Until recently, the personal banking app Monzo kept a pretty low profile in PPC. Make that no profile. The fintech company wasn’t even on the map when it came to search. That all changed in the first week of October, when the bank came surging out of nowhere to give the finance market a clinic in why competitive monitoring is so important in search.
From dormant to dominant in 24 hours
Adthena data shows that Monzo began running successful search campaigns on about October 4, and by October 5, they had soared past the top four leaders in the market.
Monzo’s bold move apparently caught the market flat-footed, because as of 20th October 2021, competitors had yet to fully respond and recover.
What’s the lesson for search marketers? Always expect the unexpected.
Consistently scanning your competitive landscape in search is essential to detecting movements and identifying new threats from rivals and newcomers before they derail your own performance.
See the effect, find the cause
Tracking and understanding competitor movements on the SERP is crucial for informed decision-making. Without it, you’re helpless to protect your own position.
For example, if you see your results dip without any corresponding change in your own strategy, the cause is likely something your competitors are doing right. But without search intelligence, you can only guess what those actions might be.
Why are conversions or costs suddenly up or down? Is it worth spending more to regain share, or have you hit the point of diminishing returns? Without visibility, you don’t know what’s driving movements in your market, and you’re left flapping in the PPC wind.
Don’t get Monzo’d — protect yourself with Smart Monitor
The best way to track every move in your marketplace is with Adthena’s Smart Monitor. Only Smart Monitor automatically alerts you to threats and opportunities by flagging significant shifts in clickshare by competitors, entries and exits from keyword groups, and other movements that could impact your results.
If you see a major competitor drop out of a group that’s a priority for you, it may signal a chance to gain clickshare at a lower CPC. Or if you see a rival on the rise in a keyword group or category, you might either pull back to cut your losses or relax your bids to retain traffic. You may also want to examine the terms they’re appearing on and their ad copy to understand what’s driving their success.
