When you read Googles explanation for ranking Ads there are two factors: CPC and Quality. CPC is straighforward, but no matter how many times I read Qualityit sound like gobbledygook. But playing with my ads and watching the rankings change, it doesn't look all that mysterious. Although there may be multiple factors in Quality, the key is CTR. For the most part Gooble looks like they're doing what any good revenue maximizer would do. They place you in position where the next ad above you generates more revenue per day (CCP * CTR), and the next ad below you generates less. I suspect when you first submit they do a series of sample tests very quickly to find your CTR at different ranking positions to determine a ball park position (that's one of the key things they're doing when nothing happens for hours after you submit an ad or change a variable). Once they know where you belong within three or four positions you get fully posted and then they make modest adjustments up and down from there over the next couple of days. Anyone see it any differently? This theory has answered a lot of questions for me about why the CPC bid, the daily budget or the use of keywords in my ads does or doesn't do more to effect the ultimate rank. In passing, what works for me when posting a new ad is to bid high with a large budget and then watch it like a hawk for the first 8 hours and adjust downward if need be. It seems to speed the process up and avoid Google missestimating whether you might belong on the first page. It seems like it can take a very very long time to correct if they miss your CTR estimate and put on you the second page, or worse. diogenes