Data released by Competitive Intelligence for search platform Adthena has revealed the paid search bidding patterns of the two major UK political parties.
As the election contest reaches its conclusion, both major parties have been increasing spending with the aim of influencing voters.
The Conservative Party has been the biggest spender so far, making up 30% of ad spend on election related search terms.
Fig 1: Chart to show competitors share of spend (SOURCE: Adthena)
Spending by the Conservative Party has rapidly risen since 26th May, following a week which saw heavy criticism over the parties pensions policies. However, Adthena data has revealed that the cost per individual click harnessed by the political parties has continually been at a similar level, averaging at around 拢1.50.
Interestingly, since the 26th, the focus of The Conservative Party鈥檚 search ads has been brexit, whereas Jeremy Corbyn鈥檚 Labour have pushed on the government鈥檚 so-called Dementia Tax.
Both major parties have adopted differing strategies with the Labour Party targeting the Conservatives pensions U-Turn and manifesto, and the Conservatives have been focusing on Jeremy Corbyn鈥檚 perceived lack of negotiating skills to handle Brexit.
The top Conservative Party Ad (below) appears on over 59 Brexit related search terms; it has received over 100,000 impressions over the last two weeks according to Adthena data.
Fig: 2: Top Conservative Party Ad (SOURCE: Adthena)
The Labour Party has continually altered its strategy over recent weeks looking to take advantage of multiple trends, including search terms related to the Liberal Democrat and Conservative Party manifestos and so-called Dementia Tax.
Fig 3: Top Labour Party Ads (SOURCE: Adthena)
鈥淭he Labour Party鈥檚 wide strategy has had varied success for them鈥� commented Ian O鈥橰ourke, CEO of Adthena. 鈥淭hey have not seen the same number of impressions as those of The Conservative Party, who have been focusing on a much smaller number of issues. When we do a head-to-head comparison (see below), the Labour party is operating in a much larger search area than its rival. However, the Conservative Party has continued to see a higher share of clicks and impressions on the limited number of search terms it is targeting.
Fig 4: Head to head comparison of Conservative and Labour Party Search environments (SOURCE: Adthena)
鈥淲hat this shows is that the Labour Party could potentially get more success on specific terms by adopting a more focused strategy. It is bidding on 579 search terms compared to just 110 for the Conservatives, however cost per click is relatively similar for both parties at around 拢1.50.
鈥淓lections mark an interesting time to examine search marketing strategies as they are a one off. What is clear is that the two parties have picked very different approaches. The Conservative Party are having slightly more success but only the result of the vote on June 8th will reveal the true winner.鈥�
About Adthena
is the market leader in competitive intelligence for search, serving hundreds of the world鈥檚 largest advertisers. Using a unique, patented 鈥渨hole market view鈥� updated daily, Adthena enables digital marketers acquire more customers from insights about their competitors鈥� activities. Adthena鈥檚 unrivaled solution covers areas including: gap analysis, CTR improvement, keyword expansion, adcopy, report automation, brand protection, mobile, shopping and benchmarking, whilst our team of competitive intelligence experts support the success of our clients.
