Using pay per click when you are already #1 and #2 in regular listings

Users still give priority to sponsored results.

[lgn]

We have found that by being #1 in the regular listings, is really like being #3 or #4 depending on how many sponsored results are displayed above your ad.

Customers are still giving priority to sponsored results. If we stop advertising in Overture our CTR drops.

I think it would be fairer if sponsored results are listed say a third of the way down the page.

We worked our way to the top for our free listing, and still have to pay to maximize our traffic for our favorite keywords.

Is everybody finding this the same?

[heini]

Depends on the SE/portal and how the PPC listings are displayed IMO.
Another factor is the type of product/service you offer.

Lets say you got #1 for a specialised product/service in Google, than I wouldn't say adwords are necessary.

If you got a #1 for cheap flight to some big city in Lycos than a PPC listing might be in order.

[Hunter]

Also, do yourself a favor and drop the:

> I think it would be fairer if

I don't mean to knock you over the head with this but I think it would be wise for some of us on WebmasterWorld (especially in light of the huge Google posts this week) to accept the facts more often and work with them.

The search Engines are not making money from your free listing. Your trying to make money online and so are they. I don't advertise on PPC
engines but they are a fact of life.

[TomWaits]

We bid #1 on AdWords even for the Google search terms that we're #1 in the free listings. It's not even a consideration. There's little overlap and works well for us.