News-Related Keyword Bidding Heats Up

News organizations still compete fiercely to get the story first, but a new competition has emerged behind the scenes: the battle for the hottest news-related keywords on search engines.

Today’s Wall Street Journal reported on the growing use of pay-per-click advertising by news organizations. The process works like any other paid search program: media organizations bid for top placements on search engine results pages for hot news terms such as “Iraq war,” “Don Imus,” and yes, even “Britney Spears.” (On Google, for example, these are the sponsored links that appear to the right – and occasionally above – the main search results.)

According to the story, keywords related to the Virginia Tech shootings ranged from $.06-$.09 per click last week after peaking at more than $5.00 the day of the tragedy. Other breaking news terms often approach $.50 per click.

The objective, of course, is to drive traffic and highlight the news organization’s strengths. The specific strategies vary, however. Some news outlets focus their keyword efforts on site features that generate revenue (such as video content), while other networks focus on specific programming-related terms (such as ABC’s bidding on “Good Morning America” search results).

Most Internet users probably go directly to their favorite news site for breaking news and don’t begin with a general search query. But as aggregator tools like Google News gain more momentum, pay-per-click news will only grow.

(Pointer to journalism.org.)