Fixed width design gives higher CTR?

I have found fixed width sites tend to generate a higher CTR than liquid/fluid designs. It's almost as if narrowing a persons focus can draw them in to notice the ads more.

Has anyone else found the same to be true?

It's funny because the purists will claim a liquid design is always the way to go, but at the end of the day it might not be a wise business decision (I too was moving toward making all my sites liquid but I'm not so sure now)..

 

How wide are the fixed width pages you are basing this on? How big of a survey sample are you observing?

 

I'd like to see more results regarding this as I've found the opposite in the past. It's all about directing attention to the ads, despite the design IMO.

 

kaethy - The fixed width sites are 780px wide. The main difference I found was with one site in particular where that I ran both a fixed and liquid design over time. I have one other site that's liquid and 3 fixed width ones but I wouldn't include the 2nd liquid design as the topic of the site tends to have a rather low CTR anyway.

It is an extremely limited sample size which is why I was wondering what other people's experiences were

MaxM - have you run a fixed vs liquid 'experiment' on a single site to ensure it's not the topic that's influencing the CTR?

 

Hmmm, I suppose I could constrain my tables to 780 to see what happens.

 

I'm also for fixed 750-780 px wide site, where ads are on. Because it is easier to blend the ads and there are any other reasons too...