Closer Google AdWords Increasing Ad Clicks & Decreasing Organic Clicks?

Posted by MC on Aug 31, 2009 in Web News | Comments Off

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On August 6th, we reported how Google was pushing the AdWords ads nearer to the organic listings in some browsers. I illustrated the change in a short movie, so that it is crystal clear how much of an impact it makes.

A couple days ago, SearchViews.com released a report that said this change has resulted in a 15% increase in the click-through rate on their ads. 14.47% over the 11 day period, to be exact. That number seems huge to me and I am wondering if there are other variables at play here.

There is a new debate about those numbers at WebmasterWorld but there is an even newer debate on the topic of how this impacts clicks on the organic/free listings.

A WebmasterWorld thread asks if this has decreased the click-through rate on the organic side. Right now, there have been no reports that this had any impact on the organic search results, but the test is new and the thread is new.

Here is a poll, please check all that apply:

Has Ad Position Changed Your Click Through Rate (CTR)?(online surveys)

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.