Considering that Google controls just about half of the market for search in the U.S., that Google estimates its advertising network reaches 80% of U.S. Internet users, and that their program is extremely flexible, any political campaign should think strongly about using them. And even though pay-per-click ads are not without risk, this should be all the more true for a presidential campaign.
I’m working on a longer post looking at the 2008 candidates’ use of Google AdWords, but in the meantime, let’s first see who is playing and how they’re playing. Counting only the top six contenders from both parties, here’s what each campaign wants you to see at the top of a Google search results when you search for their name:
Hillary has incorporated Blogads into her online strategy and Edwards has been running an online campaign since early 2005, yet neither have bothered to make sure their campaign sites are the top result on Google. (Of course, Google News results do appear beneath the Sponsored Links for the others, but I have cropped them out.) Although Democrats have rushed into Second Life and other brave new worlds, apparently two of their top contenders are ignoring plain old Google.
A few other findings, based on tedious reloading of the same searches, over and over:
- Obama is indeed playing, but he’s not all in. His ad displays less than half the time — so if you don’t see it, hit reload.
- For all three Republicans, their Sponsored Link appears almost every time, but not quite.
- McCain has three different versions of his ad in rotation. Key phrases: “Learn More” and “Sign Up.”
- Romney also has three versions rotating. Key phrases: “Build a New American Dream” and “Strong. New. Leadership.”
- Giuliani has just the one pictured above.
More later. Stay tuned.