Auction dynamics & performance (SERP visibility)

Question 1

Ad position refers to the ordering of the paid search results, but not the *** of the paid search results.

Answer 1

precise location

In other words, if you achieve the top ad position (1) in a given auction, that doesn’t necessarily mean that your ad is showing at the top of the SERP!

Ad position would just tell you where you were on the page relative to competitors in the same auction.

It could very well be showing under the organic search results.

As such, your average position doesn’t tell you the whole story in terms of where your Search ads are showing. Certainly, this caveat has caused business owners and account managers alike some confusion.

Question 2

When did Google remove the ‘average position’ metric?

Answer 2

Sept 2019

Question 3

What 4 metrics replaced average position?

Answer 3

1. Top impression rate
2. Absolute top impression rate
3. Top impression share
4. Absolute top impression share

Question 4

Define ‘top impression rate’ or more fully called ‘Search top impression rate “Impr. (Top) %’ ?

Answer 4

It’s the percentage of your (total) ad impressions that are shown anywhere above the organic search results.

i.e. coming from the top of the SERP (above the organic results).

Top impression rate = Top impressions / Total impressions

Question 5

Define ‘absolute top impression’ rate?

Answer 5

It tells you the percentage of your total impressions that are coming from the very top of the SERP.

Absolute top impression rate = Absolute top impressions / Total impressions

What percentage of your impressions reach the absolute top slot out of all of your impressions.

Question 6

Define ‘top impression share’?

Answer 6

It tells you the rate at which you’re turning opportunities to appear at the top of the SERP into actual impressions at the top of the SERP.

Top impression share = Top impressions / Eligible top impressions

i.e. as opposed to top impression rate, this metric factors in competition impressions too, so it’s an auction wide metric

Question 7

Define ‘absolute top impression share’?

Answer 7

It tells you the rate at which you’re turning opportunities to appear at the very top of the SERP into actual impressions at the very top of the SERP.

Absolute top impression share = Absolute top impressions / Eligible absolute top impressions

Think this means % of time you won top slot placement when eligible, i.e. would otherwise be placed there if it wasn’t for competition (share)”

Question 8

What does ad position refer to?

BUT…

Answer 8

The position you come in the ad auction.

But not the position on the page exactly. You may come first in the auction, but non of the bids maybe good enough quality, for a number of reasons, to be presented on the top slots of the page.

Question 9

What’s the formula for calculating ad rank?

Answer 9

bid x quality score (primarily CTR) = ad rank

Question 10

Rarely will you see a quality score higher than ** if your landing page is not relevant

Answer 10

3

Question 11

It looks like landing page is roughly **% of your quality score; however, if your landing page is considered not relevant – it does not just lower your quality score by **%, it affects your quality score dramatically.

Answer 11

10%
10%

RE: So perhaps another way of describing this?
QS weighting from LP quality is not equally correlated between good and bad assessments

Question 12

If your ads are not relevant; rarely will you see a quality score over a ** out of 10.

Answer 12

4

Question 13

Either there is a quality score cap when one of these items is bad (what items?), or they negatively affect you much more than they positively affect your quality score.

Answer 13

ad relevance and/ or LP quality

Question 14

Hal mentions that the “biggest factor by far (for QS) is **. That is spot on. It’s the single biggest factor that the advertiser can influence directly and can literally make or break a campaign.

Answer 14

CTR

In most cases, relevancy is pretty obvious and is rarely an issue as most advertisers don’t want to be bidding on unrelated keywords. Landing page quality score is a WHOLE different ball game.

Question 15

There is a great deal of confusion about landing page quality. My understanding is that as long as you’re a legitimate business, not just an AdSense
spammer, the landing page QS factor is a non-issue provided that the ** is reasonable.

Answer 15

page load speed

Folks who are moving pixels around the page hoping to improve their QS are wasting their time.

Question 16

Our experience is that QS takes care of itself if the ads are all about the keyword’s **** and the landing page keeps the promise well.

Answer 16

meaning

I.e. the kw doesn’t have to be in the copy of the ad if the CTR is high, as the intent matches the ad promise we’ll.

We think Hal’s little pie chart shows under-emphasis of CTR’s actual importance as the primary driver of QS.

We’ve had ads without the keyword in the ad and a crazy-high CTR have good QSs.

Meaning I.e. importance of understanding the intent in the kw so the the ad copy follows thru accurately, w/o necessarily having the customers keyword in the copy, as long as the KW’s meaning is conveyed in the copy, and thus CTR is good because the ad’s promise fulfils what the visitors is looking for.

E.g low QS for ‘rockstar karaoke’, why? Intent is typically not relevant to us”

Question 17

Alan Mitchell “CTR is without doubt one of the most important aspects of Quality Score. No matter how ***** your ads are, if people fail to click on them, your Quality Score will take a hit.

Answer 17

relevant

Question 18

the ad placement auction consider what 2 primary factors?

Answer 18

1. bid

2. historical and expected CTR of the ad (from KW and ad)

Question 19

According to Geordie Carswell, which has a bigger impact on ad placement, bid or KW QS?

Consequently, how should you spend most of your optimisation time?

Answer 19

“Keyword Relevance Quality Score has a bigger effect on your ad placement than how much you bid.

As a result, if you’re looking to improve your ad position, or the frequency with which your ad is shown to searchers, the most effective use of your time is spent in testing new ads that could increase your CTR which is the biggest contributor to the “Keyword Relevance” Quality Score.

Question 20

Joe Kerschbaum: Usually, creating tighter ad groups with re-vamped, more relevant ad texts is a very good start. These tactics will fix 2 of the 3 major components of the Quality Score: CTR and ad relevancy. Again, these are quick changes for the account.

To fully rejuvenate the Quality Score, the *** will need to be optimized as well.

Answer 20

landing page

Question 21

“We’ve had ads W/O the keyword in the ad and a crazy-high CTR have good QSs.” - why could this be so?

Answer 21

Because the copy delivers on the intent of the user despite not using their search terms as a KW in the copy.

Question 22

Top and absolute top metrics are a set of *** metrics. ****** metrics, give you a sense for your ads’ location on the page.

Answer 22

prominence

prominence

As opposed to the relative position amongst other advertisers, which av ad position did

Question 23

How does G’s new metrics for position on page differ from the prior ‘average position’ metric?

Answer 23

Unlike average position, these metrics don’t reflect the order of your ads compared to other ads, but the actual location of your ads on the SERPs.

Question 24

G is a *** network, so the auction Focuses on ** ,

RE: as G want’s to be respected for the ** it makes.

Answer 24

Relevancy
referral
referrals

G cares about relevancy to optimise the user experience.

Question 25

G uses “second price” auction model - how does that work?

How does this differ from a standard auction?

Answer 25

you only need to pay what the advertiser below u is bidding plus a penny - i.e. u pay just enough to maintain your ad position.

think of an antiques auction, people put up their hands to bid at a certain price, they are committing to that price, not less

In Gads, you can state your max bid of say £5, but you will only pay what ever is required to beat the next highest bid - you’re saying that at most you are willing to pay £5.

RE: So…the ‘second price’ auction model is more dynamic. It’s not a fixed bid. Your bid changes depending the details of the auction, including what other comps are bidding against you.

Question 26

Every single search triggers another live auction, providing what?

Answer 26

..providing the search term is eligible for ads

Question 27

there are lots of auction variables, so your QS can change each time - give to example variables?

Answer 27

e. g. the comp landscape may change - perhaps some advertisers only advertise at certain times of the day.
e. g. RE: and also I guess how close a match the query is to your KW.

Question 28

Formula for Ad Rank is?

Answer 28

ad rank = max CPC bid X QS

Question 29

higher the ad position doesn’t necessarily mean higher the CPC - why not? illustrate?

Answer 29

position 2 could be paying less than position 3, due to positions 2’s better quality score - but also potentially because they have bid with a lower max CPC.

position 1 could also be paying less than 3 and 4 for example.