I find myself in a strange situation, after visiting these forums and learning from all the experts, I have managed to get # 1 in my niche keyword, my major competitor (he has been online for two/three years) is using ad words.
I was just wondering which of the two links would have better click through? Do the users go for the number one or for move the mouse to the right and click?
Is having adwords good for branding or just reducing the competitors click through?
Is the conversion rate from Adwords higher than from those in the results?
I would like your thoughts on this.
There is a third group though, and they read the descriptions. They click what they perceive to be the most relevant to their needs. In this case, the AdWords are more flexible, however the listing will always contain some relevant words and be in bold.
Then there are people like me, I know what I want when I search. I enter a few words into the search box and go, but when I read the descriptions and AdWords, I will often scan the non-bold words to check that the page is what I am looking for. For example, if it contains a '$' price, I generally ignore it (I am from the UK), if it contains a '£' price I may take a look (if I am willing to spend money) or will ignore it if I am looking for information.
There are too many variables and too many people that do not click the number one result.
AdWords does cost money and being in the AdWords as well as the free listings can help, but being number one is not a necessity. Looking highly relevant to the needs of the user is crucial.
Also having an Adwords ad will also mean that your site is still in front of them as they page through more results, so even if they didn't initially go to the adwords they are more likely to as they get tired of searching the regular results.
One last benefit of also running Adwords is that if your site should fall victim to a change in the Google search algorithem, you will be ready with a hopefully high CTR ad still in place.
