Curious: does google reward adword spends with SE rank?

nplatt · 06-04-2010, 09:55 PM

A page on one of my sites has ranked in #4ish for a few targeted keywords and it's been there for several months.

I recently started a small and successful adwords campaign with that page as the lander for the ads. My quality scores are 9/10 for the ads and they've been running about six weeks.

The ads recently moved up from position five (third on the side with two above the organic results) to position two, the second spot above the organic results.

At the same time, the page these ads target - the same one ranked #4 in organic search - has moved up to spot #2.

I have done nothing at all to the ads nor the pages since the adword campaign started. No linkbuilding, no budget increase, nothing. So the way I see it there are three possibilities:

1. Competitors stopped running their ads. Not the case.
2. Competitors have been slapped in organic search. May be the case, I don't spy on them enough to know.
3. There's something I don't know that Google isn't telling me.

I know I've read at least one blog post at some point speculating on whether Google might boost organic search rank as bait to keep adword spenders spending.

What are your thoughts on this? Does Google stack the deck for spenders?

dburk · 06-04-2010, 11:52 PM

Hi nplatt,

No, I don't believe that Google stacks the deck.

Having said that, I do believe that advertising and promoting your web page in general, can help it rank better. It's the extra exposure that you get that tends to promote natural backlinks, regardless of wheter it's TV, radio, newspaper, direct mail, banner ads or PPC it all adds up.

06-04-2010, 09:55 PM	#1
nplatt Public School Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Maine Posts: 11 Thanks: 3 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts	Curious: does google reward adword spends with SE rank? A page on one of my sites has ranked in #4ish for a few targeted keywords and it's been there for several months. I recently started a small and successful adwords campaign with that page as the lander for the ads. My quality scores are 9/10 for the ads and they've been running about six weeks. The ads recently moved up from position five (third on the side with two above the organic results) to position two, the second spot above the organic results. At the same time, the page these ads target - the same one ranked #4 in organic search - has moved up to spot #2. I have done nothing at all to the ads nor the pages since the adword campaign started. No linkbuilding, no budget increase, nothing. So the way I see it there are three possibilities: 1. Competitors stopped running their ads. Not the case. 2. Competitors have been slapped in organic search. May be the case, I don't spy on them enough to know. 3. There's something I don't know that Google isn't telling me. I know I've read at least one blog post at some point speculating on whether Google might boost organic search rank as bait to keep adword spenders spending. What are your thoughts on this? Does Google stack the deck for spenders?

06-04-2010, 11:52 PM	#2
dburk Senior Warrior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Tampa, Florida Posts: 4,643 Thanks: 162 Thanked 671 Times in 581 Posts Contact Info	Re: Curious: does google reward adword spends with SE rank? Hi nplatt, No, I don't believe that Google stacks the deck. Having said that, I do believe that advertising and promoting your web page in general, can help it rank better. It's the extra exposure that you get that tends to promote natural backlinks, regardless of wheter it's TV, radio, newspaper, direct mail, banner ads or PPC it all adds up.
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