Weather Forecast? Don’t know, check Google...

In December 2010, about 85 million internet users visited Weather websites, representing more than 40% of the US online population. Considering this does not even include those getting their weather from other internet driven sources (apps on their desktops/cell phones, blended search results on SERPs, ski/surf reports, etc), that’s quite a considerable reach. The days of waiting for your static weather prediction on the back of the USA today with a high/low are soon to be thing of the past.

Knowing that visits to Weather websites represent a consistently growing part of our everyday lives, it is rather fascinating to see how much more important search becomes during this time of the year.

Visits to Weather websites always begin to spike between November and December, this year demonstrating a 7.6% bump month to month. But weather related search activity increased 44% month to month, and search click-throughs to weather websites increase 56% month to month. With total visits to weather websites increasing by 20% month to month, we can see that while winter weather causes only moderate increases in audience visitation, it produces much more sizeable gains in engagement and search activity.

The increased search activity in relation to the modest increases in visitors offers a few observations. The first is that the winter is clearly a peak season, but the increased activity amongst the already astute consumer of online weather means more opportunities for weather vendors to engage with their customer base, meet their weather needs, and monetize their websites. There’s no shame in attracting repeat visitors.

The second observation is that a huge search increase coupled with a considerably lower increase in visits means that the blended weather search results on the SERPs are likely doing their job and getting weather searchers their answers without having to go to a website. Not the best news for weather marketers, but the increase in visitation is large enough I’m sure they’ll get past it. And this is certainly good news for searchers who are able to answer their questions with fewer clicks.

Third, and in my opinion most important, is that this crazy winter offers a huge opportunity to engage the US online population that is now interested in weather, but does not regularly visit weather websites. Remember, about 40% of the US online population tends to visit weather websites this time of year…a large chunk, yes, but that still leaves 125 million potential visitors untouched. With such large increases in weather interest, it is hard to imagine a better time for a weather publisher to invest in paid search to attract a new and potentially sustainable visitor base. Every new visitor to your website represents dollars in advertising sales, and as they say, it takes money to make money. At this time, less than 1.5% of all of the click-throughs to weather websites are paid clicks…an enormous opportunity to own the space this time of year and increase your reach to the non-standard weather visitor.

Many U.S. marketers often feel like they are dealing with a saturated marketplace, where the online population just isn’t growing like it used to. And while it’s true there may not be as many new Internet users coming online, the real growth opportunity revolves around increased engagement with medium and light internet users and introducing your website to new audiences. It is perhaps not surprising to hear that search is a fantastic way to do that, but can be problematic for many organizations (reasons I am sure you all understand…money, expertise, timing, etc). Just remember that even a basic analysis of market data and seasonal activity can ultimately contribute to your bottom line.