Why am I in the ex-premium spot ?

[spaidermen]

I used to be in the 4th-5th spot but suddenly many competitor ads disappeared altogheter and so now I am up there in the green band.
How come? I have 1,7 ctr

[cayenne]

Apparently you have tripped the ever illusive 3rd "performance bar".

I am really beginning to think that CTR has little to do with premium placement.

-c

[RedWolf]

It could be a bunch of your competitors have had the same experiences as I have and are dropping out. Since the Holidays, my conversions have almost dried up. CTR has stayed study and CPC is going down, but visitor level is only down slightly and is barely converting at all. I just trimed back my budgets and paused some of the worst performing adgroups. Maybe things will pick up in a month or so, and I'll turn them loose again.

[spaidermen]

Indeed competitors were breaking adword rules, there were multiple ads with different domains but they all were mirror sites. The appalling thing is that Google has let them to do so for a month or longer. Apart from that, if CPC as little to do with being up there, what about the maximum bid? Does it mean I am presently bidding highest?

[cayenne]

We have been trying to figure out what the metrics for getting promoted to premium position are for some time now.

One theory is: combination of CTR and actual CPC paid, plus a 3rd "performance bar".

The first metric (CTR) would suggest that relevance is important, however low CTR ads seem to be getting promoted.

All of this has led me to believe that G is not finished tinkering with the algo yet - I hope this is the case.

-c