14 DAY TRIAL // When Google Instant came out, one of the concerns was how it will impact advertisers. Some were worried that, because the search results page changed so fast and because people would do less searches, advertisers would suffer. It turns out that, at least according to a rather limited report, that is not the case and that Instant actually resulted in more activity and a modest revenue increase for Google.
Marin Software, a major player in managing search advertising spending, looked at a small portion of its clients and analyzed Google Instant's impact.
The company found that ad impressions were up a significant 9 percent in the first two weeks Google Instant was available compared to previous two weeks.
Of course, Instant serves more search results and consequently more ads so an increase in impressions is not necessarily a good thing. However, click-throughs also increased by 5 percent, indicating that users were more likely to be interested in the ads served by Google Instant.
This would indicate that both advertisers and users benefited from the new search interface.
The rise in impressions and click-throughs led to advertisers paying more, but the report says that costs went up by less than 2 percent, while costs-per-click actually went down 3 percent.
Since, overall, advertisers were paying more, Google also benefited. The company has said that revenue increases from Instant had been inconsequential, but Search Engine Land estimates that it may be adding $5 million per week to Google's coffers, a small figure for the company, but a plus nonetheless.
“Google Instant was seen as a big gamble for Google when the company announced it, but it’s proved to be a positive change for the industry,” Matt Lawson, vice-president of marketing at Marin Software, said.
“Google has pulled off the elusive win-win-win with the release of Instant, driving increased usability for consumers and increased volume for advertisers, while managing to increase their slice of the overall search pie in the process,” he added.