Do my Natural listings disappear while PPC is on?

**macchick** · 14-12-07

Hi all,

Wonder if you can help. I'm fairly new to PPC campaigns and I've currently got a PPC going on with Google - not a huge one - my budget is tight (no surprise). It has been running for 3 weeks now and hasn't brought in much, however I did notice an increased drop in referrals from Google's natural listings. Yahoo and MSN are working OK.

Is it possible that while my PPC campaign is running, Google switches off (or even reduces) my natural listing?

Cheers!

**D-Mac** · 14-12-07

The official line is no. I believe it (most of the time)

**Bud** · 14-12-07

No - both natural and PPC will show, and I'm fairly confident that's always the case as it seems to work for a number of terms we use.

Just to ensure everyone can find us I have a reserve PPC campaign running on our site name and as you can see both show.

e.g

the offset shop - Google Search

Please don't click PPC link! Thanks.

It may be that people tend to gravitate towards the PPC links though, which would explain the drop in natural visitors.

**macchick** · 16-12-07

Thanks guys!

Bud, your example was good because if your keyword is fairly unique to you then by rights you should be listed naturally as well as on ppc. However, in my case my keywords are generic terms specific to my niche market... so, Keywords that would normally guarantee a good position for me (on page 1, if not page 2) no longer appear on the list, at all! Not even on page 14 or so..!

It's just that it was a weird coincidence that since I started this campaign, my natural hit rates started to drop. I thought that by doing a ppc would help to supplement my natural links in Google, but instead it's wiped me off the chart. I'm just finding it a little suspicious...

**tbp** · 16-12-07

It's just that it was a weird coincidence that since I started this campaign, my natural hit rates started to drop. I thought that by doing a ppc would help to supplement my natural links in Google, but instead it's wiped me off the chart. I'm just finding it a little suspicious...

A lot seems a concidence with google, but its because things are constantly moving, very little stays the same, and as a result differences in results are bound to coincide with other external factors, leading you to think that the two are related.

If anything, my sites have increased in position since starting my PPC campaigns, both moving to number 1 spot for worldwide and uk results. If you were looking at this as a conspiracy theory, it doesn't make sense as it will be taking clicks away from the PPC ad's, losing google money.

I have found with newish sites that every now and again they plummet down the rankings for a couple of days to over a week, but then they come back again, usually in a better position that before they dropped. Im sure you`ll find that given a little while, the sites will be back to their normal, if not better, positions.

**Darren M** · 17-12-07

Originally Posted by tbp

If anything, my sites have increased in position since starting my PPC campaigns, both moving to number 1 spot for worldwide and uk results. If you were looking at this as a conspiracy theory, it doesn't make sense as it will be taking clicks away from the PPC ad's, losing google money.

I've seen the same thing for the last few sites I've launched. I started off bidding on expensive generic PPC terms and left this running for a few months until the backlinks and natural search traffic kicked in. At which point I turned off the PPC campaigns.

**moredial** · 17-12-07

If you pages have dropped, there is no harm in improving the SEO factors for Google to see if that helps.

You say your results are still the same for the other search engines. If so, you have to judge where your conversions are coming from and get the best result from that search engine and forget the rest in the short term.

If Google appears to have 'banned' you for some of your prime search phrases, make sure that these phrases are not in too many inbound links. There is a fine line between link text boosting your rankings and being counted as spam and getting a penalty.

For about a year I have been testing using only the domain name in the link text and that seems to have helped keep the pages relevant for the on-page factors for those domains. At least this way I get to be in control over what the domains are relevant for, rather than someone using whatever text they feel like using in the link.

**macchick** · 18-12-07

Thanks for your responses...

Sounds interesting. There's no doubt, Google does bring in the most traffic - that was until it all ground to a halt. As far as I can see, none of the campaigns involved have been banned, so I don't think it's that.

I'll take your advice and leave it a month or so to see what transpires. I'll keep you posted.

Cheers!