Act On CO2

Online Network Maps of 'Act On CO2' Google SERP

2007-06-18T21:07:00.000Z

These images are maps of the online link networks between the 20 top ranking sites in Google for the search query "act on co2" on June 16th 2007. The heavy cluster of .gov sites in the middle shows large nos of UK government websites dominating the search engine results. This dense cluster of nodes shows the effectivness of linking between sites on established domains which are trusted, have great link equity and are regularly updated with unique content.

I want to analyse these further at some point, looking at who's "occupying the Act On CO2 space" on the major social networking sites including Digg, YouTube, delicious and many more...

Tony: Ruscoe sharper than Blair?

2007-06-04T13:21:00.001Z

I've just come across some great analysis of SERPs on Tony Ruscoe's blog (UK Goverment assumes everyone uses Google) where he demonstrates that he's sharper than the governments online team.

Back in March he saw the TV spot and searched online to discover that it was only Google that had been search optimised with regard to the 'Act On CO2' campaign! Whilst a little premature (my suspicion being that the govt. site was just being indexed far quicker by Google's spiders)
the post is well worth a glance as he covers all major engines and raises alot of the concerns I have over this curious shift towards search from the government.

I've summarised Tony's SERP analysis below:

So let’s take a look at the results returned by the four most popular search engines...

Google – www.google.com/search?q=act+on+co2
Top sponsored result links to:
Act on CO2
www.dft.gov.uk
Top organic result links to:
With help from you, we can reduce CO2 | ACT ON C02
www.dft.gov.uk/ActOnCO2/
Yahoo – search.yahoo.com/search?p=act+on+co2
Top sponsored result links to:
Need a Fire Extinguisher?
www.actfire.co.uk
Top organic result links to:
.: Albany Democrat-Herald :. Archives
www.dhonline.com/articles/2006/11/30/news/opinion/4edi01_congress.txt
Windows Live – search.live.com/results.aspx?q=act+on+co2
Top sponsored result links to:
Information and resources for co2
www.gawwk.co.uk
Top organic result links to:
Housewarming: Issues
www.housewarming.org.uk/issues.html
Ask – www.ask.com/web?q=act+on+co2
Top sponsored result links to:
CO2 Cartridges
www.tyreinflators.co.uk
Top organic result links to:
Act on CO2 minister urges motorists
www.egovmonitor.com/node/9712

My CO2 Space

2007-06-03T23:25:00.000Z

When it comes to online advertising, the UK government is certainly trying. I learned some more about the 'Act On CO2' campaign today courtesy of 2 great blog posts. The first on The Coffee House revealed that David Milliband (UK Environment Secretary) has a blog that links to an Act On CO2 MySpace site, more on that in a minute. Second was GoodGreenPR which provided useful insight into the role of PR as an agent of change with regards to global warming and related issues.Thanks to Caroline Wilson for republishing the article from Behind the Spin online.

The Act On CO2 campaign is the first stage of the Climate Change Communication Initiative, a £6m investment aimed (according to Caroline Wilson's article) at "communicating about sustainability over the next three years". Online social communication is very much part of this. The MySpace page myspace.com/actonco2 attempts to engage in a largely youth-dominated but increasingly commercial online network, which makes me wonder why the campaign's personified as "Male...37 years old" on the profile.

There are links on the page to various government departments (there are obviously some SEO link strategists at work in the government) including the 'Act On CO2' site itself. Most interesting to me are the links to 'social site Flickr & YouTube.

The YouTube channel has attracted 3 subscribers and 162 channel views but only 2 videos have been watched. Little surprise given the content - I don't think many people are interested in watching a collection of videos, the first 4 of which feature interviews with/speeches from David Milliband. 3 subscribers, 4 friends and one comment are hardly impressive usage statistics, but hey, maybe a little link equity from my blog will help them!

There is one comment that reads:

" death to the new world order!subscribe my channel and add me as a friend!:)"

...TUGS10197's profile page is similarly anti-establishment with clips from the Hollywood film V for Vendetta and other videos about gang violence and the KKK.

The areas of engagement here are clever but the content woeful and the lack of understanding that these spaces cannot be easily controlled or spun to desired ends is obvious.

The Flickr profile flickr.com/photos/actonco2 is similarly dull and far from useful but please watch the slideshow here if you want to see more pictures of Mr Milliband and others standing at a podium speaking at the Citizen's Summit on Climate Change.

There is at least some interactivity, such as the option to embed this little banner on your own site...

I really don't see how any of this will ever help to reduce CO2 emissions, perhaps a Facebook 'Act On CO2' branded carbon calculator application would work better, or a video forum where people can discuss how they effectively cut their emissions would work better.

'Act On CO2' - Further Analysis

2007-06-03T22:53:00.000Z

Following on from my last post I decided to look a bit more closely at the paid search element of the 'Act On CO2' campaign.

Using the Google AdWords external traffic estimator tool it's quickly apparent that any surge in search activity for the term "act on co2" has either not happened or has not been picked up by Google's systems yet. To target the UK with an unlimited budget for the term (even on broad match), the system cannot find sufficient data to provide any forecast. Opening the targeting up to 'All Countries & Territories' does not alter the results.

TrafficEstimate.com, the reliability of which I cannot vouch for (I've no idea where they get their data) suggests the DFT site's received 132,200 visits in the last thirty days, the graphic suggesting this is actually fewer than in February! (though the gaps in March & April make me very reluctant to draw any sort of conclusions from this data).

Back to the PPC though...There are 2 versions of copy running on AdWords:

Motorists are being asked to Help WITH Smarter Driving techniques
Car buying and smarter driving tips to reduce your CO2 emissions

They appear to be displayed in even rotation. There's been an increase of bidding activity on the term "act on co2" in the last week - with 4 other ads being displayed. Interestingly one is for another government website and to my recollection has been showing since the campaign went live. It's about Government Grants and links to a page detailing eligibility for FREE gas/oil fired heating installations...

Also bidding are commercial sites www.ibuyeco.co.uk (selling 100% carbon neutral car insurance!), www.letsautomate.com (home automation products) & www.greencarsite.co.uk (as it sounds - selling 'green' cars). ibuyeco has even made it into the premium (yellow-highlighted) spot at times, indicating that it's receiving a high CTR and is considered highly relevant to the search term, doubtless pushing up the cost-per-click for the DfT.

Act On CO2 Online: Latest Blog Posts and Links

2007-06-03T22:16:00.000Z

Continuing on from the last post looking briefly at Google and Yahoo! SERPs for the search query "act on co2" I decided to poke around a little more and see what's been written recently.

Links to www.dft.gov.uk/ActOnCO2/

Google shows 10 pages indexed that link to the Act On CO2 page, half of which are non-government sites. Yahoo! Site Explorer shows over 264 sites linking there including WhatCar and the GreenCarCongress. Google Blog search even indexed my last post within an hour of it being posted!

I found a post on Dizzy Thinks from the end of March claiming that the DFT's Act On CO2 website cost "a cool £110,270". I also came across the MySpace blog http://blog.myspace.com/actonco2 with 5 posts, the most recent 3 of which link directly to pages on this government website.

James Cooke has an interesting article on his blog where he considers in a post called 'Using Google Trends to track DoT 'Act On CO2' Campaign' that the DFT have made "a bad choice". He, like myself, wonders if the "implications of not publishing a URL, but a search term instead" leaves the civil servants open to link bombing.

His suggestion to track search volume on Google Trends is an interesting one though in my experience there's unlikely to ever be high enough search volume for this tool to be useful, perhaps Hitwise data will materialise though...

Natural Advantage: Association of British Drivers

2007-06-03T21:47:00.000Z

Monitoring Google SERPs for the search query "act on co2" this week revealed that the ABD (Association of British Drivers) have taken advantage of the DFT's decision to use search queries as a call to action.

Whilst the first 4 search results are still government websites (all gov.uk) the no. 5 spot is now taken up by this ABD page, the snippet from which reads:

Through radio commercials and online advertising, the government is encouraging drivers to "Act On CO2" - but you don't worry, you don't need to...

Clearly expressing sceptical views with regard to government claims and/or policy regarding CO2 emissions they claim "The government is lying to you. Climate change is an entirely natural process that has been going on for 4.5 billion years."

My attention was drawn to this by Ross McKillop through his blog iRoss.net where he considers that the ABD are "cleverly taking advantage of the government's campaign".

Other pages of interest occupying first page territory on Google include:

A mention on Miles Mendoza's Website of the Day (of BBC Radio 2 fame).
Rick's Rants snippet of annoyance on a My Telegraph discussion page, where discussion around the content of the campaign has begun.
A news article on the Government News Network describing the campaign and objectives.

...and on page one of Yahoo!

An Australian blog called Banner Blog which links to an interactive game on the DFT site, with a reader comment that says the campaign is "a bit preachy".
A news piece on Autocar.co.uk which questions why drivers are being targeted specifically.

Act On CO2 - Googling the Government

2007-05-28T17:26:00.000Z

Act on CO2 - the UK government recently launched a website backed by a TV advertising campaign. At the end of the advert they encourage people to search online for 'Act On CO2'.

A quick 'google' reveals that the UK government's Department for Transport are running an Adwords campaign, paying-per-click to direct traffic to this URL: http://www.dft.gov.uk/ActOnCO2/ - the body text from which I've copied below:

"ACT ON CO2. You can help

All cars on the road today contribute to climate change because their engines burn fuel and therefore produce carbon dioxide (CO2) every time we drive. Yet you can easily reduce these emissions and save money too. By following a few simple tips and suggestions you can reduce your engine's workload, which means it will burn less fuel and produce less CO2.

You could choose a new car with a more fuel efficient engine. Or make sure your tyres are pumped up correctly to reduce resistance. Even travelling a bit lighter when you're out and about can help.

In fact, by following our Smarter Driving tips and suggestions, CO2 emissions from cars could be reduced by 8%, and if everyone buying a brand new car this year opted for a more fuel efficient model in its class, CO2 emissions from new cars could be significantly reduced.

Remember. You can help. Join the drive to reduce CO2."

The page has further links to pages with content claiming to provide advice for 'Smarter Driving' and 'Car Purchasing Tips'.

The aim of this blog will be to analyse government activity with regards to search, specifically focussed on the DFT 'Act on CO2' website. The unusual shift in language in the TV advert: users being encouraged to "search for act on CO2", not provided with a URL is, to my knowledge, quite unprecedented. It is the opinion of this blogger that this represents an interesting shift - a URL being the direct address of controllable content, a 'search' is essentially the address of a SERP - a series of links to content via URLs, by its very nature a dynamic entity - and nowadays not necessarily just "the listing of web pages" Wikipedia suggests...?

It's interesting to note that the DFT website ranks no. 1 organically in Google at time of writing. As the campaign and issues arising from it are discussed online, it's this blogger's prediction that the official site will fall from the top spot in Google before the TV campaign stops running...and that the CPC required to achieve the top spot in the sponsored links will increase.

So, inviting the voting public to 'search' - the way of the future, or a marketing step too far for 'New Labour'?