Google may be slowing down.

I am no analyst; However I have interaction with large spenders on the web everyday so here is my take on this article:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/26/BU5VV9082.DTL

1. Spend is down 12%. Yes of course it is. The mortgage industry tanking can account for a huge chunk of this. Not just the lenders themselves, but all the affiliate partners as well are no longer advertising on these deals, and people are no longer looking for them.

2. Another thing that Google did recently was crack down on Ringtone advertisers, A piece of business that is the bread and butter for most affiliate marketers out there.

3. Regulation/Editorial Issues - It is not as easy to advertise on Google anymore. Search marketer Guerrilla tactics are becoming a thing of the past. In the end you need to be creating a targeted campaign that correlates with the messaging on your site. The affiliates are in an ever evolving war with the search engines as landing page quality, and site legitimacy become important factors. From a short term business standpoint Google is hurting themselves by negging people willing to spend money, however from a long term perspective they are trying to keep the customer happy by only showing the most relevant of ads. I think this is important as users can become rebellious when they are are being inundated with deceiving messages and are not finding what they are looking for on the engines.

4. Other Places on the Web - Its not all about text search on the engines anymore. Its about making your site a destination. As major companies start to get the picture on how to create a good web portal and engage the user folks are becoming brand loyal in a sense and know the URL to go to get what they need.
Examples:
1. When I need computer stuff i go to new egg
2. When I need plane tickets i go to Kayak and sidestep
3. When I need sports tix, craigslist or stub hub.
4. News - cnn
5. Search engine marketing news - I have my RSS portal and can see news from all my favorite blogs.

In a way the fascination with the web is over and the days of "surfing" the web are coming to an end. People have their favorite sites picked out and know where to go to find what they need. The may have clicked on ad 8 months ago for a retail site and now have mentally earmarked that site for future use.

5. Understanding Profitability - Companies are beginning to embrace the ability to measure ROI and profitability on search engines. People are no longer just throwing their whole budget into Google and three keywords without tracking. Search is being treated as a science and being approached thoughtfully.