Lack of Consumer Ad Awareness Creates an Opportunity to Secure More SERP Real Estate

The average Internet searcher is often unaware if the links he or she looks at on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) are organic or paid ads. This is the case in major search engines, and it is more pronounced when there is no sidebar visible to the right of the SERP. What this means for law firms and legal practitioners is that the right blend of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and paid search results can bring a considerable amount of business.

Recent surveys on the perception of and behavior of Internet users with regard to what they see on the SERP reveal that only 46.6 percent can distinguish ads from organic search results. The rest cannot tell with certainty if they recognize ads, and about 12 percent erroneously believe that ads are top search results. Almost 35 percent of Internet users think that paid search results are more likely to appear on the rightmost column of the SERP, which may be an explanation for the recent appropriation by Google and Bing of the right sidebar for data and social media components instead of ads.

Surprisingly, surveys conducted in 2003 yielded similar results. The conclusion is that paid search results disrupt the flow of organic listings on the SERP, but barely half of all Internet users are aware of this or don’t mind. Law firms should pay attention to these patterns of awareness and capitalize on them. A Utah divorce attorney may see a Google AdWords campaign based on the keywords “divorce lawyer in Salt Lake” as too expensive, but choosing the mid-tail keywords like “uncontested divorce in Utah” could be less costly and more effective.

Law firms should also learn from the above-mentioned survey by optimizing the content layout on their websites. A right-column sidebar may not be well-regarded or simply ignored by visitors, so it is best to place important information — like contact information — about the firm elsewhere on the page.