Do People Really Click Those Google Ads?

By Josh Barsch

It’s a crazy world, this one we live in, isn’t it? “Why yes it is, Josh,” you say, “but what makes you say so on this very day?” You’re in luck, because I feel like elaborating.

You’d have to be living in a cave if you hadn’t heard about Google’s astronomical rise to the top of the business world over the last few years. The company’s stock price hovers between 1 and 2 zillion dollars per share, giving it a market cap of (roughly speaking) several hundred jillion dollars. To put that in layman’s terms, Google is worth more than Germany, New York City, Saturn, Brad Pitt, Lindsay Lohan and the Church of Scientology combined. But enough with the hard-and-fast numbers. My point is: Google is phenomenally successful. They are doing something very, very right.

Even more remarkable than Google’s success is the fact that all of that money comes from essentially one source: those little blue (or sometimes white, and recently even yellow) ads that appear every time you do a search. The ones that say “sponsored links”. That’s right: Google is a one-trick pony. All of those jillions come from people around the globe doing Google searches, seeing one of those sponsored links and then clicking on it. That’s all there is to Google’s business right now (yes, they have several hundred pet projects/irons in the fire, but when I say “business,” I mean “something that makes actual money.”)

And still, despite all that… it’s very common for us to be in discussions with potential clients who just aren’t quite convinced that Google is somewhere they can dig up new customers. “I’m just not sure if anyone clicks those paid links,” say the doubters. “I don’t click them. I never click them. I just don’t see why anyone would click those, knowing they’re paid ads.”

Now, just to recap two important points: 1) Google makes over $1 billion in profit every quarter from people clicking those paid links, and 2) Legions of people still are not sure whether people click those paid links.

This, ladies and gents, is why I began this post by declaring this world to be crazy. Now, I am not in the habit of making sport of potential customers, especially in a public forum; instead, consider this post a simple gesture of kindness to disspell whatever doubt may be remaining out there about whether people are clicking those paid Google ads. I’ve put together this easy, five-point guide to cover the subject. Remember these five points about those paid Google ads:

1. People are clicking those paid Google ads.
2. People are clicking those paid Google ads.
3. People are clicking those paid Google ads.
4. The Yankees are finally going to have a losing season, which delights me. (Thought I’d slip that one in there).
5. People are clicking those paid ads.

Now, does that mean that doing pay-per-click advertising is definitely going to be a profitable endeavor for you? Whoa there, my friend…you’re getting ahead of yourself. That’s another topic for another day. Until then, keep checking back for my next post, and here’s hoping the Yankees keep stinking it up on the field.

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21 May 2007 | Advertising, Business | Comments