Words for Sale
Have you ever wondered which are the most expensive words? Expensive words are ones that AdWwords advertisers pay more for. The more the advertisers pay, the more sites that host AdSense contextual ads receive (and the more that Google as the broker in the middle of the auction makes). So the questions of expensive versus cheap words has very practical consequences not only to advertisers but also to Webmasters who run sites that get AdSense revenue.
Here are some of the most expensive terms (according to a recent report in E-Commerce News):
"Vioxx", worth as much as $16.50 per click to class-action lawyers
"Mesothelioma", worth up to $39.08 per click, also to class-action lawyers
"Car insurance," worth $8.08 everytime someone clicks a Progressive Insurance ad
According to one study cited in the E-Commerce News article, the non-brand group of terms that averaged the most money by industry is "mortgage related" at $4.79. The industry group whose terms brought the least is "consumer retail" at $1.70.
From the rational advertiser's viewpoint, the issue has to be how many of the click-throughs can be converted to sales online or through combined channels (someone reaches a destination page and picks up the phone to dial toll free and complete a mortgage application). These advertisers must simply figure to write-off click fraud issues as a cost of doing business like inventory "spoilage." (Regarding click fraud, see my post about Click Detective. I plan to write more about this.)
All this about buying and selling words reminds me of the "Confusion in the Market Place" chapter in Norman Juster's wonderful The Phantom Tollbooth (the book was illustrated by Jules Feiffer) which describes the Word Market in Dictionopolis: "Get your fresh-picked ifs, ands, and buts." "Juicy, tempting words for sale."
Viewing this market, the bored young protoganist Milo "had never thought much about words before, but these looked so good that he longed to have some.
'Look, Tock,' he cried, 'aren't they wonderful?'
'They're fine, if you have something to say,' replied Tock..."
Contextual ads tied to words that use an auction mechanism for purchasing are here to stay, and obviously can be very effective. But let's not get carried away. You need something to say, and you need the right tools for measuring effectiveness and purchasing the right words.
Posted by Harold Davis at March 1, 2005 12:09 PM
