3 replies to this topic

[jsp1983]

I'm at a loss right now - I've spent some time thinking that AdWords does not have a direct effect on organic rankings; that it's only an artificial way of getting your site seen by searchers, in exchange for money.

A bit of background: our site has been bubbling away for a few months, not doing very much. Its visitor traffic has been relatively consistent and low over that period. Last week, we started experimenting with PPC for the first time. We got an upswing in traffic, as you might expect, but what we also noticed was that, out from nowhere, our organic ranking for a particular key phrase shot to page 1 - up from something like page 14 or whatever. This had never happened before. A couple of days ago, I suspended the campaign (for a number of unrelated reasons) and now our organic ranking for that same phrase is in the back of beyond again.

Now, before anyone jumps on me, I know that rankings aren't the be all and end all of everything. We focus on the traffic we get and how well it converts (not very well, admittedly). We're also firm believers in the phrase "correlation does not equal causation". Still, this instance of our AdWords campaign and organic rankings poses an interesting question for us, despite the many articles and opinions we've seen that AdWords has no direct effect whatsoever on organic rankings. Of course, it could just be coincidence and we're willing to accept that.

Can anyone shed some light on this for us? I'm interested to know if this is something that others have experienced or might have some insight in to.

[Jill]

It's a likely coincidence. Put it back and see what happens. Do it a few times as well.

[jsp1983]

It's a likely coincidence. Put it back and see what happens. Do it a few times as well.

That's what we're putting it down to for the moment. The circumstances just seemed extraordinarily coincidental, which is why the question came up.

We'll be experimenting with it once our PPC guy returns next week.

[Michael Martinez]

Are you using the same organic page as your PPC landing page? Is the exact same URL being shown in both positions? Are you logging in to Google sometimes and not at other times?

What does your referral data for that particular page show throughout the period?