Financial services companies run a distant third in using "sponsored links" to advertise in online search engine results, a survey found.
Retail companies buy 22% and online media companies 21% of sponsored links, which appear on search results pages when people search for keywords, NetRatings Inc. of New York said last Wednesday.
Financial companies buy only 6%, and the leader among them in such purchases is LowerMyBills.com Inc. of Santa Monica, Calif., which offers to help consumers to find cheaper financial services.
Though Web searches for generic terms such as "free checking" or "online banking" are most likely to return sponsored links from large national banks or Internet banks, many small banks also use them.
Initially small banks paid for their names to appear only alongside searches for the names of their communities. However, in the past year some engine companies have begun providing locally relevant results for queries by analyzing the searchers' computers to figure out their locations.
Suppose, for example, someone in Peoria, Ill., searches for "online banking." In addition to showing sponsored links from large banks, now a results page might also show those of local banks that had paid for them to appear when people in the area search for the term.
Imran Kahn, E-Loan Inc.'s director of marketing, advised in June against expecting too much of sponsored-link ads.
"Search-engine marketing is a very effective channel," but banks should not divert advertising funds for it, he said at a New York conference hosted by Forrester Research Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.
Ads on television, in print media, and even on other Web sites also create brand awareness and drive potential customers to banks, Mr. Kahn said. E-Loan, of Pleasanton, Calif., pays for sponsored links to appear in response to more than 200,000 search terms but also advertises through other media, he said.
