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Premium listings in 24 hours

on a new account

         

Shak

7:30 am on Nov 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



new account,
30 "phrase matches"
max CPC of 0.10
CTR of 6.7%
2 creatives (1 generic, and 1 dynamic)

already showing on Premium slot :)

and yes there are other advertisers.

Shak

roitracker

5:37 pm on Nov 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



What's the phrase? ;)

Shak

7:28 pm on Nov 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



What's the phrase? ;)

:) mad maybe, not crazy!

CTR is up to 15.5% at present so far today.

Shak

your_store

12:43 am on Nov 15, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



What is the signifigance of it being on a new account? Is it harder to reach the top w/o a proven track record? It's been a while since I've had a new account.

I know it's been discussed before, but at what CTR do you usually see the jump to Premium. Recently, I haven't had any ads below about 9% make the jump.

skibum

8:47 pm on Nov 15, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Yea, just started seeing this on $.05 keywords too. Sweet!

ThomasAJ

10:14 pm on Nov 15, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hey Shak
Never mind the phrase, what's the creative :)

cayenne

6:31 pm on Nov 20, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Okay, so i've been complaining for weeks about this premium position thing. We still have KWs with 5%+ CTRs not getting sent north, so this morning I did a routine check on our ads and see that one of our KWs with a 1.2% CTR is in PREMIUM POSITION.

I just don't get it! We bid the same amount of money on all of our KWs. A 1.2% gets promoted and my 6.2% CTR KW is still off to the right (but still on top).

-c

adamas

12:50 pm on Nov 21, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Has anybody noticed whether or not there's a minimum spend or impressions aspect to this? I have some CTRs well into double figures but not going North but they don't get many impressions.

cayenne

1:24 pm on Nov 21, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



adamas,

The KW that I keep b'chin about has 700 impressions per day.

We are the only bidder on the KW & has a 5% CTR.

maybe it is min spend? THATS IT!

adamas you are a genius!

-c

RedWolf

3:54 pm on Nov 21, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I don't think that it has anything to do with spends or CPC because I have several ads that make it North, but I am a very little person to Google ($150 to $200 a month). I have keywords that make it North that are fairly niche words at only 5 cents that only get 5 to 10 clicks a day. My highest CPC is 15 cents I think currently and averages only 11 to 12 cents. Most do have a CTR of greater than 5%, but not all of my greater than 5% words go north when they are the first or even only ad displayed.

cayenne

4:22 pm on Nov 21, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



This is sooooo frustrating. I guess the algo for going north is Eye of Newt, Skin of Toad & Bile of Pufferfish!

-c

JonBoy

4:26 pm on Nov 21, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I did some exploring of this a while ago, varying my bids etc. and seeing when they went north.

If I remember right (and you can search in the WebmasterWorld archives for the thread, I posted what I found there) your max bid is a critical factor. It looked like a combination of CTR and max bid.

cayenne

5:14 pm on Nov 21, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



JonBoy they changed the old ago late last month.

-c

cayenne

12:23 pm on Nov 25, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Has anyone figured out the secret formula for getting sent north yet?

-c

ptietze

3:04 pm on Nov 25, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Have one ad that made the premium spot with a CTR of 13.5%, max spend $10/day, $0.05 per click, $13.50 spend this month. Only advertiser for term.

Second ad did not make premium with CTR of 5.6% spend this month $14.80, all else the same.

cayenne

3:19 pm on Nov 25, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Thanks ptietze.

Looks like the magic CTR is around 6%.

-c

RedWolf

4:43 pm on Nov 25, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Another factor that may account for some of the variation in the CTR requirements that seems to be occuring is that they may be using the Google-only CTR like is used for disabling keywords. Since this Google CTR isn't shown and can vary widely as we have seen in other discussions about keywords with an overall CTR of 5% or more, it could make it dificult to really know how your keyword is getting promoted.

bakedjake

6:23 pm on Nov 25, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



I've got an ad (first position on the side) at 23.0% CTR, and I'm trying to chase the current premiums out (2 major brand name sites). Less than 15 impressions daily.

I've got to wonder what sort of CTR they're pulling in. :)

Weird: I have a different ad at 17.6% CTR. No other advertisers. Paying $0.19 CPC.

NOT in Premium position. I wonder if impressions have something to do with premium, too? This is a very low volume term - less than 20 impressions per day.

AdWordsAdvisor

7:25 pm on Nov 25, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I've got an ad (first position on the side) at 23.0% CTR, and I'm trying to chase the current premiums out (2 major brand name sites)...

bakedjake, do be aware of the very real possibility that those two advertiser may actually be Premium Sponsorship advertisers still under contract to appear there.

If this is the case, you won't be able to chase them out regardless of what you do - until after the first of the year at any rate. ;)

AWA

bakedjake

7:32 pm on Nov 25, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Oh, I'm very much aware of that AWA, and I can confirm that's not the case for at least one of them. The other may very well be a premium contract. ;-)

Any comments about minimum impressions? Do they factor into ads being promoted to the banner spots?

AdWordsAdvisor

12:37 am on Nov 26, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



bakedjake, the exact algo is not known even to those on the AdWords team. That way, we can't spill the beans, even under extreme stress. ;)

All of which is a long way of saying that I don't know the answer.

So, I'll see what I can find out, and post again later if I learn anything.

I'm guessing tomorrow, soonest.

AWA

cayenne

2:17 pm on Dec 2, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



This is still a big mystery.

I understand why G does not want to reveal the algo - fair enough, but premium listings are being awarded in a very inconsistent fashion.

We have a KW in premium position with a 1.5% ctr and a .30 bid. We have others where we have absolutely no competition with 5% ctr (.30 bid), and the ads are not in premium position.

AWA- Is G still tinkering with this? If so, when will consistent standards be applied across the board?

Thanks

-c

Tropical Island

4:45 pm on Dec 2, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



We have one term with a 5˘ bid and around 6% CTR which spends most of it's time in the premium posistion.

This is kinda nice since we were number 2 in the regular serps before Florida. Maybe Google is feeling sorry for us - NOT!

AdWordsAdvisor

5:21 pm on Dec 2, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Hi cayenne, good timing on your question, as I've just heard from engineering with a few more (and I think, new) details.

AWA- Is G still tinkering with this? If so, when will consistent standards be applied across the board?

* As previously mentioned, the exact algo may well continue to be tuned. My guess, (and this is a guess), is that the tuning may continue until the end of the year, at which point the Premium Sponsorship CPM program will have been entirely phased out.

* Consistent standards are being applied now. Bottom line: there is an algorithm in place, and ads either 'qualify', or they don't. The same algorithm does apply across the board (and as we all know, you can't fool math!).

* You're correct that the exact algo is not published. However, the algorithm now evaluates an ad's CTR and the actual CPC paid (rather than the Max. CPC) when determining which AdWords ads to promote to the top spots. I seem to recall this point being surmised in a previous post.

* The 'tinkering' you mention is focusing on rewarding relevancy, and CTR is now weighted more heavily than actual CPC.

Any comments about minimum impressions? Do they factor into ads being promoted to the banner spots?

My best information is that the number of impressions does not figure into the algorithm.

Hope this helps 'crack the code' a bit!

AWA

[edited by: AdWordsAdvisor at 7:07 pm (utc) on Dec. 2, 2003]

bakedjake

5:30 pm on Dec 2, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Thanks AWA, you answered my questions.

cayenne

5:31 pm on Dec 2, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



AWA Thanks! That was fast!

That clears up much of the mystery.

I only wish that in cases where one has no competition for a KW, then actual CPC paid is not factored in for obvious reasons.

-c

AdWordsAdvisor

7:31 pm on Dec 2, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



cayenne - I'll pass your comment on to the 'Team in Charge of AdWords Going North Algorithm Tweaking'.

;)

One quick comment though. There aren't that many keywords for which there are only one advertiser. Most often, there will be a queue of advertisers behind the scenes, waiting for their ad to show when their daily budget allows.

AWA

eWhisper

7:37 pm on Dec 2, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I think the math is right, but this is an interesting scenario, and why I think if you hit a rank # of x you should be able to be in premium position.

Competitor A has a 6% CTR, max bid of 0.35, rank = 2.1
Competitor B has a 10% CTR, max bid on 0.20, rank = 2
Competitor C has a 30% CTR, max bid of 0.10, rank = 3

Competitor A must bid near the max bid of 0.35/click to maintain position because of competitor B. He also has the nececcary CTR and actual bid to be in the premium position.

However, competitor C is actually in the number one position because of an outstanding CTR rate. But competitor C does not have the actual CPC to hold the premium position.

Therefore the number one position is held by someone without the qualifications to be in the premium position, but the person in position two has the qualifications to be premium, but because number one isn't, how can they be bumped to the premium position.

Therefore, in this instance, does no one get the premium position?

Also, since you can't set an actual CPC (at least that I'm aware of), if you have a high enough CTR that drives your CPC way down, it seems unfair that you can't get the premium position because you're so much more successful than your competitors, that they aren't doing enough to push your bid price into the actual CPC range which makes your qualify for the premium position.

eWhisper

7:44 pm on Dec 2, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Ok, one more thought on this one, then I'll let someone else respond :).

We've had an ad for a while, and finally I think I understand it's behavior after AWA's post.

It starts in the premium position, gets a high CTR rate, CPC goes down.

Time passes and it's in the top side position, and there is no premium slot. CTR goes down slightly, CPC goes up.

More time passes it's back in the premium position.

It must be flirting right around the actual CPC required to be a premium ad, and is making this roller coaster effect with the actual CPC formula.

We've been number one with this ad since we started with AdWords, the CPC has only varied by maybe a either way during it's entire run, and the number of times it's moved around the page has always been a question the client has asked and I've looked at them with a blank stare having no idea - finally at least I know..

cayenne

7:56 pm on Dec 2, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



eWhisper,

We have the exact same problem.

Why actual CPC paid is even a factor in the algo does not make sense.

Why not just make it easy? - The #1 and #2 ads get promoted assuming they meet a min ctr threshold – say 2%.

Said another way, shouldn’t the going north algo just be an extension of the ranking algo?

-c

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