To add some anecdotal data, even when our company was at #1 for our main search phrase and when there were fewer PPC competitors, we were still getting more traffic with PPC + organic, rather than leaving it just to the organic listing.
It's like there were 2 different sets of people - those who tend to click on ads and those who tend to click on organic results. And you want both.
That was quite a long time ago. Nowadays, for our main search phrase, there are 4 PPC ads at this time. And Google is now blending ads much better with the organic results, they are barely distinguishable to the untrained eye. Being #1 organic result doesn't bring you that much benefit in that setup, you're actually being #5 overall - barely visible.
Ask HN: Why do companies buy ads when they are the top result in search?
21–30 of 95 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why do companies buy ads when they are the top result in search?
#22if they don't buy their competitors will buy.
Re: Ask HN: Why do companies buy ads when they are the top result in search?
#23Side question: would you click on the ad or on the organic search result? Why?
Re: Ask HN: Why do companies buy ads when they are the top result in search?
#24My experience with Google ads was that it is very easy to accidentally get them to display your ad in this way, without you knowing it. You choose a list of terms you want to show your ad in, but by default Google will also put your ad up in "related" searches. If your company or product is already popular enough, it's likely to end up in the related searches for the terms you chose. This cost me quite a bit of money…
> by default Google will also put your ad up in "related" searches.
I don't mean to be harsh, but you shouldn't be spending money on search advertising without taking the 2 minutes to understand match types. There is no default other than showing you very closely related variant matching (i.e. plural to singular)...
Yes, if you run broad match keywords and dont use negatives, you run the risk of wasting lots of money...but it's hardly a default setting.
Re: Ask HN: Why do companies buy ads when they are the top result in search?
#25Side question: would you click on the ad or on the organic search result? Why?
I'm clicking the ad! If someone went through the trouble and payed for putting their website above their website, I'll make sure that their ad budget is well spent! /s
Re: Ask HN: Why do companies buy ads when they are the top result in search?
#26Side question: would you click on the ad or on the organic search result? Why?
Believe it or not, even in 2016, even with the ad label, there are still plenty of people who have no idea that there is a difference between the paid and organic listings... They just go to Google and click on a link with a snippet that speaks to them.
Personally, as a search marketer, I always assume that someone willing to pay money to reach me probably has a more relevant offering and experience for me, so I am slightly biased to click on ads...
Your question should really be more nuanced. Are you talking about navigational searches, informational searches, or transactional searches. There is different intent and context with how and why people search at different times which probably results in different behavior.
For example, an informational search from me almost never clicks on an ad but either knowledge graph or a link half way down the page.
A transactional search will almost always go to a paid ad, and a navigational search will likely go to the organic listing that points to that page...unless the ad points to that specific page. (this is just my own experience.)
Re: Ask HN: Why do companies buy ads when they are the top result in search?
#27Side question: would you click on the ad or on the organic search result? Why?
A lot of people don't know, pay attention, or care enough.
Re: Ask HN: Why do companies buy ads when they are the top result in search?
#28If you don't advertise on your brand keywords, your competitor will. We spend quiet a lot on our brand keywords to avoid competitor siphoning off our brand traffic.
Isn't this trademark violation? I'm not from the US, but years ago I used to work for a local index-style search engine (before Google ate everyone's meal), and IIRC we consulted our lawyers and came to the conclusion that this is not legal, and we didn't sell these sort of ads.
Re: Ask HN: Why do companies buy ads when they are the top result in search?
#29If you don't advertise on your brand keywords, your competitor will. We spend quiet a lot on our brand keywords to avoid competitor siphoning off our brand traffic.
Isnt bidding on trademarked keywords forbidden on google these days?
No, it is allowed. You just can't put a trademarked term in your ad copy. You can even get away with putting the trademark in your ad copy unless the brand told Google to enforce their trademark.
There are tricks to get around this as well that sometimes work. (i.e. Dynamic Keyword Insertion)
edit: Source: https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/6118?hl=en
Re: Ask HN: Why do companies buy ads when they are the top result in search?
#30If they didn't buy the ad, someone else's ad would be at the top. Many people don't distinguish between the top search result and the ad.