NEWS7 August 2009

Is search the answer to the PR measurement debate?

Data analytics UK

UK— Mark Westaby of media analysis firm Spectrum says search trend tools could provide an answer to the nagging question of how to measure the effectiveness of PR activity.

In a post on the Spectrum blog, Westaby sets out the reasons why he thinks search is the ideal metric for PR professionals to refer to.

Speaking to Research, Westaby said that advertising value equivalents (AVEs), which have traditionally been used to gauge PR effectiveness, are “a farce”, while tools like Google Trends offer a quick, free and consistent way of finding out what media people are really interested in.

“There will inevitably be people who say search ratings are open to abuse, but frankly search engines are pretty sophisticated,” he said. “Even if it is abused occasionally, AVEs are 100% abused. Everybody accepts that.”

You can read our full interview with Mark Westaby here.

@RESEARCH LIVE

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