I've been trying to decipher the meaning of the click-through difficulties (AP story) for Google, because the impact on the media economy has enormous potential.
What's clear is that comScore is tabulating weakness in Google's click-through rate --- and has been for two months now --- which in turn guides the advertising revenue stream for the online advertising behemoth.
What's also clear is that Google is doing much to crack down on fraudulent and accidental clicks, a painful short-term move that could have long-term benefits in creating an advertising model with greater integrity.
The real concern, though, is that users are getting ad fatigue online and that Google's rapier targeting of paid search ads might be losing its appeal to the targeted.
The next few months in a downturned U.S. advertising market will tell an important tale.
It's possible that the relative excitement of clicking through to a product site or a service provider has waned. Some of the more dynamic, interactive ad models have been appealing, but it doesn't feel like we've entered an era of Ad 2.0.
Content providers are already scratching their heads about the digital business model. What if advertisers start doing the same?
