Competition for EPCs and HIPs on Google

Fierce

Submitted by: MikeC (Admin) on 23-Dec-08 02:36:51 PM

Ever done a search on Google for [energy performance certificate] and noticed the sponsored listings on the right?

Seen how competitive it is?

(To see them all click on 'More sponsored links' beneath the ads you see on the right-hand side of Google's search results page (SERP)).

At the time of writing (23 Dec 08) there are 201 ads in total!

That means, after deducting the eight ads displayed on the SERP, there are 193 ads buried out of sight for this key phrase.

Competition is clearly very fierce out there - what are the chances of searchers hitting the 'More sponsored links' link?

Negligible, I'd wager.

(Tip: when setting up an Adsense campaign set keyword-matching to "exact match" - there are clearly ads in there set to broad match)

I did some research on the prices advertised but before I get to that, how about this...

One Google ad is promoting EPCs for £45 - one of the lowest I encountered. I clicks-through to the website (sorry about that) and immediately notice it's running Google ads on the landing page.

Uh!

What's more, this business also offers HIPs for £220 - Guess what? One of the Google ads on the landing page is promoting HIPs for just £150.

Why oh why do you lot do this!

Market research

So anyway, I thought I'd offset some of the boredom enforced by xmas and conduct a little price research.

Here's what I found from analysing the 201 Google ads that actually quoted a price (not all of them did).

EPCs for homeowners and landlords

Home Information Packs

Others

There were a few other market sectors being promoted too (but not enough to bother with a table): 

• Northern Ireland EPC fees: although there were only three ads, the lowest price was £70; the highest £125 (avg: £98)
• Scotland: just one ad quoting £58
• Commercial EPCs: just one again at £300
• Display Energy Certificates: again, just one at £550

Hardly scientific, I know. Some adverts were quoting "From" prices and only 61 of the 201 Google ads had any price at all.

Interesting to note is the average price of EPCs for homes (£55.42) is only just above the average offered last month on the Home Inspector Forum (£54.07). Deduct Google's commission and it probably works out below, though.

Here's the link to the SERPs for [energy performance certificate]

Posts: 1

Google competition - EPC
Reply #1 on : Tue December 23, 2008, 16:50:35

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Very interesting article, our company is considering AdSense from Google, for DECs and EPCs - I will take your findings into my next sales meeting.

Thank you for taking the time to research and post online at 2am in the morning ;)

admin
Posts: 1

Re: Fierce
Reply #2 on : Wed December 24, 2008, 11:16:12

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Hope it helps, Nina; and no, it was posted in the PM, not AM ;)