• Advertising Age, Monday, October 13, 2008 10:15 AM

How do you know when the economy is in serious trouble? The Dow below 9,000 is a start, but if that isn't enough for you, try this: Even Google executives are talking about tightening the belt, suggesting the search market may not be as invincible as once thought.

The search giant is "watching the economy closely and making sure our expenses and revenue are very much aligned," said an uncharacteristically cautious Tim Armstrong, president-sales and commerce, to a group of travel executives last week. Taken by itself it might not be much, but it came the week before Google announced earnings-and during the same week that several analysts reduced estimates for the company.

But don't panic yet. Although there are signs that the search advertising market may be in trouble, things aren't going south yet. Roger Barnette, CEO of SearchIgnite , said last week that on a same-advertiser, quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year basis, his company was "seeing increased spending levels across the engines," echoing colleagues from other search engines.

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