I use adwords to put my ads on the right of google. However how do I get an ad in the middle. Like with the yellow background? Is it somewhere in my adwords account?
You need a minimum quality score which must be 8 or above (Great QS). There is also a minimum bid that depends on the keyword. Sort of like the minimum bid to be on the first page except this one is "minimum bid for being in the yellow". Of course, your ad ranking must place you there as well. There is a maximum of three ads that can be placed above the SERPs.
Strange, I'm using a keyword with 7/10 and I'm number one out of 3 for that yellow middle box. Are there exceptions or is that generally the rule lucid?
Not in my experience. I've been shown in the top yellow shaded area with QS as low as 5/10. My thoughts? It all depends on the the overall keyword history taking into account other competitors and their QS.
Just seen this - in my opinion there is no universal 8/10 etc. It's completely taken keyword by keyword. Some require a higher Quality Score, whilst others will be shown with 5-6/10, like I've experienced quite a few times. In fact, right now I'm ranked 3rd (shown top left) and my Quality Score is 6/10. This makes me believe it's because the other bidders around me are also not so good. Also, bear in mind that it's down to the Ad's Quality Score, not the keyword's Quality Score. You may have 2 Ads in your Adgroup and the keyword is being displayed as 5/10. One of your Ads may be good enough (according to Google) to be displayed in the shaded area, whilst the 2nd Ad is shown halfway down the page. Something to think about.
> Are there exceptions or is that generally the rule lucid? My understanding is that it is the rule. Obviously, others are saying you don't need a certain QS level but I have never seen one of my ads in the yellow that had a QS lower than 8. Maybe it's an ad rank threshold you need to meet but that means you could get there just by bidding really high. I remember reading something on Google that you cannot bid yourself into the yellow, you have to have a certain QS level. So I don't know why some of you are seeing your ads there with a lower QS. Or I could be just wrong on the QS level you need. I'm not sure that there is an ad QS that is separate from the keyword QS as Muchacho suggests. It could very well be. In my mind, the two are intertwined. That is, while Google shows a QS at the keyword level, it obviously has to take the ad into account. I don't separate QS, one for the keyword and one for the ad. I believe Google calculates a keyword-ad QS. If you have two or three active ads, some sort of average must be performed. So if a keyword shows QS=7 and you have two ads, the keyword could be QS=6 for one ad and QS=8 for the other. That could partly explain why ads show above the SERPs if your QS is seven. >> In fact, right now I'm ranked 3rd (shown top left) and my Quality Score is 6/10. This makes me believe it's because the other bidders around me are also not so good. Of course you are better than the advertisers around you. But that doesn't mean that Google has to give you the yellow position. In fact, there are times when there is nobody in those positions or there could be one or two advertisers.
As with all things with Adwords, it is hard to define the exact parameters you need. Essentially though you do need to be a player in that keyphrase.
That's what I was saying. One Ad can be shown in the yellow shaded area, whilst the other is shown down in 6th place. It often happens and I'm very surprised you haven't seen this unless you only manage one account and it's just down to chance that you haven't experienced this yet. I'll guarantee you that Google don't have a band of 8+/10 QS, that's for sure. Yes, I know that, lol.
All of my QS are 6 and 7. I stay in the number 1 spot in the yellow highlighted area. I changed all keywords to exact and phrase match giving me a much higher CTR, 15-20%. But I am also only doing the search network so I don't know if that has an effect either.
Here's a link direct from Google: adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6546 with the following paragraph: "For ad placement in top positions above Google search results, we use the same (ad ranking) formula, based on your Quality Score and CPC bid. However, only top-ranked ads --- ads that exceed a certain Quality Score and CPC bid threshold - are eligible to appear in these positions." Doesn't say what the QS level is but I assume it's between 8 and 10, the range they used to call Great. Why you are seeing your QS <8 ads there, I don't know. I can only assume that at the time you saw your ads there, your QS did meet this threshold. Or that if you have more than one ad, you happened to see the one with a kw-ad QS combination. gjhamilton, QS is for the search network and calculated only using data from Google, not the search partners. Opting in to the content or search partners will have no effect.
I wouldn't assume as that would be incorrect. I have 2 Ads in a client's Adgroup - both are displayed 3rd (in the yellow section) and the keyword has a QS of 6/10 - which it has done now for over a week (moves from 6 to 7 and back again). only top-ranked ads --- ads that exceed a certain Quality Score and CPC bid threshold - are eligible to appear in these positions. Yes - the certain QS is relative to the keyword history and how well the other advertisers are going. If the other advertisers don't know what they are doing, then the Quality Score won't need to be as high by Google's standards. Whichever way you look at it, it rules out your 8-10 theory as both the ads in my client's account are rotated in the yellow shaded area.
quote: only top-ranked ads --- ads that exceed a certain Quality Score and CPC bid threshold - are eligible to appear in these positions." Come on guys google lies about other things too. I have a site coming in into yellow top3 all day long and many have QS below 7... some 6 and this site is only a PR2 with most keywords in organic being down around 50 or lower in organic rank.... and I bid 1.50 for all and most clicks cost from 90 cent to 1.25 I do very little to get QS... but I do try to dump them on an inner page that is at least a little bit relevant... and 100% are exact match....maybe they mean must be a 5 or better to get there.... hee hee.. In case someone says no wonder if you are bidding a buck fifty.. hey guys you don't get clicks on real estate for 10 cents... matter of fact dropping to a buck would never get me one click all day.
For once Muchacho, we disagree on something. The requirements needed to be in the yellow should not change. In fact, I provided the link and highlighted for a reason. It clearly says you must meet a QS threshold. Your argument, which I disagree with if I understand correctly, is that since few advertisers meet this threshold, Google plays nice and gives above-SERPs position anyway just to fill those positions. If that were the case, then you'd always see three ads up there. Since we don't, I think your argument is wrong. It doesn't explain why your QS=5 ads appear there. All I'm going on is what Google publishes. Therefore there can be only a few explanations: 1) you happen to see your ads there when they happen to meet the requirements, although I find that unlikely, 2) what Google is saying is not true anymore but I find it unlikely they would have changed this, 3) there really is no threshold and Google is lying but this does not explain why there is not always three ads in the yellow or 4) there's a bug in the system.
I changed only my match type an increased my CTR. All the quality scores stayed the same (6-7). I moved from # 4-6 spots to pretty much #1 all the time. It seems to me that the higher CTR is what moved my ads up since the QS of all the keywords stayed the same.
Well regardless of what's been dicussed, one thing is 100% definite: You're Quality Score Does not need to be between 8-10 in order to be ranked in the Yellow. The Adgroup in question that I mentioned yesterday had both Ads (A & B) ranked at an average position of 2.4 and they were always in the Yellow, each time I checked (probably around 10-15 times), so there's nothing to suggest it has to be 8 or higher. Therefore the only thing we can conclude is that where Google say there's a threshold - it's not a Constant and this thresfold, varies, all depending on what Google sees each keyword on. If no Advert meets the threshold for that keyword, then none will be displayed in the Yellow. I would have agreed with you, had it not been for the fact of me experiencing top rankings with lower Quality Scores than your stated 8-10, so something is going wrong somewhere. I just think the reason why there isn't always 3 yellow shaded listings, is because there simply isn't, at that time, any Adverts which Google think qualify to be listed there - probably based on the history of that keyword. Therefore this threshold isn't Constant, it totally depends on the keyword. Maybe for keywords that have had an overall poor CTR throughout it's Adwords history, is harder to get listed in the Yellow for, as Google assume the natural listings offer more valuable information to the searcher (hence the low CTR)? As for your 4 possible theories, number 4, only seems the most likely and that's that there is a bug, but I don't believe that one either, I just believe Google's threshold is on a keyword by keyword basis, not universal.
No argument there. History of the keyword has nothing to do with it. You said it in the first part: no advertiser is meeting the proper quality requirements. So there's a contradiction here. I've created ads where there was no one in the yellow out of 4-5 advertisers. Get a QS 10 the next day and my ad shows up there. Because my ad was of better quality and met the thresholds. I have never noticed an ad with QS below eight in the yellow, not that I constantly check for such things. So I could be wrong on the QS threshold. And good if you do have such ads. But even so, you'll have a hard time convincing me that it depends on a keyword's history or that the threshold is not constant across all keywords.