shorebreak - 3:48 pm on Dec 15, 2006 (gmt 0)

Andye - RhinoFish answered this one spot-on: domain parking sites are often (if not always) included as search partners, when in fact the nature of domain traffic is fundamentally different from search and much more akin to contextual traffic.

The challenge for Google with this type of traffic is that it's ROI doesn't merit high enough bids. This is a huge issue, though, and in my view constitutes the difference for Google between roundly beating investor expectations and delivering ho-hum quarters. As long as it goes on, they're able to pay [low] contextual distribution fees and reap [high] search CPCs.

-Shorebreak

PS: here are two quotes from their Q2 & Q3 earnings calls:

Q2: “Ongoing initiatives to improve the quality of our ads were a significant driver of increased monetization.”
Q3: “…monetization gains were the primary driver of sequential revenue growth.”
-George Reyes, CFO