Since the depression of the recession descended on our lovely land, searching has inevitably changed. Inquiries for expensive luxury products have often been replaced with queries for good-value bargains. These trends can be seen across all areas of the purchasing landscape. Here are just a few examples and some top tips for advertisers (all data has been pulled from the Microsoft Advertising Intelligence Tool, which you can download now to analyse your own terms plus much more!).

Retail

A comparison of two leading fashion websites at different ends of the price spectrum shows that our users are increasingly searching for high street bargains over luxury labels. Searches for 'asos' (famous for offering high street brands at competitive prices) have increased by 19% from July 2008 to July 2009, whereas those for 'net a porter' ('the world's premier online luxury fashion retailer') have stayed almost the same, despite both sites generating increased brand awareness over this time.

Entertainment

No trip to a pizzeria would be complete without olives, dough balls....and that essential 2 for 1 voucher. I don't think I've paid the full price for a 'quattro formaggio' since the credit crunch took its first bite out of my bank account. And the search trends below suggest I'm not the only one looking to save my hard earned cash...

Travel

The recession has generated a new buzz word in the travel market - the 'staycation'. Due to the weakening pound, travel companies going bust, and people's pockets becoming increasingly pinched, more people are 'staycationing' in good old Blighty this summer. The huge increase in the amount of people searching for this term (225% increase from July 2008 to July 2009) shows that not only is the recession affecting what people are searching for, but even their terminology.

Finance

People's finances are at the forefront of their minds at the moment. Fewer people are after 'loans' (searches for this term have dropped by 3.6% from July 2008 to July 2009) whilst more people are focusing on 'savings accounts' and 'ISAs'. This suggests that our users are becoming more financially cautious as the economic situations remains uncertain.

Top Tips for Advertisers

Whatever it is that you're selling; we've got some top tips to ensure that your adCenter account remains cost-effective in these credit crunching times:

1. Keywords:

· If you offer cheaper, bargain or sale products, make sure your keyword list reflects this.

2. Negative Matches:

· Use a negative match list to ensure that your ads are only showing to relevant searchers. For example, if you sell cheap products, consider adding 'luxury' to your negative match list.

3. Ads:

· Use prices in your ad copy. This has proven to really increase CTR on adCenter.

· Promote all your top deals in your ad copy, including vouchers, money off etc.

· Any USPs such as 'free delivery' or 'two for the price of one' should be mentioned.

Good luck and thanks for reading,

Libby