iPhones, insurance, and streaming are where the search money is.
  •  Sam Vimes   ( @SamVimes@beehaw.org ) 
    8•6 months ago

    A related article linked inside that one that lists the most expensive keywords to buy ad space for is absolutely shocking.
    Imagine paying Google over $1000 because someone visits your website.
    Kinda makes me want to Google some maritime accident lawyers and who knows, MLMs and essential oil charlatans and sow a little mayhem. Although is siphoning money from scummy MLMs to scummy Google even a net bonus?

    Article:
    https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/most-expensive-keywords-google

    •  TheOakTree   ( @TheOakTree@beehaw.org ) 
      5•6 months ago

      Imagine a massive collective of common people that agreed to bombard advertising like this, should the “top grossing queries” list be made publicly available. Giving Google all that money isn’t great, but it would probably be a new issue for companies to argue over, and it would be hard to quickly make it illegal with Google sniffing out potential profits.

  •  AutoTL;DR   ( @autotldr@lemmings.world ) BEnglish
    4•6 months ago

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    This week, during the US v. Google antitrust trial, we got a rare glimpse at a closely guarded secret: which search terms make the most money.

    By my count, that’s three iPhone-related queries, which makes sense, given that the iPhone 8 had just launched and there were a lot of retailers, carriers, and accessory makers who might want to bid to be at the top of search results.

    There are five insurance-related queries on the list, which has always been a competitive and lucrative space — I just Googled “auto insurance” and got four ads before a single regular result.

    Most people don’t switch car insurance very often, so it’s worth a lot to Allstate or State Farm to get your first click when you search.

    The sweet spot for Google, it appears, is right in the middle: a popular search query that overlaps with a competitive, expensive industry.

    Again, there’s only so much to extrapolate from one week’s list, especially given that the other side of the table — how much money each query brought in — is still redacted in the public exhibit.

    Saved 74% of original text.

    •  perishthethought   ( @perishthethought@lemm.ee ) English
      8•6 months ago

      USican here. Everything. Our entire financial life is recorded in these reports, so we need to know what they say. There are three major companies who each track us in their own report. The government says they have to provide us with a free copy once per year. So, of course, there are scammers who bid for that search term, get people to click and then find a way to get paid for providing the report which is supposed to be free.