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Top 100 Online Findability 2011

Despite the decline in media spending in 2009, Data from Nielsen Media shows that in 2010 significant overall growth is noticeable among Dutch advertisers, particularly in out-of-home, cinema and radio. The exception to this overall growth however is online ad spend. As a result, the question arises: does this lack of spending have implications for the online findability of the largest Dutch advertisers?

Since 2006 iProspect (formerly Search Engine Marketing agency Checkit) has researched the online visibility of the top 100 online Dutch advertisers in their “Top 100 Online Findability” research.

Prior to this study, it was expected that the declining online media spend would have an unfavourable impact on the visibility of advertisers within search engines. However the finding of this research does not confirm this suspicion. The overall online spending declined by 13%, the online reach only decreased with 1%.

An English press-release is available: iProspect Top 100 Online Findability 2011: ‘Online reach almost the same in spite of shrinking budgets’

Dit artikel is ook beschikbaar in het Nederlands: Top 100 Online Vindbaarheid 2011

For more information about the contents of this document or iProspect and the services we offer please contact Judith Nissen (T: 0031 (0)24-359 37 70 or judith.nissen@iprospect.com).

This article presents the research results as practical advice which is beneficial for the online findability of websites.
The following parts will be discussed:

Results

The most findable websites from the Top 100 Online Findability 2011, can be found below. In addition to the finadability ranking of each respective company, their respective increases or decreases from the previous year is also listed. The Telephone & Yellow Pages and Randstad were not among the largest online advertisers in 2009 and therefore not included in the Top 100 Online Findability. Top performers are determined by those organizations that have created the greatest search engine coverage for their products and/or services with respect to their particular target groups.

2011	2010	Organization:	Website:	Industry:	Score:*
1	1	ANWB	www.anwb.nl	Transportation	86%
2	13	Ministerie van SZW	www.rijksoverheid.nl	Government	64%
3	2	Rabobank	www.rabobank.nl	Financial Services	63%
4	50	VT Wonen – Sanoma Tijdschriften	www.vtwonen.nl	Magazines	55%
5	5	UPC Nederland	www.upc.nl	Telecom	54%
6	6	Albert Heijn	www.ah.nl	Retail	54%
7	-	De Telefoongids & Gouden Gids	www.detelefoongids.nl	Telephone directory	53%
8	11	IKEA	www.ikea.com/nl	Retail	51%
9	20	ABN AMRO	www.abnamro.nl	Financial Services	47%
10	-	Randstad	www.randstad.nl	Employment Agencies	42%

*for readability of the study are the Percentages rounded up.

The top 10 most findable websites in 2011

What is interesting is that the ANWB has the most findable Dutch website, for the second year in a row despite sharply declining online budgets (-67 %). ANWB has retained their focus on online visibility and knows to decrease their range limited to 3%. The ANWB remains the only organization to reach more than 80% of its online audience through search engines.

Ministy of Social Affairs and Employment takes this years number two position. This can in part be explained by the restructuring various government authorities have done to their websites over the past year. Prior to 2011 each ministry had their own website. Under the new organization, the ministries have collected their websites under a single URL: rijksoverheid.nl. In addition to improvingthe convenience for the user, this restructuring has resulted in an improved findability within search engines.

Despite a decline of 4% online, Rabobank finished in the third spot. Rabobank also remains the most findable financial service. In addition to ANWB and Rabobank, three other organizations have managed to make it into the top 10 for the second year in a row: UPC Netherlands, Albert Heijn and IKEA.

Conclusion

The return to greater media spending this year does not apply for the 100 largest advertisers. The expectation prior to this study was that the 13% decrease in overall online ad spending would translate into a similar decrease in search spending. This however was not the case and search budgets were reduced by only 1% on average. The Top 100 Online Findability 2011 shows that despite the cuts in the online media budgets, the focus on search engine optimization remains a priority, particularly when media economization is a goal. As a result, it can be said that search marketing has become a core element within the marketing mix.

Study methods

In 2010 a new study was chosen to determine the top 100 organizations with the highest online ad spending in the Netherlands. This study method has also been applied in 2011. The 100 largest media spenders in the Netherlands (Nielsen Media) form the basis for this study. The organizations are dived into branches and sub-branches. They are then tested to see what percentage of the target audience is reached with 30 branch related keywords in Google. 15 generic keywords (those with a high search volume) and 15 long-tail keywords (those with a specific search query and relatively low search volume) are selected. The search volumes (the number of searches per motnth) in Google are leading.
To ensure that comparison from year to year is reliable, to the greatest extent possible the same keywords as the previous year are used. A maximum change rate of 17% is tolerated when selecting the keyword for each advertiser. This is necessary to account for the inevitable changes in the advertisers goals and markets. Ultimately was examined what percentage of the target group reaches the organization through Google. This results in a percentage range.

With a market share of 93% in the Netherlands, Google is the undisputed leader in search. Google has therefore been used as the principle starting point for this study.

Accountability Nielsen Media – top 100 advertisers internet – gross media

Registering ad spending are based on the gross rates or the rates that are listed. Any discounts or the like are not taken in account in this study. The standard data that Nielsen delivers to customers consists of the media types, TV, radio, newspapers, consumer magazines, sponsored magazines, journals, directories, internet, cinema and out-of-home.

Use of text and images
The results of the Top 100 online findability are available on:

Text and images can be used only under the condition of mentioning: iProspect – www.iprospect.nl.

Questions
For more information about the contents of this document or iProspect and the services we offer please contact Judith Nissen (T: 0031 (0)24-359 37 70 or judith.nissen@iprospect.com).