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If anyone would benefit from a data set tracking the use of paid search advertising in the 2008 US Presidential cycle, we have one to share.

Background: Many of us at RKG closely follow politics. Curious about how campaigns were using paid search, we did one study of the US Senate races in 2006 (finding: very little political paid search advertising). We did a second study one year prior to 2008 US presidential elections (finding: less political paid search than expected). We continued to collect data up through the election, but we found ourselves too busy serving clients to prepare a solid analysis. (Initial finding: substantial use of PPC, which will likely hold true in all future elections.) Thinking a political scientist somewhere might find value in these data, we’re happy to share. Our contact info

Method: We recorded all first-page paid results we observed on Google and Yahoo for searches on candidate names and political topics from March 2007 through November, 2008.

Dataset: 205,825 rows. The ads contain 5,940 unique display urls pointing to 14,506 unique destination urls.

Term list: Obama, McCain, Biden, Palin, abortion, alternative energy, Al Gore, al qaeda, Barack Obama, Biden, Bill Richardson, Christopher Dodd, Chuck Hagel, Dennis Kucinich, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, gay marriage, global warming, health care, Hillary Clinton, illegal immigration, iraq war, Jim Gilmore, Joe Biden, John Cox, John Edwards, John McCain, McCain, Michael Bloomberg, Michael Charles Smith, Mike Gravel, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, national debt, national security, Newt Gingrich, no child left behind, Obama, Palin, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Sam Brownback, Sarah Palin, school choice, taxes, Tommy Thompson, Tom Tancredo, Tom Vilsack, war on terror

4 random rows:

engine keyword rank adcopy display url dest url timestamp
google Obama 1 BarackObama.com Join Team Obama Obama for America barackobama.com http://barackobama.com 9/5/2008 18:00
google McCain 1 John McCain 2008 Get Involved and Support Senator John McCain. JohnMcCain.com http://www.johnmccain.com/?sid=google&t=mccain 9/6/2008 15:00
google Hillary Clinton 4 Election ‘08 Hillary: Elect Me. I want to be the president, so bad! bnpnews.net http://bnpnews.net 2008-05-29 07:00:00
google

Joe Biden

1

Sick of picking less-bad? Do you want a President you can be proud of? Join the movement. www.UniteForMike.com http://www.uniteformike.com 2008-01-05 13:00:00

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  • Curtis: Great study George! Along the same lines, I’m trying to find a study about which search engines have the highest conversion ratios....
  • registry cleaner: Thank you. I found your division of total time spent on priorities very useful!thanks again
  • George Michie: Ophir, thank you for your marvelous comment. I agree with you. Brand building is an important element of marketing, and a very...
  • Ophir: Hi George, Interesting post, very intereting. I find myself struggling with this issue day in day out and I mostly agreee with your...
  • Kevin Hillstrom: Oh, you are on to something! I can promise you that.
  • George Michie: I am eager to see what you’re thinking on the topic, Kevin. Some of our early early data scratchings suggest that we may be...
  • Kevin Hillstrom: This will teach me to not schedule posts … I have a half-dozen similar posts coming in the next week!!
  • TAMMY LANGWORTHY: I WISH TO CANCEL MY FUN FAMILY REWARDS AS I DON’T USE IT VERY MUCH. THANK YOU TAMMY LANGWORTHY
  • George Michie: Thanks Dave, it is a hot topic for good reason. I’ve had some interesting conversations with Kevin Hillstrom about his...
  • Mark Ballard: I certainly don’t mean to discourage advertising with Yahoo at all as there’s plenty of value to be had there. Healthy...
  • Nathan L.: I have thought about advertising on Yahoo! for some time, but news like this makes me want to just stick with Google. Good useful...
  • Dave 2.0: George, thanks for the callout on the survey. I’m VERY interested in the topic.
  • Nancy Maiewski: Another charge on my J.C.Penney statement for $9.95 for Family Fun Rewards! This isn’t the first time I have opened my bill...
  • George Michie: David, I’m sure Shop.org will make the results available to participants. We’re talking about presenting them at the...
  • David: It’s not clear from the survey whether participants get a free copy of the results. Do you know?

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