This is my first post, so I apologise if this has been covered before. (tried the search tool, but no luck).
This was mentioned briefly in another post but I would be grateful if someone could clarify it for me...
I understand that Google ranks ads based on Rank Number (CTR x Max CPC), but is it really that simple?
An example...
Lets pretend I'm the market leader of the largely unknown, but extremely profitible "niche" market of combine harvester stereo systems.
Imagine that someone types "combine harvester stereo systems" (without the quotes) into Google.
If I'm bidding $0.50 per click on [combine harvester stereo systems] (exact match) with a CTR of 1.0%, my ad would have a rank number (RN) of 0.5
If someone else was bidding $1.00 per click on "combine harvester stereo systems" (phrase match) with a CTR of 1.0%, their ad would have a RN of 1.0
And then if another person is bidding $2.00 per click on the expanded broad match phrase... combine harvester stereo systems (no quotes)... with a CTR of 1.0%, their ad would have a RN of 2.0
Now, according to the ranking formula, these ads should be ranked as follows:
Position #1 combine harvester stereo systems (RN 2.0)
Position #2 "combine harvester stereo systems" (RN 1.0)
Position #3 [combine harvester stereo systems] (RN 0.5)
But, back in "the old days" before expanded broad matching existed, I'm sure that the ranking was based initially on which ad had the best keyword matching, and only then on RN.
So, the ads would have actually been ranked as follows:
Position #1 [combine harvester stereo systems] (RN 0.5)
Position #2 "combine harvester stereo systems" (RN 1.0)
Position #3 combine harvester stereo systems (RN 2.0)
Is this no longer the case?
Was it ever the case, or am I delusional?
What about if some big manufacturer selling combine harvesters for $1 million each can afford to bid $100 per click on... combine harvester (no quotes)... with a CTR of only 0.5% - they would have a RN of 50 and would trump the lot of us!
If so, then wouldn't that mean that someone looking to buy a combine harvester stereo system would be inundated with ads from people selling combine harvesters?
I thought Google's aim was to provide relevant & targeted ads for its searchers?
Surely the most relevant and targeted keyword matching should rank higher than someone with larger profit margins and bidding power?
Can anyone shed any light on this?
Thanks,
Ben
Google doesn't sell out to the highest bidder, like you said "Google's aim was to provide relevant & targeted ads for its searchers?" and as like their search results they try the best to do that.
You have to understand it likes the search results, the basic formula is there and known but the actual "secret sauce" is much more complicated then simply (CTR x Max CPC).
If you see a problem in that there is a search term that is clearing pulling irrelevant information I'm sure the people at Adwords would love to know this also.
If this is a current issue you can contact Adwords directly from the Adwords site or you can send an email to:
adwords-support@google.com
