Online Advertisers Should Keep One Eye on the Weather

London, 27 October 2006: Companies looking to obtain maximum value from online advertising and marketing should pay close attention to the weather; a new White Paper has revealed. According to a study conducted by Latitude, the Search Engine Marketing specialist, online searching in the UK financial sector rose by an average of almost 7% on bad weather days between 7 July and 5 August 2006, but fell by an average of 11% on good weather days in the same period.

Andrew Redfern, Director of Innovation at Latitude and author of the White Paper, commented: “Companies should be using this type of information to optimize their online marketing campaigns. Data from the past can be used to predict the future and by knowing when search traffic volumes are likely to be high and when they’re likely to dip, companies can adjust their online advertising and use of paid search listings accordingly.”

Latitude used Yahoo! Search Marketing market search data for the UK financial sector for the study. Daily averages in search volumes were taken for the period as a whole (7 July - 5 August 2006) and compared against search volumes and temperatures for each specific day. The volume of search traffic was found to be below average on days that were warmer than 25 degrees and had more than seven hours of sunshine and no rain fall. Once the temperature dipped, search volumes returned to normal, falling below average on bad weather days.

The study also gave rise to a number of insightful results. On occasions when a bad weather day occurred after a sustained period of good weather, search volumes increased dramatically, by up to 39.5%. Conversely, when a good weather day occurred after a sustained spell of bad weather, search volumes dropped by 31% below average.

For a copy of the White Paper, How The Weather Affects Internet Search Volumes in the UK Financial Sector, and for more information, please call Matt Brocklehurst, Head of Marketing, on: 0207 952 8019, or email him on: matt.brocklehurst@searchlatitude.com

About Latitude

Latitude (www.searchlatitude.com) is Europe's leading Search Engine Marketing agency. With a turnover of £18.8m in 2005, it is the fastest-growing, most successful UK company in the rapidly-developing area of online marketing. Latitude employs a team of more than 80 specialists and provides local and global Search Engine Marketing services in 41 countries. It specialises in managing marketing campaigns on search engines by ensuring companies rank in the best possible positions on search results pages.