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The average "cost per keyword" increased from $20 in July to $26 in September according to the Search Trend Report for 3Q05 by Performics, DoubleClick's performance-based marketing division, writes DM News. The reason for the increase is that "campaigns are getting bigger and growing across the board," according to Cam Balzer, director of search strategy at Performics.

Meanwhile, SEMphonic reports that keyword costs for kitchen, food and wine-related terms went up 8 percent in the quarter, likely as a run-up to the holidays, writes ClickZ; and they rose by the same amount for arts and entertainment terms. Prices for keywords about apparel and accessories rose 10 percent.

A significant trend cited by the Performics report is a shift in keyword rank distribution compared with the first quarter: Keywords are not as often maintaining the top rank for an entire month as a result of both increased competition in paid search and changes in Google's ad ranking algorithm.

The Performics research also found that lower-ranked keywords are generating better conversion rate, suggesting that marketers are starting to use lower-placed ads for branding or "other non-direct purposes" purposes.