3 replies to this topic

[Rick Hawkes]

I have always been a fan of crafting pages to get to the top of search engines, and not paying for position.

I am considering dabbling in AdWords and perhaps Overture. Basically I want some kind of presence in Google especially, while I work on getting my site(s) to the first SERP.

Does PPC affect your natural ranking in Google? Is it possible (though not likely) to have your site show on page 1, and to have an adword ad next to it?

I cannot say that I have ever seen it, but that could be because you probably would not use AdWords if you're already near the top.

[Haystack]

Adwords is an entirely separate program from Google's natural search product, so it won't influence your results.

If you see the value in traffic generated by specific terms, using PPC to drive more of that traffic to your site makes good sense. If you're making a lot of money off traffic from a given term, why not do everything you can to capture as much of that traffic as possible? PPC helps you control more real estate on the SERP. As long as you're making money on your PPC traffic, it doesn't make sense to disable an ad due to high natural SE rankings.

[webstream]

Is it possible (though not likely) to have your site show on page 1, and to have an adword ad next to it?

Yes, I have seen clients with their listing and ad side by side on page 1.

Add a tracking url to the ad and see which one does better. You may be surprised.

Ed, I see you made it back okay from the show!

Webstream

[Hyperformance]

Agreed, and I use it (PPC) until I get the results onto page one naturally... (in this account).

Term: solder training (acct: solder.net)

It was a pay per click until recently when we made the organic results... this tactic works really well in some cases or for more immediate results for the client - if their budget allows. It also (as mentioned) allows you to see how many potential visitors click on the paid ad versus the organic results - great analysis!

- SS