Have things changed that much? I feel like I can't trust what I see in the report...
I notice it tells me I have an add supposedly running in a number 3 position, I find that it is actually running in the TOP position. (has this been going on all day? Is this some oddity of some geotargeting competitor that I don't see from my location?)
No big deal really, it just stands out starkly from what I remember.
I see this all the time now, and don't ever remember seeing this before.
I've had a share of both
I notice it tells me I have an add supposedly running in a number 3 position, I find that it is actually running in the TOP position.
Results vary widely from one computer to another, one IP address to another and one geographic location to another. Your view also does not factor in local ads that can trump your ad in certain markets. I would trust Google's numbers - they are not estimates, but actuals - and reduce your reliability in what you see on your local machine, as counterintuitive as that sounds...
Get used to it, sometimes google's estimates are on the dot when it comes to estimating your positioning and sometimes they're completely off.
Within the Traffic Estimator - I totally agree, but in the Reporting - position is not estimated.
poster_boy is quite correct, in my opinion - and the numbers that you see in your account are indeed a factual accounting of what actually occurred - and are not an estimate.
[...] I notice it tells me I have an add supposedly running in a number 3 position, I find that it is actually running in the TOP position. [...]
Rather than searching for your ad on Google.com, I'd recommend that you use the Ad Preview tool instead.
More information about this tool may be found on this page from the AdWords Help Center:
* What is the Ad Preview tool?
[adwords.google.com...]
Quoting from that page, with a number of links removed:
The Ad Preview tool enables you to view ads and search results as they would appear on a regular Google search results page, without accruing extra impressions for your ad. We suggest you view your ad through the Ad Preview tool, since searching for your ad multiple times could change the position in which you see your ad on the actual Google search result page.To perform a test search with the Ad Preview tool, follow these steps:
1. Go to [google.com...]
2. Enter a keyword.
3. Enter a Google domain, such as google.com or google.fr.
4. Select a display language.
5. Select a location. You can choose a location from the drop-down menus, or you can enter specific latitude and longitude coordinates.
6. Click Preview ads.The search results and ads appear as they would on Google, except the links on the preview page aren't clickable.
This feature is also available for mobile ads.
AWA
In theory, should that get reflected as average position 1.5?
Sure, but how that correlates to stats coming from partner engines? For example, if our ad is on #2 on Google, and the one that is on #1 has opted for Google only, is not showing on partner’s sites, we assume our ad will be #1 over there.In theory, should that get reflected as average position 1.5?
smallcompany, you have described one possible scenario, of many - and in this scenario, yes, the average position would be the mathmatical average of 1 and 2 - which is indeed 1.5.
However, please be aware that position can literally change from one search to the next (meaning, potentially, many times per second) based on many factors which are constantly changing.
Bottom line, each time your ad appears - wherever that might be - it has an actual position on the page. If you take each actual position, add up those position numbers, then divide that number by the number of impressions - that is your average position.
AWA
