In 2006 local advertisers will double the amount they spent last year on paid-search ads, and then nearly double that spending again in 2007, according to a new forecast by Web-tracking and research firm Borrell Associates.
According to the report, local advertisers spent $420 million on search ads but will spend $987 million this year and will reach over $4 billion by 2010. In that time, local paid search will go from making up only 10% of the total local online advertising to 47%.
When the firm lasted conducted this kind of survey a year and a half ago, it found that local advertisers were buying 5.6% of all paid-search ads on Google and Yahoo! This time out, local advertisers account for 36% of all text ads on those search engines. The highest users are local real estate agents, who bought almost half the link s on city-name keywords, the report says. In some cities such as Tampa FL, local realtors account for as much as 80% of the sponsored links.
“Local advertisers buying links on Google is no longer an oddity,” said Gordon Borrell, president and CEO. “the sudden reach of search advertising that can produce results for local businesses has caught many local media companies by surprise. They’ve tackled the Web nicely with banners and listings, but they’re scrambling for solutions when it comes to search advertising.”
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