Are the advertising operations of
internet search engines in the balance? Nick Rose & Louisa Albertini report
A September 2009 report for the Internet Advertising Bureau has revealed that advertisers now spend more on internet advertising in the UK than on television advertising, with search engine advertising making up 60% of the online adverts market.
Google alone has reported its worldwide total advertising revenue as being over $6.5bn for the six months ending 30 June 2009. However, cases currently before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) could affect the advertising operations of internet search engines in Europe.
Generating revenue
The main way in which internet search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, generate online advertising revenue is through keyword advertising. This is where advertisers select keywords which are used to produce sponsored results appearing in response to a search using the chosen keywords.
The sponsored results normally appear in a column to the right of the main search results or in a highlighted box at the top of the search results.
They differ from the longer list of natural results generated through
