Sponsored Links v. Unpaid Search Results
Recently, I read an unbelievable & fantastic bit of research summary in the Washington Post. And by "unbelievable & fantastic", I mean in its truest sense, not in the marketing-hype sense!
Here's what I read in a July 17, 2003 article by Leslie Walker (Web Giants Seek Fortune in Search Ads):
"Researchers at ComScore Networks recently found that people who click on sponsored links in search results are twice as likely to buy something as people who click on unpaid search results after running the same query."
I found this statement incredible (again, true meaning of the word!) My own stats and the stats of many of my clients don't seem to support this statement: in many cases, unpaid listings outsell the paid listings!
But the article went on with another quote:
"ComScore also found that paid search links had four times the click-through rate of unpaid search results for the same queries."
Ummmmmm. . . .once again, my stats show the opposite, meaning that I tend to show more click-throughs on our unpaid listings. It makes me wonder if I'm doing something right with optimization, or doing something wrong with the copywriting on my paid listings!
Bottom line: I'm also wondering if anybody else is experiencing the unbelievable, fantastic, incredible feelings that I'm having about paid v. unpaid. I need a reality check: anybody have any comments?
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