Organic vs. PPC – A Search Engine’s Priority Dilemma
Right now (as of June 2) there is a conversation ongoing at Webmaster World about the declining value of a #1 organic search ranking. The argument is that the #1 position doesn’t attract as much traffic as it used to (on Google in particular) because of the way that Google has placed ads and added ad sitelinks, etc… all around the top of the page. Not surprisingly there is much bellyaching by the SEO community many of whom have staked their pitch to clients on the claim that 75% of people skip over the ads and go straight to organic.
I have been labeled a PPC guy before, but that’s not quite accurate. I’m just lazy and cautious. I go for the most income for the least amount of effort and risk. If that result can be achieved through organic listings, so be it. However, that’s rarely the case in more competitive spaces. And while dramatic algorithm shifts are less likely today than they were a few years ago, I prefer not to put myself and the expense of my time at risk.
Besides, if you really think about it, does Google REALLY want you to get a #1 ranking? Sure, there’s the whole ‘user experience’ spiel from them and it’s true, to a certain extent. If they delivered total junk results, they’d go the way of Alta Vista, Lycos, Alltheweb, etc…. But they do walk a fine line with wanting to deliver quality results organically (where they make no money from the clicks) versus driving the visitor to the paid listings. Their stock share price doesn’t rise and fall by organic click-thrus. Of COURSE Google wants people to click on the ads and not the organic. But can they really be considered ads anymore?
Google has dealt with this tightrope walk by implementing the Quality Score on paid search, an algorithm that works similar to the organic algorithm. The most relevant ads/landing pages show higher. There are other benefits as well, like lower average cost per click. Quality Score has been around for a couple of years and Google is always improving/refining. Through this Quality Score refinement Google is making the paid listings just as, if not more, relevant as the organic listings.
I think what Google is doing is making the organic results supplementary to the paid listings with no decline in the sacred ‘user experience’.
Does this make me sound like a PPC ‘homer’? I prefer to think of it as walking with the wind at my back instead of in my face.
