Ask an SEO: If I Have Top Organic Ranks,…

Q: We are spending a lot of money monthly on AdWords for our brand name, even though we have a #1 rank in Google for the same words. Aren’t we just throwing that money away, because the same people would click on our  non-paid listing if the ad wasn’t there? Is there any research on this question?

A: We’re often asked this question! I think we have an especially good vantage point for it, because we provide both organic SEO and paid search management services, rather than just one or the other. Like so many SEO questions, the answer is, “it depends.”

The general SEO/SEM industry consensus is that you will see an increase in traffic by including AdWords sponsorship, even when your site has top organic ranks for the same keyword. In our experience, this is generally true. Paid search results are very prominent and growing more so, especially in mobile screens. In some cases, even a #1 organic rank is pushed out of the first screen of mobile search results, so the only way to have a prominent Google spot is with a paid ad.
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