Don’t believe the hype. The number one position is not always beneficial to a search engine marketing (SEM) campaign…it is often harmful.
The number one position statistically generates the highest average click-through-rate (CTR) among all other positions. Therefore, on an unlimited budget, your campaign will most likely gain the maximum amount of clicks when your ads stay atop the sponsored listings (left-side listings, of course). This seems to be a great piece of information; however, let’s face it: simply driving traffic to your site means absolutely nothing if your end goal is to convert these website visitors to sales or leads (conversions).
Position numero uno often lacks when it comes to conversion rate. The reason: prospective customers/clients often “feel out” their options before they commit to a purchase or a lead form; the very nature of shopping. Before purchasing, searchers are very likely to visit several sites by clicking multiple paid ads during the pre-buy information gathering stage. For instance, if you were in the market for the new Titlest driver, would you go ahead and buy it on the first site that you clicked on? Not a chance. It is not until you find the most competitive price with free shipping that you commit to duck-hooking and/or power fading yet another over-priced driver.
Much like finding the right driver, finding the right ad position (sweet spot) involves testing, testing, testing. Ad copy testing, although burdensome and lengthy, can dramatically lower cost-per-lead values and thus increase ROI. It is not worth doing…it is absolutely necessary.
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