It just can't be inaccurate - it is not any kind of estimate, but an average of real positions.
If this is inaccurate then you can also say, that the impressions are inaccurate, the clicks are inaccurate atc.
So I think, that johannes can trust the average position number the same way as he trusts the nubers of clicks.
Although AdWords does provide an 'Avg. Pos' column in its interface, I have found this to be highly inaccurate when it comes to actual positioning of an ad.
It just can't be inaccurate - it is not any kind of estimate, but an average of real positions.
You are quite correct, dave741. This is just math at work - and the Avg. Pos is the literal average of position for all the impressions that one has had for the date range you are set to.
ScrumW9, here are a couple of things to keep in mind when looking at the Avg. Pos stats.
* Your position is not fixed, and literally can vary from impression to impression, dependent on the competitive landscape. In reality, it can change substantially from one moment to the next.
* If you are showing in more than one country, you may be seeing the average of very different positions.
Here is one of my infamous hypothetical examples:
Lets say for the date range of 'yesterday' you have three impressions on the keyword 'steam powered ice hockey game'. Lets also say that you target the entire world. Below are some details on those three impressions.
* One impression came from Canada, where the keyword is very competitive, and your ad showed as #29
* Another impression came from Jamaica, where the keyword is not competitive, and your ad showed as #1
* The third impression came from the United States, where competition is moderate. Your ad showed as #3
So your average position is #11 (since 33/3 = 11) and this is what the stats will tell you.
However, you are in the US, and when you look, you see your ad in position #3, so it sure looks as if the stats are inaccurate.
Hope that'll help to clarify things.
AWA
I hope Google provides an interface to see the ads showing up for a particular search term. This way the thousands of Adwords users do not screw up the impression counts. If we do have this feature, it should also tell us whether the ad comes up on the top or on the right and also have geo targetting facility to see the ads for different locations. My wish list would also including this feature as part of the new API so that we can automate much of the monitoring.
inasisi, I'll certainly pass this feedback along. However, it is really a non-trivial problem due to the factors explained in the post above, among others.
* Position is likely to be different from one slit second to the next, for each variation of each keyword. So if you have 10k impressions per day on each of 10 keywords, you could be talking about up to 100k different positions - and a vast number of variations too, if your kws are broad or phrase matched.
* Position will almost certainly be different from targeted area to targeted area.
That said, it's still an interesting idea - and I'll happily forward it. ;)
AWA
Your position is not fixed, and literally can vary from impression to impression, dependent on the competitive landscape. In reality, it can change substantially from one moment to the next.
I'll certainly pass this feedback along. However, it is really a non-trivial problem due to the factors explained in the post above, among others
AWA,
I do understand that the position can vary very dynamically. But the fact still remains that I end up searching on Google for my keywords many times a day.( I find the Google Browser Button available at [google.com...] to make my job real easy in doing this search. I highlight my search word on the Adwords interface and just have to hit this button)
There are many reasons why I do the search on Google. I might find a CTR shooting through the roof for a particular keyword and upon searching it up on Google, I would find that it is because the ad has moved to the premium position. Another reason could be because, I would like to see the competition for my keywords. Many a time I see that the ads for Widget are all for Red Widgets. If I change my ad to sell Yellow Widgets, I see a great increase in my CTR. Some times I have seen my competitors make false claims and I have pointed this out to Adwords Support who got them to change the creatives.
So for all these reasons it becomes critical that we are allowed to see the search results for our keywords and all the better if we could do it without affecting the impression count.
And thanks once again for broadcasting our feedback within G and for providing G's feedback to us.
That said, it's still an interesting idea - and I'll happily forward it. ;)
I constantly query Google to see my ads.
* when I change my Max CPC I want to see my ad's new position right away.
* I look at my competitors ads.
* I check if my ad is reviewed by looking at a google partner site.
* I want to see if an ad is in premium position
I'm not interested in the information in the ads. I don't click anything, just adding impressions. I guess every Adwords user is doing the same. It skews the CTR for all Adwords users especially for low volume keywords.
I'll certainly pass this feedback along. However, it is really a non-trivial problem due to the factors explained in the post above, among others.
Suggestion: Add a parameter to the Google query url:
www.google.com/search?q=widgets&adwords_impressions=no
Makes it much easier to view your ad, compare it to competitors, and adjust bids.
