Friday, January 05, 2007

Google advertisers cutting spending as keyword costs rise

"SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A growing number of online advertisers are bidding a partial goodbye to Google Inc.
Frustrated by the soaring price of Internet-search advertising and diminishing returns from the ads they buy, mid-sized advertisers say they plan to reduce how much business they do with Google this year -- in some cases, significantly.
Last year, for example, eBags.com co-founder Peter Cobb spent between $5 million and $8 million to peddle suitcases, handbags and other carrying cases online. Google (GOOG ) got 75% of that amount.
But this year it will get 'significantly less,' Cobb said. 'The Google percentage has got to go down,' he said.
In many cases, the cost of an eBags.com ad placed on either Google's own Web site or one of its affiliates now equals 45% of the price of the product it promotes. That's crimping the company's own profit margins and forcing it to look elsewhere to market its bags.
'We're testing print ads right now,' said Cobb, whose company will spend up to $8 million on ads in 2007. "
Google advertisers cutting spending as keyword costs rise - MarketWatch:

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