Get our RSS feed
Search BizReport
News by Topic
Marketing
- Advertising
- Search Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Loyalty Marketing
- Mobile Marketing
- Social Marketing
- Viral Marketing
- Trends & Ideas
- Internet Marketing 101
Beyond Marketing
BizReport : Search Marketing : May 13, 2014
One-third of Google search users fail to realize ads labeled as ads are ads
A recent study from UX firm Bunnyfoot, published by eConsultancy, reveals that more than one-third of Internet users do not realize that Google Adwords are paid-for advertising units.
Back in 2012, Bunnyfoot carried out research and found that 41% of Google search users were unaware of the difference between organic and paid links.
Today, 36% of Internet users in Bunnyfoot's survey continue to be oblivious to the fact the ads labeled ads are ads. Furthermore, 27% said they did not know that Google had any form of advertising.That's despite a number of changes Google has made to better help users identify ads. Today, it even has the word 'ad' next to all paid adverts.
According to Jon Dodd, CEO and co-founder of Bunnyfoot, Google's changes have resulted in "little difference in real-world recognition of what is an ad" on Google's search results.
"If it is truly important that people can distinguish ads from non-ads (and presumably avoiding potentially misleading consumers is important) then the current Google design has not made significant change to this," wrote Dodd on Bunnyfoot's blog. "As our hundreds of user tests over the last decade have shown, it is very difficult to predict what customers' knowledge or understanding is. The clear value of user testing can be seen with the sort of results seen above."
Image via Shutterstock
Tags: Adwords, Google, search marketing, user testing
Tweet
Subscribe to BizReport
Please enter your e-mail here:
Latest Headlines
- UK businesses failing to consistently and effectively employ social for customer support
- How to tell if interactions are successful or not
- Report: In case of emergency, try cell
- Retailers failing to maximize use of social shopping websites
- Home pages of retail websites failing to load fast enough
- U.K. ecommerce websites improve delivery options to tap overseas customers
- Forecast: More to invest in multi-screen ads
- Forrester: Mobile social users more engaged, share more
Featured White Papers
- Learn the True Importance of Global Brand Management
Effective branding has always been an important part of business and is an especially important component of the customer experience,... - 10 Best Practices for a Successful Digital Asset Management Implementation
Rich media and digital content are pervasive in organizations and continue to grow exponentially. Every aspect of the business world... - Why The Smartest Marketers Have External Writing Teams
A successful content strategy includes many moving parts: content planning, content creation, content promotion, measuring your content's performance and optimizing...