click through rate on Goto?

[legster]

Anyone know what the click through rate for a listing on Goto.com is on average?

Obviously I am sure it will be higher for a higher listing. I was just wondering if anybody knows about an average percentage. Thanks.

[Mike_Mackin]

nathan power was working on this subject.
[webmasterworld.com...]
I'm not sure what the answer is.
It would vary from product to product and site to site.

[tigger]

perhaps we could drop goto an e-mail asking them :) any bets on the reply

[Mike_Mackin]

Back in late 1999, I think it was, they were saying that #1 bid got 5 times the hits of a #3 bid. Something like that.

But times have certainly changed with all the new partners. And CTR is not what it's all about anyway. The name of the game is ROI.

As to an Email, imho GoTo.com is not allowed to communicate with anyone without the permission of their PR firm in NY. The only post I've seen this year from GoTo was clearly written by a PR person.

[bigjohnt]

I've been on the phone with GoTo nearly every week for the past four months. They (the phone reps, managers, and such) do not have access to the data regarding clickthroughs. As you can imagine, even their data would be horribly skewed due to poor descriptions, titles, etc.

In each case, probing another rep, I was told (and I firmly believe) that the clickthrough is far more dependant on the title and description than the position, provided of course that you are in the top three (premium listings) for exporting. After three it degrades severely due to the remaining partners. FWIW,In tracking my GoTo results over a wide array of clients, I have found less than 1% click through on any position after 20.

>It would vary from product to product and site to site.

...and term to term, description to description.
We use a proprietary formula that inthe past was very accurate - based on position. Things have skewed considerably since the addition of major partners and the premium listings. I still estimate approx. 5 - 7% for the top position - provided your description and title is "clickworthy".
You also have to figure in what I call the "Ambiguity Factor". Are you using a term that can mean many different things to different people? For example, a client that takes trips down the Amazon. Bidding on "Amazon" you might not get anywhere near the clickthrough you would expect, nor would you necessarily want it.

I have had as high as 80-90% clickthrough on a term at #3 versus #1, according to their monthly reports. If it were absolutely position critical, #1 would have taken a lot more of the action. YMMV

[DrCool]

Do you find it is better to use a longer, more complete description or a shorter, more concise description? I am in the process of trying both out to see which one does better. Any thoughts?

[bigjohnt]

I go with longer descriptions. use some to attract the click, and some to "repel" the "kickers" Some folks will click on every item on the SERP. You can use your description to filter, if they actually read them.