Search Engine Watch guided me to a story today in Online Media Daily about search ads on Google, Yahoo! and MSN. The story focuses on a study done by Outsell using a survey of 1,200 advertisers. The study shows advertisers' perception that Google search advertising would be more effective than Yahoo! or MSN (71% thought Google's would be, 62% thought Yahoo!'s would be and 49% thought MSN's would be). The article points out that the most enthusiastic Google fans also were the advertisers with the smallest marketing budgets ($3.7 million compared to the $4.6 million from the combined Yahoo!/MSN camp).

This says a lot about the positive market perception for Google and also about how the dollars spread to Yahoo! and MSN as the budgets get larger.

The study also gives some information about future spending. Online advertising is forecast to increase by 19% with search advertising increasing by 26%.  In contrast, print, radio and TV advertising are expected to grow at rates below 4%. 

Since these advertising expenditures cover the costs for the many free services and resources we take advantage of in Yahoo!, Google and MSN, this is good news.

Now I'm feeling guilty for using the AdBlock extension in Firefox.