While Sen. Barack Obama has historically outdone Sen. John McCain in terms of social media savvy, McCain bests him in sponsored search and targeted advertising. Unfortunately, neither candidate does exceptionally well in the latter regard.

Author Jonathan Mendez of search engine marketing blog Optimize and Prophetize conducted an analysis of how well McCain and Obama fare in search queries.

Using the scenario of a person seeking information on the Presidential candidates' energy plans, Mendez conducted the following searches:

A generic search for "McCain" yielded two sponsored search ads, both pro-McCain. (A recent Nielsen survey found McCain's campaign focuses more on sponsored search than the Obama campaign.) The ads led to JohnMcCain.com/Contribute and McCainPalinVictory2008.com, respectively.

After clicking through to JohnMcCain.com, Mendez was able to click on "Learn more," followed by a button marked "Issues," where he immediately located the section on McCain's American energy plan.

A generic query for "Obama" yielded four sponsored ads, one of which — HumanEvents.com — was anti-Obama: BarackObama.com, MoveOn.org/barackstickers, HumanEvents.com/Obama, and PewForum.org/Obama08.

Unlike the sponsored listing for JohnMcCain.com, the ad for BarackObama.com had "clear messaging and a strong call to action." But accomplishing the goal — locating Obama's energy plan — was more difficult.

Mendez clicked on BarackObama.com. Information did not immediately appear on the landing page, where he had to provide personal data (email and a zip code) before he could move forward. "This breaks two of the cardinal rules of landing page optimization," Mendez wrote, continuing:

Never ask for personal information unless 1) the person is explicitly assured they will get something of value in return and 2) they understand why you are asking for the information and what you are going to use it for. Think of it as a mini-contract you make with your audience. Obama's landing page breaks these rules.

Failing to locate what he needed, Mendez went back to Google and refined his searches.

A query for "McCain energy plan" delivered an ad targeted directly to the keywords. Clicking on it brought Mendez immediately to the official page for McCain's energy plan.

MarketingVOX conducted the same search and saw one ad for SwellFuel.com, which was not relevant to the campaign. The top organic listing, however, drew users directly to The Lexington Project, a detailed energy plan proffered by McCain and Palin:

The next-most-prominent organic link was a news article in which Obama critiques McCain's energy plan.

Next, Mendez queried "Obama energy plan." He was served a targeted McCain ad leading to McCain's energy plan, and an ad for Obama's official site, which again required that user data be entered before he could see the content on the page.

MarketingVOX conducted the same test and saw three ads, none of which were campaign-relevant: PickensPlan.com (the online location of Texas millionaire T. Boone Pickens' wind power plan), one for namifiers.com, and an ad for convertable ocean energy from SwellFuel.

However, the top link in organic results led directly to the Obama's New Energy for America page on BarackObama.com:

No personal information had to be entered in order to view the page. The next-most-prominent link was a news article in which McCain's camp scrutinized the Obama energy plan.

The test drove Mendez to conclude that Google is a powerful outlet for distributing relevant information about candidates. But unless the candidates hone their SEM efforts — ensuring their landing pages provide exactly what users seek, for example — the chance to educate them is lost.

Both candidates were well-supported by organic listings, which users are most likely to visit anyway. Overall, however, the McCain campaign fared better than Obama in targeting sponsored advertising to serve users' needs, but neither campaign covered all their bases.

"My vote is that online targeting and optimization would translate to more votes offline," Mendez concluded, citing the "colossal failure of [campaign] strategists" to provide better experiences over the 'net.

Earlier this summer, it was reported that Obama trumped McCain in social networking popularity and online fundraising efforts. The findings were seconded by Pew, which found Obama supporters evangelized heavily across social media.

But as the race grows more tense, it is becoming more evident that neither social media outreach nor paid search advertising can be neglected by either candidate.