What is Google's criterion for placing an ad on top of the page as oppose to on the right hand side? It only happens on a few searches and I have never been able to figure it out. Once we thought it was simply a favour for spending so much on the program but I'm still not sure and this is impossible to verify. Any ideas on when G decides to put one or two ads on top? Could it be for when there is lack of quality natural listings and plenty of high paying ads?
It would be interesting to know myself. But it's definitely not because of highly competitive keywords or "bad" natural listings. For example, I see a phrase that has NO AdSense ads on the right, and one on the top. The one on the top is for the company that is #1 and #2 in the natural listings, and the top 10 are all relevant results. I thought maybe it was large companies that had a special relationship with Google, but then a search on ISP billing software has the right side filled, and the two at the top are very small time players. So then I was thinking it might just be the highest bids, but then you get some stuff that doesn't have anything at the top. If you search on my ISP billing product name, Optigold, you get 4 competitors with AdSense, none of which are on the top. And interesting is that one of the ones that is on the top for isp billing software is NOT on the top for optigold.
Also, the ads and the ones on top jump if you keep clicking the search button over and over again. Let my up one of our ads to a ridiculous bid and see what happens. I know the one I have in mind has been featured on top before....
Well, it seems like it does have to do with the highest bidder coz when I up the bid from 0.08 to 2.50 then we are at the top of that page in the blue bar. Not sure if it works for any odd phrase because I haven't seen a lot of our ads up there and I knew this one I tested has been. Note: Now back to 0.10 and still on top. Maybe because plenty of daily budget left
Well, I think it's just that if you give them permission to spend say £50 on a campaign per day, they will do anything to get all that spent no matter what the bid per phrase is. They are obviously after as much money as you've told them you can afford. It'd be stupid to not take the £50 but just keep them showing at #6 and just spend 20 a day. So I guess that plays a part.
Remember, Google not only does placement based on how much you bid on an ad, but they also do it based on how much people click on your ad. I was bidding $0.06 on a keyword, and was at the bottom most of the time. Then I changed my ad text to say something about free, and next thing I know it's at the top getting tons of clicks, but I was still only paying the $0.06 a click. They have some algorithm that determines placement based on bid and number of clicks.
Does anyone know whether they use their relevancy technology for ad placement too? Maybe in case of a tie?
I certainly don't have the answer and, as many of us know, Google rarely explains the way they go about things (and I'm not sugegsting that I blame them for that). But I've certainly seen my ads both at the top of the page and in the usual side-of-the-screen boxes. I can only think it's the luck of the draw or some variations on the placement idea. I admit that I have very little immediate competition and I'm only averaging 15 clicks a day on a variety of keywords (but with a decent enough CTR that's 2% or better). I also have quite respectable organic search positions, usually within the top ten. However, I'm by no means one of the Big Boys. I'm a one man real estate broker who works solely for buyers in a decidedly localized area. Moreover, none of my colleagues in my local real estate board uses AdWords. In turn, what competition there is seems to be based on a broad match, such as "Homes for Sale in [a way-off-in-the-distance community]" or "Foreclosures here, there, and everywhere" and there's rarely any more than three ads alongside mine. So you tell me. Perhaps Google simply wants me to stick with them and keep paying them a handful of dollars every month. But meantime, I'm not thinking of looking their gift horse in the mouth!
I do a fair amount of adwords listings, many in the #1 slot (which if it wasn't mentioned already, is calculated factoring in both the amount you've bid and you're clickthrough rate). I haven't noticed what determines when my #1 ad is on top or on the right, though it does seem to correlate somewhat to my most competitive (and expensive) terms.
What I've learned is that the top postion is based upon how much your bidding.. Has anybody every had there ad turned off because of the content? I had it happend to me; I was wondering if that is common?
As I mentioned above, each position is calculated by both the amount you bid and the clickthrough rate of your ads. From Adwords FAQ: How do I show my ads above the search results? The highest ranking AdWords ads appear in the top two positions. Rank is determined by an ad's clickthrough rate (CTR) multiplied by the maximum cost-per-click (CPC). The ad rank formula gives advertisers an equal and fair opportunity to attain their desired ad positions and offers greater relevancy for Google users. https://adwords.google.com/select/faq/start.html
Right ads you see its called PPC advertising and the results you see right in front of you are called Search engine results.