Its algorithms can sort through more than 10 billion variables in seconds to decide whether, or how much, a client should spend to lock up an ad keyword.

FORBES: The Keyword Keeper

Siminoff was drawn to Efficient by its ability to cut the growing complexity of ad-keyword auctions.

FORBES

It provides good ad targeting to advertisers, consumers often find keyword ads relevant to their interests, and (as I explain here) cost-per-click (CPC) keyword advertising nicely shares the risks of ad performance between advertisers and publishers.

FORBES: With Its Australian Court Victory, Google Moves Closer to Legitimizing Keyword Advertising Globally

The reality is many large companies manage huge lexicons of keyword phrases in order to optimise their ad spend across search, and Google content partnerships.

FORBES: Ditching the TV Ad and Taking the Google Road to Brand Promotion

We believe this trend will continue as keyword targeted advertising has become a key medium for small business ad campaigns, and economic recoveries are a time when many small businesses get off the ground.

FORBES: Buy Google Now, Save Yourself A Kick In The Head Later

In a recent article, Joseph Turian observes that crowdsourced labor is already being used by many companies to analyze and code retail-store surveillance footage for customer visitation patterns, or by ad and marketing agencies to perform granular sentiment analysis and do keyword research, writing, editing and tagging images.

FORBES: 7 'Half-Baked Ideas' on Where Cloud Will Take Us in 2013 and Beyond