Once again, David Rodnitzky gets into a meaty topic when he discusses the future of comparison shopping sites.
I like what he has to say about Google and Microsoft and I think he’s right on. The most interesting insight that he offered was a direct statement about Google’s announcement concerning comparison shopping sites and how they don’t usually have quality landing pages. Rodnitzky claims this could lead to comparison shopping sites being banned from AdWords. That isn’t likely to happen, but it could mean that they’ll have a tougher time getting their AdWords ads to attract clicks.
If the comparison shopping sites don’t improve their landing pages then they’ll be paying higher prices for clicks. Their ads may not even be approved unless they are will to pay enormous prices for their keyword bids. That could effectively send the comparison shopping sites out of the advertising business unless they improve their landing pages, which will be difficult to do since many of them have landing pages that are created by their users.
Still, Google is poised to compete in the comparison shopping arena and it’s possible that they could aggressively pursue that avenue. If so, then it will be good for Google, for shoppers, and for companies that use these sites to promote their products. You can be sure that whatever Google decides to focus on it will do it well.
Rodnitzky also discussed MSN and its new policy to pay consumers to purchase through them. If it works then MSN will be a key player in consumer shopping information, but it remains to be seen that it works. MSN will have to convince consumers to purchase products through their search engine. If they can do that then they may be a major player in this arena and can charge more for advertising. Let’s just wait and see what happens with the comparison shopping landscape. My bet is that Rodnitzky is right about one thing: It will change.
