16 replies to this topic

[Jill]

I was at a conference session yesterday, where the speaker said that the sponsored ads get to the top left of the page (over the organic) if their clickthrough rate is better than all the organic listings.

I've never heard that before and am wondering if it's just a myth or if it's true. She seemed pretty confident about it, but didn't cite any source for the info.

Anyone have any information about this?

[OldWelshGuy]

that is a new one on me. I have only seen it where there is plenty of competition for real estate and Google want to increase their share from 8 to 11

[discountdomains]

I think its correct - I was a long term advertiser - tweaked and tweaked my campaign until their CTR was really good - then after a while the ads started to appear on the top of page instead of right hand side.

Sort of a reward for the best advertisers.

[Jill]

Yes, but DiscountDomains, do you think it actually got there because it was getting more clicks than the organic listings?

I'm glad to hear your opinions, btw, but what I'm really looking for is where Google has stated this officially somewhere, if ever.

[discountdomains]

Yes, but DiscountDomains, do you think it actually got there because it was getting more clicks than the organic listings?

I'm glad to hear your opinions, btw, but what I'm really looking for is where Google has stated this officially somewhere, if ever.

It must have been a quality score of some form - better CTR or maybe some combination of CTR and low bounce back rates - ie not just coming straight back to search again - not sure if Google can detect that or not.

[OldWelshGuy]

I think what the original post is saying is that despite google stating that there is no direct link between paid ads and organic listings, this third party claims there is.

The claim made was that if your CTR on PPC is higher than the CTR on organic listings, then google switch layout from the standard right hand block of 8 ads, to the 3 PPC ads above the organic listings, plus 8 side ads.

[projectphp]

Myth without a source. Besides, isn;t it self fulfilling prohpecy?

[rustybrick]

I have not heard that either. I have covered the official Google response on how one earns a top ad spot at Google. More at http://searchenginel...0808-170001.php

[Jill]

Thanks, Barry, that's great info.

From that article:

The minimum price is based on the quality of your ad and is the minimum amount required for your ad to achieve top placement above Google search results. As always, the higher your ad's quality, the less you will pay. And you will never be charged more than your maximum CPC bid.

Since quality plays such a high factor, is it possible that one factor in determining quality is whether the ad gets clicked on more than the organic listings for the keyword phrase queried by the searcher?

From reading the article, it sounds like Google would never officially say this is the case (and smartly so), but perhaps those doing PPC for zillions of accounts have pretty much figured out that this is how it works?

I was taken aback when the speaker I heard stated that Google does this as if it were a fact, not just something they believed or figured out. Is this something that lots of people believe as well?

[projectphp]

Since quality plays such a high factor, is it possible that one factor in determining quality is whether the ad gets clicked on more than the organic listings for the keyword phrase queried by the searcher?

No. It simply cannot be that.

How would there ever be three listings above the first organic? All three would need to beat result one of the free results. I can't imagine that ever happenning, short of those cases where universal search is a big chunk (like a map of a city).

And any new keyword (like Wii) would forever and a day suffer, as the chances of an ad creeping above result one are Buckley's and none.

Short of confirmation, there is absolutely no reason to believe the claim has any merit at all. It is quitre simply, preposterous and non-sensical (boy, I really am cranky today!)

[Scottie]

If you look at eye-tracking heatmaps, the top left of the page is the "hottest" area, meaning, nearly all visitors look at that section of the page. It makes a lot of sense to me that the premium advertisers just above the editorial listings would get clicked more.

[torka]

Sure, they'd potentially get clicked more, once they got to that spot. But I agree with Mike -- that can't be how they got there in the first place. As least not in the SERPs I generally follow.

--Torka

[OldWelshGuy]

Official Google stats say that in every 7 searches result in a PPC ad click. but the other 6 result in an organic click. Now doing the maths on that one means that realistically an ad would need to be 6 times more popular to draw even!

Which is why I doubt it.

My money is on what i posted originally, in that the phrase is well stocked, and they have shifted to 11 ads per page over the std 8.

[lyn]

The one observation I can add to this is the experience of my wife's website.

She has appeared at the top of the organic listings for several of her primary kw phrases for several years. She has never paid for a sponsored listing. Several other sites in her business, for people she knows personally, have been into bidding wars for top spot in the paid listings. Up to three paid listings have appeared together in the top left section, with up to five others down the right margin. With one exception, none of the paid sites have ever had better CTRs and conversions than her organic listing.

This indicates to me that the paid positions are related only to each other, not to organic listings.

L.

[Jill]

With one exception, none of the paid sites have ever had better CTRs and conversions than her organic listing.

How do you know that? Wouldn't you need access to their stats for that?