CANBERRA: The major political parties launched new websites but failed to undertake any search marketing activity in the opening phase of the election campaigns.
The only party to advertise on keywords related to next month's election during the first seven days of campaigning was The Greens, according to Google Australia.
The Greens were bidding against the search term “enrol” as Australian voters scrambled to register with the Australian Election Commission, before registration closed.
Google said the search term “Julia Gillard” was the tenth fastest rising search query during the first seven days, eclipsing even interest in Channel 10's MasterChef.
The search giant said the failure of the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party to capitalise on huge interest in the election was a significant “missed opportunity”, as both parties attempted to gain an early lead during an election which is tipped to be closely run.
Exclusive data provided to AdNews from Experian Hitwise also reveals the parties failed to bid against other popular search queries such as “general election”, and “Australian general election”.
Experian Hitwise general manager Michael Walmsley suggested the parties had been caught unprepared despite weeks of speculation that a Federal Election was imminent and the ALP's launch of a new social media enhanced website.
For more on the role of digital in the Federal Election see today's AdNews 30 July 2010.
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