Why is nobody in the BLUE. how do I get there?

Another question about getting to the top.

[bayzing]

I do some adwords consulting for smaller companies. Ideally I would like to the in the BLUE sponsored listings (who wouldn't). My question is.... I am in the top position... but google doesn't have any "BLUE" sponsored listings for the search terms that I am using. Even though I am in top position, the best I can seem to get is the top spot on the right column... this is especially frustrating to me because the top organic spot is getting all of the prime time real estate.... and it's a site that's not nearly as relavent. My CTR is high and my top CPC bid is also set very high. Why won't google put me into the blue? What can I do to get there... if I am already ranked #1?

[buckworks]

My CTR is high

How high?

[jtara]

Google wants the blue area to contain truly exceptional ads, IMO.

They don't say exactly what gets you there. However, there are three elements which seem to matter:

1. The ad must have been reviewed (so, an ad typically CAN'T run in the blue box for the first 3-5 days)

2. The ad must have a high CTR. "high CTR" means high CTR for the keywords, as this will vary from keyword to keyword. so, there's no particular CTR. It has to be higher than the others on the page, and perhaps significantly higher.

3. There must be a number of ads on that page. This seems the most nebulous of the rules, as I HAVE occasionally seen a blue box with one or two ads, and no other ads on the page. But, generally, you won't see one when there are only a small number of ads.

[bayzing]

The keyword that I am MOST upset about has a CTR of 5.8%, Max bid is set at $8.00, and there are 8 other paid advertisements on the right hand column! I figured that would be good enough to get me into the blue... but nobody is there!

[buckworks]

Hmmm .... the ads I've had go "into the blue" had CTR's more like 12% - 15%, a few over 20%.

[jtara]

the ads I've had go "into the blue" had CTR's more like 12% - 15%, a few over 20%

That has been my experience as well.

Of course, it goes higher once in the blue. :)

[bostonseo]

My guess is that they not a particularly competitive keywords, or highly searched. Here is what I mean: if you look at the most competitive keywords (for all industries) there will be 3 top horizontal spots. Terms that aren't that competive price-wise typically average 1-2 spots horizontally. Terms that really aren't that highly searched (and there isn't that many advertisers competing for the keywords) will not get any top horizontal paid spots.

I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule, but if the terms you are bidding on do not have anyone in the top horizontal spot - it's because they are not 'popular' enough or lucrative enough for Google to run them.