does the average internet user know the first spot on google search is often paid for

I hate how the they made it so that #1 spot when you do a search for alot of things is often a paid spot, and they made it so it is really hard to tell that.

I wonder how many of the average public realizes that when they click on the first spot that it is often a paid ad?

 

Most people dont know wheather it is paid or not

 

Most people don't care. This is why for all that google adwords nitpicking about quality score is annoying and would benefit advertisers by being more transparent - it does serve a purpose. Do a search for cat food and that ad at the top will be about cat food - (usually) - without google controlling it so closely it could be about ipods.

 

Ru talking about Sponsor Listings ?
If ur talking about organic search then you are wrong !! Its not paid Only the qualified website gets that position

 

No, a lot don't!

 

And i wonder how many of them actually care if its paid or not

 

I care about whether or not the first spot on google is paid. I always have. I dislike using those links, because firstly, some of them don't work, and they buy their way to the top. But then, I'm not the average internet user now am I?

 

Is it true that the first post is actually been paid for? Well I really not sure about that. All the while I thought it's a natural SEO ranking. Even if it's true, I don't think it will be revealed openly.

 

It's been paid for if it's in a coloured box with 'sponsored link' clearly written on it. It's part of adwords - like the sponsored links on the side of the page.

 

I am sure that the average person does not know that the sponsored links are paid, and I think that if they did, they wouldn't care and would click the first one anyway.

I hate it too.

/*tom*/

 

I think to give google all due credit, the sponsored links are labelled 'sponsored links' and even appear in a different coloured area. I mean how many clues does Joe public need

A lot of people I have talked to about this are aware though about the difference between sponsored results and organic results

 

all that matters to them is that is if its what there looking for

 

People are aware of google ads.

 

I think most people have a vague idea that the sponsored listings are paid and possibly not so relevant. But I doubt they care much.

 

Its only the sponsored links that are paid for, but most people don't count these when they consider rankings anyway. So the actual No.1 spot isn't paid for.

 

haha I just told my wifes friend about it last night. She must of clicked it like 10 times but hopefully now she knows to ignore it! Haha

 

Yeah, I think almost every people ignore the sponsored links.

 

I don't know what people are saying about it being a different color, because on my monitor anyways it is so close to the same color that you can't really tell the difference between the sponsored links and the real #1 result,

so it really makes it so that the #1 spot looks like #2 or #3 to the average computer user.

 

Learned people will ignore the sponsored links; what about the newbies into google search? They will most probably click it!

 

I don't think so. They are not paid. Show any proofs before talking.