Search Arbitrage

I struck up a conversation with Andrea during my time in Bali who was from Italy—he runs a five-person marketing firm.

But the way they make money?

Unlike anything I’ve ever heard.

To explain, let’s do a quick recap. You might remember my article on the types of demand we discussed:

• Intent-Driven Demand → People actively searching for a solution to their problem.

• Hook-Driven Demand → People scrolling through social media, pulled away by a catchy ad that grabs their attention.

Sometimes, the search volume for intent-driven demand isn’t high enough, but Google still has businesses lining up to buy ads.

So, if you’re Google, and you’ve got businesses willing to pay for search ads but not enough search volume, what do you do?

If you can source more traffic for less than you sell it for, it becomes a profitable venture, right?

Well, that’s exactly what this firm does.

Google hires people like Andrea to run ads on other platforms—TikTok, Facebook, etc.—and pays them for clicks on the Google search page.

Here’s how it works:

If Google wants more people searching for something like "leather shoes Australia," Andrea runs ads on TikTok that send users to Google’s search page for "leather shoes Australia." If the user clicks on an ad, Andrea gets paid.

For example:

• Google gets paid 50¢ for a click.

• Google pays Andrea 30¢ to drive that click.

• Andrea spends 20¢ on TikTok ads to generate the traffic.

Suddenly, everyone’s making money.

It’s something I’d never considered until today.

Short email today, but I hope this unlocks a part of your brain that’s now wondering: where else might there be arbitrage opportunities?Until next time,

Ajay

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