drop in impressions - anyone noticed?

[Wired Suzanne]

We noticed a sharp drop in impressions across the board. Pretty much for all our destinations advertised (we are a travel company). Anyone noticed the same or knows of changes the way google displays ads (ranks are the same - naturally CTR is downs as well, so are cost).

Thanks

[venrooy]

When did you start noticing this?

[tedster]

I saw an anomaly like this just yesteday in a different market. Total campaign costs for the day are less than half of the budget -- and up to now we always maxed out.

[dmorison]

Yes - impressions for 15th December 40% down on usual.

[toddb]

yes we too saw a drop off in the last few days not that dramatic but significantly lower.

[heyday]

Yes Since Dec 15th we are down by 50% as well. This is KILLING US.

heyday

[Wired Suzanne]

very odd this.

impressions are down by about 60%. all ads show, same position, checked on google US/UK/DE, yet huge drop in impressions and clicks. CTR is the same though.

our stats also show a substantial drop in visitors.

anyone.....?

[briggidere]

i do think it depends on your market. ecommerce sites will do well this time of year whereas a financial services site would more than likely get less traffic as people aren't doing those types of things at this time of year. after xmas it should pick up again for the financial service sector.
if there are less searches you'd get less impressions.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

I am guessing that most of the folks posting in this thread already know this, but, just in case, I'd like to mention what is probably the single most common reason for impressions to drop "all of a sudden" - which is that the ads have been edited.

If ads are edited, even in seemingly minor ways, they enter the AdWords system as new ads - and will need to be reviewed/approved before appearing on the search/content networks.

So impressions can drop substantially - since this amounts to the difference between showing in one place, and potentially showing on hundreds of sites.

AWA

[dmorison]

AWA - I guess you're talking about edits by us, not by Google? No edits made in my case; but anyways, all back to normal now :)

[webpublisher]

Are you sure you haven't just been hit by the quality filter. I recommend doing a search in Adwords for all "inactive for search" keywords, this may explain a few things.

[webpublisher]

Are you sure you haven't just been hit by the quality filter. I recommend doing a search in Adwords for all "inactive for search" keywords, this may explain a few things.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

AWA - I guess you're talking about edits by us, not by Google? No edits made in my case; but anyways, all back to normal now :)

Right - and it's worth mentioning that no one from Google can or will edit your ads without your written permission/instructions.

I'm very glad things are back to normal for you dmorison!

AWA

PS to all: I should probably mention in advance that I'll be out of the office from 12/23/05 thru 1/03/06, and not able to post. AWA2 is also away at the same time, so there'll be a fair stretch with no posts from the AdWords corner of the universe. My longest time-off ever! It'll be a little strange...

[tedster]

Looks like it was a one day bump for the campaign I was talking about -- all is now well.

[heyday]

AWA said...
****
I am guessing that most of the folks posting in this thread already know this, but, just in case, I'd like to mention what is probably the single most common reason for impressions to drop "all of a sudden" - which is that the ads have been edited.
If ads are edited, even in seemingly minor ways, they enter the AdWords system as new ads - and will need to be reviewed/approved before appearing on the search/content networks.

So impressions can drop substantially - since this amounts to the difference between showing in one place, and potentially showing on hundreds of sites.
*****

So what would you recommend if we have NOT changed anything...... For two years I've built this up and in a matter of a few weeks it is the worst it has ever been....

heyday

[AdWordsAdvisor]

So what would you recommend if we have NOT changed anything...... For two years I've built this up and in a matter of a few weeks it is the worst it has ever been....

Because the possible reasons for a decrease in clicks are so many and varied, I'd actually suggest contacting AdWords support, and having them take a detailed look.

Answering this sort of question really requires access to the account - otherwise it's pure guess work.

AWA

[AdWordsAdvisor]

Sorry, I meant a decrease in impressions, of course.

Wow, that edit button goes away fast!

AWA

[Eljaybe]

Speaking of impressions, how do you estimate total campaign impressions for Adwords before you actually run a campaign? When you set up your account and create a list of search terms you only see clicks/day and cost/day... but not estimated impressions/day.
So if I am estimating a CTR for a campaign, how do I figure impressions? I can't use the forecasted clicks because the number of impressions per search term in reality should be much higher than estimated clickthroughs.
Any suggestions?

[archie goodwin]

FYI, we have a campaign whose impressions dropped on the 8th of this month by nearly 50%. Our CTR improved dramatically, but our ROI is down. Overall we lost about 20% of our vol. Absolutely no edits were made anywhere near that time.

According to our account rep the change in volume was due to "enhancements of ad quality" (whatever that means). I'm thinking perhaps it's due to the landing page being factored in the algo, but who knows. The cryptic answers aren't terribly helpful from support IMO.

[Wired Suzanne]

thanks AWA

yes i am aware of the consequences of ad changes. but we did not chance anything.

another thing i learned today, and that maybe related, is that a new advertiser (or changed ads) with top bids, will automatically gain a top rank, thus push all other paid ads to the right. so only the new/changed ad will show on the top rank, until the google admin. approved the ad.

once this is done all is back to normal. well new advertiser now pays a fortune as he - by sheer force - outbids all. but once approved other ads move back to the top rank now at position 2-3.

apparently the algorithm works as such. odd though, to think that ad showings are pending on human approval. after all this can seriously hurt revenues. to clarify.. it hurts the advertisers revenues, not googles:-)

anyone know more?

[heyday]

Yes I'm in the same boat. I rarely change anything.... Have gone from 1,200,000 impressions a day to now 250,000

This has been absolutly the WORST update from Google.... and yes I've talked to my rep SEVERAL times.... get the same response...."There are lots of things that can effect impressions.... bla bla bla...."

Yes Google you have a major problem in my opinion... sure hope you change things..... and for the better this time.....

heyday