December 23rd, 2008
Why Live Search is Difficult to Monetize With Keyword Based Search Advertising
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Simon Owens at Mediashift has a great post on the rivalry between the blog search engines by Google and Technorati, but it was this paragraph about the difference between static search and live search that caught my attention –
But perhaps trumping all issues is the blog search engine’s still-ongoing quest for monetization. People use blog search engines much differently than they use regular ones; rarely will you find someone using Technorati to search for an electrician or where to rent an apartment. It’s because of this fact that keyword search advertising — an enormous moneymaker for Google’s main engine — has been unsuccessful on Technorati.
“Blog search is very different,” (Technorati CEO Richard) Jalichandra said. “Blog search users are wanting to find content; they’re not necessarily looking for a plumber… With blog search people are really interested in looking for conversations or participating in conversations and it’s a very different reason for searching.”
Twitter CEO Evan Williams has also talked about the difference between live search and static search to explain why an AdWord like search advertising model won’t work for Twitter.
Here’s an interesting thought exercise then.
Static web search often involves an intention to purchase. Therefore, static web search is easy to monetize with keyword based search advertising. Google dominates the static web search and its business model is basically built on AdWords.
We are moving from the static web to the live web. Live web search often involves an intention to participate in conversations instead of an intention to purchase. Therefore live web search is difficult to monetize with keyword based search advertising.
So the question is: What happens to search advertising on the live web (and, its corollary, what happens to Google on the live web?)
