Maximizing Google click-throughs

Millions of people search Google on a daily basis and thousands of companies are advertising on Google's sponsored listings using keyword targeted text ads. You may not always be able to afford the number 1 sponsored listing or rank above the fold in the organic listings. Do you know how to maximize your exposure? Do you know how people are looking at these listings? Awhile ago, Eyetools did an eye tracking study of the Google search result pages.

Here is a heatmap of their results...
Google heatmap

So what can be discovered from this eye tracking study?

The organic listings above the fold are the most visible. The title and descriptions of your listings should make sense and be attractive because people are looking at your full title and description.
The sponsored listings at the top are highly visible. The title and description is being looked at and most likely read so it should make sense and be a complete sentence.
The first three sponsored listings on the right side are viewed quite a bit, but the sponsored listings below the fold do not get much attention compared to the organic listings below the fold. After the first sponsored listing on the right side, people's eyes are not really looking at the full title and description of the listing. This shows that the first word in the title and description need to stand out if you are not the number 1 result on the right side.

Example: Searched for "cheap digital camera" on Google. One of the ad texts below the fold read:

Camera See our Entire Selection & Save up to 20% on Select Digital Cameras! www.Dell.com

To increase click-throughs it could be changed to

Cheap Digital Camera Save up to 20% on our entire selection of digital cameras! www.Dell.com
Organic listings below the fold get some attention, but it is important to have the first couple words in your title and description attractive because people are not paying attention to the whole title or description. So if you have a listing in this area, then you need to make sure the first word in your title and description is attractive so people click on your listing.

Example: Searched for "marketing 2.0" on Google and the title of the 8th listing was

David Crow: Marketing 2.0

To increase click-throughs the title could be changed to

Marketing 2.0 - David Crow
If you have a sponsored listing below the fold, you will not be getting much if any visibility. You maybe better off finding niche keywords where your sponsored listings can be above the fold.

The findings from this study can help you better manage your pay-per-click campaigns and organic listings. If you cannot have your listings above the fold, you can make tweaks to your ad text or meta tags to improve the click-throughs.

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