Improve Search Engine Rank
Paid search listings

Everyone wants to improve their search engine rank and for good measure, it can result in a lot more traffic. That increase in traffic usually results in more business. Getting a higher ranking isn't easy these days. There are so many sites on-line, with so much content, that it makes it more difficult to stand out from the crowd.

There are online advertising solutions to improve search engine rank. Almost every search engine has an advertising program to include your listing for a fee. These programs work on a keyword system. You bid on a keyword(s) that matches what someone might search for to find you. In return for your cold hard cash you get a listing on the search site when someone searches for that keyword. You only pay when someone clicks on your listing. If it shows up and they don't click, you don't pay. This type of search listing is called a "paid inclusion" or a "sponsored listing."

Paid Search Listings

A paid search listing will generally show up at the top of the list of search results. This pretty much moves you to the top of list and the first thing the user sees. You would think this is great, but take it with a grain of salt. In a recent study** on the topic both men and women, 65% and 57% respectively, prefer natural results over a paid search listing. You can also read this the other way, 35% of men and 43% of women prefer paid search listings.

Are Paid Search Listings Worth It?

With a clear majority of users disliking paid search listings, is it worthwhile to pay for the listing. What's surprising about all this is that although the majority of users dislike paid listings, they can't identify a paid listing as a paid listing half of the time. That's right, half of us can't tell the difference between a natural search listing and a paid search listings. Fifty percent of the males in the survey said they knew the difference and about one-third of the women said they do.

Being able to spot a paid listing versus a 'natural' search result is good to know, but why? You'll see studies all over the web about how users click on the top three search results more than anything else. They then couple that with the fact that users say they don't usually click on paid search listings. That's not the full picture though. The following report puts all that information into perspective. The majority of Search Engine users, both male and female, can't tell the difference between paid/sponsored listings versus the natural/non-paid. You then realize that those top three results people are clicking on are usually the paid ones, as they come up first. Now that my merry-go-round of logic is complete, here are some more fascinating factoids for your water cooler/coffee station chat. 54% of frequent Google users (aka Googlers) report they know the difference between natural and paid listings. The Yahoo! users (Yahoo!ers ???) come in a close second with 42% reporting they know the difference.

Why can't users tell the difference between a paid advertisement and a natural un-paid listing.

The problem is:

• Paid listings don't have clear standards from one search site to the next.
• When they are mentioned they have so many names: sponsored, paid, advertisement, etc.
• They aren't always clearly presented as a paid listing.
• There is no real education process to let users know why there is any difference between a paid listing and a natural un-paid listing.

How to Spot a Paid Search Listing

This is an example from Google to show the difference between a paid search result and a natural result. We've searched using the keywords "Organic Fruit."

Example: Paid Search Listing

Example: Natural Search Listing

The main difference between these two results is that the paid search listing has a blue background and includes the words "Sponsored Links" on the right hand side. The natural listing is on a white background and does not include any special words. These are subtle changes and many users may not notice them at all. You can also notice that the sponsored (blue background) result is for "organic food and products", instead of what we searched for "organic fruit." We are looking for organic fruit so the paid search listing isn't relevant and it's not going to attract our attention. The natural listing does match our search and might attract our attention if we were searching for a resource handbook on organic fruits and vegetables.

Are Paid Search Listings Worth It?

We have to ask this question again now that we have both sides of the equation. Not only do a minority prefer paid search listings, but half can't tell a paid search listing from a natural listing. If this could drawn in a direct way against the original numbers, it would show that 67% of men and 71% of women prefer paid search listings. It's unfair to draw that conclusion from these two different studies, but you can see that with so many people not being able to distinguish the difference between paid and natural the outcome is quite different. With a complete picture of how a user perceives paid search listings you can get a better idea if it's worthwhile to you. Simply having a paid listing isn't going to scare people away. If you choose cost effective keywords for your site you can generate traffic to your site that you may not have been able to from a natural listing alone. Whether or not it's worth it for you is based on your business and your goals. It's not always an easy question, but now that you have more information you can make an informed decision.

*Source= iCrossing
**Source= iProspect