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More Searches… But Fewer Paid Clicks… Why?
By Anna Johnson on May 21st, 2009Research by Comscore indicates that the number of clicks on paid search results has declined as a proportion of search engine queries.
While search query volume in the United States increased by 68 percent in 2008, paid clicks only increased by 18 percent.
In other words, the number of search engine users clicking on ads is falling way behind the number of searches they’re performing.
Comscore’s theory is that because the average search query has increased from an average of 2.8 words last year to over 3 words today, there are fewer ads being displayed for more search results. This is based on the logic that advertisers do not run ads for very long search queries.
That makes sense, but TechCrunch founder and chief editor, Michael Arrington, disputes that idea. In his view, the reason there are fewer ads per search query is that there are fewer advertisers.
Arrington quotes research from Efficient Frontier which shows that in the first quarter of 2009 search engine spending dropped by 13 percent compared with the first quarter of 2008, and was 3.3 percent lower than the final quarter of 2008.
Similarly, the average cost per click (CPC) has also dropped by 19 percent year-on-year and is down 13 percent quarter-on-quarter across all search engines.
Perhaps there’s truth in both arguments?
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:11 am
At Hydra we have seen tremendous growth in CPA advertising. Advertisers are being much more selective with their budgets right now. The are demanding accountability and ROI. That is why CPA is growing. Advertisers know they only pay for the ads that give them their desired action. That is spending money wisely.