Will Google’s Universal Search Impact CTR?
Nearly a month ago, Google introduced a most radical shift to its search results page, dubbed Universal Search. Universal Search combines listings and information from multiple sources and mediums, all compiled and displayed to the user. This means that along with normal “blue text” links, Google may display data from blog search, book search, finance, images, local, video, etc. For a complete rundown of Universal Search, see Danny Sullivan’s writeup at SearchEngineLand.
What I am concerned with today is Universal Search’s affect on PPC listings click-thru rate (CTR). I am particularly concerned about PPC listings in the top spots which are displayed above Google local results. Here’s a screenshot from a search for Dallas gas grills.
Now, after looking at that screenshot, why in the world would you want to be in the top PPC position? The large map image immediately grabs your eye’s attention, completely skipping over the yellow PPC listings. Furthermore, the map points A, B and C serve as eye arrows, leading you even further down the page towards the organic listings. The first time I saw a result set like this, I didn’t even notice the top PPC listing.
As we know, CTR is an important factor in the Quality Score algorithm, which in turn determines the minimum bid price and ad ranking. Will we see a drastic drop in CTR for advertisers who hang out at position #1? In the past I’ve used position preference to avoid the top spots in order to get less traffic (but arguably more qualified). Now I may be using position preference to stay out of the top spots to get more traffic.
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