Most gurus (including Perry Marshall) mention that lower positions 4-8 convert better than higher positions. Some attribute that to these not being clickhappy traffic, but people who actually read the adcopy. Makes sense. I've read that research also indicates people are most likely to click on the top and bottom instead of the middle ads. Another opposing argument says that higher positions (not 1st since it's TOO clickhappy, but 2nd or 3rd place) convert best because you can get more impulsive sales. Also, the clicks at lower position ads are from people who have clicked on higher placed ad offers already. Thus, they are less impulsive at buying, after reading many offers that may look similar and not convert. Makes sense too if you assume most of Google traffic to be this case. I'm not sure. Any insights? Does anyone here have experience about which of these arguments being statistically the most true?
This is a GREAT subject and one I think a lot of people do not think about.. I fine that the 4-6 positions are the worst I go for 1-3 but if I cant then 7-10 is fine. People always ignore the middle
Thanks Jeremy, More important than people clicking or not, is the traffic QUALITY just as good in 7-10 as position 1-3 (relating to the last argument of impulsive buying). In other words, if you tracked your ROI, does traffic in 7-10 convert to sales just as well as 1-3?
Conversion theories about ad position is pretty vague and don't make sense. 5th ad position has only 35% of the 1st Ad Traffic according to the Atlas institute (see Axandra Adwords book) - so as soon you has Positive ROI try to put you Ad on more top position as possible. Keep positive ROI and try to improve CTR%.
well, adwords gives you an estimate of clicks based on past people at that positions, it wont get you mre clicks, but it might convert better, interesting
thanks for the responses guys! I'm guessing there's little knowledge on this topic with so many variables. Generally, if someone clicks first on a higher ad and then to a lower ad (they may be reviewing multiple offers), are they just as likely to buy from the lower ad as a situation where they just got to the same landing page on a first click (had the ad been higher)? In other words, I want to know if a lower bid position (assuming this keyword gets enough traffic) will still convert 1:x clicks into a sale as an ad in a higher position? Assume all other variables equal .... is it essentially the same ROI (like Micromag suggested) - traffic amount aside.
i've always gone for position 2-4. My best converting ads are ones in the top 5 but NEVER the first one, i lower my bid immediately if any of my keywords take 1 spot. aiming at 2-4 my ROI is usually around 175-200% with the clickbank products i am promoting (including my own)
Ad position greatly influences CTR, but when it comes to conversions I think you need to dig a bit deeper, especially in retail. Think about how you would go about looking for the best deal on say a an iPod Nano. You'd probably start at position 1 and work your way down (assuming all the ads are for iPod Nanos). By the time you've clicked on say ad no.8 you will have visited 8 sites and found 8 prices. You will probably go back and buy from the site with the best deal. Simple enough. But, if the prices have been the same or similar the site that will convert will most likely be the one visited just before 'shopping fatigue' sets in. In this case, positions 8 would probably be better. There are other factors that could influence this like the reputability of the site. If all the prices are similar, you'd probably want to buy from www apple.com at position 4 rather than www save-on-ipods.tv at position 1. One last thing to keep in mind is that if your ads aren't in the top 4, they won't be on the first page of Ask or Mamma.