Google conversions

Are Google shoppers really smarter, and buy more?

[bigjohnt]

I haven't had time to research this, but I am hypothesizing that Google Adwords users convert better. All other things being equal (like relevance, effectiveness of titles and descriptions, position, etc.)
Since Adwords are indicated as advertising, and not in amongst the SER's - that users would absolutely KNOW that they were going to a commercial site - and convert better than "hidden" text ads in the SERP's.
This may shift a bit now that AOL is in the game...
"Got Data?"

[ciml]

This is not something I track, but the view is often expressed here that Google visitors do not convert well for consumer items (CDs, games, ring tones, etc.) compared with visitors from other places like MSN.

On the other hand, if you're selling scientific equipment, many people would expect you to do well from Google users.

[bigjohnt]

My point was specifically to evaluate those that click on the Adwords section, based on the fact that they MUST know that they are ads, versus those that click on a "sponsored" SE listing.

I would assume that if they indeed clicked on the ad, they knew they would be sold something, regarless of what it was they were searching for.

I agree that the Google demographic is a bit more savvy, compared to AOL or MSN, and would buy more willing to buy tech goods, but that should not affect my query.
Time to test .... I fully expect a much higher conversion rate from clearly marked ads.

[nipear2000]

My experience has been google has a lower conversion rate vs. Overture. I'm sure though it just depends on your market. After a month of adwords we spent several hundred dollars with a couple sells. Overtue has been giving us 1 order about every 20 clicks. Google's conversion was far far less. I've also noticed several competitors start up on adwords and abandon it a month or 2 later. It seems like in my market adwords just don't convert. But I can't complain because we have such great positioning in google :)