If search engines sang

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to be in a meeting with some “offline” marketing bods and we started talking about which search engines to focus on when planning a client’s campaign strategy. I started to make some recommendations on how to make the most of tight PPC budgets by apportioning spend based on market share and demographic usage of search engines (the usual statistics) when I noticed their eyes slowly beginning to close and blackberrys starting to appear from trouser pockets.

Fearing an impending snooze fest I began to compare search engines to cars, football teams, and fast food chains which got their attention back to the point long enough for them to make a decision on how to steer their client, and slowly the discussion moved back to the wondrous “in-print” marketing strategy, at which point I then began to dose off.

Once I was sequestered back in the sanitized womb of my budget hotel room I kept comparing search engines to elements of pop culture (what else is there to do without digital television) and settled on a recurring theme which I am about to share with you, music.

Here for your reading (and listening) pleasure are the top five search engines of our time charted and accompanied by their very own soundtrack recommendation.

No.5  LYCOS

Ten years ago you might have been on here daily searching for everything from “books” to “chat rooms”, however since being bought and sold more times than anyone cares to remember this engine has definitely seen better days and sadly graces our number five slot in the search engine chart, its soundtrack….

No.4 ASK

Originally named after a P.G Woodehouse character this engine has wavered in and out of popularity since its inception in 1994, a recent rebrand and the much lauded return of our old friend Jeeves has seen a resurgence in users.  Still not hitting hard enough to knock the heavy weights out of the top three but definitely showing promise, Ask Jeeves graces our number four slot in the search engine chart, its soundtrack….

No.3 YAHOO

One of the largest companies to survive the Dot-Com bust Yahoo has struggled to gain market share since 2004 and has focused on ancillary proucts specialising in travel and hotels etc. to maintain revenue, the recent merger with Microsoft search engine “Bing” will ensure longevity and expansion of their platform. My very first email address was on a Yahoo account so it is with a warm fuzzy feeling that I welcome Yahoo to the number three slot in the search engine chart, its soundtrack is….

No.2 BING

Having had more names than Jordan, AKA “Katie Price”, AKA “Katie Andre-Price”, AKA….. oh you get the point, the recent relaunch of the Microsoft search platform has seen them claw back a decent chunk of market share and upon using the engine I can safely say that they are heaing in the right direction. This twinned with the recent Yahoo merger could see us “binging”…meh (it just doesn’t sound right) alot more in the future. It gives me pleasure to announce that Bing is our number two selection in the search engine chart, its soundtrack….

No.1 GOOGLE

The undisputed champion of search engines since 2002, it is no surprise that Google is at our number one spot in the search engine chart, with recent releases such as CPA ads in search results and their debut of Google Wave, there just seems to be no stopping them. Lords, Ladies and Gentleman it is my pleasure to present you with the soundtrack for our number one search engine in the search engine chart….

I hope you’ve all had a chuckle with this post, see, search can be fun sometimes ;o)

love,

Callum