Finance and Retail Paid Search Spend Higher in May

Spending on paid search from advertisers in the finance and retail categories continued to grow in May, with average CPCs growing by 11 percent and 8 percent month-over-month, respectively, according to data from Efficient Frontier.

Though CPCs in the travel category dipped slightly compared with April, they're up 7 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile the retail sector also saw strong year-over-year growth, with CPCs 25 percent higher than they were 12 months ago.

Despite an increase in May, CPCs in the finance category remained 14 percent lower than they were a year ago.

U.S. Average Search CPC by Category, April and May 2010
Category	CPC May 2009 ($)	CPC April 2010 ($)	CPC May 2010 ($)	Month-over-Month Change (%)	Year-over-Year Change, May (%)
Automotive	0.49	0.50	0.51	2	4
Finance	2.31	1.79	1.99	11	-14
Retail	0.40	0.46	0.50	8	25
Travel	0.56	0.71	0.60	-15	7
Source: 2010