Do you buy from AdWords advertisers?

I wonder, because I do

[AdWordsAdvisor]

I just posted to another thread, mentioning a purchase I'd recently made from an AdWords advertiser.

This leads me to wonder: how many of you advertisers use AdWords to find what you want to buy? And do you purchase - or just look?

I'd be fascinated to know.

I can tell you that many of us here on the AdWords team search for and buy stuff using AdWords.

AWA

[woop01]

I do all the time. In many cases, the Adwords ads are more relevant than the actual serps when I'm trying to buy something. I would assume it's because Adwords people are more concerned with making a sale whereas the SEO people are more concerned with anchor text and H1 tags.

[rogerd]

If I'm searching in order to purchase something, I'll often scan the Adwords ads simply because I know those sites are selling something related my search. (No distracting .edu or .gov results in Adwords... ;))

I'll also look at the free results, too. Which works better depends on search details.

[Chndru]

>I do all the time. In many cases, the Adwords ads are more relevant than the actual serps when I'm trying to buy something.

Me too! :-)

[eWhisper]

If I find something by organic search, but I'm not sure of the company (there are a lot of merchant sites that are no longer supported). I'll do a search and see if they advertise on OV or G as that lets me know they are still in business.

[cayenne]

I do (b2C), but only if it's a quality site.

hmmmm....that raises a question:

Does Adwords filter out poor quality/spammy sites during the editorial review process?

[RedWolf]

If I am searching for something to purchase, I will often at least look at the Adwords to see if they are something that looks like it is a serious business. I also scan the top page or two of the SERP. In fact when I got my two 800 numbers a couple months ago, I went with an Adwords advertiser.

I will relate an experience I had last week though. I was looking for a wolfman beanie toy for my daughter because she REALLY wants one for the holidays. So I went to the trusty site I had found one on a couple months ago that I had bookmarked. Drats, they're out of stock. Ok, I'll go and search again, since I had remembered a lot of sites with them. It turns out that all of the first seven pages of search results and Adwords that were close to what I was looking for were nothing but affiliates for this one website. I got to the point were I HATED affiliates, and that will probably color all future dealings with affiliates in the future, but I guess that is a thread for another forum. In the end, I just gave up on the Google affiliate trash and went to ebay where I got a couple different ones for her.

[pixel_juice]

I've also bought stuff after finding sites in AdWords. I find the results much more intersting than the normal web results for commercial searches which are generally full of affiliate sites and shopping directories.

>>Does Adwords filter out poor quality/spammy sites during the editorial review process?

Not from what I've seen (a lot of those scammy e-book type sites for some searches) but you won't really find keyword spammers in there, because why would you send someone to a page designed for a bot?

I've also noticed that quite a few advertisers have unavailable sites or 404s though, which to me is shocking seeing as they pay for my visit whether I see their site or not.

[Shak]

I do it all time, whether its Adwords or Overture.

I have total respect for a business who is smart enough to target quality prospective purchasers.

I have become a regular at many ONLINE businesses which have NO SEO strategy, and rely purely on PAID traffic, heck, I used to be 1 of them, and frankly it was well worth it.

The trick question here is, AWA, what do you buy.

personally I have sourced the following from paid ads:

Cars
Flights
Insurance
Design Agencies
Merchant Accounts
etc etc etc

Shak

[ogletree]

I bought a CF GPS card with map software for my Dell Axim the other day directly from an adwords ad. I look at the ad words first when I actualy want to buy something. I know they want to sell to me and paid money to get my purchase.

[dougb]

I've never bought anything from an AdWords or Overture link, but I'm probably an outlier. I've been a heavy web user for 10 years, and have accumulated so many accounts at so many sites and gotten so much spam as a result that I started fresh a few years ago, and I now stick to just three ecommerce sites: Amazon (for new stuff), Orbitz (for travel), and Ebay (for used or obscure stuff). I do searches directly from these sites when I want to buy something, which isn't that often anyway. Some day there will probably be something I really need that's not cheaply available from one of these sites, but it hasn't happened yet.

[Travel]

All the time- I look to the right before the actual results if I am looking to purchase. I know those are only places selling things and it makes a quicker trip for me in most cases. I do generally hit a couple of them though- not just one.

Now that I think about it though- I don't click on the top ads- I don't know if I ever have- simply because by the time I go over there, I want to actual results...

[TheDave]

Never bought anything on the internet. Then again I'm not a huge "consumer", and if I did buy something it would be some obscure car part for my old sprinter which I couldnt find locally. Quite ironic really since I sit here all day selling stuff through the internet ;)

[Robsp]

I buy from the ads as well but also know that there is independent (and paid) research that shows that on SERPs on average 0.6% turns into a customer and with adwords 1.2% does. This is supposedly taken from a large sample of different offerings.

[Mark_A]

I am quite careful who I buy from online. An adwords advert is not the first thing I look for in a potential seller.

As a user most stuff I buy online is from "typed in domains".

When researching solutions I use serps .. where needed from more than one engine.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

The trick question here is, AWA, what do you buy.

Not as far-reaching as you Shak, by a long shot. So far only the following:

* Travel/hotel
* Magazine subscriptions (3x)
* Cool flashy-light pins
* Some exotic ear plugs (yes, really) to block out the two thoroughly untrained dogs next door
* And still shopping for the right amplifier

My needs are minimal. ;)

But the real reason that my list is somewhat limited is that I don't buy very much new. Instead I go for vintage stuff, or one-of-a-kind oddities.

I wasn't kidding in a previous post about the dozens of vintage typewriters. More than 5 dozen, actually.

Don't even ask about the bowling balls.

AWA

[Mark_A]

what I buy online

1. Airline tickets
Buy from the airlines direct and now know the domains so type them in.

2. Photographic Consumables and occasionally kit.
For consubables its a type in, or recommendation from satisfied users, for kit I do research and will / have clicked adwords to locate people before researching them more. The adword just replaces the serp for bringing them to my attention its not a "call to buy".

3. Occassionally white goods (a washmachine) where I think I used serps and adwords and word of mouth ...

I dont see much difference between adwords and serps apart from the trust I have in serps first as being supposedly more deserving or valid as anyone can get an adwords ad.