Why Search Advertising will slowly DIE
Posted on 26. Jun, 2008 by Chad in Online Advertising, Social Media
Yup, Google makes billions of dollars off search advertising and there stock price is pretty solid, so why do I think search marketing/advertising is on its way out? And to clarify, this is for advertising on the search engine itself, not through the millions of publisher sites.
Well, super savvy early adopters don’t use search engines to find great sites and products. When was the last time that you went to a search engine and looked for a great site or a specific product? If you answer is, “all the time”, then you don’t fall into the super early adopters category.
These elites are using their power circles as reference tools, asking friends and their ‘online semi-acquaintances’ for suggestions and referrals and also giving out unsolicited advice in a constant never ending stream. Just like the best jobs are not listed on job boards or super exclusive restaurants and nightclubs don’t need to advertise or sometimes even have a external facing street sign, power marketing won’t include a search engine component. The best blogs are not found Googling, they are usually found from referral links or other blogs talking about a great post, and sometimes you just stumble upon them, literally. Social circles are becoming the new holy grail for advertisers to get in front of. Personal recommendations from friends and colleagues.
Gone will be the days of going to Google or Yahoo and typing in ‘graphic designer’, ‘plumber’, ‘compact digital camera’, or Hawaii vacation’. The savvy are already twittering, twirling, and plurking these questions from their power circle. And so will you…if you have any friends.
9 Responses to “Why Search Advertising will slowly DIE”
Ryan D.
26. Jun, 2008
Maybe, but search(and their ads) will never be dead. Also, usually, the “early adopters” usually are the ones that don’t click on ads anyways so the ads that appear on search sites are targeted towards the 0ther 98% of the market which will always use search engines to find things.
Chad Randall
26. Jun, 2008
Hi Ryan,
I think the key theory with early adopters, is that they show where the usage trend goes and are just doing what everyone else will eventually do. Like the first users of cell phones or even ipods, and other saying, “I’ll never use one of those”, the other 98% eventually do. Think abou a friend that says, “I’ll never go on Facebook”. I’ll bet you that some of those people who said that to you folded and have an account now. My sister did…
Justin
26. Jun, 2008
You maybe right for certain search queries, but there are some big caveats and times when the two methods of discovery, search and social, overlap. I could turn to twitter for recommendations on something like an HDTV, and get a few suggestions, but I would probably back it up by looking for more in depth technical reviews that I may find by searching google and ending up on a consumerreports.com page.
Also, I don’t want to turn to friends and confidants for all queries. Which ones might I like to keep (more or less) anonymous via a search engine? Search terms such as “valtrex”, “divorce lawyer”, “signs of alcohol abuse”, “casual sexual encounters”, “kkk”. Granted those are depressing and/or seedy but I bet all of those terms drive a lot of revenue in search advertising and will continue to do so, some people just want to keep some things private.
Concerning your example of looking for a job. Sure twitter maybe a good place to put out some feelers but I have current coworkers following me, and I them. Do I want them to know that I’m looking for another job, maybe, maybe not. With twitter like blogging once you put it up there and potentially anybody could see it including your current boss. But if I do a job search via google, or theladders.com, or monster nobody really has to know I’m looking.
Social media won’t wipe out search advertising, certain segments will probably end up taking larger shares of the overall market but by no means will the decline of certain segments bring an end to the industry.
Chad
27. Jun, 2008
Hey Justin,
Some really good points there, and I hadn’t thought of the search terms that you may want to keep hidden. But a lot of that sub-culture or seedy type search is already banned by most major search engines and they resort to spamming. You are right though, I doubt that market will ever totally die.
Dake
30. Jun, 2008
I agree with Justin,
As much as early adoptors use social, some things are always meant to be hidden. There will be new markets developed, older one would still grow but not as much as they have grown over time. Social – adv are going to grow for a considerable period, I would say another 3yrs.
Venkatakrishna Nalamothu
02. Jul, 2008
Search engines especially Google is agressively adopting to new trends. Google is sometimes showing good content post just within 2-3 minutes of posting if it finds it a worthy one. These social forums and Web 2.0 will gradually becoming spammy due to lack of better control but it is very difficult to spam search engines on a long term basis. I go to Google for my research needs and some nich sites but never depend on twitters etc.
Jack
16. Jan, 2009
Maybe but G will never die as it keeps on incorporating new things as per current trends.. So G will always be rich..
Sensual photography
02. Jun, 2009
It’s all about finding the best local deals online and empowering small businesses.
click
10. Jun, 2009
good URL!!!!!!!!!!!!