Steve, I certainly appreciate your thoughts. I think what Jason is referring to are the top 1-3 paid listings which sometimes appear above the organic results. Google is constantly split-testing its own results pages in an attempt to maximize its page-by-page monetization.

Read the Enquiro piece I reference. It demonstrates that top paid placement, in addition to your top organic placement, will lift your conversion rates greater than the sum of the parts. Could be an interesting tactic for you to test out.

Ryan

That number has probably dropped somewhat in the last three years, but it still indicates a substantial number of searchers who don't distinguish between the two.

I also think people are smarter than are given credit for. The organic results on Google are far more prominent than paid ones, and the paid ones have a clear heading “Sponsored Links”. I would think that natural human behavior would lean one to choose what is more in front and isn't obviously paid for.

But you are right, highest organic result is much more credible and should be the goal of each search marketing program.

Good organic result positions, well at least on Google, are earned through having “sweet spot” (somewhere between generic/mundane and terribly obtuse) content, along with a good reputation, as determined by other sites linking to yours.

And this speaks to good marketing in general, which indeed equals “sweet spot” + reputation.

Thanks for coming by and previewing your insights on B2B branding and SEM. Paid search is still viewed a little askance by traditional advertising folks, but more and more they're catching on that it's definitely not going anywhere and that there really is value, if it's well done.

Steve, I certainly appreciate your thoughts. I think what Jason is referring to are the top 1-3 paid listings which sometimes appear above the organic results. Google is constantly split-testing its own results pages in an attempt to maximize its page-by-page monetization.

Read the Enquiro piece I reference. It demonstrates that top paid placement, in addition to your top organic placement, will lift your conversion rates greater than the sum of the parts. Could be an interesting tactic for you to test out.

Ryan

That number has probably dropped somewhat in the last three years, but it still indicates a substantial number of searchers who don't distinguish between the two.

I also think people are smarter than are given credit for. The organic results on Google are far more prominent than paid ones, and the paid ones have a clear heading “Sponsored Links”. I would think that natural human behavior would lean one to choose what is more in front and isn't obviously paid for.