Up-to-date research shows that your politics can influence whether you click on sponsored search results

American companies spend nearly $100 billion a year to ensure top advertising spots in search results – although it’s no secret that most online shoppers scroll directly through them.

In fact, you may see organic links – results that are not sponsored ads as many as 10 times as many clicks as search engine ads, industry data show.

I call this phenomenon “search engine ad avoidance,” and it’s a large problem for a multi-billion dollar industry. However, it turns out that not all groups are equally reluctant to click on sponsored search results.

According to my newly published peer-reviewed researchPeople with conservative political views are more likely to click on sponsored search results.

Republican-minded brands like Black Rifle Coffee Company he might want to pay attention.

Conservatives are more likely to click search ads

To explore the relationship between politics and search engine behavior, I conducted several studies.

First, I examined data from over 500,000 visitors to a national retailer’s website. I analyzed the percentage of visitors from each U.S. state who arrived at the site by clicking a search ad versus an organic link. I then looked at the percentage of residents in each state who described themselves as conservative.

I found that more conservative states were associated with more clicks on search ads than on organic links. Specifically, a 10% boost in a state’s conservative identity was associated with a 6.4% boost in search ad clicks.

Considering that on average conservatives are older and have higher income than liberals, I also looked at the average age and personal income per capita in each state. The data again confirmed the link between conservatism and search ad clicks. Neither age nor income had a significant effect.

To better understand what was happening, I conducted additional research where I could monitor people’s searches in a more controlled setting using online surveys.

I asked online participants to search for a product in the same way they would utilize Google. I then took them to a search results page and asked them to determine how likely they were to click on a search ad versus an organic link.

I also measured their political orientation in two different ways: self-identification and attitudes toward political issues. Once again, I found that regardless of age and income, more conservative people were more likely to click on search ads.

Why is the promotion political?

The decision to click on an ad – or not – may seem quite petite. However, I believe that ad avoidance is deeply rooted in people’s core beliefs and values.

While conservatives tend to trust and justify the role of market systemsliberals are more skeptical. I argue that in the online information search market, conservatives are likely to trust sponsored messages more than liberals who gravitate toward organic content.

The importance of values ​​becomes clear when I do the final analysis. In this real-world experiment, I created search ads for a website created specifically for this study and found that conservatives were more likely to click on ads in response to broad searches such as “Buy headphones.” However, for more specific searches – such as “Buy headphones with a microphone that cuts out background noise” – there was no link between politics and clicks.

I suspect this is because broad searches are less cognitively demanding – in other words, they require less brain power. This allows our core beliefs to influence our decisions. In fact, this is consistent with research on information processing shows that broad thinking leads to stronger political attitudes.

On the other hand, I argue that specific searches require us to pay close attention to the information we process, which prevents our core beliefs from having a primary influence on our decisions.

Why advertisers should pay attention

These findings have obvious benefits for advertisers who want to better understand who is most likely to click on search ads. This can facilitate them develop campaign strategies that take into account consumers’ political orientations, which I have shown is a better predictor of click behavior than typical segmentation variables such as age or income.

Given that liberals are less likely to click on search ads, it also suggests that advertisers should think about alternative ways to reach them. It’s possible that liberals can be persuaded to click on search ads by expanding the inclusion of trust symbols in advertising messages, such as star ratings or recommendations from credible influencers.