An interesting tidbit for you search marketers out there:
Search Engine Advertising: To Click or Not to Click
Forty-six percent of HR buyers who use an Internet search engine rarely click a vendor’s sponsored ad, while 33% are somewhat likely to click a sponsored ad. When we asked this same question in 2007, 56% said they rarely click a vendor’s sponsored ad and 23% were somewhat likely to click a sponsored ad. Clearly, HR buyers are getting more comfortable clicking on search engine ads.
Meanwhile, only 5% of this year’s respondents were “highly likely” to click a sponsored ad – about the same as last year. Only 15% of HR buyers said they never click sponsored ads, which is encouraging to HR suppliers who invest in pay per click. This is fairly consistent with national search trends, where research shows that about 70% of Internet users click on organic listings, versus 30% on paid listings.
Organic search results are usually perceived as unbiased and therefore more credible than paid results. This is why marketers are well advised to invest in SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) to boost their natural rankings.
The above from HRmarketer’s 2008 Buyers’ Behavior Report (registration required). Much like their last one, a good read.
Leave a Reply