Average Position dropped dramatically

Help me understand what could have happened

[Kattman]

So my adwords campaign is crusing along. For example:

I have a campaign that yesterday got:

490 impressions
11 clicks
CTR of 2.2%
average position of 1.9

Today the same campaign (no changes to my account at all) shows:

155 impressions
0 clicks
CTR of 0.0%
average position of 11.9

What the hell could have happened?

Please note: My bid amounts for these keywords are $3 but because of the click through I generally pay about $1.75 or less.

What could have caused this sudden shift?

Thanks,

Kattman

[irishaff]

possibly a competitor has increased their max bid.

[Kattman]

I realize that a competitor increasing their CPC could affect where my position is, but an drop that drastic (from about 2 to about 11) means that about 9 of my competitors would have had to increase their CPCs all on the same day.

That doesn't seem likely.

I did search on my keywords and have found two new competitors in my keywords, but that still doesn't account for the 9 spot drop.

I'm going to let it play out for a couple of days to see what happens.

A follow up question - when you start a new Ad Group and you have no CTR yet, what does Google use as a default for your CTR?

[cagey1]

Perhaps Google added a "Broad Match" to your keyword. This would allow several ads to suddenly show up under your keyword without the "new" advertisers even being aware of it.

[keywordguru]

I would say that all of the above suggested are highly possible. I would like to add to the mix of comments that sometimes google makes these shifts based on your daily and monthly budget.

I have seen some of the most drastic changes in my campaigns from day to day because they ultimately estimate your positioning based on your Click through rate, along with your bid price, daily budget, estimated monthly, and a bunch of other obvious things.

So based on your budget, see if that may be the cause.
KG

[farside847]

Tiz the season for people to increase bids!

[AdWordsAdvisor]

I have seen some of the most drastic changes in my campaigns from day to day because they ultimately estimate your positioning based on your Click through rate, along with your bid price, daily budget, estimated monthly, and a bunch of other obvious things.

Just to make a distinction between positioning estimates and actual positioning: the algo for actual positioning (on the right hand side of the page) is really straightforward:

CTR (for keyword) x Max CPC (for keyword) = Rank Number. And the higher the rank number, the higher the ads position for that keyword.

The algo for position for the top two spots above the search results adds an additional performance standard focusing on CTR as a measure of relevance. Also actual CPC is more important than Max CPC for top placement.

Tiz the season for people to increase bids!

Well said, farside847!

AWA