SEMDirector Branches Out from Search, Changes Name

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SEMDirector has expanded its offerings to include non-search digital marketing services, and has changed its name to reflect the shift.

SEMDirector, now Covario, has enhanced its Paid Search Insight offering to include tracking of payments for co-op buys from distribution partners. Separately, the firm has created partnerships with Semphonic and Red Door Interactive.

The enhanced co-op ad service allows a client and its downstream distribution partners to track and allocate payments for their ad buys. While manufacturers and resellers have developed means to structure their ad buys in other media, search's auction format has remained a challenge.

"There [has been] no automated way to do CPC reimbursement reported analytics," said Russ Mann, CEO of Covario, formerly SEMDirector. "When you work with... manufacturers in the space and many of their marketing partners, you can pull the account data or results data into one measurable platform."

Client examples might include chip manufacturer Intel and its manufacturing partners such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Lenovo. Intel is a Covario client, though it was not disclosed whether the company will use the expanded co-op advertising capabilities. Others, including testing and monitoring equipment company Tektronix, have committed to using it.

Separately, Covario has created partnerships with Semphonic, to provide consulting services for the company's Web analytics offering, and Red Door Interactive, which will train clients to manage SEO in-house.

SEMDirector's new name, Covario, is a made-up derivative of the term covariance. Dictionary.com defines the word covariance as "A statistical measure of the variance of two random variables that are observed or measured in the same mean time period."

"Clients always want to look at paid versus organic, search versus display, online versus offline," said Mann. "We like to see positive covariance in all of those kinds of relationships."