Paid search, anyone?

The Wall Street Journal reports that news-media outlets are increasingly relying on paid search:

With the Web assuming an increasingly vital role for print and television news outlets, and online competition intensifying, more outlets are turning to search marketing to drive traffic to their Web sites. To guarantee their pages come up prominently when consumers search Google or Yahoo for news on particular subjects, newspapers and TV channels bid for keywords related to stories. They pay every time a consumer clicks on the link.

Many of us became aware of this practice after the Virginia Tech massacre, when major media outlets bought such terms as “Virginia Tech” and “Virginia shooting.”

The WSJ article is worth a read, especially if you work in PR or marketing.

Hat tip to Steve Rubel via Twitter.