Sponsored Links In Blue?

[briandoakes]

Hello,
When you do a search in Google, you have your standard Sponsored Links on the right hand side, but then occassionaly you will have Sponsored Links in a Blue Table at the top of the page.

Is there a way to purchase these top positions?

Thanks,
Brian

[seobook]

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showpost.php?p=6141&postcount=4

[briandoakes]

thank you!

[critter]

Hello,
When you do a search in Google, you have your standard Sponsored Links on the right hand side, but then occassionaly you will have Sponsored Links in a Blue Table at the top of the page.

Is there a way to purchase these top positions?

Thanks,
BrianThose are for premium sponsored advertising partners.

If you have a look at this search query:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hotels&btnG=Google+Search

You will see those ad spaces are usually taken by LARGE advertisers with $10,000/mth and above online advertising budgets...

Email Google, they will tell you all about it, but I do know there is a minimum monthly buy in..

Cheers

Critter

[David Wallace]

I was told in the past by a Google rep that those are AdWord spots that are occasionally awarded to advertisers that spend a lot. In other words, those with big bucks and of course good CTR on ads will pop into those spots every so often.

[seobook]

I was told in the past by a Google rep that those are AdWord spots that are occasionally awarded to advertisers that spend a lot. In other words, those with big bucks and of course good CTR on ads will pop into those spots every so often.
I don't spend much and I pop up there often. I think it mostly has to do with CTR.

[Jeff Martin]

I was told in the past by a Google rep that those are AdWord spots that are occasionally awarded to advertisers that spend a lot. In other words, those with big bucks and of course good CTR on ads will pop into those spots every so often.

My clients have top PPC placements and not all of them spend a lot. This is mostly determined by the CTR of your ads. Im estimating, which means I reserve the right to be off, that a CTR ~3-3.5% AND being in the #1 or #2 spot will probably get you there. See Seobook's link above for confirmation on CTR concept from AdWordsRep.

[AdWordsRep]

Those are for premium sponsored advertising partners.

...You will see those ad spaces are usually taken by LARGE advertisers with $10,000/mth and above online advertising budgets...

Email Google, they will tell you all about it, but I do know there is a minimum monthly buy in..
Just to clarify, there is no longer a Premium Sponsorship program, which is what Critter is referring to here. That program did offer guaranteed placement above the search results, on a Cost Per Impression basis - but was phased out some time ago.

Now, the ads at the top are from the AdWords program, and are those ads which have met an additional performance bar, focused on relevance, as measured by CTR.

And when you see no ads at the top, it just means that none of the AdWords ads eligible to show in that moment have met the additional performance standard.

AWR

[Linker]

As far as I know, the top horizontal sponsored listing is fair game. I've seen a few sites, which are definitely not BIG spenders listed there. But then again, several factors like CTR and market size could affect it for sure.

[The Generator]

I'm currenty running about one thousand keywords on my Adwords account. I've found that I've been able to get top Adwords listings for several words by merely focusing on increasing my click through rate and sales conversion rate...

In other words, consistantly comparing the CTRs of new creatives is in itself aiming for the top. As far as content goes, choosing landing pages that are well designed, well written, and relevant to the search term at hand increases the chances of closing a sale and by nature exerts upward pressure on the ad's ranking.

As Linker just said, "big spenders" don't necessarily have a privilieged access to these top positions, as it belongs to those who put effort into tightening the performance of their Adwords campaigns.