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Special Election IL05 Tue Feb 03 2009
Google Adwords War in IL05
I decided to run a little experiment.
As you may know, it is fairly inexpensive to buy search terms on Google so that you can try to direct searchers to your site. So, let's say you own a 24-hour diner in Chicago, and in order to draw traffic to your diner's website, you pay Google to run a short text ad whenever people search terms like "late night diner" and "Chicago" or "Chicago" and "munchies" or "I'm drunk what's still open so I can eat something before I vomit cognac all over my cat."
There is no restriction on the terms you can buy, so if you are Circuit City you can buy the terms "Best Buy" and "Chicago." Wait, that won't work -- Circuit City isn't a thing anymore. OK, if you're Tower Records, though, you could buy "Coconuts" and "Chicago." Better.
So I did a search for the candidates' names to suss out who had bought which terms. And winning the Google Adwords war is...Charlie Wheelan.
Wheelan's ad comes up when you search for Sara Feigenholtz, Mike Quigley, John Fritchey, Patrick O'Connor, Rahm Emanuel, Illinois Fifth District and "Frank Annunzio," but not, uh, Charlie Wheelan.
Sara Feigenholtz is right behind him, appearing on "Patrick O'Connor," "Tom Geoghegan," "Mike Quigley" and the only result for "Charlie Wheelan."
Mike Quigley, John Fritchey and Tom Geoghegan don't seem to have bought any Google Adwords yet.
UPDATE: Over on the Windy Citizen, editor Brad Flora has dug up the likely political operative behind the strategy.
Jesse / February 4, 2009 12:16 AM
Pure genius post!
I was marveling at the lack of recognition that voters'search plays I the minds of il5 campaigns.