When it comes to the search engine advertising market, AdGooroo’s 2008 fourth quarter data indicates that Microsoft Live Search is closing the gap with Yahoo.

Between the third and fourth quarters of last year, Live’s share of search advertising grew from 12 percent to 16.4 percent. Yahoo, meanwhile, dropped share from 30.4 percent to 19.4 percent.

Google remains the market share leader with 80.9 percent of advertisers. (The numbers don’t add up to 100 percent because some advertisers advertise on more than one search engine).

In terms of first-page advertiser growth, Google led in Q4 with a 58 percent growth rate, followed by Live Search with 42.3 percent. Yahoo trailed with a growth rate of just 8.8 percent.

AdGooroo expects a flattening out or even a decline of advertiser accounts in the first quarter of 2009. This is typical of the post-holiday quarter, but should nevertheless lead to positive year-on-year growth.

Source: AdGooroo, “AdGooroo Search Engine Advertising Update – Q408,” AdGooroo, January 12, 2009

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• PPC Ads Per Keyword Up in Q1 2009

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