“that 2 same size yellow page ads for the same type of business are likely to get wildly different call volumes. One of the ads will be just like the better team and the faster runner and win nearly each time the product is searched. Should we expect this to be different on the web? I think not.”

One other factor to consider is PLACEMENT — my clients’ experience has been that placement within the Yellow Pages (i.e. at the beginning of a particular section vs. middle or end) is even more important than the ad itself.

And while I think that the web is a bit more democratic than that, since it’s SO easy to do multiple searches and research multiple companies before calling or emailing, you’re still going to really hit the sweet spot with a great-looking website that ALSO ranks well.

Great post about testing–this works particularly well with PPC; more difficult to do organically, obviously, since it’s tough to hold all factors equal with duplicate content