The Top 100 Italian Ad Spenders On the Internet

April 8, 2005 -- Ad Maiora, the new media agency leader in Europe in search engine marketing services, realized a study on web site visibility of the top 100 Italian ad spenders that invest in traditional media. The study analysed optimization, visibility and popularity values of their web sites. Results emerged from the cross analysis of the data shows the level of online visibility of these companies.

According to the analysis, almost two out of three sites analyzed are lacking adequate direct links from search engines, with the consequent result of not factoring high in the search engine results. Furthermore, the research shows that web site optimization directly plays a role in boosting online visibility and link popularity.

Other than 60% of websites had not an adequate structure to be listed on search engines, only 37% have more than 500 present on Google (33% have less than 100 indexed documents).

Examination of inbound links from other websites shows that 48% of analysed sites have less than 50 inbound links (12% don’t even have one inbound link) and only 10% have over 500. Regarding website positioning, 38% of the analysed companies are present in the first 20 results per relevant keywords, yet a strong 62% did not factor into the results at all.

By an original methodology, the study consolidated the optimization, visibility and popularity values, and produced a map of online visibility levels for analysed sites, showing that only 25% have equilibrate values among adopted parameters. Half of the sites, instead, have an inadequate optimization, corresponding to a visibility lack in terms of search engine query results and consideration from other sites. In a sector-by-sector analysis, it is evident that better positioned websites came from the Telecommunications and Services industries, as opposed to the Clothing, Food and Pharmaceutical industries, where sites tended to be less optimized and therefore less visible.

“We think that this research,” said Mauro Lupi, Ad Maiora’s President, “could represent a motivation to companies investing in traditional advertising to exploit their websites more profitably. As a matter of fact, the study shows in an unequivocal fashion the direct relationship between site optimization and online visibility and popularity. The diffusion and importance of search engines, as evidenced by the vast array of research done in this sector, should therefore motivate businesses that invest in communication, and particularly in advertising, to consider their websites not just from the aesthetic point of view, but instead from a functional and service-based point of view. In order to be found online, it is a strict necessity to optimize one’s site well in order to be placed well in search engine results, and this should be one of the main objectives for an online project”.

The websites examined in this study were those of the top 100 advertising spenders in Italy in the first half of 2004, as highlighted by Nielsen Media Research Ad-Ex. The analysis was conducted between December 2004 and February 2005.

The report can be downloaded from Ad Maiora’s website at www.admaiora.com/en. Analysed companies (complete index in the report post note) can require their data for free, sending an email to e-mail protected from spam bots

Ad Maiora (www.admaiora.com) is one of the major Italian web marketing and online advertising agencies, and a leading European search engine marketing company. It offers complete solutions for search marketing campaigns, online ROI tracking and performance measurement. Since 2002, Ad Maiora has operated a Keyword Research Center to monitor online users' interests and behaviours in search engines and is the creator of MotoriDiRicerca.it, the most important search engine guide on the Italian internet. Founded in 1997, Ad Maiora employees 26 people with offices in Rome, Milan and San Francisco; it is a member of the Boards of IAB Italy and SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization), and a founder of E-SEMA, the first European Search Engine Marketing Alliance.