A new study on local search advertising from research firm Borrell Associates finds that roughly 50 percent of businesses that buy search ads directly from Google (GOOG) and other Internet search companies don’t come back the following year. And the churn rate for businesses like Yodel, ReachLocal and LookSmart that purchase search ads on behalf of local advertisers is around 60 percent, according to the study, scheduled to be released Monday. In comparison, the churn rates for cellphone or cable providers are often just a few percentage points per quarter.

Search ad giant Google declined to comment on the report, which was funded by Clickable, a startup that sells software to help companies manage their search advertising campaigns.

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Depends on who you ask: Search ad firm Efficient Frontier says spending dropped eight percent in the last quarter of 2008. But search ad firm Clickable says it saw “marginal” increases during the same period. You can easily find more conflicting data with a couple mouse clicks.

Here’s the easy way to settle this up: Check with Google (GOOG) today after 4 p.m. EST.

The search ad giant reports its fourth-quarter 2008 earnings today, and Wall Street is expecting earnings of $4.96 per share on revenues of $4.12 billion. [UPDATE: Google beat those estimates in what appears to have been a very good quarter, all things considering]

Below, a handy “cheat sheet” from Citigroup’s (C) Mark Mahaney that sketches out what Wall Street and Citi are looking for from Google in more detail (click to enlarge). Note that Mahaney is painting a mixed picture for Google (and thus, search in general): an increase in the overall dollars spent on search (paid click growth), but a decrease in the amount spent on each ad (cost per click growth).

Beyond the Q4 numbers, it’d be great to get color from Google execs about the current market (Google famously doesn’t offer formal earnings “guidance”) and the state of projects like YouTube, etc. But if you’re really impatient, no need to wait until this afternoon to get a sense of how Google has been doing: Just look at the company’s track record over the past few months.

Google has finally started trying to wring extra pennies out of each visitor (via efforts like its YouTube affiliate program), while actually cutting nonperforming projects (like its Print Ads program). And this month it made an unprecedented move: firing full-time employees.

Translation: Google is still an awesome money-making machine–it’s going to have an operating margin of nearly 50 percent for the last quarter, and will have posted more than $5 billion in profit for 2008. But it isn’t immune to a worldwide meltdown, and search ads aren’t either.

Following is a summary of company presentations and what the judges had to say:

• Spottt: Phil Kaplan, of Ask Pud and F***ed Company fame, presenting. Begins with a bit of history, recalling the ill-starred LinkExchange and its premature death at the hands of Microsoft. Spottt is essentially LinkExchange reborn. LinkExchange founder Tony Hsieh is even an adviser. Same deal as LinkExchange as well: one-for-one ad swap, with no paid ads. (No points for innovation here.)
• Clickable: “Online advertising made simple.” My God, what a cliche. That said, the company does seem to offer a compelling solution for managing search-advertising campaigns across multiple networks. Offers analytics tools to monitor revenue, return and conversion rates. Another tool gauges the relative success of your campaigns and offers suggestions for improving them. Seems to me a compelling proposition for the harried ad manager or small publisher.
• GotStatus: Offers a complement to Google Analytics. Systems-management tools that monitor server-side applications in the same way Google Analytics monitors browser data. Tracks metrics like new account creation, database size, etc.
• PubMatic: Offers a new service that helps publishers run the highest-paid ads from the top ad networks. Sounds like an engaging presentation for the ad-management folks in the room, but I’m finding it a bit tedious–greatly improved by the latest Smodcast.
• ZocDoc: A service that helps folks to book appointments with local doctors and dentists that accept their insurance. ZocDoc taps into the schedules of participating doctors to maintain an up-to-date schedule of available appointments. Revenue model: Doctors pay to join the service in the hopes of filling empty appointments. ZocDoc is now live with 2 percent of the dentists in Manhattan. 2 percent of the dentists in Manhattan? There’s a metric to build a marketing campaign on. “Using ZocDoc is simple. Just type in your zip code and ailment/disease/injury and then select a medical practitioner from our list of 2 percent of the dentists in Manhattan.”

Judges panel:

Get ready for the next Kawasaki-Dyson slug-fest…

Kawasaki likes Spottt, apparently because “it’s the only one I can really understand.” Bemoans the fact that he didn’t sign on to be an adviser to LinkExchange when he had the chance.

Dyson (who doesn’t understand Spottt’s business model) likes Clickable and ZocDoc. Wonders about ratings fraud and liability issues. Founders say company is committed to making sure the feedback is fair. Offers practitioner the chance to respond to negative feedback and says it will delete feedback that is inaccurate. Seems a simplistic and untenable way to handle this issue.

Kawasaki jumps in and says he’d never use a site like ZocDoc. Asks Dyson if she were to travel to NYC and suddenly need a doctor would she actually use a site like this to find one, or would she call a local friend or ask a hotel concierge. “I just don’t see it,” he says. “You search this site and you’re like, “Oh look, Dr. Molly Adams, she looks nice, I’ll ask her to operate on my heart.’ “

Founders parry and say service is good for illnesses that people might not want to tell others about. “You might ask your friend for an optometrist recommendation, but you might not ask them for someone who could diagnose the rash on your butt.”

Kawasaki: “Sure I would. I’d call Jason (Calacanis); he’s had plenty of rashes.”

(Kawasaki and Dyson are literally saving today’s judges panels.)

ZocDoc question from audience: Is it pay-for-play like 1-800-dentist? Answer: We always put the patient first. ( So is it or is it not a pay-for-play site?)

Kawasaki suggests ZocDoc generalize their business and become a platform that could be licensed and used to create similar services in other sectors. A salesforce.com model. Dyson agrees, but says it’s important to start small, prove your concept and then build out. She adds that she hopes the company has retained good legal counsel to help protect its business model.

Aww, tender moment. Presenting company announces that this is Roelof Botha’s birthday and leads audience in “Happy Birthday Roelof.” Afterward, Botha describes the moment as one of his most humiliating. Dyson suggests he use ZocDoc to find a good psychologist.