According to Latitude (Europe’s leading Search Engine Marketing agency – TWL take note) online searching in the UK financial sector rose by an average of
almost 7% on bad weather days between 7 July and 5 August 2006, but
fell by an average of 11% on good weather days in the same period.
In other words, they are claiming a direct correlation between temperature and search volumes. (And not just any old search volumes mind, but only those in the UK financial sector). May I suggest they go and read Freakonomics which will perhaps enlighten them as to the difference between direct and indirect correlations.
But it was the following quote that had me choking on my coffee:
Andrew Redfern, Director of Innovation at Latitude and author of the
White Paper, commented: “Companies should be using this type of
information to optimize their online marketing campaigns. Data from the
past can be used to predict the future and by knowing when search
traffic volumes are likely to be high and when they’re likely to dip,
companies can adjust their online advertising and use of paid search
listings accordingly.”
Er, even if they could show a correlation between search volumes and weather, that’s still predicated on having accurate weather forecasts – which as we all know, are 100pc spot on every time, right?