Large online advertisers will waste as much as $4.5 billion on paid search advertising in 2008, estimates WebTrends Inc., a leading provider of web analytics and online marketing solutions.

WebTrends bases this estimate on results of its new service, WebTrends Ad Director, which formally debuted at the Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference in San Jose, California. WebTrends Ad Director utilizes self-learning technology to optimize millions of combinations of keywords, landing pages and ads across the major search networks to achieve maximum results. Companies using the solution have seen their return on ad spend increase an average of 44 percent.

“Search engine marketing is one of the most critical acquisition channels for many companies, but it is clear that a significant portion of these investments are being wasted or underutilized,” said Kevin Ryan, vice president and global content director of Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch. “As search marketing becomes even more competitive, marketers would be smart to investigate automated methods for increasing SEM returns.”

(more…)

In the month of June we had reported that, Google and Yahoo! had finally entered into a non-exclusive search partnership.

Now according to Yahoo! News, Google and Yahoo! have finally lifted the curtain and have revealed substantial information about some aspects of the non-exclusive search partnership. The disclosure comes in the wake of a filing, that was submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, that includes some details about the governing of the partnership. However, relevant details such as financial terms and revenue split have not been disclosed yet.

According to yahoo! News, “Under the deal, due to take effect after a waiting period meant to help smooth regulatory approval, Google would supply Yahoo with advertising services to run alongside Yahoo’s own Web search system. Yahoo runs the Web’s second most popular search service.

(more…)