Following on from yesterdays post about Google launching new comparison ads in the UK and the US, we have finally seen the ads now out in the wild
The terms seem to trigger on quite specific terms at the moment such as
- Compare credit cards
- Compare savings accounts
- Compare Bank Accounts
- Compare current accounts
- Cash ISA
The ads themselves knock the organic search results down quite significantly, and on many screen sizes sampled now make the organic results sit below the fold, which is likely to impact significantly the likes of the GoCompare’s, Moneysupermarkets etc should the scope of these ads roll out to a wider keyword set, which lets face it is likely to happen at some point in the near future.
When one clicks on the ads, the user is sent through to the ‘product level’ page, rather than the client whose logo is displayed. This will display any partners who have signed up – and currently works on a CPA model – similar to many other existing comparison models in the market at present. At present, it would appear Google are dealing direct with clients in many instances.
One would have to conclude – that this is the cat well and truly thrown in with the pigeons – particularly if – and more likely when this expands to a greater resultset
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I’m seeing the same results with compare switched for “best” or “cheap” too – presumably, this is only the start too!
It wont be long before the natural listings are pushed below the fold making you scroll down before you can enter the first website, what ever happened to being a useful helpful search engine!
I have seen it on quite generic phrases for cash isa – one would be a fool to think its only a matter of time before this goes to generic terms such as ‘credit card’, ‘savings account etc’ – and even other products such as secured loans and mortgages
Money
It won’t be long before the organic listings are pushed to the 2nd page and all users see is ads. Maybe we should all switch to DuckDuckGo. idk.
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