64 Billion impressions per month for Google and Yahoo PPC adverts

By: Jonathan Briggs

February 23, 2006

Emarketer reports a Nielsen//Net Ratings study on Pay per click advertising that shows, Sponsored Link Impressions Show Impressive Growth. From the revenue generated by 64 billion monthly impressions it is clear why Google and Yahoo! remain such important Internet companies.

We are seeing a shift away from banners towards contextually served ads and they should be a part of every site's experimentation.

the OTHER media runs ads on Google (and soon on MSN and Yahoo!) in order to attract potential business but also because it helps us understand the dynamics of this part of the market. We also help many of our clients plan their own PPC campaigns.

Here are a few things we have learned:

1. Some searchers are looking for almost everything that is on offer
2. Different searchers will use very different terminology to express their needs. Your ads and your site need to respond to these needs
3. Many people do click on the ads despite the proximity of natural search engine results (between 0.5% and 3% is typical)
4. PPC campaigns need very careful planning and monitoring to get the best return on investment. It is easy to burn through a budget and see little in return
5. The PPC networks provide excellent tools to understand potential customers and select appropriate keywords
6. Writing good adverts is an art especially when the whole advert must be less than 100 characters
7. With careful advertising we have seen one of our clients triple their online turnover for a only modest investment.

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