AdWords and Ubid: factors that prompt a consumer to click on a certain ad

[mandy]

When Google added a more brightly colored icon to the search ads of merchants that offer its Google Checkout payment service in February, the conversion rate on those ads for online auction site uBid.com went up 27%, says SendTec Inc., a search marketing firm that counts uBid.com among its clients. So SendTec partnered with Eyetools Inc., whose software tracks the eye movements of computer users, to see if the increase could be explained by the icon drawing more eyeballs to ads adorned with the icon...

So what accounts for consumers clicking more often on ads with the icon? “We believe the uBid ad was clicked on more often not because the Google icon made the ad more noticeable (more seen), but instead because it gave the ad an element of distinction and implied endorsement (by Google) relative to the competitive ads surrounding it,”...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=24927