Tutorial for (why 'x' sorted to top) .

[lasitter]

This is obviously a newbie question, so I'm certain that the best answer will be a link to the FAQ where it's been asked and answered before, so my apologies in advance ...

When you type words in a Google search box, how do you tell / what are the tools you use to show how the results managed to sort the way they did?

What tools can tell you how a different combination of ads/keywords/landing page would have changed things?

A tutorial on bidding for keywords would also be helpful, as right now I have no idea how much one would bid in order to meaningfully increase chances of hitting the first search results page.

I'm so new to this that a link to the "compendium of FAQs" for this site would be helpful ...

[AdWordsAdvisor]

It's been a long day, lasitter, and one in which I have perhaps not had enough coffee. ;)

That said, I am not sure I am really following your questions. In fact I'm not 100% sure if you are talking about the unpaid search results (on the left of a search results page) rather than AdWords ads. Given the subject of this forum, though, I'll assume it is just AdWords that your're curious about.

Given that AdWords really amounts to a real time auction between you and all other 'eligible' advertisers who are using the same keywords, run afresh for each and every query, I wonder if you might be leaning towards 'over-thinking' it a bit. The results can (and do) literally change from one search to the next based on the competitive landscape in play in the moment of the search.

It might be best to just jump in and start seeing what happens in real world circumstances - and then learning from what you see and making adjustments as you go. I'd say it is an extremely rare advertiser who sets things up just right from the get-go. It's more a matter of doing, learning, experimenting and managing from day to day.

Just to give you a bit of theory as a jumping off point, here is a page from the AdWords Help Center which is good place to start understanding the nuances of ad ranking. Once there, be sure to click on the 'plus boxes' to open them.

How are ads ranked?
[adwords.google.com...]

AWA