My 15 Minutes of Fame: Search Engine Traffic Drives Most Ad Clicks on Websites [Study]

Advertising network Chitika released a study today that showed how ad click-through rates (CTR) on a website vary when users come to that website from search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask and so on. According to the research, ad CTR was highest on a website when visitors came from Ask.com. Google trailed behind Bing and Yahoo in fourth position.

When asked if the high CTR coming from Ask was perhaps due to the demographic set of that engine, Mahima Badsra, Chitika data scientist and a lead author of the report said:

"While the precise demographics of the Ask.com user base are unclear, it is reasonable to assume that less tech savvy individuals are the heaviest users of the service due to the Ask.com toolbar controversy and ensuing backlash from the tech community.

"Additionally, as users of the search engine have consistently exhibited the highest CTRs within the Chitika network, it is likely that Ask.com's user base is, on average, different from that of Bing, Google or Yahoo, who exhibit different, but somewhat similar average CTRs."

Chitika reminded readers in the report to apply discernment to the data.

"In terms of search engine-referred traffic, Ask.com’s substantial lead in this area needs to be taken with a proverbial grain of salt, as its share of search engine Web traffic is only 2 percent within North America."