A new study released by Nielsen/NetRatings and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has found higher ranked sponsored text ads have better customer brand recall.

The study, "Internet Search Brand Effectiveness Research," studied brand impact of text and search text advertising for leading brands from a variety of industries.

For search based text advertising, respondents were 27% more likely to name a top ranked brand compared with a group not exposed to the ad. For article page text ads, respondents were 23% more likely to name the brand.

The study further showed brand recall was significantly different depending on the placement of the text ad. Brand metrics increased by 14% across all industries for No. 1 ranked search based ads. This compared with only a minor shift for 5th ranked ads. Similar results were found for the article page text ads.

Once again, it pays to be #1!