Digital marketing firm revving up search engine unit.

As shoppers increasingly make Google, Alta Vista or Yahoo their first stop, Carat Fusion is revving its search engine efforts in Los Angeles.

The digital marketing agency, known for its high-end clients, is hoping to seize a major segment of an online advertising market that industry analysts expect to hit $20 billion next year.

New media consultant Joseph Jaffe estimates that 50 percent to 55 percent of all online revenues come from search marketing. "It's a huge part of why interactive and online marketing continues to grow," says Jaffe. "Being able so establish a practice in search marketing is essentially a key."

In the simplest terms, making sure that "Hyundai" comes up when a consumer Googles "new car" is the mission for Carat Fusion, which is a division of Aegis Carat, the world's largest independent media agency with more than $15 billion in worldwide billings. But there's more to achieving that than simply piling up "hits" on a Web site, which is a key factor in determining a site's ranking on a search engine.

"Search engine marketing represents a growing need on behalf of our clients," says Paul Santello, senior vice president and managing director for Carat Fusion. He explained that costs are levied on a "pay-per-click" basis.

"You allocate a certain amount of money to get a higher ranking."

"It's a lot of science and it's also very effective," he says. The search marketing squad will be managed in Los Angeles by search program manager Joanne Kim and associate manager Logan Nielsen. They both report to San Francisco-based manager William Mungovan.

"You're trying to reach someone who is actually looking for you," said Santello. But there's more to it than simply "hits" on a client's Web site.

Among the areas in which Carat advises its clients are bow to choose the right words or phrase to maximize search engine listings, whether to pay the search engines for premium placement and how to design their Web site to draw search engine notice.

Search engines are global, of course, but Santello says Carat Fusion wants to focus on regional opportunities.

"There has to be a certain economy or economic base for a stand-alone office to service local clients," Santello says.

In addition to its Los Angeles office, Carat Fusion operates in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and Boston and has assembled a team of 35 "search-focused" specialists.

"By making these key additions to our search staff, we're even better positioned to integrate search into our overall digital marketing strategies for Carat Fusion clients," said Jeremy Comfeldt, vice president of search and affiliate marketing. High-end clients in Los Angeles include Hyundai, Kia, Adidas, Napster, New Line Cinema, New Line Home Video, Jenny Craig, Gateway Computers, Lifetime TV, Luxury Link and the Australian Tourism agency.

Santello points to Carat Fusion's online campaign for Hyundai, which took advantage of the carmaker's "Stars in Your Eyes" ads on the Academy Awards broadcast, as typical of his firm's efforts. "We go for recognizable names, companies that are leading in their industry," Santello said. He noted Carat Fusion would also be increasing its involvement with video advertising on cell phones and other wireless initiatives.

Santello said the ability to quantify consumers' interest is one of rewarding aspects of online, as opposed to traditional, advertising.

"We can measure a consumer's response to a touch point," he said, "unlike a 30-second spot that we air in prime time."

Santello said that he appreciates knowing that he has an interested consumer, too.

"If you click on an online ad, you want to buy something and we can track that exactly.

Search Data

Recently, search engine marketing firm iProspect has released a series of reports studying search behavior.

Here are some of the key findings:

* Fifty-six percent of those Internet users surveyed utilized search engines on a daily basis. That includes 35 percent who do at least one search per day and 21 percent who search four or more times per day. Only one percent of those surveyed say they never use search engines.

* A majority of searchers have a favorite search engine, iProspect found that 57 percent say they use the same search engine; 30.5 percent say they have several favorites that are used interchangeably; 13 percent say they use different search engines for different types of searches

* Of those who said they use the same search engine, Google was the top choice, 66 percent. Yahoo followed at 55 percent, with MSN just behind at 54 percent. AOL was last at 49 percent. There were no other choices offered to survey participants.

* Women are less likely to go deeply into search results than men, according to the survey. Forty-four percent of women said they don't go first the first page of search results, whereas 37 percent of men responded this way. Why?

* Women "tend to go directly to brands that they know and trust for advice to save time," said Lauren Wiener, managing director at Meredith Interactive, publisher of American Baby and Ladies' Home Journals LHJ.com.