Ad Positioning and the Dead Zone

One of the stats I have been tracking recently is how ad positioning (Slots 1-8) affects overall ROI. An interesting trend that has come out of the data is that there is a definite “dead zone” in positions 3-6. Of course slots 1-2 are going to be great for ROI, that is expected. But it was a little suprising to me that slots 7-8 were better than 3-6. When you consider how people look at a page of information though it does make sense. They tend to look at the top and bottom, while glazing over the middle sections.

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So what does this mean for the PPC advertiser? Personally, I try to either up my bids or lower my bids to get into these prime positions. Lower bids to get a better return, what a concept! Positions 1 and 2 will alwaysbe the best, but if they are out of your reach, shoot for the bottom. Just don’t too low, or you’ll be out in the weeds on the second page.

(Another lesson to learn: notice the guy in 4th position? Don’t use dynamic keywords if you don’t understand how they work!)