In the countdown to Christmas, Google Australia is offering a free $100 search marketing campaign for businesses to reach the record number of Australians researching and shopping online this festive season.

Although 2009 was a difficult year for many businesses, recent reports suggest that small and medium enterprises are slowly beginning to recover and Australian consumers are starting to spend in the lead up to Christmas.

The Australian National Retailers Association and American Express Annual Christmas Survey of 1,000 Australians found that 55% of Australians had done some Christmas shopping online in 2009 compared to 45% in 2008.

Further, the Australian Centre for Retail Studies found that 50% of Australian shoppers research their retail purchases online before they get to the store to buy.

William Easton, Google Australia’s Retail Industry Leader, said: “This holiday season, consumers are researching their purchases online more than ever before – whether it’s Christmas gifts, travel plans, local restaurants or home furnishings. There’s a significant opportunity for Australian businesses to tap into search marketing to further drive Christmas sales. There’s still time in ’09 to be found online.”

Tens of thousands of Australian businesses are already using Google AdWords to reach new customers and grow their business online.

Google made a similar offer in April 2009 that was taken up by more than 3,000 Australian and New Zealand businesses. From restaurants to retailers, accountants and yoga studios, businesses came from every state in Australia and New Zealand and across multiple sectors of the economy.

Google’s $100 Christmas stimulus bonus only applies to new AdWords advertisers and should be claimed before 31 December 2009 at http://www.google.com.au/stilltimein09.

In addition to a free $100 search marketing campaign, Google is also announcing a new dashboard in the Local Business Centre in Australia and New Zealand to help business owners understand how people are searching for and interacting with their online business listing. The dashboard will show information like which search queries led users to the business listing and how many times users clicked through to the business’s website.

Business owners will be able to identify trends, such as days of the week when interest in their business spikes, or seasonality in the types of searches that lead potential customers to their listings.

The dashboard is accessible to any business owner who has claimed his or her listing in the Local Business Centre. Business owners who do not yet have an LBC account can create one for free by visiting http://www.google.com.au/lbc.

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