; likewise, the media buyer interacts a lot with his/her client. Part of the job is following up with vendors to verify that the advertising placed actually did run. This is the backend paperwork that is necessary in order to avoid accounting errors and to keep clients updated. Below are a few questions that most media buyers/planners must address for each campaign and define expectations for the client.

How often should I receive online summary reports from my vendor? Some media experts say that monthly reports should be enough to watch online trends. While others, I fall into this category, prefer to see a report every two weeks. That way, if a negative trend is caught, it can hopefully be reversed prior to the end of the month. A buyer should speak to the vendor and client and agree upon a summary report schedule prior to running a campaign.

What should I expect for a proof of posting for an out-of-home campaign? For outdoor billboards, bus signs, train signs, and any signage out-of-home, a proof of posting should be sent to the media buyer. The proof of posting should be a time stamped photograph that verifies the location, panel number, date and time creative was installed. Historically, hard copy pictures were requested; however, nowadays, a .jpg photo is typically fine.

How many tearsheets should I request from the print vendor? Before a campaign starts to run, ask your client if they would like tearsheets of their upcoming ads. If not, request two copies, one for accounting and one for your files. If your client does want a copy, verify how many are needed and notify the vendor. eTearsheets are becoming more and more common place. These are a viable option; however, it is a good idea to let the client know that’s how the tearsheet will be sent.

What is the best way to verify that my spots ran on a broadcast schedule? When a cable, television, or radio schedule runs, a spot log is created. Basically, this is just a listing of each time an ad runs. The report should include the time, date, length, cost, and creative title. A buyer can request this at any time, but it’s typically evaluated when an invoice is submitted by a station.

Average Click Thru Rates (CTR) for digital media

What is the average click thru rate (CTR) for a digital campaign? Advertisers want to stay well-versed in regards to tracking the effectiveness of various campaigns. Digitally, one of the parameters used is the click thru rate, which is the percentage of clicks compared to the amount of impressions delivered. Knowing the industry standard can help when gauging how well a digital campaign is performing. Below is a grid based on industry standards and historical data of common CTRs to expect with different forms of digital media:

Average Click Thru Rates
Advertising Unit	Click Thru Rate (CTR)
Run of Site (ROS) Display	.02% - .05%
Targeting Display	0.05%
Rich Media	0.50%
Mobile	0.45%
Interactive	.02% - .1%
Video (Pre-Roll)	.02%+
Search Engine Marketing	1%
Search Engine Marketing Display	0.05%

While these are standards, it is important to remember that each campaign may perform differently. A lot of variables are put into place like messaging, rotation, targeting, etc. A campaign with a 1.5% CTR could actually be performing badly in terms of sales, etc., while a campaign with an average .02% could be exceeding expectations. It’s critical for the advertiser and the digital vendor to outline campaign goals and track those throughout the flight.

What digital ad size should you use for a campaign?

There are a lot of different kinds of online display ads available for advertisers. One of the most common questions we get is what is the best size to run? It really depends on the campaign, the objective, and the measurability. Are you tracking success as clicks? Viewability? Conversions? A new report discusses the ad sizes that tend to have the highest in-view rates.

The research comes from Moat Analytics and reports that the following are the ad sizes ranked as far as in-view rates for desktop computers.

·        65.8%: 970x250

·        62.1%: 300x600

·        55.0%: 160x600

·        52.6%: 300x250

·        49.5%: 728x90

Breaking this down, it’s not surprising that larger ads tend to have the highest viewability on site. These ad sizes tend to be set in positions above the fold on websites.

Also, eMarketer reports that the longer ads typically have longer viewing time. Meaning ads like 300x600 and 160x600 are viewed approximately for 21 seconds vs. the wider ads like 970x250 and 728x90 that are viewed from 16 – 17 seconds. Again, this is not surprising because a user may scroll down a page to read content, and the longer ads can still be seen on the screen.

When looking at the mobile ad display units, 320x50 has the best in-view rate of 64.6% and the 160x600 ad size has the best time viewed with 18.6 seconds.

Overall, our recommendation is to run multiple ad sizes for your campaign. As the campaign matures, look to see which ads are getting you the best results. Once you have established what results you are looking for, you can optimize and funnel more impressions towards the better performing sizes. Additionally, for the ads not performing as well, pause or remove them.  

Quick cheat sheet of digital media buzz words

There are a lot of new buzz words floating around the digital media landscape. Half the time I know what people are saying, “optimize”, and other times, not so much, “sticky.” Below is a little lingo tutorial to help decode what digital people are saying.

KPI:  Key Performance Indicator is a type of performance measurement. It evaluates the success of a particular activity in which it engages.

Native Advertising: Much like a print advertorial, this is an ad that is made to look like a part of the website. It may be a sponsor of a popular section of a website or an actual editorial piece on a designated page. These ads will be marked as advertising.

Optimization: This is a fancy way of saying that changes were made to a campaign to make it better. For example, changing up keywords, demographics, geographic targets, and/or creative.

Programmatic Advertising: This is a software program that is used to purchase digital advertising rather than working with vendors.

Stickiness: This is the amount of time spent on a website over a certain amount of time.

These are just a few of the many digital terms in use today. In general, buzz words tend to fall into the categories of Return on Investment measurement (success), the process in which ads are served (ad format), the method in which ads are purchased (vendors), and the manner in which ads are maintained (back-end reporting and managing).

If in doubt, use the word “optimize” as it tends to work in a lot of digital advertising conversations.

New research studies evaluate online offers and what consumers prefer

Retailers could find it beneficial to sales if special offers are given to consumers. However, the kind of offer is important to the customer which may translate to more revenue for advertisers.

eMarketer reported on two studies conducted in regards to which special offers online consumers prefer. A poll produced by Retention Science asked which the most effective online customer incentive was for retailers. Results showed that close to a third of responders liked percentage discounts like a 20% off coupon. Immediately following was free or discounted shipping at almost 22%. The third top offer was a certain amount discount like a $15 off coupon.

The second study, which was done by Flagship Research for BlueHornet, looked to see if the age demographic affects how customers react to an advertiser offer. It appears that research supports that younger adults 18-45 prefer discount offers over free shipping options. In contrast, older adults 46-75 enjoy free shipping over discount coupons.

What advertisers need to take away from these two studies is that the consumer finds value in a “good deal.” So, know your target audience. This will help optimize selling your product or service to your customer. 

Blogs evolve to keep readers engaged

Blogs have been around for a while now. The competition has become more intense which makes bloggers work to keep audiences engaged. In a recent eMarketer post, research conducted by Orbit Media Studios shows that almost 75% of bloggers now use at least one image in their posts. Images may include stock photos, diagrams, infographics, and/or charts.

Orbit Media Studios reported that although video and audio components are included in blogs, they are not as common as an image. About 15% of bloggers use video and less than 3% use audio.

When it comes to the promotion of blogs, nearly all US bloggers use social media. In fact, it’s estimated that about 94% of bloggers use social media. Other means of promotion include search engine optimization, email marketing, influencer outreach, paid services, etc. However, there is a small portion, less than 5%, who pay to promote posts.

Graphics go closely in line with the social aspect of blogging. Information recently released by TrackMaven reveals that between May 2013 and May 2014, 88% of brand post shares on Facebook worldwide that contained an image had an average post interaction of 2.35. This can be compared to the 12% without photos had an average post interaction of only 1.71. 

The demographic breakdown of Instagram users

Marketers are forever trying to get a handle on user demographics for social media. Whether it’s Facebook, snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, MySpace, etc., advertisers want to know where its target audience spends free time. According to eMarketer, Instagram’s main audience is millennials and Gen Xers.

Research shows that Instagram had about 35 million people access the website once a month in the US alone in 2013. It’s projected that 2014 will see about 40.5 million people per month access the site. Approximately 25% of all smartphone users, on a monthly basis, will participate on Instagram.

As far as age ranges go, approximately 67% of US Instagram users will be between the ages of 18 – 44 in 2014. Last year, that number was slightly higher at 69%.

Experts do mention that a demographic shift is developing in regards to gender. As the site began to gain in popularity, a majority of users were female. In fact, estimates for 2012 users were that two-thirds of users were women. While still the majority, it is estimated that by 2016 males will have 45% membership with females at 55%.

Hispanics spend less time on PCs and more time on mobile phones

A lot of advertisers have a very broad audience with secondary niche groups. It can be helpful for advertisers to keep track on how these communities of people grow and adapt in media consumption habits. For those advertisers who aggressively go after the Hispanic community, did you know that collectively Hispanics overindex for smartphone usage?

eMarketer recently reported Hispanic media consumption results from Experian Marketing Services. In general, the Hispanic and non-Hispanic spend within an hour the same amount of time with radio, magazines, and newspapers. TV was the dominant medium for both groups with Hispanics watching about 27 hours within the week and non-Hispanics watching approximately 28 hours and 11 minutes. These results came from a summer 2013 survey.

Where the research saw a difference was with time spent on PCs. Non-Hispanics spent approximately 11 hours and 50 minutes per week on a PC at work and 9 hours and 5 minutes on a PC at home. Hispanics spent considerably less time at work with 9 hours and 1 minute per week and at home with 6 hours and 26 minutes. A theory is that because the mobile usage is more for Hispanics at 8 hours and 41 minutes per week than non-Hispanics at 7 hours and 47 minutes, the Hispanic community is using mobile phones for internet access and other media.

Which websites users go to for health information

You’ve had a headache for about two days straight, and you think you have a slight fever. Are you getting sick? What are your options- go to the doctor? Go to a friend for health tips? Go to a minute clinic? Go online? For those of you who chose going online with your symptom inquiries, what website did you use? If you are like 53% of respondents from the Makovsky Health and Kelton research survey, you went to WebMD.

According to eMarketer, a recent study of US internet users went to WebMD as the major online resource for health information. Following the health website was Wikipedia with 22%, health magazine websites at 19%, advocacy group websites at 16%, YouTube at 12%, blogs with 10%, Facebook at 10% and lastly, pharma company websites with 9%.

The survey focused on pharma company websites a bit further. A common reason for a user to navigate to this website is to research drugs/procedures following a diagnosis. This goes in line with the earlier results that few users seek these types of websites for health information and diagnosis.

Health care advertisers should take note in where potential patients get information.