Comments on: Case study: Why you should pay for search engine advertising when you have the #1 spot in Google http://www.rickwhittington.com/blog/case-study-why-you-should-pay-for-search-engine-advertising-when-you-have-the-1-spot-in-google/ Helpful tips to make your website more effective from Rick Whittington Consulting, Richmond, Virginia Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:42:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Idris http://www.rickwhittington.com/blog/case-study-why-you-should-pay-for-search-engine-advertising-when-you-have-the-1-spot-in-google/comment-page-1/#comment-4332 Idris Tue, 27 Mar 2007 15:52:19 +0000 http://esc05.hostican.com/~rickwhit/wordpress/case-study-why-you-should-pay-for-search-engine-advertising-when-you-have-the-1-spot-in-google#comment-4332 when you get more number of visits from natural what is the point in going for paid. Again, if both has considerable amount of traffic you need to check with individucal conversion rates. when you get more number of visits from natural what is the point in going for paid. Again, if both has considerable amount of traffic you need to check with individucal conversion rates.

]]> By: Rick Whittington http://www.rickwhittington.com/blog/case-study-why-you-should-pay-for-search-engine-advertising-when-you-have-the-1-spot-in-google/comment-page-1/#comment-2899 Rick Whittington Wed, 21 Mar 2007 02:06:08 +0000 http://esc05.hostican.com/~rickwhit/wordpress/case-study-why-you-should-pay-for-search-engine-advertising-when-you-have-the-1-spot-in-google#comment-2899 Kevin, You're correct that we as marketers can't prove that natural search engine listings would have gotten more clicks. After all, I wouldn't want to test this by turning off PPC listings, or vice versa, getting de-listed from search engines. That's why I love this industry -- there's always a challenge! Kevin,

You’re correct that we as marketers can’t prove that natural search engine listings would have gotten more clicks. After all, I wouldn’t want to test this by turning off PPC listings, or vice versa, getting de-listed from search engines.

That’s why I love this industry — there’s always a challenge!

]]> By: Kevin Hillstrom http://www.rickwhittington.com/blog/case-study-why-you-should-pay-for-search-engine-advertising-when-you-have-the-1-spot-in-google/comment-page-1/#comment-2896 Kevin Hillstrom Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:45:30 +0000 http://esc05.hostican.com/~rickwhit/wordpress/case-study-why-you-should-pay-for-search-engine-advertising-when-you-have-the-1-spot-in-google#comment-2896 My thoughts are the same as yours, natural probably would have gotten more clicks, but you can't prove it. That's what makes all of this stuff fun! My thoughts are the same as yours, natural probably would have gotten more clicks, but you can’t prove it.

That’s what makes all of this stuff fun!

]]> By: Rick Whittington http://www.rickwhittington.com/blog/case-study-why-you-should-pay-for-search-engine-advertising-when-you-have-the-1-spot-in-google/comment-page-1/#comment-2040 Rick Whittington Wed, 14 Mar 2007 19:18:58 +0000 http://esc05.hostican.com/~rickwhit/wordpress/case-study-why-you-should-pay-for-search-engine-advertising-when-you-have-the-1-spot-in-google#comment-2040 Kevin, good point about the assumption that the pay-per-click ads might be cannibalizing the natural search results. Since the average position of the paid search ad is about 3, and based on the heatmaps of Google search result pages, I would assume that the natural results would have gotten more clicks had I not advertised, but I can't prove that. What are your thoughts from your experiences? Terry, I seriously doubt that the competitors are clicking on the ads. The ads have such high conversion rates that I find it hard to believe that a competitor would do this. Sure, they might be clicking a handful of times, but I know for a fact that this industry doesn't have a lot of competitive analysis activity. Plus, I can't imagine that anyone clicks the ads for fun or in a devious nature. It happens, but I don't think it happens in this industry. Kevin, good point about the assumption that the pay-per-click ads might be cannibalizing the natural search results. Since the average position of the paid search ad is about 3, and based on the heatmaps of Google search result pages, I would assume that the natural results would have gotten more clicks had I not advertised, but I can’t prove that. What are your thoughts from your experiences?

Terry, I seriously doubt that the competitors are clicking on the ads. The ads have such high conversion rates that I find it hard to believe that a competitor would do this. Sure, they might be clicking a handful of times, but I know for a fact that this industry doesn’t have a lot of competitive analysis activity. Plus, I can’t imagine that anyone clicks the ads for fun or in a devious nature. It happens, but I don’t think it happens in this industry.

]]> By: Terry http://www.rickwhittington.com/blog/case-study-why-you-should-pay-for-search-engine-advertising-when-you-have-the-1-spot-in-google/comment-page-1/#comment-2028 Terry Wed, 14 Mar 2007 15:34:38 +0000 http://esc05.hostican.com/~rickwhit/wordpress/case-study-why-you-should-pay-for-search-engine-advertising-when-you-have-the-1-spot-in-google#comment-2028 How many of those paid clicks were competitors just looking ate the landing page? Many asssume that ppc fraud is an intentional devious act when in actuality, I frequently visit my competitors paid listings to study their landing pages. I would personally never add to the cost of my budget by placing paid ads on a page where I was ranking in any position. How many of those paid clicks were competitors just looking ate the landing page? Many asssume that ppc fraud is an intentional devious act when in actuality, I frequently visit my competitors paid listings to study their landing pages. I would personally never add to the cost of my budget by placing paid ads on a page where I was ranking in any position.

]]> By: Kevin Hillstrom http://www.rickwhittington.com/blog/case-study-why-you-should-pay-for-search-engine-advertising-when-you-have-the-1-spot-in-google/comment-page-1/#comment-2023 Kevin Hillstrom Wed, 14 Mar 2007 14:33:01 +0000 http://esc05.hostican.com/~rickwhit/wordpress/case-study-why-you-should-pay-for-search-engine-advertising-when-you-have-the-1-spot-in-google#comment-2023 Would the business have had 113 visits, or 59 visits, or somewhere in-between, if paid search were not done at all? Would the business have had 113 visits, or 59 visits, or somewhere in-between, if paid search were not done at all?

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