by Head of Search
Andrew Girdwood
Andrew Girdwood
The Internet Advertising Bureau held its annual Engage conference in London this month, an event that brings together some of the world's most important figures in search engine marketing. One of the key figures at this year's Engage was Google UK MD, Matt Brittin, who delivered an insightful speech on "Keeping up with the Consumer." In his presentation to the IAB, Matthew Brittin revealed that Google is now predicting the rise of 'cloud computing'. This means an end to storing information on individual local devices and the beginning of simply storing data online, so it can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
As well as this prediction, Brittin, Google's most senior employee in the United Kingdom, offered the audience some interesting facts. According to Brittin, 25% of all searches end in a purchase.
In addition, he revealed that 54% of searchers will use Google to identify other resources which can be used to find more products and services. A DoubleClick survey undertaken in the United States also found that 57% of women would use a search engine to find more detailed information before making an offline purchase.
Talking about the travel sector, Brittin noted that an average user would make 12 searches, visit 22 sites and take 29 days before they ultimately made their booking.
In the retail sector, it was noted that 55% of people would conclude that if they could not find a retailer's product on their website, it would probably not be available in the retailer's store either.
Essentially, Brittin stressed the importance of understanding how all of us engage with media, claiming that "we are only at the beginning of understanding the potential of the online world".
Other speakers at Engage 2007 included Randy Falco, AOL's Chairman and CEO, and Owen Van Natta, COO of Facebook.
