Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), Google Inc (GOOG): Gaming the Search Engines Is Good for the Web’s Leaders

Local search is a market that is just getting started. Brick and mortar businesses are just now catching on. More competition for search advertising means higher per-click rates. New devices, like mobile phones and tablets, put search at a users’ fingertips, leading to more search volume. That’s a combination that will reward investors for years to come.

Ultimately, the explosion in online search will lead to new SEO practices and higher SEO budgets, but SEO won’t kill paid-for advertising.

If you’re not on the front page of a web search, you don’t exist. The top 10 results may get a free pass, but the hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses ranked lower in the results will have to pay the search engine to get on page 1.

For Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Bing, that means big money on in-search advertising.

The article Gaming the Search Engines Is Good for the Web’s Leaders originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Jordan Wathen.

Jordan Wathen has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Google and Microsoft. Jordan is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.

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