Websites that have replaced them are mostly irrelevant listings from large corporate companies and over-bidded newbies.
Is this a glitch in the system, as I don't see how this would increase Googles' revenue if they have a much lower click through rate or if surfers eventually block them out
of their vision like they do with banners?
[edited by: UnitedRigo at 1:08 am (utc) on May 19, 2007]
On the 16th of May, I noticed that most of the websites that were in the first page rankings in Google USA, had been dropped to second and third page positions.
Glad to see I'm not alone in noticing this... starting on the 16th, for one of our most popular terms (our historic rank: 1 - 3) - the entire first page is now filled with advertisers who all fail to include this rather popular word in their ads... and those typically ranked on page 1 (including us) have all dropped to page 2 or 3 - with seemingly more relevant ads...
I have not noticed any fewer daily clicks or CTR's on my account so I do not belive this to be a widespread issue. I believe only a few peole are seeing these "odd" results and therefore most AdWords advertisers may be unaware this is happening.
Another strange thing is that on the pages where I see the "odd" results I can click on the "More Sponsored Links >" link and on the "Sponsored Links" page I can see my ads in the position that AdWords indicates that they should be.
Maybe AdWords is running tests on certain servers to determine how effective certain ads are? I think this is either a glitch or some deliberate testing being conducted by AdWords. I did speak with my AdWords account rep. and he did not have anything to contribute. He basically said that ads fluctuate throughout the day. However, that does not explain the big differences I am seeing in results and the fact that it only seems to affect the results in certan CPU's.
[edited by: UnitedRigo at 8:12 am (utc) on May 20, 2007]
I deleted cookies as tootalldave suggested and the "odd" results stopped appearing and then I started getting the "true" results. Weird indeed. There is definetely something in that cookie that was trigering the "oddball" results. I am at a loss.
I was thinking about this topic today, here are my thoughts:
There are a few reasons why your ads’ placement will vary from query to query; and eventually disappear completely. First, keep in mind that the ad position that is listed within your AdWords campaign is an aggregate average. Your average ad position may be 3.2 but this means that your ad placement could be fluctuating between 1 and 5.2 and this discrepancy could surface from one search query to the next (an ad’s performance usually doesn’t oscillate this much, but in theory it could). However, if you’re average rank is around 3 but you are finding your ads dropping to the second page and disappearing, that could be an entirely different can of worms.
The number of search queries conducted by an individual will influence their paid search results; this is what you could be witnessing. Suppose you check your ad rank for your most trafficked keyword; upon your initial search query your ad should be listed in the approximate position of your average ad rank displayed within AdWords. However, if you search on that keyword a number of times you’ll notice that yours and your competitors’ ad rankings begin to shift. This fluctuation is not happening in the entire Google system, but solely within your browser.
If you are searching on the same term (or related terms) frequently, without clicking on any of the paid placements, Google will shift its ad serving algorithm, and your ad (and your competitors ads) will begin to display in varying ranks, soon dropping to the second page and eventually disappearing completely. Now, with the relevant ads being dropped due to repeated queries of the same keyword, ads with lower quality scores, which are usually have poor placement, may begin to creep up into the results.
Considering when you delete your browser cookies your ad results are set back to normal, then I think this is a measure by Google to combat impression fraud. I talked with my Google rep and she neither confirmed nor denied my suspicion - but I’m sticking to it!
In summary, your ad rank will naturally move around between queries, while maintaining an aggregate average of where you want your ad to appear. However, repeated search queries within a single browser will eventually alter the paid search results - but only in that specific browser. Question: I wonder how many times you need to search on a term in order for Google to begin altering your search results? I’m not certain.
I'm not seeing a statistically significant drop in either CTR or total clicks in my account so I'm going to figure that it's just because I'm signed in and never click on ads so I'm being served rAndomWords until I decide to click on something.
Ad diagnostic tool shows things as expected, but ppc ads on serps are very different.
I have this happening in just one account i manage, others are fine as far as i can tell.
My long term campaign position of 5-10th, became 40th-60th over the weekend
Deleting cookies does nothing for me, but switching from IE7 to Opera and position returns to normal 5-10.
I would ring support - but I don't think I've got the patience today.
An easy way to work around it is to look at the ads using google.com/sponsoredlinks?q=keyword. Then it shows me the same as if I had cleared my cookies. (But I'm wondering if these listings will also be affected in the same way after I've done lots of views.)
For the last few days, I've been seeing this issue with the Ad Preview tool as well... It was fine before that.
A sharp eye you have there, Rehan. I caught up with some of my email a short time ago, and find that you are correct. It is being looked into as a priority.
Thanks for the heads-up.
AWA
BTW, is it a relatively new feature that changes what ads are shown based on the search history? Is it similar in any way to the personalization that's being done for organic results?
