AOL Search Marketplace: Targeting the AOL Demographic Has Never Been Easier

MoreVisibility - April 12, 2007

For a lot of companies, the typical AOL user — the modern American housewife — is the ideal consumer. If you’re the purveyor of family-oriented products and services you need to be seen on AOL, and there’s excellent news on the horizon.

As of this week, advertisers will be able to target the AOL market in a whole new way when AOL Search Marketplace moves out of Beta. For the past several years, search advertising results on AOL were served via Google, but now companies will be able to bid on keywords for sponsored results directly through AOL (though Google will still have a share).

So, what does this shift really mean? Obviously, now that AOL services are free, this added advertising revenue will be a potential boost to the company’s bottom line. For AOL users it’s a great opportunity to be served more relevant advertising. And there is a chance of increased revenues for Google as well since more relevant ads will most likely lead to more clicks.

Overall, however, it’s clear that the biggest winners are the companies who can now go straight to the source and create customized campaigns on their core-audience’s top site for shopping, information, and search. The average AOL user holds the purse strings of the American family and there are a lot of companies that will benefit greatly from advertising through AOL Search Marketplace.