• by Kate Kaye , September 27, 2004

In the hopes of influencing voters to expel George Bush from the White House this election, environmental group The League of Conservation Voters, Inc. began running sponsored link ads on Yahoo! and MSN earlier this month to promote its Environmental Victory Project. The Republican National Committee, The Democratic National Committee, issue advocacy groups, and local and statewide candidates are also dabbling in search engine marketing. Still, as with other online advertising formats, political advertisers lag behind their commercial counterparts in the search arena.

Searches for "energy policy" on Yahoo! and MSN, and "clean water" on Google, prompt sponsored link ads for the Environmental Victory Project that read: "Stop BushPollution." The search ads were launched in conjunction with banners running on ad networks, as well as ads placed on blog sites. In addition to targeting the already environmentally conscious through environmental community sites Red Jellyfish and Care2, the group aims to appeal to a broader spectrum of potential supporters through its search and banner ad campaign. "We're trying to cast a wider net," explains Kelly O'Neal, manager of online marketing at The League, who says she gets lots of calls from search marketing firms who'd like to win the nonprofit's business.

"I knew that online marketing was going to be a big part of our campaign," recalls Eric Carbone, president of The Fight Back Campaign, Inc., a newly formed 527 organization that started running sponsored link ads last week. The group has already turned a profit in its search push for donations to fund battleground state TV ads calling for people to hold the Bush administration accountable for "mistakes" made in the Iraq War. A search for "Iraq" on Google results in a text ad for the group. About half of Fight Back's online marketing budget is allocated to search advertising through Google and Overture, says Carbone, who worked as director of online communications for Wesley Clark's presidential primary campaign.

A series of Web searches for names of presidential candidates and issue-related keyword terms including "terrorism," "economy," and "abortion rights" resulted in a handful of political pay-per-click ads. The RNC is soliciting donations through sponsored links on Yahoo! and MSN search results for "George Bush," "Bush," and "tax cuts." The DNC and MoveOn PAC are doing much the same through Yahoo! and MSN buys on keywords "John Kerry" and "Kerry."

A search on Yahoo! and MSN for "Badnarik" brings up a sponsored link for Rich Piotrowski, Badnarik's fellow Libertarian running for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania. A similar search for "Libertarian party" draws a text ad for Libertarian Florida State House hopeful, Walt Augustinowicz. A sponsored link ad for U.S. Senate contender in Colorado, Ken Salazar, results from a Google search on "tax policy"--as does a paid link for Mothers Opposing Bush upon a Google search for "energy policy."

But online political insiders agree that these are mere baby steps. Joshua Stylman, managing partner at search marketing outfit Reprise Media, is "baffled as to why" political advertisers aren't doing more search marketing to communicate with voters seeking out information on specific issues. He suggests that the Kerry campaign should buy the keyword "asthma" to attract people interested in the topic to Bush's environmental record. One who searches on such a term, opines Stylman, is someone "who's not necessarily saying I'm interested in politics, but they're saying I'm interested in an issue and that's how [the advertiser] can strike a chord."

A February 2004 Pew Internet and American Life study found that 26 percent of Internet users went online for news, and 13 percent for news about politics. An April 2004 report from search engine marketing firm iProspect showed that 56.3 percent of respondents used search engines at least once a day.

Once political advertisers and issue groups realize that Google ads don't just appear on Google, but alongside articles on other Web sites, use of search advertising "will skyrocket," predicts Clay Johnson, co-founder of Blue State Digital, an Internet communications firm that rose from the ashes of Howard Dean's primary campaign. Buying keywords related to issues and opposing candidates, says Johnson, "was done very effectively by a lot of candidates in the democratic primary."

Still, Fight Back's Carbone, whose main mission is to collect donations and e-mail subscriptions, doesn't see the point of trying to appeal to Bush supporters by purchasing George Bush-related keywords. After all, the group's goal is to attract non-Bush supporters. "You're trying to target your audience," he stresses.