I thought I understood (to some extent) how Google Adwords worked but I am totally bamboozled by this. Can anyone explain what is going on? I was doing some research on a keyword that normally returns about 650 sponsored ad results. However, when drilling down a few pages I noticed some very peculiar results. I repeated the excercise a couple of times on different words with similar results. Finally, I recorded one set of results for the first 10 pages which should, in theory, yield 80 ads (from the 600+ sponsored results) in the right hand column. What I found was just 17 different adverts were shown in varying numbers on each page totalling 52 (out of 80) displays altogether. Page number with the number of ads displayed in brackets 1 (8) - 2 (4) - 3 (8) - 4 (4) - 5 (8) - 6 (2) - 7 (8) - 8 (1) - 9 (7) - 10 (2) The number of times an ad was shown varied once - 7 ads twice - 1 ad three x - 1 ad four x - 2 ads five x - 4 ads six x - 2 ad The original position had little bearing on the frequency of display. For example, two ads that appeared on page 1 ewre not repeated while one ad that first appeared on page 4 was shown on another 4 pages. What is even more baffling/ bizarre is that the "more sponsored links" button revealed an almost completely different set of results with no obvious repetition. e.g. the ads that appeared on page 1 of the search result were mostly absent from the first page of the sponsored llinks and my own ad which was completely absent from the search results appeared in its usual position on page 2 of the more sponsored links. So, just what are Google playing at?
the algorithm is really difficult to understand, even for several years now i am still not able to understand how the ads appear. the logic is never made public as you know that people will find some new logic to overcome the google logic. I hope the things are clear, so we are in a situation that just put your campaign and pay google, forget about ads.
Google always keep on changing their algorithm ,what all webmasters do and keep on going is making assumptions what works and what not .
I think this is a bit more than a change in the algorithm. What is happening here is quite alarming. One enters the adwords arena assuming that the playing field is somewhere near level - that Google will basically treat all bidders more or less the same. It was also my understanding that Google only shows one ad per domain for each search query (until all ads are exhausted when they will repeat the sequence.) But here we have an auction amongst hundreds of advertizers where some are getting their ads shown 5 times or more whilst the majority (63 from 80) are not getting shown at all. What concerns me is how much business am I missing out on? Impressions for most of my keywords have declined considerably - up to 50% - in the last 4 weeks. I had assumed that was due to the current economic situation. Now, I am not so sure. Could be I am getting screwed by some glitch in the Adwords system.
Google adwords isn't very consistent at all. I've had ads that SOMETIMES didn't show up at all even when there were few other ads. The key is, I think Google does SOMETHING so that people can't rig the system or take advantage of it's consistency. IMHO
They are certainly doing SOMETHING and there is certainly no consistency! After further investigation I now wonder if this is something to do with the change to dynamic QS. It had been my assumption that if you search a keyword on Google they would generate a rank for ALL sponsored ads - from 1 to 500, say - and show them sequentially, 8 per page until the sequence was exhausted, in much the same way as the natural results are listed. What I think they are now doing is regenerating the adrank every time you change a page, i.e. treating every page change as a new query. ( You can see this by simply clicking back and forth between a couple of pages - the natural hits stay the same but the sponsored ads change.) Is this a good or bad thing? I guess it depends whether you are one of the advertisers who get shown repeatedly or one who does not get shown at all, e.g. me - I bid for average position 20 on a particular keyword yet, despite repeatedly going up and down the pages from 1 to 10, did not get a single impression (although, my ad appeared in its usual position in the sponsored links pages!) As I said previously, one enters the Adwords arena in the hope of a reasonably level playing field and a set of rules that one can, eventually, learn. It seems to me that Google have turned the whole business into a complete lottery.
I am working in search and PPC advertising software development business and know a little bit about these algorithms. No, it is not true. However you won't be able to understand exactly how these algorithms work and take full advantage of them. Niether could do even Google developers. Why? Because they are data driven and their performance depends on too many dynamic factors. However, there is a good remedy. Try to make your web site content consistent and solid. It should be related to a particular subject (or category or close categories). In this case less possible variables will impact your ad impression, CTR, etc. In order to test your website for content consistency you need to use Document Classification methods.
Sorry, Vit, you completely miss the point. This has nothing whatsoever to do with my website or my Adwords account. It is about the way Google is displaying paid adverts - everyone's, not just mine.. For example, I did a search earlier today on a keyword that normally returns nearly 500 sponsored links - it showed 8 ads as normal on page 1, page 2 had 1 advert (already shown on page 1), all subsequent pages were completely blank of paid ads! Every time I have done a search in the last couple of days I have had similar, strange, results with some ads being repeated frequently, the number of ads shown varying from page to page, the adverts and the sequence they are shown in changing as you move back and forth through the pages. As an advertiser this concerns me greatly. How am I to interpret changes in impressions, average position, CPC, etc. when half the time my ad is not being shown at all? What does "accelerated display" actually mean? I assumed it meant you were shown for every search (as long as your budget was not exhausted) - obviously not any longer.
You do not need a specific example - I am seeing the same effects with any search term as long as it has a large number of adwords advertisers, e.g. a hundred or more (probably similar with fewer but I have only tried with common search terms. Anyway, the effect is likely to diminish as the number of advertisers reduces.)
is it something to do with some planted cookie / spyware / adware / annoying viral bacteria inside of your computer - the strange thing when I was testing on different computers - is that my more rickety computers that have no been cleaned recently were displaying googles results differently than my spick and span new computers... the links were also different beleive it or not with 'old session or bad record' screen coming up on more than a few occasions on my older computers. These same links worked fine on the newer pcs... hmm.
Good suggestion, yeah, do provide a specific example for expert DP Googlers to analize....er, analyse. There's hundreds of ads, sure, but given the Big-G algorithm, you'd imagine that each ad was, er algorysed....aw, shucks....algorized from a different KW MikeR
If it is, it is one that AVG are unaware of. But, I have also checked this on different computers (but on the same network), different browsers and with different setting (cookies on/off, with/without cache, history/no history). I am seeing the same results each time. I cannot believe I am the only person seeing this or the only one to be concerned. If you are advertising for "blue widgets" against 500 other advertisers and see the same 5 competitors' adverts repeated 19 pages in a row (I kid you not!) does that not worry you/ piss you off or make you wonder what you are paying Google for? I have tried at regular intervals over the last 3 days to see one of my ads. It appears every time on page 2 of "more sponsored links" and G reports an average position of 12 yet, despite, numerous searches to page 20 or more I have yet to see it displayed. Meanwhile, some of my competitors are getting shown for every search and probably about every 3 pages on average. I would just like someone who knows more about Adwords than me - I know you are out there - to give some insight.
Bjeweled, I feel sympathy for you, and am entitled to empathy. I have had to stop my adwords campaign due to a similar frustration. I was not seeing any of my ads appearing after I had paused and resumed my campiagns. Before some ads were in position 1, in the yellow cell shading above the user related search results. Now - the same ad is being shown their every time - no compeitition it seems (like your viewpoint) - but of course in reality there is. There is also a definate mismatch in reported positions and the ones I saw when my ads were working
adsure, I understand you frustration. However, imagine, AdWords should serve millions and they need to have some strategy wich rotates and optimize impressions. For me and some sites I consult it makes a tremendeous job. Like I said before, it is very important that you need to have a consistent textual content of your website in order to get higher scores in both a regular search and ads. BTW, I analyzed Bjeweled's site and found that it is consistent and has a very good chance to get a sucsess in Googles advertising adventure.
Well. whilst I am sure Google would like to optimize impressions for their own benefit that is not what they say they do. According to the Adwords help files, If Google are using some other system to determine position and even whether or not your ad will be displayed then the whole system becomes, as I previously suggested, a pure lottery.
I am an affiliate for high selling products vit, so these pages should be content and keyword rich since that is partly how they are designed...