Paid search programs, or pay-per-click, have come under scrutiny (what hasn’t?) during the past 18 months as marketing budgets were squeezed. We all know from personal experience and see the data in web analytics reports that organic rankings generate a higher portion of click traffic – and quality. One study at an industry conference indicated 88% of Google clicks come from organic listings, with paid receiving 12%. But that doesn’t mean paid search has no role, or that its performance can’t be improved. One technique used by Goldstein Group involves positioning ads not on the #1 spot, but on the #3. We’ve seen all the studies showing that the #1 spot gets all the attention, but we don’t really believe it. Our theory: there’s so much focus spent on bidding for the #1 paid search position, that there’s often a large cost gap between the top and #3 slot – with no loss in visibility, we feel. And the experience of one GGC client bears that out. In April, its paid program generated about 1300 clicks for $4400. By lowering its bids to the #3 position on the page, its cost the next month was 25%, or $3200 – and they generated the same 1300 clicks. Bidding for #3 is one of our five Paid Search Strategies deployed by Goldstein Group to boost performance. Contact us to learn more.
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