Are we entering a new generation of users who see no difference between paid and organic search results?

When it’s done right, using the paid search model on Google can be hugely beneficial to businesses and their customers. Well managed paid search campaigns can ensure you get the right visitors to the right pages on your website, increasing the chance of converting visitors into potential customers.

It can also ensure visitors get to the information or product they were looking for quickly and easily, improving their experience.

The problem is there is still a generation of people – both businesses and internet users – who have a mistrust of paid results on Google. A lot of that stems from the early days of AdWords – it’s been around for over 15 years now – when paid search was the Wild West of digital marketing. Luckily, businesses are less reluctant to use AdWords as a marketing tool now. On the flip side, users are still reluctant to click on ads in search results with studies from 2012 showing organic results get 94% of all clicks.

However, a recent report published by Ofcom shows that there’s a new generation where the majority of users don’t see the paid/organic split in the same way. The study showed that 69% of 12-15 year olds were unable to say which results in Google were ads and which weren’t.

That’s hugely encouraging as it shows a generation is evolving that is much more open minded to ads in Google’s search results. The potential mistrust that exists in the previous generation is removed.

It also means the new generation of well managed AdWords campaigns have the opportunity to work as intended and give benefit to businesses and users alike.

If you’d like to know more about well managed paid search and how it can potentially benefit you and your visitors, give us a call on 01926 358 200 or get in touch.