Is Google Going to Take Over the World of Higher Education Marketing?

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In a recent pay-per-click advertising campaign we've been running, I find it very interesting that all other things held equal (same bid, same ads, same words, etc), Google’s service is about 30X more effective than Yahoo's (ie. Google is bringing in 30X more clicks than Yahoo all things held equal). Part of this is clearly based on the specific market this campaign is being run, and it may just be that Google has focused on having good content partners in the area we happen to be advertising in. But, this level of dominance seems to be more than just a coincidence. I have to say that I find it intimidating that Google has such dominance. It could ultimately become a monopolistic environment, which could be bad for us all.

On the other hand, the nature of the PPC method is that it is at the mercy of the free market. So even if Google is the only player, theoretically there is still legitimate competition through the bidding process. But don't hold the anti-trust lawyers back quite yet... Some of the key phrases we have used are now showing minimum bids, which oh, by the way, supersede the free-market concept. And these minimum bids are $5 and $10 per click, far above what we would like to bid for any phrase in this campaign. I've found that the minimum bid requirement is typically dropped within a couple days, but could this be a sign of things to come when your only option is to pay this jacked up price if you want to advertise on Google?

Marketing and outreach divisions in Higher Education are especially at risk here, because due to the large budgets of the for-profits like University of Phoenix, our key phrases are some of the highest priced key phrases on the Internet. This makes Higher Education key phrases an ideal place for Google to flex its market dominance into higher profits. I don't mean to be an alarmist, and I am not saying that any of this will definitely happen; I am just saying the possibility is there...