Study: Google's keyword feature better than Yahoo's

A recent study from Outsell, Inc. indicates that users may have more luck using Google's keyword search applications than those using Yahoo's.

by Kristina Knight

According to the study, 58% of small businesses studied rated Google's keyword search feature as effective; only 32% of small businesses rated Yahoo's keyword search feature as effective. However, larger companies said there was little difference between the two platforms. Large businesses ranked Google as 63% effective and Yahoo as 62% effective.

The difference could be the way that small and mid-size businesses approach advertising and the way their larger counterparts do. According to the report, small businesses spend more with online advertising as do mid-size and large companies. Small businesses also allocate about twice as much money to print advertising.

With the high rate of click fraud and the large portions of ad budgets that are put into online campaigns, it is no wonder that small businesses see the paid search platforms differently than do their large business counterparts. According to the report, click fraud is the biggest deterrent. Large businesses reportedly believe that as much as 20% of clicks are fraudulent while small businesses believe only about 14% of clicks are fraudulent.

Still, it appears that both small, medium and large sized companies will stay with online advertising portals. Mid-sized companies are expected to show the largest growth in their online ad spends.