As reported on Search Engine Land today, Google has confirmed that it is testing the display of clicks underneath AdWords ads. Essentially this means that underneath an advertisers ad, a user will be able to see how many clicks you have received. Off the back we should highlight that this is simply a test from Google and by no means should affect many ads...yet.
I have a feeling that this is another manifestation of the theory of social proof, which I have blogged about previously. Social proof is the phenomenon which occurs when a person makes a decision based on what others around them are doing. The phenomenon is enhanced when a person is unsure of what action to take. That means that all of the necessary ingredients are there for the social proof theory to rear its head on the Google results page.
One would assume that users will be drawn to advertisers with the most amount of clicks for no good reason other than 'this many people clicked the ad so it must be the one I am looking for too'. This is the very essence of social proof and if you want to read more about this then I strongly urge you to read Robert Cialdini's Influence; The Psychology of Persuasion.
The Outcome,
I have to say that if this new feature makes it into the mainstream AdWords setup it could certainly shake things up a little bit. Essentially there are two ways Google can approach this; they can either give the advertiser the option to choose weather their amount of clicks are displayed or they can simply decide themselves.
If an advertiser has the option to display the number of clicks they receive or not and let us assume that ads with a high number of clicks displayed will get yet more clicks then we will certainly see advertisers climbing over each other to get more and more clicks, not only to get people to their site, but also to boost the figure underneath their ad. Think of this, you could have a fantastic advert and landing page, but fewer clicks than another website and you stand a chance of being overlooked more often than not.
I would also wager that Google will benefit from this approach, the move will only serve to increase advertiser's focus on getting clicks, which in a cost per click setup would see Google's pockets getting lined even faster that they already are!
Let us consider the second possibility; that Google decide on the advertiser's behalf when the amount of clicks should be displayed. This is certainly the more controversial of the two options and raises a few fundamental questions about the scheme. The most pressing question is when should an advert qualify to have the amount of clicks shown? Could it be when your click through rate is excellent? Could it be when you get past a certain amount of clicks, possibly if you are the most clicked ad on the page?
All interesting questions but I think the main problem presented by Google choosing on an advertiser's behalf is that many will consider information such as the amount of clicks accrued as information that is privileged and should only be possessed by the advertiser themselves.
What Do I Think?
It is good to see Google testing out new things and with a knowledge of the effects of social proof I can certainly see this option helping advertisers, as long as you are good at optimising and writing ads! Of course, something that encourages more advertising quality is certainly no bad thing. I think that for Google to choose on an advertiser's behalf when to display click information is justifiably controversial and I am not sure I would condone this move.
This could turn out to be a flash in the pan, but it is certainly worth keeping an eye on!
