Is Google Stupid?

[Blase]

Hey,

I was just reading some info about a Google SERP's and I had this crazy idea.

We have all been taught, told, and seen proof from
hot spot software that people read a results page from left
to right, correct?

Now I am under the impression that Google is in the
advertising business, correct?

So if they wanted to sell clicks why don't they have the
adwords ads on the left side of the page?

And yes I know they have some at the top of the page.

Just thinking out loud, what do you think?

Thanks

[Ron Douglas]

They are more interested in the user experience than in advertiser clicks. If the users are annoyed and stop using Google, there would be no ads to click.

[AmyKay]

That makes total sense, Ron, and I agree. The searcher is their customer. No searchers, no advertisers. No advertisers, no money for Google.

[Blase]

Originally Posted by AmyKay

That makes total sense, Ron, and I agree. The searcher is their customer. No searchers, no advertisers. No advertisers, no money for Google.

I like the thought, but would you quite using Google if the ads
were on the left?

The user experience or relevancy is the same.

I personally wouldn't care.

[Blase]

Ron,

I just had another thought.

They are a publicly traded company, they are in it
for the money so they really do care about the clicks.

I also understand you can't have one without the other.

[SurviveUnemployment]

I'm pretty sure they're not stupid and that they've researched it thoroughly.

[Lawrh]

These eye tracking heat maps suggests they are not -

[JMPruitt]

why fix what is working? they make plenty of money where they are, so why should they tamper with that?

[Ron Douglas]

Originally Posted by Blase

Ron,

I just had another thought.

They are a publicly traded company, they are in it
for the money so they really do care about the clicks.

I also understand you can't have one without the other.

They have a solution for this - it's called Adsense. When you click the organic results on the left, you're likely to see even more Ads by Google.

[Tsnyder]

Google is a lot of things... I'm pretty sure stupid isn't one of them.

Tsnyder

[HDRider]

$256,455,500 a month roughly, most of it from advertising... must be doing something right

[patJ]

Originally Posted by Blase

I like the thought, but would you quite using Google if the ads
were on the left?

The user experience or relevancy is the same.

I personally wouldn't care.

Most people would care. And that's why they are not doing it. Besides.. most popular terms have ads on the left, right above the organic results.

[Kurt]

A couple of points:

We've seen "eye" heat charts. What we need to be accurate is click-through heat charts. We may read from left to right, but it's possible having links on the right means they are closer to the browser scroll bar, so links on the right side take much less mouse movement to click?

And, Google seems to follow the heat map above probably a little more than given credit. The real "money" keywords have ads listed in "hot spots".

Years ago the navigations of most sites were on the left. It seems things have evolved over the years with most sites having their navigation links on the right, which I always thought made the most sense.

[Andrei Rotariu]

Originally Posted by Ron Douglas

They are more interested in the user experience than in advertiser clicks. If the users are annoyed and stop using Google, there would be no ads to click.

Exactly. IMers have to realize its not all about making money. People dont just give you money, first you give them a product or service, and then if its good and they like it, then they give you money.

Surprises me still how often IMers sell a crap product, crap service or publish crap content and then wonder why they arn't making $10,000 a month.

[eriktin]

Think along "why google give their service free?"

[sydneyguy8]

Yes, a big question . "Why google give their service free?"

[Kevin_Hutto]

Those heatmaps can also be deceptive as the best place for optin forms has been proven to be top right by many split tests and my personal experience as well. So, the heatmaps dont always tell the whole story. The small sample size of the heatmaps is also an issue -- many times I ONLY look at the adwords results if I am looking for a site to buy something from -- if they are spending money to be there, I know I will probably find what I am looking for... So I think that the sponsored links on top and right is likely just as profitable.

[snapper]

Googles order of merit is

1. searcher
2. advertiser

They know that the advertiser is going to go where the traffic is, so if they provide a 'pleasurable' experience for the searcher then the searcher is going to continue to use Google. If searchers are using Google it follows that advertisers are going to line up at the door looking for an opportunity to hang their shingle out to advertise their product.

Would it work the other way around. If they looked after advertisers and the searchers found a more pleasurable searching experience elsewhere - you know where it would all end.

If they don't provide the free stuff there is no incentive for a person to provide their content to Google for free, therefore Google have to give pride of place to the person who gives them their content for free which attracts the searcher.

How well do you think a search engine would work if it consisted of only paying advertisers.

So contrary to some peoples belief - I think some smart heads at the Big G have thought this through and are not lacking in the grey matter.

[andrewhayn1]

Originally Posted by Ron Douglas

They are more interested in the user experience than in advertiser clicks.

I agree with this. Google doesn't want to loose its users. It cleverly advertises the businesses without disturbing the use's interests.

[kkchoon]

Originally Posted by Kurt

A couple of points:

And, Google seems to follow the heat map above probably a little more than given credit. The real "money" keywords have ads listed in "hot spots".

Hey Kurt, do you happens to know any good tracking software that produce heat map? I only know Affiliate Prophet, just wonder any more good tracking software out there...

Kok Choon

[Blase]

WOW! This turned out really well, some great opinions.

Eriktin and sydneyguy8, I don't think it's free.

I believe when you use their stuff everything you do is
tracked and logged by the big "G". I have read information
from PPC users that use the Google tools that as they become
more successful the CPC goes up.

Ever watch your bottom tool bar when you click on something?
Google's name sure comes up a lot.

BTW, of course I don't think Google is stupid,
but it's a great subject line.

My first thought was to post it over at Duelz.com
which is a Kurt M site, but Kurt responded here.
How cool is that?

Thanks

[loenex]

Google know what they are doing and they're really doing good. Providing a very nice search engine to users and at te same time making big profits.