Is this an Adword Bonus?

[PaulPA]

I recently started a highly targeted Adword campaign for a university program. For the first week or so the ad appeared regularly as the first item on the right side text box ads for a couple of keywords. There was one ad in the larger sponsored area above the page results, which I figured required a different payment plan. Today I discovered that my Adword is also appearing in the larger keyword area as the second listed item. Can someone tell me when this started? I always thought this larger area was a different ad purchase than the right side Adwords.

[edit_g]

That area used to be sold by Google on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis.

It is now part of the regular AdWords program. How ads end up there is a combination of CPC and CTR. So if you didn't buy your way in there that means that people really 'like' your ad, and that it is well written, causing a high click through rate. The other upshot of this is that you are quite probably paying less per click than some of the people below you if you moved up in the rankings through CTR. Good work! :)

[PaulPA]

Thanks. Is there someplace in Google's ad program that discusses how this larger area works? I was not able to find information.

[eWhisper]

This thread:
[webmasterworld.com...] message 24 has some AWA info about premium positions.

[PaulPA]

Great! Thanks.