Sponsored links vs. the "organic" side of the web search

[terry78]

I just started that new job as a web content writer for a web design company this past week, and one of the things they do is SEO, or search engine optimization for the websites that they create, where the site is placed on the first page of a google search as opposed to the far right side of the screen where the "ads" are. I had no idea what the hell this was before I started, but basically the consensus is that if you google something, most people tend to check out the larger left hand side of the screen before they'll look at the right column. Is this something you do, or you don't really care either way? And yes, you're helping me with my job by doing so, so make sure it's accurate, or I will hunt you down and place your respective pages near the beastiality pron searches.

 

[Immortalfire]

ORGANICS SUCK!!!!

 

[Manic]

It depends on what I'm looking for. Usually, I check the larger left side of Google's search results, and ignore the right column completely. However, if I'm looking for a business, I'll check the right column if the result I want isn't one of the first three listed.