Another thought just struck (my mind moves like an iceberg sometimes....). I'm sometimes guilty of clicking ads on Google pages, or at least typing the URL from the ads as I want to see who wants to be top for certain keywords. New sites with fresh ideas don't often get page one right away, so sponsored results give you an early look at the competition as it's how they get on that first page of results right away.

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Andy Fletcher, not the famous one.