• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, May 12, 2016

Google favors paid-search ads that match the intent of the query, so it should come as no surprise to marketers that 23% of all online searches in the U.S. on Google serve up in query results with the new paid-search layout that highlights the four ads at the top of the page.

Data from BrightEdge released Thursday reveals the impact of changes to Google’s recent ad layout on organic results. 

In fact, searches indicating purchase intent are six times more likely than all other searches to display in the top four, and searches with discovery intent have a 69% higher click-through-rate (CTR) for the top five search results, as compared with purchase-intent searches.

Since searches with commercial intent display a higher number of ads at the top of the page on average, compared with other searches, click-through-rates are lower for organic search results compared to those with fewer top-of-the-page.

Knowing the terms that have organic search results above the fold is critical to prioritizing efforts, according to the BrightEdge report. For these topics, the report suggests that organic and paid-search teams should work together to target these terms. This will boost return on investment for both paid and organic efforts. 

The finding also suggest it is important for these teams to understand what content ranks for these buying terms and to align their content strategy and planning to create Web pages and assets that map to what searchers seek.

Along with the findings, BrightEdge released a platform it calls Intent Signals aimed at helping search marketers optimize organic and paid-search strategies and programs to drive better results in light of these recent changes by Google.