Posted on by Dave J.

Why are they clicking?

If you missed my post a couple months ago, I’ve come to the opinion that Adsense ads aren’t a particularly good value for B2B advertisers. To ad to your thinking about what each of those clicks represents, up-and-coming blog Caffiene Marketing posts Google Adsense Clicking Rationale Explained:

“There is a new topic titled “The Behavior Behind Users Clicking On Google Adsense Ads” on the WebmasterWorld discussion forum the I recommend checking out. The discussion covers the rationale behind internet users decision making process involved in clicking on a Google Ad. Some of the possible explanations are below:

1. “Compelling on topic or relevant supplemental information”
2. “They don’t know it’s an ad (well “blended”)”
3. “They know it’s an ad but want to get the hell out (of the page they are on)”
4. “Just boredom””

…and on to number 11. While WebmasterWorld is $150 a year, this list gives a good summary of what webmasters think is going on. Not sure if these opinions come more from those running AdSense on their websites or those looking for click-thrus. The sad part is less than half of the reasons have to do with actually being genuinely interested in seeing where the ad-link goes.

(I hope its not too much ‘inside baseball’ for me to assume you understand the difference between Adsense and Adwords ads. Adwords run strictly on Google search pages.)

8 Replies to “Why are they clicking?”

  1. Hi Dave,I had a sales guy in my office today, trying to sell to me his online visibility solutions. He talked about the advantages of Adsense and Adword and also Organic SEO. They guy insisted that if one wants to do a purchase, he will click on ads and will completely ignore the rest of the search results. But I said that I always ignore ads and if I want to purchase, I do it from a trusted and known source.What do you say to that?

  2. Hi Dave,I had a sales guy in my office today, trying to sell to me his online visibility solutions. He talked about the advantages of Adsense and Adword and also Organic SEO. They guy insisted that if one wants to do a purchase, he will click on ads and will completely ignore the rest of the search results. But I said that I always ignore ads and if I want to purchase, I do it from a trusted and known source.What do you say to that?

  3. That’s like taking out an ad in the newspaper but requesting that it be printed on only papers sent to people actually interested in your product. If every person who clicks an ad must make a purchase you are not spending your advertising budget wisely.For a more targeted audience, use direct mail.

  4. That’s like taking out an ad in the newspaper but requesting that it be printed on only papers sent to people actually interested in your product. If every person who clicks an ad must make a purchase you are not spending your advertising budget wisely.For a more targeted audience, use direct mail.

  5. Nima–He really said that? Hmmm. Yes, I’d apply my own behavior as a reality check (as well as years of conversion data). Something is not right there.Anon–I assume you were commenting on what Nima said?

  6. Nima–He really said that? Hmmm. Yes, I’d apply my own behavior as a reality check (as well as years of conversion data). Something is not right there.Anon–I assume you were commenting on what Nima said?

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