Can you tell the difference between a Google Ad and an organic search result? Don’t be discouraged if you can’t.
VARN recently conducted a survey in January of 2018 with 803 respondents. 57% of those surveyed could not recognize the difference. And it’s not just people over 55. 50% of consumers 18-34 couldn’t recognize the difference between organic and paid ads. Nearly two-thirds of people over 60 can’t discern the difference.
For advertisers considering targeting by age, you should try looking towards the older demographic, those 55+.
If we dig deeper into the stats, you can see the 18-34 demo avoids clicking on ads. This isn’t to say they won’t be affected by the ads. There is still a chance for this group to see your ad and find their way in other ways. It’s possible they will get to your site by typing in the URL or scrolling down to find the organic listing.
But for advertisers, targeting google ads to the older audience may not only get you better results within your analytics, it may just get some additional bottom line ROI. Given most people tend to click the first organic link that comes up on Google, and 50% of this demographic is not able to recognize the difference between SEM and SEO, chances are they will click on the SEM option without realizing.
So, embrace the older demographic. We may not be able recognize an ad from organic search but we have high discretionary income and aren’t afraid to click on a google ad. If you want to target your next audience, give Miller Agency a shout. Some of our best friends are old and we know how to put a message in front of them.
