Contact: Jannie Cahill 020 7378 3619 

Hitwise UK Search Marketing Update

22% increase in paid brand search activity following Google's UK trademark changes

London, Thursday 19 June 2008 Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, today revealed that the top online brands in the UK have significantly increased their spending on paid brand search marketing following the recent changes to Google's trademark policy. Before Google's changes took effect on May 5 2008, 9.2% of the search traffic that the top 100 online brands in the UK received from their top brand term came via a paid listing on a search engine such as Google, Yahoo!, Ask or Microsoft. According to Hitwise's new report, The Impact of Google's Trademark Changes In The UK, this figure went up to 11.2% - equivalent to an increase of 22% - during the first four weeks after the changes took effect.

Retail and travel industries hit hardest by Google changes

Hitwise Search Intelligence data reveals that the top travel brands in the UK have increased their paid brand search rate from 18.4% to 26.6% following the Google trademark changes, the largest increase of any sector. The retail industry also saw a significant increase in paid brand search activity from 11.3% to 16.2%, despite a number of high profile "gentleman's agreements" amongst some of the largest names in the industry who had agreed not to bid on each other's brand terms. The telecoms industry also experienced an increase, although there was a moderate decrease from 4.8% to 4.7% amongst the UK's major banks.

"When Google announced that anyone would be able to bid on branded terms in the UK, many assumed the amount of Internet search traffic that brand owners receive from searches for their own trademarked brand terms would decrease, because competitors and affiliates could now bid on these terms," commented Robin Goad, Director of Research at Hitwise. "In fact, there was only a tiny decrease in traffic to brand owners' websites following the changes. UK Internet users have stayed loyal to their favourite brands, but at what price? It seems that the top brands in the UK have chosen to increase paid search activity on their own brand terms rather than lose traffic to competitors or affiliates."

To receive a full copy of The Impact of Google's Trademark Changes In The UK, or to speak with a Hitwise representative, please contact Jannie Cahill (jannie.cahill@hitwise.com, +44 20 7378 3619).

Report methodology

Using the Hitwise Search Intelligence tool we identified the 100 most searched for brands in the UK. Once these terms had been identified, we then determined what percentage of people searching for those terms went to a website property owned by the brand owner. Of these successful brand searches we then recorded the proportion that came via paid vs. organic / natural search results. This analysis was carried out before (4 weeks ending 12/04/2008) and after (4 weeks ending 31/05/2008) the changes took effect on May 5 2008.

About the Google trademark changes

On May 5 2008, Google changed its trademark protection policy in the UK and Ireland. Whereas before it was possible for trademark owners to limit bidding on their trademarked terms, anyone is now able to bid on these keywords and display their paid adverts in Google's search results.

About Hitwise

Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Only Hitwise provides its 1,400 clients around the world with daily insights on how their customers interact with a broad range of competitive websites, and how their competitors use different tactics to attract online customers.

Since 1997, Hitwise has pioneered a unique, network-based approach to Internet measurement. Through relationships with ISPs around the world, Hitwise's patented methodology anonymously captures the online usage, search and conversion behaviour of 25 million Internet users. This unprecedented volume of Internet usage data is seamlessly integrated into an easy to use, web-based service, designed to help marketers better plan, implement and report on a range of online marketing programs.

Hitwise, a subsidiary of Experian (FTS: EXPN) operates in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. More information about Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.com.

For up-to-date-analysis of online trends, please visit the Hitwise Intelligence-Analyst Weblogs at http://weblogs.hitwise.com and the Hitwise Data Center at www.hitwise.com/datacenter.

For media enquiries, please contact: jannie.cahill@hitwise.com