• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 13, 2005

Marketers saw soaring returns from search engine advertising in December, according to a DoubleClick report released Wednesday. Daily average click-throughs more than doubled in December and gross revenue increased more than 300 percent over the third-quarter average, said DoubleClick.

The analysis was conducted by Performics, DoubleClick's bid-management business for search, and published in the final installment of the DoubleClick Holiday 2004 Shopping Report series.

Performics analyzed the daily traffic to all of the distribution partners for Google's and Overture's paid listings programs from Dec. 1 to Dec. 24, and compared that with the average daily client activity during the third quarter of the year.

Performics did not compare the results to those in 2003 because its industry coverage has changed significantly over the past year, explained Stuart Frankel, senior vice president of DoubleClick and general manager of Performics. Frankel, however, is confident that the findings indeed reflect a healthy search market. "I can say anecdotally that this was a great year for search," said Frankel, "as marketers grow more confident with the market and are willing to spend more in absolute dollars terms."

The average price per click in December rose by 23 percent--but, due to higher click volume, the average advertisers' total media spend rose 200 percent.

The average client conversion rate increased 124 percent during December when compared with the average client daily conversion rate for the third quarter. Total conversions, measured by clicks resulting in purchases or other predetermined marketing objectives, increased 446 percent.

The unweighted average number of daily clicks per client in December was up 144 percent--more than double the daily client average during the 2004 third quarter.

The unweighted daily client average for total gross revenue that search marketing programs generated for merchants was 375 percent higher in December compared with the third-quarter average. The average return on investment (revenue divided by click charges) rose 58 percent in the last shopping month of the holidays compared to the average for the late summer months.

DoubleClick acquired Performics in June.

A recent comScore Networks study, sponsored by Yahoo!'s Overture, found that many consumers purchase electronics from brick-and-mortar stores after conducting online research. The study largely was viewed as proof that search engines can drive sales in ways that aren't captured by click-through or conversion rates.