Google's 'Universal Search' Ads May Be Harming Click-Through Rates

Google is on another "do no evil" advertising mission to reduce the number of ad-clicks while at once increasing the value of those clicks. Internet marketers are getting scared by this, as they quickly see less advertising space coupled with higher premiums.

However, Google's marketing department insists that fewer, but more premium, clicks equals more effective advertising, as more clicks are translated into more click-throughs and, hence, more actual sales. Google is telling advertisers and website owners to bank on efficiency and high-traffic ads instead of the low-efficiency blanket approach, and they are confident that the benefits will outweigh any increase in online advertising costs or the expense associated with getting a website to the top of search engines and make everyone happy.

Google is targeting this approach through the offering of "Universal Search" ads, which seek to cover more potential relevant interests to a website reader in just one ad.

However, comScore's James Lamberti says the statistics show that this "Universal Search" results in fewer paid clicks.

ComScore's January '08 study results conclude that with 17 percent universal results, paid clicks declined to 14 percent. These stats were the result of a study which looked at 1.2 billion internet searches that resulted in 220 universal ads appearing to web surfers over a one-week period.

"For the search marketing industry the shift from 17% total universal search results to 14% paid clicks is a vital stat. In other research situations, a move of three percentile points is hardly worth mentioning. In the world of search - where decimal points of change move tens of millions in commerce - it's a big deal," writes Lamberti.

Google's Universal Search has been in effect since May of 2007.

Google actually has many search engines, and these different search engines kick in depending on what the web surfer is searching for based on what he types into the Google search box. For instance, it might be books, it might be images, it might be news results, and so on and so forth. Google's Universal Search seeks to combine the hits results from its many search engines, including video and podcasts, into its search engine rankings.

The concern among AdWords and AdSense marketers is that this method cuts down on the potential for many of their ads to appear or draw website attention and be seen.

ComScore states that its mission "is to leverage the power of the Internet to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of our clients' sales and marketing efforts."