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Falling clicks and rising search volume indicate something else

Frantic speculation that a softening economy may be causing Google's paid click numbers to suffer should be taken back a notch.

Though it was their report, cited at Bear Stearns and Citigroup, that caused the speculation, comScore blogged a contrary viewpoint.

"While we do not claim that these concerns are unwarranted, we believe a careful analysis of our search data does not lend them direct support," comScore's Magid Abraham said.

"The evidence suggests that the softness in Google’s paid click metrics is primarily a result of Google’s own quality initiatives that result in a reduction in the number of paid listings and, therefore, the opportunity for paid clicks to occur," Abraham continued.

Also, Abraham noted that while Google’s paid clicks dropped by their measurement, their total number of search queries increased in the period noted, from December to January.

If this is the case, Google’s downturn should be a temporary one that swings back up once higher cost per click bid prices match the quality of the traffic advertisers receive from search visitors. As comScore noted, other major search engines like Yahoo and Microsoft saw their paid clicks go up while Google’s declined; an economic slowdown probably shouldn't only hit Google.