How is ad rank determined?

[venrooy]

This has probably been asked many times, but when Google determines ad rank, I know that they use CTR.

Do they use a running CTR, or do they use a fresh CTR each day to determine ad rank?

I'm trying to figure out if I can put up a high bid in the morning to get a high click thru - and then scale back throught the day, keeping my high Click thru and ad rank.

[Kings on steeds]

[adwords.google.com ]

[venrooy]

Thanks for that - but it doesn't answer my question. I may not have asked it right...

I'm trying to figure out how CTR figures into the quality score.

Is CTR figured every day fresh - or do they use an average of the running total of your CTR for the quality score?

[Kings on steeds]

Soz about that, i dont know about this. all i know is that it plays a BIG part of the quality score

[digicam]

Hi, CTR would take longer than a day to establish itself, like a 7 day moving average for example, so changing it every day would not be a smart idea.

cheers

[buckworks]

If you have a good ad that gets a strong CTR for the position it's in, the algo will reward you for that even if you're a cheapskate bidder. It takes a few days, but the algo will give your ad the rank it "deserves" whether you move up from below or bid artificially high then scale back.

It's likely more productive to work on better targeting than trying to play games with your bid prices.

[venrooy]

I know that it's good to work on targeting - that's true. But your CTR is also affected greatly by your ad's position. You can have a great ad, but if it's at the bottom of the page, or not even on the first page at all, it doesn't matter how good it is, the CTR is going to be lower than it could be.

A low CTR can be hard to overcome - That's why I'm wondering if the CTR and Quality Scores are figured on a daily basis - or if it's a continually running average. Because if you have your adwords set to only show you one day of stats - then you're also looking at only 1 days worth of CTR - and that could be much different than your total average CTR.

[venrooy]

I just re-read what you wrote Buckworks - and it makes sense. They would add your position to the algo to determine if your CTR is good. I hope that's the way it works.

[CernyM]

Does anyone know for certain whether there is a single QS per keyword or whether Google calculates and maintains multiple?