The average cost of purchasing search keywords dropped to $1.27 in the second quarter--down 8.6 percent from $1.39 at the
end of
March, and 11.1 percent from $1.43 at the end of last year, according to Fathom Online. One year ago,
at the end of June,
average keywrod prices were $1.72 a click. Fathom earlier this year
cut back publication
of the index from monthly to quarterly. The agency also expanded the number of keywords it tracks from 4,000 terms in eight categories to more than 20,000 terms in 12 categories; Fathom continues to
exclude proper names and brand names from its keyword pricing index. -- Wendy Davis
