Lost Ad Rank

[Richard Overvold]

Lets just say you had awesome ad rank. You started this niche when prices were rock bottom, and you were able to bid very high, build enormous ad rank and were at the top of most great positions. You bought another domain name years later, then changed the base ad to show your new domain. BAM! Lost all your rank. Aside from rebuilding the rank. Is there a way to get that great rank back?

[Spudstr]

i believe not,.. sorry :(

[Richard Overvold]

I didn't expect any yes answers, but it was worth a shot.

[inasisi]

I used to think that the CTR used for calculating the Ad Rank was the CTR for the keyword and not that of the ad. So even if you had changed the URL, you shouldn't have lost out on your Ad Rank for the same keywords. So probably my thinking was wrong then. AWA can you please confirm?

That being said, I don't think it is all that difficult to regain your Rank, you will have to bid up a little at the beginning.

[zeus661]

I read elsewhere that if you edit your ad for any reason that it start your CTR all over which would definitely affect your ranking.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

I used to think that the CTR used for calculating the Ad Rank was the CTR for the keyword and not that of the ad. So even if you had changed the URL, you shouldn't have lost out on your Ad Rank for the same keywords. So probably my thinking was wrong then. AWA can you please confirm?

On this subject, I'll quote from one of my posts, from late January 05:

...I've been able to get some info on this subject - although precise details of the algo, as usual, are not on tap.

The short story is that, yes, the ads positioning algo has in fact shifted from considering only keyword ctr, and now folds-in information about the relevance of the ad itself, including the Display URL.

By way of background, back in June 04, an announcement was made that incremental ads Quality changes would be taking place over time, and the change we're discussing here is a part of that ongoing effort. It's based on the principle that 'ctr' is highly related to the targeting between keyword and ad, as well as to the 'quality' of the ad itself. (Those who organize by targeted ad Group, and run tests of multiple ads in order to squeeze out the very best ctr (or ROI) will know the essential truth of this principle.)

Hope that clears it up, inasisi.

...I don't think it is all that difficult to regain your Rank, you will have to bid up a little at the beginning.

If the new ad (and this includes the new Display URL) is seen by users as being as relevant as the old one, then there is every reason to believe that your rank will recover.

I read elsewhere that if you edit your ad for any reason that it start your CTR all over which would definitely affect your ranking.

It's important to know that when you edit an ad, what you are really doing, in terms of the way the system works, is deleting the old ad and creating a new one. So the new ad will develop it's own CTR history.

AWA

[Richard Overvold]

Okay, thanks for the responses.

Here's the point plain and simple. At what point does it change the chances of someone clicking on your ad by you adding some sort of tracking variable to the end of your URL of your default ad text? NONE! So basically, Google sets people back for doing such a thing. I added unique URL's to each of my keywords, that changed nothing. Now when I change the default URL, I'm basically penalized? My ad reads the same, except for the URL at the very bottom, which was changed from a sub-domain redirect to a regular domain name. Personally, I think Google should take a step back and rethink this area of the adrank. You should lose rank if you change lines 1, 2, 3 of the ad, not the URL. The only time that really matters in my opinion is when a big brand is involved. eBay, Amazon, etc, and that's rare with the new rules anyway.

Bottom line, they need to change the URL part of the Ad Rank. I will rebuild my ad rank easily, but because of something extremely silly for someone to lose adrank over, we've had to take this set back. I'm not saying this simply because it happened to us, but because it's such a minor detail to lose rank over.

AWA, please put in my recommendation. ;)

[dregs33]

Hi

You can see the sytem work clearly with Google Adword API.

There is no update, simply delete or create.

dregs33

[Richard Overvold]

Hi
You can see the sytem work clearly with Google Adword API.

There is no update, simply delete or create.

dregs33

What exactly do you mean?

[AdWordsAdvisor]

You should lose rank if you change lines 1, 2, 3 of the ad, not the URL.

...AWA, please put in my recommendation. ;)

I understand your point, Richard Overvold, and I'll certainly pass your feedback along.

Just to explain the principle, here is a sort of goofy example to illustrate the point of how changing the Display URL could change the CTR (and thus the position) of an ad.

All other things being equal, these ads would likely have different CTRs:

* Former Display URL: www.professionalandfamiliar.com

* Revised URL: www.soundsuntrustworthy.com

As an aside, any change to either of an ad's URL will also mean that the ad will need to be reviewed and approved before appearing on partner sites - even if the change is as minor as a different tracking variable. This is because all the system knows it that the URL is different - and a human will then have to review and make sure the site functions, is appropriate, etc.

AWA

[Richard Overvold]

Thanks for the analogy, and trying to point an example out. But the fact remains that it's such an insignificant change and has no bearing. Or even perhaps, there could be a lower weight added to the VISUAL URL, and no weight on the actual hidden URL. If there was actual statistics on this I would have to say that the title controls 80% of the CTR on Adwords, the 2nd line controls about 10%, the 3rd line controls 5% and the bottom line controls 5% as well. Just use {KeyWord:} in those randomly, and you get my point.

I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but I feel if someone says something, it could spark a change. And besides, who am I? Just a peon who spends only $10k a month with Adwords, so I probably won't get my way. haha :)

[eWhisper]

The display URL makes a difference in CTR. Based on the savviness of your audience, the length of the domain, the use of subdomains or folders, etc, has an impact on how your ad is viewed.

Being the last line of an ad, and almost tossed on at the end by many marketers, I find it's one of the most overlooked places to improve CTR, especially in highly competitive areas.

Let's talk display URL:
[webmasterworld.com...]

[Richard Overvold]

Interesting observation.. I'm going to run some A/B/C/D/etc testing to see what I come up with. It'll be interesting to see if you're theory is right for my industry.

[Delegate]

been running a split test for about 2 months now between

a.) example.com

b.) example.com/keyword

B showing higher CTR than A across the board
I tried entering the keyword dynamicaly and ended up with example.com/blue+Widgets