Does page layout effect CTR?

Hi everyone,

I have a site that really needs a redesign to accomodate more content and new features. Currently, it's about 770px wide & centered. I'd like to change it to a full page layout. My current CTR is pretty decent so I don't want it to change for the worse if I change layouts.

Does anyone know if a certain page/site layout produces a better CTR?

What have your experiences been?

 

Of course it does - Everything about layout can affect CTR, athough there is no absolute right way, or ad size, as each site is different. Google has a heat map in their publisher tips section that you should review as a start - and then do a search for the hundred or so other DP threads that have covered this subject in detail.

 

Thanks for your reply.

I'm familiar with the heatmap and ad layout. I was actually referring to page width.

 

The challenge with full-width layouts is not knowing for sure how the page (and therefore the ads) will display for site visitors using different browser resolutions. This is especially true with tableless CSS-based layouts. I think what you may gain in CTR for some resolutions, you might easily lose due to display problems in other resolutions ... and it's hard to troubleshoot those kind of variables.

I'm a control freak about design, so I like fixed-width layouts.

 

I think any change has the potential to affect CTR. 770px is close to full size for 800x600 browsers, so I assume you are going to attempt a cross-browser design? If it is done correctly, I don't think it would have a negative affect on your page. I design for 800x600, but have fixed and full-page design and can't say one is better than the other. Do you know the resolution most of your visitors are using?

If you think it is going to improve the look or functionality of your site, I would go ahead and do it. With over 50 sites, I've found that the only way to really know is to try it on the specific site.

 

like mjewel said, you should discern the majority resolution your users use. if you attempt a percentage table CSS, make sure ou test it yourself on all the different resolutions on your own PC.

 

~57% of the browsers out there are being viewed at 1024x768: -http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

800x600 has been dead for a long time.

but you should always compare industry standard stats against your own server logs.

the object is to take full advantage of the monitor space, which means that more of your ads can be seen... depending on the site design, of course... getting it above the fold is the idea.

fluid css is a very good way to accomodate all monitor sizes, and you can control the font sizes if you know what you are doing... but i've still been using fixed css because of the site requirements, 1024x768 of course.

 

That's why I check my sites on all res.

 

I'm running a forum. So what is the best adlayout for it. Now i'm using a 780*60 on the top & one at the bottom.. Bad CTR though..