Google, along with Yahoo! (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT), has long maintained that online advertising is the ultimate in pay for performance, because advertisers only pay if someone clicks on an ad.
But the correlation between clicks and sales is becoming less predictable at the same time Web surfers are clicking on fewer ads.
It found that just 6% of Web surfers account for more than 50% of all clicks on display ads, such as the rectangular banner ads that stretch across the top of many Web pages.
"What we have seen is that optimizing for [clicks] alone tends to get you an audience with a propensity to click," says Daniel Jaye, Tacoda's president.
Advertisers don't really care about clicks, of course. They care about selling their products or services, or creating a positive brand image with their customers. "In the end, advertising isn't about the click," says Operative's Leo.
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