Obama, McCain And The Google Adwords Fight
Search engines are playing an ever greater role in the race for the White House. Google in particular has been the object of Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s attention. Both presidential candidates have been spending millions of dollars on Google’s advertising product Google Adwords. This program uses keywords to bring targeted ads to web users searching for specific information. When a web user types a search keyword into Google, ads that match the user’s search appear at the top right side of the search results page. For example: over the past few weeks, Americans have been worried about the financial crisis (you’ll surely have heard about the bankruptcy of the giant financial services firm Lehmann brothers – it was the largest bankruptcy in US history). Consequently, many Americans have been searching for “economic crisis” in Google News.
Both the Republican and the Democratic candidates have made extensive use of Google AdWords. It’s significant that a marketing tool usually used by brands to promote a product or service has entered the US political arena. If you do a search for “Barack Obama,” for example, you’ll find a link to an Obama promotion page featuring a video in which he criticizes McCain’s politics.
Peter Greenberger, Google’s Team Manager for Elections and Issue Advocacy, explains that this kind of advertising has been growing exponentially in the last year. In one February week alone, Obama invested 1 million dollars into Adwords. That is as much as George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry combined spent on Adwords during the entire 2004 presidential election.
McCain is not web-idle, either, even if his opponent has accused him of not being able to write an email. The Republican candidate has hired Connell Donatelli, an election marketing company in Washington, whose Chief Internet Strategist is known for his predilection for Adwords. This explains why McCain has also been buying keywords since the campaign started.
The choice of these keywords is not limited to candidate names, though. “Hot” topics such as gas prices or the war in Iraq are also covered. This way, each candidate can express his views on these topics and better communicate those views to his potential voters. McCain’s advisers, for example, put Adwords on the name of Obama’s running mate “Joe Biden.” When you search his name on Google, you will come across a sponsored link directing to a video in which Joe Biden criticizes Obama.
However, the top keywords at the moment are those relating to the financial crisis that has hit the US. According to experts, Adwords campaigns are significantly less expensive than the “usual” direct marketing campaigns that are coupled with banners placed on highly-trafficked websites. Prices for Google Adwords vary and the advertisers only pay when a web user clicks on a sponsored link. For example, a sponsored “Obama” link costs between $150 and $240 a day, whereas “McCain” links are priced at $250 to $470.
Will the fight for the White House take place on the web from now on?
Source:
- Republicca.it
- Image source: Google Images
- Translated by Cordula Werle
Tags: Barack Obama, Connell Donatelli, election marketing, email marketing, George W. Bush, Google Adwords, John Kerry, John McCain, keyword purchase, keyword search, Sponsored links
