Comparison of PPC and top search placement

Is there a difference?

[Algebrator]

Is there a (big) difference in CTR between your site coming up
in top 10-20 search items and showing up as a "sponsored
link (Overture) or 1-3 Google adword?
If so, what is the ratio (a very, very loose approximation
will do - I know this is not an exact science)

The reason I am asking this question is that in my particular
situation I can achieve top adwords and Overture rating
without spending too much money. If CTR effectivness is even
remotely close to showing up in top 1-2 page sarch results, then I want to concentrate my efforts more on improving my ads
and CTR / order ratio, rather than making the site more
SE friendly (a constant battle).

Thanks
Neven

[petertdavis]

In my small experience (I've been using Overture for about 18 months, spend twenty to thirty bucks a month), there's not a significant difference in CTR. Of course it varies, but the real reason to use Overture (or the like) is when you can't get, or have not yet gotten, in the first page of results for your target key word. It's particularly useful for new sites, or new key words for old sites. Once you acheive a good placement in the key word search, just remove yourself from the PPC. I've noticed a significant amount of the clicks I get from Overture are from my competition.

[Mike_Mackin]

>Once you achieve a good placement in the key word search, just remove yourself from the PPC.

For insurance purposes I'd recommend dropping your bid to $0.05 rather than removing yourself.

History tells us that the SEs will change something and your site may fall off the first page from time to time.

If you maintain your PPC account, you can just raise your bid when the SE makes the MISTAKE of lowering your raking ;)

[Jack_Frost]

All situations are different, but I actually do PPC even when I have top listings. Overture results get pulled by so many smaller search engines (especially the meta search or metacrawlers) that I hesitate to pull it even if I have good rankings in Yahoo, MSN, and the like.

If the bids are cheap and the costs per lead are relatively better than you can achieve with other forms of promotion, go for it.

For one client, costs per leads from trade shows and trade ads were $25 to $150 per lead. Therefore, we don't care if we pay $0.25 to get a lead even if we could have gotten it for free if the prospect surfed down to the free listings. The other problem is that our competition is bidding also on OT so prospects may never get to the free listings. Given that we get CTR of 25% and higher, I'm not risking it.

I think that it is all relative to the results that you get with the rest of your marketing budget. Just keep in mind that many people in this forum exist almost purely as internet marketers so the advice given tends only to relate PPC to other forms of SEO.

Good Luck