Network World

As reported Google ad drop may not signal problems There seems to be a decline in the click thru rates on Google ads of late. ComScore reported a 7 percent decline in consumer click thru on Google ads in search results in January, while Hitwise reported that traffic going from Google to retail sites continues to rise.


In my experience there is always a drop off when you compare January to December on a click thru basis. November and December are the two highest click thru months for Google Ads due to the retail business for the holidays. How is this really news that could drop Google’s stock by 4%? It’s a ridiculous comparison.

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The news of Google’s Ad Shares falling this week with further speculation on Google’s fourth quarter down to 40% from 50% in years past, see Google's U.S. ad share drops for first time in two years for more details.
Google’s Ad shares may not be climbing at the same rate as years past but they are still climbing. However, the slow down could be expected. The IAB, Forester and Gartner have all predicted increased advertising on Social Networking sites for 2008. This is not a surprise as the Social Networking sites have grown the advertising is becoming more sophisticated and targeted giving advertisers a huge potential audience for ads.

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Google has a policy of keeping its different departments in silos thus not communicating or working together. But the lack of connection between the different parts of Google leave many questioning how long the expansion can last.

When dealing with Google’s different departments you get a closed feeling that one hand really doesn’t know what the other is doing. The Advertising products departments like Adwords and Adsense don’t even really understand one another’s products or services. So when Google has a presentation on its newest and greatest products but has no engineers and can’t answer questions about any products outside the few they wanted to discuss it really doesn’t instill a lot of confidence.

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A just-released Sapient study shows marketers plan to increase spending on social media marketing this year, where they anticipate higher ROI than both digital advertising and email marketing. Numbers showing a 30% spend on search while a close 21% on social networking!

I find myself spending much more of my time and energy on social networks rather then my Google Adwords programs. Social network traffic is on the rise and therefore increasing my traffic without costing me anything but time. I’ve also found that social network visitors are much more specific in what they are looking for and therefore a better audience for my sites.

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