The 2008 presidential race isn’t just about red states vs. blue states. For the first time, it has also been about paid search vs. unpaid search. In a report called “Searching for the Next President,” analytics firm AdGooroofound that after examining the search marketing strategies of both presidential candidates, Obama does better in natural search rankings, while McCain has done more paid search advertising. Obama ranks on the first page of unpaid results for 117 keywords, compared to 67 for McCain. AdGooroo found 226 paid search keywords being targeted by McCain, compared to 174 by Obama (including outbidding Obama for the term “Joe Biden.”)
But in terms of Web site traffic, Obama is the undisputed leader. Obama sites are getting more than 20 million visitors per month, compared to about 4 million on McCain sites.
