This is the age-old question, “Do Google Paid Search Ads help organic search ranking?
I recently accidentally created a case study for the effects of Google Ads on organic search with one of the soccer industry sites, where I manage the Paid Search Ads.
A couple of things to mention for background. We have been running Google Ads on and off over the last couple of years. The buying cycle is very cyclical, so we don’t run ads when interest is down, but ramp them up for the high season times.
We have been running ads for about a month and a half, maybe two months this time around. Plus, a Google algorithm update in July went in the site’s favor, so organic ranks have been improving, as well as organic traffic.
For Google Ads, we have been running standard ads and Performance Max Ads. The PMax ads are the automated ads that Google runs using AI. In Google Analytics, they show as Cross-Platform.
While the PMax ads were inexpensive and generated clicks, they did not result in conversions. At the beginning of September, we paused the PMax campaign, and on the 12th (as shown in the chart), we stopped all ads to evaluate the situation.
We then turned the standard ads back on the next day. We did make some changes to the standard ads, but nothing drastic.
In the chart, you will see the Default Channel Group for traffic acquisition.
- Pmax (Cross-network) = Dark Blue
- Paid Search = Light Blue
- Organic Search = Green
Initially, when we paused the Pmax campaign (dark blue line), the traffic shifted to standard ads. But take notice of the severe drop on the 12th. Not only did the paid search traffic disappear when we paused ads, but our organic traffic tanked as well. When we turned ads back on, organic traffic jumped too.
Now, Google will swear that paid ads do not affect organic search results, but it doesn’t get much clearer than this chart!
Have you experienced anything like this? I’d love to hear about it.
