Search engines see quiet ad sales in Q2

8th July 2008

The second quarter of 2008 was a quiet period for the three major search engines in terms of advertising sales, according to a new report.

Compiled by AdGooroo, the statistics show that Yahoo! saw a 0.03 per cent increase in its active advertiser base, while Google saw a decline of 6.4 per cent and Microsoft's MSN plummeted by almost 20 per cent over the period.

Year-on-year, Yahoo! saw gains of 9.8 per cent, with Google experiencing an 8.5 per cent drop and MSN showing a fall of 6.7 per cent.

AdGooroo said the figures could be indicative of a typical quiet period as the year progresses into summer. It also noted that Google is placing a larger emphasis on the quality of its ads.

"Over the past six months, the average number of ads per keyword shown on Google in the US has declined from 6.5 to 4.0, a nearly 40 per cent drop," AdGooroo said on its blog.

"While it's possible that this could reflect a poor economic environment, it's more likely the result of Google’s ongoing efforts to improve the quality of its ads."

May saw Google account for 68.29 per cent of all searches made in the US, according to Hitwise figures.